Restoring 240Z Steering Wheels

[lonetreesteve]

What is the best approach to restoring the wood wheels? What is the best process? What is the color of the stain? I noticed that on some of the restored 240s (see picture) that there is high-gloss finish. Did they come from the factory with such a finish?

(My son took this picture of #33 of the 42 Nissan restored cars when it was for sale on the showroom floor at Peak Nissan, here in the Denver area 7 or 8 months ago).

[sblake01]

That looks like Red Oak stain with a gloss urethane top coat. Don't know if they originally came that way.

[MikeW]

Keep in mind that the steering wheel is not really wood but rather a plastic made to look like wood. This has been debated many times here in the past. As I recall, others have also discussed various restoration techniques so you may wish to search old posts to find what worked for other people.

[Bambikiller240]

I believe that Kats reported to us that in one of his discussions with Mr. Matsuo he was told that the steering wheels were indeed made of wood, but that the wood was impregnated with some kind of resin.

In my youth I was involved in an accident in a Z and busted the steering wheel by stiff-arming the wheel at impact. The wheel defintiely appeared to be wood with some product infused throughout the wood fibers.

Based on the grain and pores in the wood, it looks like it could be some variety of mahogany (possibly red) to me. It is definitely not oak wood, though red oak stain could be close to the original color.

BTW, the photo's attached are not mine. They were posted on Eric Neyerlin's www.zparts.com site

[Hawkeye1017]

I used Minwax Red Oak on mine. It came out really nice. Just a quick how to- sand the metal spokes with fine sand paper; use ultra fine steel wool on the outer rim area. Once both surfaces are smooth mask off the rim and spray the spokes and center with a can of Satin Black. Then stain the rim and then apply the gloss urethane to the outer rim. If you do not want a high gloss on the rim you can use semi glass that will dull it a little.

[beandip]

I have used laquer on the ''wood'' in hi gloss and the satain black on the spokes and I like it alot however I think the ureathane is more durable. To prep the wood I use one of those green 3M dish pan cleaning sponges and some Dove detergent . It cleans the grease from the hands and smoothes wheel as will as removes the old finish. As for the it being wood I have an aquatance that did what bambikiller did and he still has parts of the wheel and it does look like wood so he tells me. Gary

[26th-Z]

Whoa...! Guys... The steering wheel is compsite resin. Matsuo (actually Chiba) wanted a wooden wheel, but because of crash safety standards they were made of the composite resin. The wood graining is a stain. Check Humbles; "How to Restore...". All of your suggestions are great and I see no reason why any of them wouldn't work. Mine are lightly sanded and coated in polyurethane. 27's wheel is quite bad and I will probably use the stain - prefering the light mahogany (yellow) to the dark auburn colored ones.

EDIT: In your pictures, Carl, notice how the "wood" is not splintering. What the photos show is the graining in the composite. Notice how the "wood" is molded around the metal spoke. Not cut and fit as a piece of wood.

[hls30.com]

I agree that the Steering wheel has a composite resin applied to it, but I do not think that the grain is a staining effect. Stain does not make something fiberous. I think the grain is some fiberous material that was suspended in the the resin. It is probably oriental packing material,(hemp, or some form of dried thick plant fiber that resembles wood shavings-except they are rounded instead of flat) suspended in the same resin used for the gel in the center caps on the hubcaps-they too are red, dry out, shrink, and scratch easliy-maybe it was added to lower waste disposal costs and extend the volume of the resin? When an organic fiber is saturated with a liquid, it swells, becomes very flexible, suseptable to "setting", and has enhanced color depth. Those qualities would go a long way to explain the changes that occurr through time as the solvent used in the mix continues to dry out, the "grain" reverts to its natural color depth, and the fibers come to the surface of the wheel(actually the surface shrinks to the fibers)

The mix of materials was obviously cast around the steering wheel giving the fibers the ability to wrap around the structure, a look that a solid piece of wood can only be made to approximate through solvent, heat, and pressure-but not to the extent or thickness it is done on a Z steering wheel.

What ever it is, it couldn't have been too tough or expensive to produce, they did it over 30 years ago with absolute consistancy over 100,000 times-which means someone knows what the formula was!

Will

[Bambikiller240]

Sorry, having seen and touched my ruined wheel, I am convinced that it is made of wood and some chemical/resin/plastic (whatever). The material in my wheel did splinter somewhat at the breaks.

I'm not interested in going through the discussion again, but if someone is interested enough to find Kat's post on the subject, I believe it will be seen how the wheel material was actually described.

Who is Chiba?

[Alfadog]

He was the interior designer - I think you are correct Carl. I seem to remember Kats saying that it was a very new process and something the team was proud of. Real wood combined with "fake wood" (resin, plastic whatever) on the outside.

That's what I remember, who wants to find the thread!

[hls30.com]

I've looked thrice, and been confounded each time, someone find the freakin' thread!

Will

[MikeW]

http://www.classiczcars.com/forums/showpost.php?p=45493&postcount=34