Not yet, but I'm going to. Busy right now. Always something else to do......

Very nice work. I have the FS steering wheel on my GT and I'm pleased with it for the money. But I did save my old steering wheel and will try recovering it myself someday. And I bought a nice woman's leather dress at a consignment store also very cheap. (and before any of you say it - yes, it is for the steering wheel) There is a lot a satisfaction that comes from the DIY factor. (like making your own wine or roasting your own coffee beans)

Larry

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"Life is short.
Drink the good wine first"

quote Originally posted by Larryh86GT: (like making your own wine or roasting your own coffee beans)

Or hard liquor or beer.....

Wow.. I am seriously impressed!

quote Originally posted by Mytime: Thanks again everyone. I'm happy to see that my writeup has been appreciated. I did it as much for myself as for everyone else. I tend to forget over time how I did things if I don't write down the details. Well, if I were going to do it again, I would probably use weldwood contact cement. The same thing that I used on my headliner. Heard it sticks well and lasts a long time. Just didn't have any available when I was putting it together. The felt seems durable and I like the feel of the padding. I don't know how it will last long term. Have to wait and see. I do know it's not going to turn into goo anytime in the near future. I pulled the leather tight enough so I hope it doesn't twist on me Finally got the wheel reassembled and traded into my car. Wow, a project I actually finished, I DO need to write this down. The color is a little off from factory but I'm not building a show car, just trying to keep things nice looking. Thanks again for the compliments.

Damn dude, I am absolutely speechless...

...and you even did it on a vintage Singer sewing machine.


If I can just make an assumption here, how much would you charge if I begged you to do the same for my Fiero's steering wheel?

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Todd,
2008 Jeep Patriot Limited 4x2
2002 Ford Explorer Sport 2dr 4x2
2002 Ford Crown Victoria LX
1987 Pontiac Fiero SE / V6
1973 Volkswagen Type-2 Transporter

I am impressed - enough so that I am going to take the steering wheel that has been sitting in my shed for the past two years and give this a shot.

Thanks

Nope 82-T/A, I'm just not going to get into the recovering business. I did one not really knowing how it's done professionally. So I'm unsure how the materials I used will hold up in the long run. Also color matching is always an issue, I know I don't have the eye for it. I could never do something like that and sell it and expect to stand behind work that I am just not sure of. Do you know what I mean?
This was just a basic, "if I was going to do this, this is how I'd do it" thread. I thought it would help a few do-it yourself types out there the same way I've been helped with articles in here. I was hoping a couple more people that have done it or know how it is done would chime in with suggestions on how it's supposed to be done.

quote Originally posted by phonedawgz: This was my fix. $20.00 on ebay

Interested in this wheel and setup...

Can you tell me all parts including adapters I would need for this?

Also what seller you got it from on E-Bay?

Thanks,

/\ Search "steering wheel" in eBay. It was my first result

I posted just to give you a public '+'

Nice work. I salute anybody who goes the distance with an idea, and it comes out this nice.

I pulled my old GT steering wheel out of the shed and got it stripped down, ironed teh old cover flat, and traced it out on craft paper.

That is some really nasty stuff! Anyway, thanks again for the inspiration.

quote Originally posted by grkboy707: /\ Search "steering wheel" in eBay. It was my first result

Found the wheel, but is it a straight bolt on, or is an adapter needed?

Well. I finally found time today to do the shifter handle. It did not turn out as well as the steering wheel. Made a couple of mistakes rushing through it.
To start with, not knowing how much time it would take, I used another one from a car that's just sitting around. This is the old one in my car.

This is the old one from another car.

I took the old skin off.

And laid the two sides down to decide what to do next.

I didn't think that flattening them to make a pattern would be helpful. I considered wetting them, stretching them over the handle and letting them dry to make shells to sew together, but I wanted to get it done today. I should have done that. But I decided to just glue the two pieces onto the handle and sew them in place.
I still had some of the leather left from the steering wheel.

Bought some real glue (this job is already costing me more than the steering wheel).

I scuffed up the plastic a little to help the glue stick and glued up half of it and a small piece of leather.


After they dried, I stretched the leather onto the plastic.

I've already learned a lot from your attempt, thank you for posting pictures, even though you weren't as happy with it as you would have liked.

quote Originally posted by Mytime: ....

Don't you see that shifter boot looking at you??

quote Originally posted by Alex4mula: Don't you see that shifter boot looking at you??

Beat me to it!

For about five seconds, I was trying to find the semblance to a face - like the man on the moon.
If you did a small walk through of doing the shifter boot, I would do backflips.

OK, didn't really realize it until I looked at the picture but that shift boot IS pretty ugly. I'll give a shift boot a shot
Not the one from my car but still ugly.

Now this is what it looks like under the boot.

The bottom of this boot has the plastic retainer still attached. I know some have the elastic to hold it down to the clips. Mine in my car now has an elastic one. They used white thread though, I didn't like the looks of that.

After 20 years the plastic tends to get fragile and the retaining clip areas have broken off.

Here is an inside out shift boot

I wasn't going to reuse the broken retaining clip so I experimented with other attachment choices



I decided to try and use the little elastic bungee even though I've heard they might bend the little plastic clips.
Next I dismantled the boot into four pieces.

Then I ironed them flat between two pieces of brown paper. Gotta keep the iron clean! Since they appeared to be duplicates I only ironed two of them flat to use as patterns.

Then I traced out two of each on the leather I had. I made a pattern sheet that I will post later to help save some work for anyone that wants to try this one. Or if your boot is so badly gone that a good pattern could not be made

Then I cut them out.

I used a little glue on the edges to paste the pieces together so that I could sew them together. Sometimes sewing while just holding, one piece will slide making the ends not match up. Then I stuck the pieces together.

Wow, very good work on all parts! I have two spare GT wheels sitting around. I think it's definitely time to try this on at least one of them! Sadly, the leather on my 86 SE four-spoke is just about shot. Not goopy like the GT ones get, the leather is cracked, and rough now. I might redo a GT wheel to keep in it for the time being, and tackle the four spoke.