Got my steering wheel today

My factory 72 steering wheel showed up today off Ebay. Its in excellent shape with no flaws. Nice to get something decent and be happy with it.
Glad to get rid of the three spoke aftermarket piece of trash thats on the car.


This wheel has very small wires that feed the cheap horn contact for the center button. One of the wires shorted out because it got pinched in the spring for the center cap. Junk. Wouldnt be a big issue except these old cars run the 12 volts feed for the horn up through the column. No fancy relays on these old things. Thankfully it only melted the little wires on the wheel and nothing more. It happened while I was sitting in the car at work and I ripped off the center lightning fast and yanked the wire out. If you guys have this wheel beware of those horn feeds. Another good reason to have a battery cut off switch. I disconnect the battery when its parked. Mine is getting a relay to eliminate that 12v feed. The horn pad will just ground the relay control.

 

Thanks for the info too.... with carb fires and wiring shorts I think more than a few of us are carrying a $25.00 fire extinguisher in the package tray (I am....).

I had a belching fire-breathing carb on the weekend till I figured out a dizzy fault (had a garden hose nearby and only 1/2 gallon in the tank since I just installed a gas tank and fuel lines at the same time. Right now I have the dash out and will seriously look at putting in some relays and checking hot wires for possible ground faults.

Any 12V relay will work?

Three things I fear the most - cracked unseen loose wires, smelling a gas leak, and being able to read the facial expression of a cop following me too closely.

 

Just grab one out of a vehicle if possible. Being at the dealer I get dozens of relays. I just make sure I use one that had the same or similar function on the donor car. Any 4 pin relay usually has the wiring diagram on it. Go and raid an old Dodge minivan. I replace a ton of the fuse boxes (PDC,IPM,TIPM,etc.) under the hood. I keep the good relays and fuses. I have hundreds of fuses. When someone asks if I do a lot of them I just hold up the huge bag of fuses.

Almost forgot. I also carry an extinguisher and a booster pack. I'll feel safer when I get around to upgrading the charging system.

 

LOL I took that same wheel off to install the one you don't like!

 

And I just got mine from Seth today to replace the same type you replaced. Lots of wheel swapping going on.... - Matt

 

Damn we could have swapped.
I dont mind the wheel its the cheap wiring and horn contact. I dont know who the manufacturer is. Probably a few different ones that make the same style. This one reminds me of some made in China junk.

 

WOW, and I took mine off and installed a chain steering wheel.

 

Would that be a factory chain wheel??

 

Didn't the 72's have this type of horn button?

 

My '72 had one like that.

 

72's also had straight spokes, the bent spoke wheel showed up in 75.

rk

 

groo-o-o-vie baby, goes with the high fidelity 8 track player and TWIN mono speakers, eh?

 

I love mono speakers, they sound so good.

 

what he said. there was 2 different wheels in '72. both had straight spokes, but one had the round horn button as previously pictured and the other was the 'deluxe type' where the horn pad stretched from one side to another.

 

Yep but I didnt like that wheel. Reminds me of a Pinto. Replaced that style on my other car with a rim blow wheel. Wish I kept the rim blow.