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MG TD TF 1500 - Moto Lita wheel rebuild

I seem to remember someone rebuilding a wood rimmed wheel a few months ago but can't find it in the archives. I have some black walnut I am planning on using on my Moto Lita and would like a little advice from someone who has already been there, done that.
Thanks ,

Laverne
LED DOWNEY

hi Laverne,
look down in this list. There is a thread called:

"TF steering wheel restoration". This made me decide to make my TD steeringwheel myself too in the forthcoming months.
regards,Huib
Huib Bruijstens

LED;;; Check on the MG-TABC.org web site and go to technology section. John Jones has a rebuild of a TC wheel.
Sandy Sanders
conrad sanders

Huib,
Thanks, I saw that one, but was looking for one that somebody had done that wasn't laminated. Took mine to a local wood worker and asked about having him cut the wood out of a solid block. He said that the best way to cut the wood was in an (I am not kidding here) octagon. His labor cost was more thn the cost of a new wheel so I thought I'd have a go at it. Have cut my wood in 16 pieces for two octagons.My thought was to glue them together the use a router to form the circle. Then router a center groove at half the thickness of the rim, cut out for the three spokes and
wrap the the rim entirely with wood. The rim would be a bigger in diameter and not show the metal rim or pins. Also thought I would pin the wood to the rim internaly. I don't have access to a band saw or a jig saw. I do have a saber saw, table saw, circular saw, drill press and a router. I don't have a jig to do the radius with the router and was hoping someone had some ideas. Don't really have any clamps to hold the wood together at 22 1/2* while waiting for the glue to dry. Also was wondering if I need to dowel the joints. Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks,

LaVerne
LED DOWNEY

Thanks Sandy,

I believe that was what I had seen before. Beautiful wheel. Hope mine turns out that nice.

LaVerne
LED DOWNEY

TSO CD-ROM to the rescue -- Look in the index under 'Steering Gear' for 'Constructing a Wood Steering Wheel'. It's in the June 1970 issue of TSO.
Bud Krueger

Sandy (or Laverne) , can you tell me the precise website you pointed to. Looks interesting.
thanks, Huib
Huib Bruijstens

Try this website, the products look stunning.
www.lempertgroup.com
Robert Dougherty

I rebuilt my steering wheel with solid black walnut and it looks quite nice. It was no difficult to rebuild but took some time. A boatbuilder friend helped. E-mail me and I'll explain how I did it.
Michael Derrick

Micheal, what is your e-mail?
Tell me how you made the wheel on bruijst@iae.nl
thanks, Huib
Huib Bruijstens

Michael; I too am interrested in your photos. Please send to esane@msn.com
Thank you
Sandy Sanders
conrad sanders

A recent copy of "Totally T-Type", the newsletter of the MGCC T-Register had an article on wood rimming. They used a 1/2 in thick walnut plank, routed out for the wire rim, and sandwich glued. The wood was then cut and carved to shape.
You can see copies on the Register web site.

www.tregister.org.uk
Don Harmer

I really love the strip of aluminum that shows around the rim... and the aluminum pegs i think really add to the wheel.
Always thought a solid wood wheel looked too heavy?
Oh well... will have to stick with the wrapped leather for a bit on mine.....!
gordon lawson TD 27667

Don Harmer, could you mention the complete website address you are pointing to? ( www.tregister.org.uk does not work). Thanks, Huib
Huib Bruijstens

Huib
Try this http://www.tregister.org/
John
John James

Thanks for all the feedback. Figured how to clamp all the pieces together (ratchet strap) for gluing. Heading out to the shop this morning to fabricate a radius bracket for the router and make some chips fly.
Michael I'd like to see the photos please.

LaVerne
LED DOWNEY

LaVerne, that sounds pretty exiting. Make sure you take pictures and let us know how you did it. Thanks and good luck, Huib ( e-mail me those pics please at bruijst@iae.nl )
Huib Bruijstens

Ok folks its done. Its big, fat (you won't like it Gordon), shiney and I like it. It's the look I was after. Wife doesn't like it. Says it's to fat. Daughter says ok. Boyfriend loves it.Will send photos to anyone who's interested.

LaVerne
LED DOWNEY

I'm interested
gordon lawson

Tried to send out some photos. Spent 30 minutes typing in how I did it. Tried to send and no go. Tried again with no text and seems to have gone out ok. Please let me know if they came through. I'd rather bolt the transmission cross member in my B than attempt something new on the cpu. Maybe Gordon can teach me how to build (and more importantly how to use) a nifty home page for this TF project.
LED DOWNEY

hi Laverne,
so far i did not receive them. Please try again since i really love to see those pics. And yes, also the describtion how you did it. Thanks a lot, Huib ( bruijst@iae.nl )
Huib Bruijstens

Gordon, did you get the photos?

LaVerne
LED DOWNEY

Yes... i sent you email... looks really good....
gordon lawson TD 27667

I'll borrow a friends digital camera and take a photo this weekend of the steering wheel.
Michael

My wheel was made from solid black walnut. The old plastic was removed completely but we kept the wheel on the shaft. A length of wood was cut approximately 5 cm thick and 10 cm wide. I have forgotten how we figured the length of the wood but it has to be equal to the circumference of the wheel, hence 3.1416 x Diameter. Cut the length into eight equal sections with the end of each section being 45 deg. Each piece will meet the next and form an eight sided circle. We used a large rubber band to hold the pieces together. We then set these pieces on a piece of plywood to temporarily secure them. Using a router, cut a "U" shaped groove in the middle of the wood that forms the eight sided wheel. We attached the router to a fulcrum so that is spun around and made a perfect circle. Turn the wood wheel over and cut the same "U" groove. This "U" shape should be approximately .5 the thickness of the steering wheel wire. Make the groove a little bigger, just to make the process easier. We then drew on the wood two circles: one circle was 1 cm inside of the “U” groove and the other 1 cm outside of the “U” groove. Next remove the eight pieces from the rubber band, and cut each piece on a band saw along the lines drawn. Now, using the band saw, resaw each of the eight pieces in half. When you turn them inside out, the groove will fit around the wire. Fill the groove with epoxy resin or some glue and put your wood around the wire. This is the permanent wood on the wheel. We then fixed the steering wheel in a vise next to the mechanical sander and sanded the inside and the outside so that we had a perfect circle. Using a large router with a round cutting tool, rout each square edge into a round edge. Your wheel should be very close to a round wheel. Then the hand sanding and varnishing took place. Lots of hand sanding and varnishing. To visualize, draw a spider’s web with two straigh line circles and three curved line circles. This is how the rough wheel looks. The two straight lines of the web are the outer edge and the inner edge. Three curved lines are the outer edge of the wheel after routing, the wire of the wheel, and the inner edge of the wheel after routing. The eight radial lines are the seams of the wood pieces. The center section will be removed.
Michael

This thread was discussed between 31/01/2005 and 14/02/2005

MG TD TF 1500 index

This thread is from the archive. The Live MG TD TF 1500 BBS is active now.