Turn Signal Stalk - Steering Wheel Restoration - Radio Repair

New turn signal stalk finally arrived, and I installed it in the Roady Wagon yesterday.

You have to appreciate the little things in life... Now I'm paranoid about where to push the stalk for fear of rubbing the white off.. Hahaha!  

Thanks to Chris for the VERY detailed tutorial!

Nice white shoes, hahaha. Anyway looks good man!

Well the above stalk change was one of the updates I wanted done before Wagonfest. Sadly I can't make Wagonfest after all, but that does not mean I've stopped my update/repair plans for the Roadmaster. I'm still working the list I made and checking things off as I get them done.

So here is the latest!

As most of us know GM cheaped-out in the 90's on the Buicks. The steering wheel is half leather and half plasti-rubber. AND unlike on old GM cars, rather than mold the wheels in color, the wheels are molded in black and then painted the interior color...so when it wears the black bleeds through...looks bad.

The dark red hides this more than light colors like tan or grey, but it's finally worn through enough that it bothers me. In addition, the leather on the top of the wheel is sunburned...thank you Texas...

I'm took the wheel off and to Leathermenders in Austin Monday. Had them re-do the wheel on my '96 Park Ave Ultra and it looked new, so time for the Roady.

Also, the Scan light on the radio had burned out, so I pulled it too and am having it fixed, and an Aux/I-Pod plug added to it. Would really like the radio control buttons for the steering wheel, but can't find any good ones! Oh well.

Projects! Yanked my car apart Sunday and it's been apart since. Poor thing!!!

Sunburned leather on top of the wheel


This is the side that faces the center of the car...hardly worn


Non-leather area that faces the door window where black is starting to show


Wear on spoke near the airbag


More wear


Tool needed to remove the airbag/bomb....


Dash apart and radio removed...got some dusting to do!


Wheel loose..finally! Took a breaker-bar to get the thing off!!!


It's off...


Ready to be restored.



Poor Roady is sitting in the garage like this now...


I may try to touch-up the chrome lines on this before re-installing it. Showing some where now...too much Armour-All!



So yesterday Leathermenders told me the wheel was done. I drove down on my lunch break and got it. It looked FANTASTIC, until I compared it to the BEFORE pics, where it looked a lot darker and more purple. I thought maybe it was just the camera, but when I got home, sure enough, it was the wrong color. I just took the wheel back this morning, with the airbag, so they can use it for the correct color-match (I hope). I should have taken the bag with me on Monday. Oh well.



No more black showing through the red....err purple...



Upper leather on top of the wheel looks super. No more sun damage!



Hopefully it will still look great when I get it back Friday....and will be the correct color this time!

For now I'm waiting on the stereo. It should be done today or at the latest tomorrow.

Projects! Will update when I get the stuff back!

-Mike

Oh 2nd-try here. Just picked up the wheel...again. MUCH better color-match now! I should have left the airbag the first time!











Can't wait to put it back on the car. Hopefully the radio will be done today too so I can get the car back together. I'm not going to risk putting the wheel back on and then the radio/dash face. If I scratched the steering wheel I'll shoot myself!!

-Mike

Re-installed wheel, color match is very good! Took a few pics in the shade and sunshine. Love it!!








Also radio re-installed with AUX jack added next to the volume knob. Nice!



Another project DONE!

-Mike

What did they do to the wheel? Did they replace all the leather and paint the rest? It sure looks nice! What did it cost?

Looks great...is that an Ipod jack I see on the head unit?