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DPO Rant

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1965_MGB

1965_MGB

Jedi Warrior
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Okay, since it was raining a bit today, I decided to work on a Les Leston steering wheel I got out of a junkyard a few months back.

The wheel is complete (wood needs restoring), so when I got it home, I just put it aside. Today, I started cleaning things up, and to my horror every screw hole was filled with silicone and either the wrong size screw or a wood screw put in there.

After much cleaning, picking out of silicone, filing the hammer marks out of the mounting boss I started chasing the threads with a tap. As it turns out, all the threads were just fine, but for some reason, the DPO used what ever size screws he had instead of getting the correct size.

I know times can be tight, but I got all the replacements at HD this afternoon for about $5.00.

Now to try to figure out how to fix up the wood... Thanks for listening.
 
Here is a picture of the wheel from above. It is hard to get detail on the wood with my camera. The boss is currently in primer, and taped off. Once it is done, I will post a pic of the boss as well.
 

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Funny thing about that Leston wheel with funny screws.
I purchased my BE with a Leston wheel back in 72 and it had 4 different screws holding the wheel to the boss. Fortunately all of them had the same threads.
I really wonder why this would happen!
BTW, here's a picture of mine - before.
 
Nice looking wheel! Lemme know when you get it finished...I've got one I was gonna toss becase the wood is so bad....hmmmm, hope I haven't already!
 
I found a product for restoring the wood called CPES. It is a wood restorative that touts it fills the wood with resin, and makes it hard again.

Hopefully I will receive it in a few days, and give it a try. The wheel is complete, so I don't have any wood missing, it is just dry rotted.

Donn, mine looked just like that, with the aluminum all fuzzy. It took a bit of doing to get it to the point you see it in, but I am almost happy with my results.
 
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