Upgraded my steering wheel to U13 spec

[Jono]

I bought Alister's old wheel off him last night and fitted it even though I was dead tired from the cruise.

U12 wheel:


Alister's U13 wheel:


A tech article is on the way.

[Carbon-goodness]

looks very nice man

all u hav to do now is get rid of the poo brown dash!    (hehe, j/k)

[Jono]

Yeah I know... I'm thinking about painting it all black and light grey/silver, but I'm not sure whether normal paint would stick, or would it go like Pringles' dash?

Has anyone had really good results from painting their dash?

The wheel doesn't look anywhere near as black as it does in that photo, it's got more of a brownish tinge to it.

It doesn't really worry me anyway. It's good to have a wheel that has a grip that's actually attached to the frame of the wheel.

[Alister]

Looks great mate

As for painting your dash, i've heard that VHT Vinyl Dye works well. Don't forget to prep the surface too,

[Jol san]

Hey thats a cool little mod
Just out of interest what did the wheel cost you? I realise you probably got mates rates but im just looking for a ball park figure...

[Ka-Bluey]

Looking good Jono
Will be good to see the seats in too

[Jono]

I'd say the wheel would cost about $100 from the wreckers, I got the wheel and back seats for $50, Alister said if I buy the seats I can have the wheel for nothing because the wheel has the top layer of vynil crumbling off the top of it.

I put some Armor-All on the crumbling bit of the wheel tonight, now it's stopped crumbling but it's made it a little sticky.

I'll grab a can of that VHT stuff next time I'm in Supercheap, Alister.

[Alister]

Yeah gave the wheel to Jono for free because of the damage and the fact that he enquired about my seats first but wasn't sure if the back ones would fit and then another buyer said he'd take both but decided against it when he came tp pick em up and only bought the front seats. So it was a bit of a sorry present for Jono
Jol San: If Jono managed to fit the U13 Series 1 wheel to his U12, then i'm sure you could fit a U13 Series 2 wheel to a U12. Check the link in my sig.
My U13 Series 2 SSS leather wheel cost me only $125 from Sandgate Wreckers but I think Dave did it for me at that price since i'd bought quite a lot of stuff from the wreck previously.
All Auto Recyling wanted $270 for a U13 Series 1 SSS leather wheel!

Jono: Apparently it does the job quite well, a member of another forum painted his dash white using the stuff and it turned out really well
Let us know how it goes.

[liquidforcetrip]

Nice work with the wheel swap...

Maybe you can buy NU12's black dash... he's had it out for ages & i don't see him needing it anytime soon haha...

[Pinsair]

yeh man see if you can find a cheap black dash, other panels etc rather than painting it. even if you do get a nice finish you've always got to be wary of scratching it and it looks really bad if it starts flaking off (did it in my Gli).

steering wheel looks good.

[Jono]

I have half the black trim out of my Corsair, but about a quarter of the panels are damaged.

Pinsair, did you use vynil dye, and did you prep the panels before painting them?

[Alister]

yeh man see if you can find a cheap black dash, other panels etc rather than painting it. even if you do get a nice finish you've always got to be wary of scratching it and it looks really bad if it starts flaking off (did it in my Gli).

steering wheel looks good.

If you prepped it properly and clear coated it properly then it shouldn't scratch off.

[Jol san]

Thanks Alister, thats a big help. 
Its amazing how it can change the whole feel of your car...

[Pinsair]

yeh i used vinyl dye, only prep i did was giving the surface a good clean. and i didnt use clear cote, heard bad stories of glare refelecting off it. i probably made it sound a bit worse than it was in my previous post, it didnt scratch easily but the odd accident like a passenger rubbing something up against it (glove box was the worst) left a scratch and just looked really cheap and tacky. you could probably do it properly and it'd be alright but if i was going to do it again just for piece of mind and considering how cheap you could find a black interior i'd just replace it.

[Jono]

I've got most of the black dash out of my wrecker, I might just swap that over. The top of the dash is cracked and scratched, I might just replace it with new vinyl.

Jol san, I know what you mean about changing the feel of the car, my suspension feels alot tighter through corners now  ... probably because the grip of the wheel is actually fastened to the frame