[njsteve]

And now the one from my car. As you can see the underside was fully blacked out prior to the metal mounting base being riveted on at the factory. (The underside was lightly glassbeaded prior to these photos so that is why the white base material is showing)

[Geeto Tiger]

Man, that is quite amazing what you did to restore that 8-Track and the entire car so far...I'm astonished! You are like a McGuyver....eventhough you dont like him

[njsteve]

Thanks for the compliment, but I prefer to think of myself as the Don Rickles of Restoration. ;-)

[njsteve]

I just got my AM/FM Stereo radio and 8 track player back from Wards Classic Car Radio Repair www.wardsclassiccarradiorepair.com They did a very nice job on the whole set up. It cost $175 total, including return shipping. It took about 2 weeks, which included an entire weekend that he let the 8 track player run just to make sure it checked out after they finished cleaning and refurbishing everything. I asked him what he was using to play for 48 hours straight. He said they have quite a collection of old 8 track tapes just laying around for that purpose. Knowing how bad these things sounded back then compared to today's sound systems, I cant imagine how they deal with it, but hey, they are the experts! I guess you have to scarifice for the sake of your art.

[RicksGTO]

that's a great price on the radio and 8-track resto. I just bought a set like that for my '72 so I'm sending it off to him for sure. The other place I looked into quoted over $300 for just the radio.

[ddmrk]

Originally Posted by njsteve

I just got my AM/FM Stereo radio and 8 track player back from Wards Classic Car Radio Repair www.wardsclassiccarradiorepair.com They did a very nice job on the whole set up. It cost $175 total, including return shipping. It took about 2 weeks, which included an entire weekend that he let the 8 track player run just to make sure it checked out after they finished cleaning and refurbishing everything. I asked him what he was using to play for 48 hours straight. He said they have quite a collection of old 8 track tapes just laying around for that purpose. Knowing how bad these things sounded back then compared to today's sound systems, I cant imagine how they deal with it, but hey, they are the experts! I guess you have to scarifice for the sake of your art.

I don't know what kind of deal you got from them but they have my set up right now and they want $300 for radio and 8 track ($150 each) plus shipping, they told me they Do NOT repair the 2 items for NO $175 shipped .

[njsteve]

My AM/FM stereo radio was working OK before I sent it. I only needed the 8 track player overhauled. They told me that they needed both units and the harness to make sure it all works properly as a unit. I guess they may have just cleaned and checked the radio and spent the majority of their time on the external 8 track unit. If you check their website I think they have price estimates listed. They charge about $175 for the AM/FM with internal tape players so I would assume they charge the same for an AM/FM with an external tape player. Anyway, it's their business to repair these things and I wouldn't second guess them as to what it takes to get these things working again. They do nice work though.

[njsteve]

The latest chapter was trying to restore the original artificial leather-like-substitute, foam padded, Formula "Fat" steering wheel.

I decided to do it myself since the repro wheels are close to correct, but the makers chose to use a very hard urethane instead of a soft one (don't get me started on why companies get that close with a repro part and then don't go all the way when it would be so easy to substitute a softer durometer padding...) and the fact that the so called "restoration" services for these wheels involve them dipping it in a hard plastic outer coating like a Carvel chocolate dipped, ice cream cone (Here comes Willy the Wheel...in my best Frank Carvel/Abe Simpson voice) that cracks the first time your turn the wheel hard left or right.

I decided to try my hand at redoing the original wheel because you can't nice originals for less than $750 on ebay and an NOS 1970 to 73 Fat Wheel will run you about $2000, and I had nothing to lose as my wheel was so badly damaged it was only useable as a core. (Don't confuse the "Fat" wheel with the later model thinner ones that came on 75 to 81 Trans Ams -humungous price difference)

These wheels originaly had a smooth outer coating that eventually wore away after years of use and exposure to the sun, leaving the underlying rough, cracked, crumbly foam material exposed. Here is a close up of what they end up turning into:

[njsteve]

One of the main problems with my wheel (and most older wheels) was that the foam had seperated from the internal steel core at the 10:00 position and could be rotated on the core like a motorcycle throttle. If left unaddressed, this defect would prove fatal to any attempt at a cosmetic restoration as the foam would turn and crack the outer surface.

