Joe Reed
Jedi Warrior
Offline
For 16 years I've been looking at the cheap looking plastic center button on my Personal steering wheel, and lusting after MUCH nicer looking ones on the early MGBs. I thought about trying to adapt one of those, but they're simply too large in diameter. So....after a little research, it seemed that using the very early MG Midget horn push just might work. I bought one from LBCarCo and figured I'd find a way to make it work. It helps that I don't need the horn push to work, since that's on a column stalk on the '78 MGB - I just needed it to fit the recess in the steering wheel hub, stay in place, and cover the hole.
In case anyone else wants to try this on an aftermarket wheel, here are the dimensions of the Midget part. The outside diameter of the part is about 59.7mm. The part that goes down into the hub is about 49.35mm wide and 20mm deep. The depth wasn't a problem for me, but the diameter of the hole in the center of my hub is about 54.7mm. I wrapped strips of duct tape around the Midget part until it was a nice, snug press fit into my hub. The Midget part did have a small point at the top to index the part in place on the Midget wheel. I just ground it flush before taping.
Here's the before and after...
In case anyone else wants to try this on an aftermarket wheel, here are the dimensions of the Midget part. The outside diameter of the part is about 59.7mm. The part that goes down into the hub is about 49.35mm wide and 20mm deep. The depth wasn't a problem for me, but the diameter of the hole in the center of my hub is about 54.7mm. I wrapped strips of duct tape around the Midget part until it was a nice, snug press fit into my hub. The Midget part did have a small point at the top to index the part in place on the Midget wheel. I just ground it flush before taping.
Here's the before and after...