[Tom Vaught]

The people that would buy your wheel should sign a paper (like a Waiver of Liability document at a Race Track) that says when they buy your wheel, they recognize that you have no liability with the wheel.

People "in the know" will recognize that your manufacturing processes are (as you stated) several levels in quality above the wheels by a vendor for GM for 1964 vehicles.

If you bought a 64 GTO wheel out of a junk yard (made by a GM vendor) and installed it on your car, you have no guarantee that it would be a better wheel than the one that 64woodwheel produces.

JMO

Tom Vaught

[Andre]

Any status updates on this project? Estimated completion date etc?

[64woodwheel]

I am 90% there. This wheel must be 100% perfect before it is released. I will not settle for good enough. The emblem project fell through. They look better than what is available now, but not good enough for me to sell. It's like restoring a car. Whatever you think it will take in time and money, triple it and you'll be close.

[Old Man Taylor]

Any update on the status of your wheel?

[64woodwheel]

OMT, sorry for the delay in responding. Been on vacation. Kind of on the back burner for now. Might need to partner with a mold maker or someone who has experience recasting steering wheels. I have not been able to perfect my method.

[chrisp]

Any updates / progress of your wood wheel ? thanks

[64woodwheel]

No progress unfortunately.

I am having trouble casting the plastic part of the wheel. Ironically, the first one I did turned out the best. That is the one the pictures are of on my site. Seems like no matter what I tried, I cannot perfect this process. It is very frustrating. I am so close yet it doesn't matter. It has to be 100% perfect or it is a no go.

So I am left with a few options.

1 Totally abandon it and call it a day.

2 Sell my tooling, equipment and parts to someone who wants to carry on.

3 Partner with a mold maker/steering wheel re-caster to perfect it.

Option 3 is what I would like to do, but I need help locating a person. I know it can be done.

I had alluded to that earlier, but nobody stepped up. There are many people out there besides myself that want this effort to succeed. So that's it in a nutshell. We'll see what happens.

[60sstuff]

Patience and knocking on doors my friend. What you have done so far has been EXCELLENT and I would hate to see you stop now! Good Luck to you.

[ron cozzo]

Have you talked to Koch's? They remold the standard 64/65 wheel reasonably.

http://www.kochssteeringwheels.com/p...=3&idproduct=4

[rexus31]

Originally Posted by 64woodwheel

No progress unfortunately.

I am having trouble casting the plastic part of the wheel. Ironically, the first one I did turned out the best. That is the one the pictures are of on my site. Seems like no matter what I tried, I cannot perfect this process. It is very frustrating. I am so close yet it doesn't matter. It has to be 100% perfect or it is a no go.

So I am left with a few options.

1 Totally abandon it and call it a day.

2 Sell my tooling, equipment and parts to someone who wants to carry on.

3 Partner with a mold maker/steering wheel re-caster to perfect it.

Option 3 is what I would like to do, but I need help locating a person. I know it can be done.

I had alluded to that earlier, but nobody stepped up. There are many people out there besides myself that want this effort to succeed. So that's it in a nutshell. We'll see what happens.

www.qualityrestorations.com

[64woodwheel]

Reporting some modest success. I think I may have solved the problems I was having. This is the first official reproduction 64 wood wheel. This one is not for sale. It will remain in my private collection. Will more follow? I hope so, but no guarantees.

[Old Man Taylor]

I hope your success continues.

[hendoIV]

Hope you can continue producing these, impressive.

[bill ryder]

Chad, REALLY does look nise. I know you have spent a lot of time and energy on this project. Looks like you are about there...AWESOME!!!!
Sure glad you contribute to this forum.

[64woodwheel]

Thanks guys, I think next week I might show you some more in depth things about how it's made. For example to make the model for the mold, I used real black walnut to get the grain exactly like the originals. I built a special machine to carve the rim out of walnut. more on that to follow.

[gto_ron]

Chad

If nothing else, you would get my business to recondition my 64 sport wheel. There are probably many like me.

regards

[ramair455ca]

So whatever happened to this thread? And this wood wheel? I have been to the site and did not see any sales info?

Hoping this came to fruition.

[64woodwheel]

I wish I had good news but I don't. It's not perfect, therefore no release. But that's not all bad. Chasing the cool stuff for your car is part of what makes this hobby fun. And there is plenty of fun to be had.

I have had a tremendous response and interest and I feel bad that I can't deliver. I am also thankful for all the words of encouragement expressed here.

I am keeping all of the tooling and raw material for the metal parts and might make another attempt sometime in the future.

[4GTOSplus]

Any thoughts on making the metal parts and inlisting the hobby to help with the rest?

Great looking wheel. Fantastic job.

[64woodwheel]

Originally Posted by 4GTOSplus

Any thoughts on making the metal parts and inlisting the hobby to help with the rest?

Great looking wheel. Fantastic job.

Thanks. Yes, I had thought about that. See post 87. I know of a couple places that recast steering wheels. But a solid color is a different animal than simulated wood. And 64 has a different look than later years. It has to be perfect when it comes out of the mold.