What I ended up doing was performing surgury on the wheel. I used a razor and sliced through the foam on theback side, down to the metal core, and then filled the area with black weatherstrip adhesive. Once filled, I wrapped the repaired area tightly in masking tape and left it overnight to cure. The repair worked perfectly: no more turning foam.

(The in-progress photo didn't come out so here is a later photo with the incision marked in red)

[njsteve]

The biggest problem with these wheels is the lack of a similar material for repair. Some people use bondo (too rigid) or silicone (too soft), but until now there was no real alternative.

Scratching me head, I was digging around in the lab and found two 10 year old tubes of 3M rubber bumper repair epoxy. This is the stuff used for filling and repairing the elastomeric/endura bumpers on Camaros, GTOs, Trans Ams, Cudas and the like. Mixed in equal parts, it cures fast, is extremely flexible, sands easy and can be painted. Since I had nothing to lose, I used it: I ended up stumbling onto the perfect repair material.

[njsteve]

I mixed small amounts as it cures quicky and you dont want to waste the stuff. I applied it to the entire wheel with a tongue depressor. During the process, my wife (Mrs. McGyver) accidentally wandered down into the work shop and saw the mess and just shook her head telling me that I ruined that poor wheel...Yee of little faith.

Once it cured I sanded it to a rough round shape, looked for low spots, and reapplied it about five or six times. Here are a couple of in-progress shots:

[njsteve]

This is after about three days of reapplication, and resanding with 120 grit. I then sprayed it with several coats of flexible urethane primer and sanded some more with a mini-orbital sander and primed it some more. I also sanded the incorrect black paint off the spokes. This area should be anodized a gunmetal color, not painted (more on that later).

[njsteve]

After I was satisfied with the smoothness and lack of flaws I used Duplicolor flat black vinyl paint and sprayed a bunch of coats on the wheel, hand wetsanding with 400 grit after each one to get the wheel perfectly round.

[njsteve]

The big trick was trying to duplicate the original gunmetal anodized finish on the spokes. Since there is no way to reanodize the metal on the wheel I harkened back to my military modeling days as a kid when I used to build WWII armor dioramas for a local hobby shop and would "weather" the tanks and gear to make them look realistically "battle weary."

I used one of the old tricks of the trade, which is to do a light paint wash of the area. I sprayed a two second burst of flat black into a cup and then added a little enamel reducer. (Be very careful: as this stuff dripped on the foam wheel will ruin the finish). I used a foam brush and lightly washed the blackened reducer over the metal areas. As it dried I would daub it with a crumpled paper towel to get rid of any brush marks. I did this about 20 times. You have to be patient as each application removes about half of the previous application as the enamel reducer dissolves the earlier paint. This process worked very well as it brought out the original brushed finish in the metal.

[njsteve]

Here are the "McGyver-dized" spokes next to another original wheel for color comparison purposes. Perfect match:

[njsteve]

Here is the finished product. The wheel looks just like the original piece and is just as flexible and soft as when it came from the factory 35 years ago.

So here it is, after about a week of work and approximately $40 in materials, sitting on top of my wife's prized antique, ceramic sugar bowl:

With a little leather preservative applied (after this photo was taken), it brought the sheen up to what the original was supposed to look like. I'd rather have it too flat than too glossy, as the wheel surface will shine up with age and use. (That's another old modeler's trick: if you want to duplicate black leather upholstery on a model car, paint it flat black and then once dried, buff the area with your fingers to bring up the shine )

[Norwood]

I'm not as good of a photographer as you steve, but this is the original finish on my spokes. They are in very good shape.

[njsteve]

The flash tends to wash things out in a photo but yours is darker than my other wheel. A few more days of drybrushing and paint washes could get it there. I liked the lighter "aged" color myself. If you would send me your wheel for an extended period of time I would be happy to install it on my car, for testing and color analysis purposes only, of course. ;-)

[Pontiacmuscle]

Steve,
Have you ever thought about writing a book?
~PM~

[njsteve]

Back in the old days I wrote for Musclecar Review and Mopar Muscle way back in the latter part of the late 20th century. It didn't pay much but it was fun to get free parts and get paid to restore your own cars and write them off as business expenses for articles. ;-)