2.0 KCC 356 Speedster - www.356speedster.co.za

[flatfourfan]

Also after much thinking............this will be the final colour. Non-Metallic Aquamarine Blue





Pretty much the same spec as the one in the pictures, but with a slightly darker tan interior. I'm so in love with this colour..........

[splitfan]

I like it ! its gonna look awesome

[flatfourfan]

ps, the gauges are out J...........

[brianj]

looks like dove blue, are you missing Frank?

[flatfourfan]

I thought initially that it was dove blue or Cobalt Blue that they go with on 66-67 busses as well. But the pictures actually show it to be a bit darker than it is in real life. I saw the colour on TV on chasing classic cars on a GT Carrera and I just fell in love.

Nah, Frank's in the past......I said goodbye to owning a split bus when I drove the speedy for the first time.

[riaanj]

Mmmmmm.. that looks , loving that colour - great choice!

[splitfan]

ps, the gauges are out J...........

Thanks Gary I'l give you a call to arrange

[Mr9a.fastyowner]

that will be one epic color really eye popping

[flatfourfan]

Soooooooooo, had some time to tinker around yesterday as I was supposed to be working in the garden.

I have been putting off looking at changing the steering column to a thin shaft so that I could fit the steering wheel boss and set up from a SP so that I could fit the steering wheel. I've had my ring cut/ bent and welded already and now all I need to do is to pull off the material on my spare wheel and cut off the ring. ( I have 3 SP steering wheels now, I just can't get enough of them, plus they are dirt cheap).

SO I decided to strip both steering wheels and see what I could make a plan on. SP one is stripped and boss off..





One that was in the car, now stripped. Damn I hate this thing.





Then I saw that the steering wheel that was on there has an spacer in between the boss and the steering wheel.



So, I grabbed a slab of MDF and went to work to make a blank to see if it could be this simple. Basically came up with a spacer adapter that will use the old boss, but will be able to bolt the steering wheel to that with very little effort.



I didn't take a pic of the final trim ring, I'll snap a pic tonight when I take it off, but it works a treat, this way I don't have to use the massive back cover on the wheel as well, but now that it's on there, I don't know if I'm feeling it.









It lines up 100%, my gauges will be perfect behind it, but the center section is just too damn big, I don't know if it's just because of the fact that the outer ring is still so fat and chunky, or if the step at the back is just too big. I've decided to send in the ring and get one laser cut from ali and tapped and then roll it like it is for a while and see if it grows on me, one thing is for sure though, the outer size is just perfect. I think that once the thinner outer ring has been fitted and then trimmed out in wood with rivets, then it'll look better. It just looks so bulky there at the moment.

[retrovan]

Why not take the wheel in to and have it laser cut closer to the mounting bolts, and have the webs thinned out at the same time.

You can even personalise it with the numbers "356"

That will slim it down to suit the car better.

Herman

[flatfourfan]

Yup, I've been thinking the same on both counts, the webs will deff be thinned out and will be tapered towards the outer ring. The inners will also be smoothed out. I also think that once the vinyl is off, it'll soften the wheel a lot.

With regards to the center section, I can't really take more than a few mm off the edge as they I start running into issues with the mounting bolts.

I've been looking around this morning and have found out that the center section really isn't that much bigger that a derrington or a Moto-Lita. So I can live with the center hub section, but then I'm going to have to look into the BIG horn ring. That will have to be made from scratch though.

The final style will be like this.



It I can't get exactly what I want from the SP wheel, then it'll be put back together and become wall art and I'll make a center section from scratch.

[retrovan]

Yes !! that looks good, but if you look, the hub edge is right next to the screw head on this bottom pic, that means you will be able to take off 8 to 10 mm off each side of your boss as per your top pic, that will make it 20 mm smaller in dia. Thats a lot and will reduce the bulkiness by a fair amount.

Herman

[flatfourfan]

Yup Herman, but we decided last night that there was another option that we were never even looking at.............doh doh doh.

Firstly, this is what my adapter looks like, pretty pointless now as I won't be using it. lol............oh well.





We did some measuring last night and found that the normal spacer would fit inside the bolt holes. Makes no diffs anyway as we're going to just weld them up. As the steering wheel is steel, it's stupidly strong and me hacking away some steel is not going to make any diffs at all to overall strength.





Stripped down and gutted, I was surprised to find a 9mm round bar type material underneath, the other SP wheel that I have is almost 12mm, it has been recovered though so I suspect that somewhere along the line it was changed.





The next plan of action until my resin arrives is to have the steering wheel stripped down of all paint and then weld up the holes, grind the whole lot down again and then have it laser cut to fit the new profile. Then I'll decide if all the work was worth it and if I'll carry on with the wood trim and rivets or not, as the method that I'll use for that will involve expensive wood and is pretty time consuming. I was asked by someone what I'd charge to make them one and honestly, I wouldn't........Finished product would probably be in the region of R2000. That is just materials before I add anything on for actually making the thing.

I'm very fired up about this thing.

[retrovan]

That will work very well.

The cheaper way to cover the wheel is in Marine Ply, get two small square sections, have then CNC out the 1/2 round ring on both sheets, glue them to the wheel, and cut out and round the rest, seen one oil stained, and it looks better then the expensive wood wheels.

Herman

[flatfourfan]

I was looking at the marine ply option, but the one thing that put me off is the view of the cross section. If I can get a half decent piece from my merchant that's proper marine grade, then I'm still looking at a good R500 for the sheet. At this stage however I'm looking at a piece of swamp ash that I was going to use for an electric guitar project and that was about the same price.

The method that I'll have to use will involve having the center cut out with a router as I have to make space for the round bar.