Hello Friends,
Last weekend I refinished the '70 MGB's steering
wheel (except for the hub). Earlier I wrote a post
describing finding an undamaged but discolored rubber
rim on my car's steering wheel when I removed the PO's
faux-leather wrap. The rubber is undamaged and became
the subject of the first phase of restoration. The
wheel spokes were also rust-pitted, front and back.
MG plated the steel spokes with 'something' but over
the years rust pits came through the plating. I'm
sure you've seen the same.
I used ScotchBrite to clean away the rust,
'sanding' only in the direction of the factory brush
marks. Alas, the pits were too deep so I decided to
go deeper with sandpaper on an orbital sander. That
tool leaves a tooled finish if done gently. The
bottom line is that my spokes are too pitted to remove
the marks completely. I decided that to make the
finish look best, I would go for the 'clean patina'
look rather than 'new' look. I carefully cleaned
everything and was ready for refinishing.
I first lightly painted the rubber rim with black
flexible bumper paint. When that cured I masked the
rubber bits with gentle-release masking tape and
sprayed the spokes with clear-coat. With the masking
tape now removed the look is quite nice. The wheel
doesn't look new because of a little discoloration on
the spokes, but it does look very clean.
The center decoration on the 1970 cars does not
carry the horn push but rather, it is a decorative
molded rubber ring with a plastic insert carrying the
MG logo. I refinished the rubber bit with the same
bumper paint so that it would match - and it does
beautifully. The center plastic bit was scratched as
one might imagine, after 37 years of life. Still, I
polished it with increasingly fine paint polish until
the surface sparkled like a new part. Reinstalled in
the rubber surround, it looks new.
All those parts are now ready to reinstall on the
hub. I haven't removed the hub yet because I didn't
want to disturb the alignment. Still, I need to do so
to refinish it. I'll probably use a semi-gloss black
paint but I am pulled toward wrinkle black. The whole
steering column and wheel hub in my Ferrari is
finished in wrinkle black and the look is
way-industrial. Its all exposed in that car. No
facia around the column. Originality will win the
battle though and I will paint the hub semi-gloss
black.
That's it for now. Back to work...
rick
'70 MGB Tourer
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