My son is building a 28 Tudor and wanted a little more room between the B pillar and steering wheel to enter and exit as the seats are low and set back. He was surfing the web and found a 15 1/2” VW or Porsche banjo steering wheel. It also has a keyed centre and 7.5 degree taper so slipped right on the Ford shaft we just had to remove maybe 3/16” of the rear of the hub as it was too long to allow the ford nut full engagement. We just adapted a 38/39 horn button and cut some groves in the bars on the spokes and rounded the ends like 38/39 have as before they were like lazy chunks of Aluminum bar stock.
Very nice.Did you take the wheel apart to remove,and round the ends of the bars,or were you just careful with a file.I really like the look...will have to keep it in mind for the next build.
Looked at ebay,and the wheels are there for 240 bucks.Seems you need a "boss" kit to install.Some kits have splines like later US cars.Dont know if theres any interchange there.One boss kit for 55-67 micro buses has the taper/key way.The kits run 50-75 bucks.Not bad really for a great looking wheel.Any one know if a American spline like the Ford F1 fits a VW wheel spline?
Yep I thought the boss kit was a bit steep, but what are you going to do? Think the boss kit was $50 and the wheel $246 both from different vendors. We somehow accidentally lost the VW steering wheel centre ,true , but it came with the wheel,so it would have gone in the swap meet pile anyway. We just taped up the bars and got the Dremel out with a cutting wheel and got comfortable and hand sanded the bars till they were ready to polish.
Just a thought.....If a guy was working with a splined shaft like the F1,or F100 you could get the splined adapter from a old Grant wheel kit.It has a large flat flange for bolting on custom wheels.The Grant flange could be installed from the bottom of the german banjo,and new bolt holes drilled in the wheel center,or turn the flange down in size until it will drop in the center of the german wheel.Drill new mounting holes if needed. Lots of possibilities for mounting that nice wheel.
I have one in my 32 sedan that limeworks used to make. They machined a ring in the center that excepts a ford horn button. I'm glad I got one before they stopped selling them.
This is where we got ours. https://www.ebay.com/itm/Banjo-Styl...563528?hash=item1ef38476c8:g:klUAAOSwyNxcUMLf
Tri-C engineering made the tilt column for me. The wheel end of the column has the flange built in and the flange has standard 3-hole pattern (like any steering wheel adapter would have) the Banjo bolts directly to the column using the three bolts.
OP...what did it take to make the 38 horn rod/button fit? Is the diameter correct for the hole ,or did you need to reduce it to fit?
The horn is non functional as we have universal joints in the column .But there is no reason the Ford horn Rod etc would not work on a factory V 8 steering . The diameter of the overall button is very slightly larger not even 1/8” so is not readily noticeable , but for the anal it could be reduced easily. I came up with a twist and lock idea to hold the button on ,which didn’t work out too great. My son said lets drill and tap the column and adapt a bolt to the horn button and thread it on .
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