Anyone have the molds to restore a rubber stock wheel?

[oldbugr]

I am looking for a vendor that can restore these wheels. With 3d printing and laser, there has to be someone who can do these. Does anyone know anyone that has made the mold to inject these like they were? Thank you. 

IMG_3180 2.HEIC

[TobyB]

Just shoot your laser at your phone and change your HEIC format.  So that we can see the picture.

 

If you're talking about a wheel, no, you can't 3d print a wheel in the real world.  Sure, they do it on TV, but TV isn't you and me.

 

If you're talking about making tyres, no, that's also far beyond the capability of anything you and I can afford.  Elmo and Bezos 

have all the toys, and let Leno play sometimes.  Mere mortals are stuck with increasingly expensive mass produced tyres

that are more and more profit and less and less round and stick.

 

Injection molding is cool.  No, not really, it's hotter than Reno with CFCs, and takes some mighty pricey hardware.

 

t

 

['76mintgrün'02]

My computer can't see those heic files, but my phone can.  It shows a 75-76 steering wheel.

(Similar to a 74 wheel, but with a foamy grip).

Tom

[oldbugr]

Because I'm new to the 2002 world and know I don't know enough about these cars yet to be anything but a novice. Are you saying the wheel is wrong for a 73? 

[Solarphil]

Instrument cluster as well - I won’t claim to be an expert but the wood grained cluster started with the square taillight cars in ‘74, to my understanding.  

['76mintgrün'02]

Yes.  The wheels with a rectangular center and four spokes were introduced in '74.  The first ones had a plastic rim, but then they switched to the leather-like foam.

 

'73 wheels had a round horn button and three spokes. 

 

 

The silver-dollar cluster is earlier than '73.  The cross-hair gauges came with the faux-wood surround and plain faces were used between those.  Yours would have had a black surround and plain black gauge faces. 

 

Here's the steering wheel ID thread I took that image from. 

 

 

Here's another photo of a '73 interior with the correct wheel and gauges.

 

 

Tom

[02Les]

13 hours ago, oldbugr said:

I am looking for a vendor that can restore these wheels. With 3d printing and laser, there has to be someone who can do these. Does anyone know anyone that has made the mold to inject these like they were? Thank you. 

IMG_3180 2.HEIC 1.55 MB · 23 downloads

Here you go. FYI - a lot of us 'mature' 02ers can't see HEIC pics. Try using a free converter like me.

[oldbugr]

Thank you. Now I know what to look for. 

[Shawn Piper]

Although its not explicitly listed as a service, you might ask Just Dashes if they'd be willing to attempt it. 

That being said, it would likely be most cost effective to find a nice conditional original 

[Conserv]

2 hours ago, Shawn Piper said:

That being said, it would likely be most cost effective to find a nice conditional original…

 

Or to simply find a nice ‘73 steering wheel. They, admittedly, often suffer from cracks in their hard plastic. But the history of molded hard plastic over a steel armature is long, and there are definitely shops that can restore cracked hard plastic steering wheels.

 

Here’s the original wheel from my ‘61 Ford F-350, as restored by one of these specialists in hard plastic wheels.

 

Regards,

 

Steve

 

 

 

[oldbugr]

Looks great. I’ve used Knoch’s in the past on wheels like yours. Know I know that I have the wrong wheel, I’m on the hunt for a decent original. Heading to the Bay Area clubs show this weekend. Maybe I’ll find one there. Thank you for the response. How does the truck look your putting that wheel on? 

[popovm]

3 hours ago, Conserv said:

Or to simply find a nice ‘73 steering wheel. They, admittedly, often suffer from cracks in their hard plastic. But the history of molded hard plastic over a steel armature is long, and there are definitely shops that can restore cracked hard plastic steering wheels.

 

Here’s the original wheel from my ‘61 Ford F-350, as restored by one of these specialists in hard plastic wheels.

 

Regards,

 

Steve

 

 

 

That’s gorgeous! Seconding the request for pics. 

[Conserv]

1 hour ago, oldbugr said:

Looks great. I’ve used Knoch’s in the past on wheels like yours. Know I know that I have the wrong wheel, I’m on the hunt for a decent original. Heading to the Bay Area clubs show this weekend. Maybe I’ll find one there. Thank you for the response. How does the truck look your putting that wheel on? 

292 Y-block V-8 and a 5.14 differential. Top speed? Nearly 70 mph… 😋

[oldbugr]

9 hours ago, Shawn Piper said:

Although its not explicitly listed as a service, you might ask Just Dashes if they'd be willing to attempt it. 

That being said, it would likely be most cost effective to find a nice conditional original 

 

Looks great?  I just learned that the Y block has the most unusual firing order helping a friend on a 57 T Bird. Thanks for sharing. 

[SydneyTii]

7 hours ago, Conserv said:

Nearly 70 mph

The pace of life really did used to be slower😜

I have a mint 73 type wheel in my loft and an equally mint 74 in my shed, bloody things are multiplying I’m sure of it, what I’d really like is a Petri but given they used to be throw away items in the 80’s off of VW Sciroco’s (or were they just look alike) I can’t quite swallow the current price (who am I kidding😂)