[Healeys] Steering wheel repair

[Michael Salter]

Many years ago, I repaired the large cracks in the original steering wheel
of my Phase 1 BJ8 by grinding them out with a Dremel and filling the cracks
with JB weld. After sanding and repainting with epoxy gloss black it looked
great however, after a few years, more cracks appeared at the interface of
the JB Weld and the original plastic from which the rim was molded. Back
then I replaced the original wheel with a shiny new Motolita wood-rim
wheel, with which I was never completely happy, and all was good, sort of.

I am now faced with having to do the same type of repair on the original
wheel from the BN2 which I am currently restoring.

Before starting with the JB Weld process again I thought I should do a
little research to see if I could find a filler material which would form a
stronger bond with the plastic rim material.

Gemini told me that the rim was made of Bakelite but I was not convinced.
Bakelite is a “thermoset” plastic which, when heated, does not melt. A
simple experiment quickly proved that the rim plastic was a thermo-plastic
material because it easily melted and could be deformed when heated and
again unlike Bakelite it dissolved in acetone.

I have done some Googling and it seems that it’s very likely that the
plastic used for molding the rims was Tenite™ cellulose acetate.

Does anyone know for sure what the original steering wheel rims were made
from?
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