Does your steering wheel touch your legs?

[AUSMHLY]

Hi Guys,

I just installed the factory 16 1/2" banjo steering wheel.
Those who have one, how much space is between the bottom of the wheel and your seat top?

I'm thinking the distance may be relative to the padding in the seat, and what's under the seat rail. Like the wood and metal strips.

I've heard that with some people, the wheel touches their leg.

I just switched out my 15" Mota-Lita to the 16 1/2" banjo.
Quite a difference in feel.

1. The 16 1/2" diameter makes steering easier.
2. It has more flex, as I'm guessing that is the reason behind using the wire spokes. (It absorbs some of the car vibration.) (You don't feel as much of the road, which some may want.)
3. The rim is thinner too.

I've heard some people switch to a smaller steering wheel because of items 2 and 3, and also because the wheel may touch their legs.

I'm happy to say, I love the feel of the Healey steering wheel. For me it's about getting as close as possible to the feel of what was, when my Father drove his 64 BJ8. My beloved Father and I were the same size.

Cheers,
Roger

 

[nevets]

Like you, I prefer the look/feel of the stock banjo style steering wheel. My wheel doesn't touch my legs but I don't have thunder thighs. Santa might have a problem though. I suppose a smaller wheel would make getting in/out of the car a little easier.

 

[Randy Harris]

I can barely squeeze by the wheel with my aftermarket Moto-Lita wheel. My original wheel which is hanging in the garage (in pathetic condition I might add), would be a deal breaker.
Randy

 

[dougie]

I have a Moto-Lita wood/aluminum wheel on both by street and race car. For me, the original banjo wheel is just to weak and fragile looking. As I recall DMH said they were designed to be replaced so very little time and money was put in them. Today we call this "value engineering", he want to use a wood/aluminum style like the Aston Martin but the production costs were too high for the Healey price point.

Like like Donald's original plan:

 

[Editor_Reid]

A lot depends on the seat bottom. On my 100M - seldom driven and seats "as new" or better - there is a definite clearance issue. On my 100 Le Mans - often driven, and seats "broken in" - there is no issue.

It's also interesting to look at period photos of early Healey seats and note that the seat bottoms did not have a lot of "fluff" or bulge - they often looked broken in/down right from new. It must have helped avoid leg-steering wheel clearance issues, even if only unintentionally.

 

[anthony7777]

editor reid, any info on how tall/short donald healey was?, at 5'6 and 1/2" i find the healey very comfy all around, from pictures ive seen of him he doesnt look very tall.

 

[GregW]

Not wanting to go to the hassle of re-doing the foam, I used a chain saw to notch my thighs.

 

[Cottontop]

When I switched to a 69 Opel GT instrument panel, I had to lower the steering column almost 1 1/2".

Then I switched to MGB seats which raised the seat height an inch or so.

The answer was to reduce the steering wheel diameter from the stock 17" down to 13". That was the easy part.

The wheel doesn't touch my thighs, but losing the 40 pounds so that it doesn't rub my belt buckle has been much harder.

Tim