Steering wheel modification #3

just finished this and installed it yesterday. i toned down the walnut burl pattern a little. the reversed walnut burl and vinyl/fabric combination was like one i saw on a Mercedes that was done by Rau Autowood. doing the lacing took a number of tries to get it right. i like this look with the recolored airbag. i’ll see how well the vinyl dye holds up
wheel #3

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You did all this by hand?
Excellent work!

Oh my. How you’re willing to ride without touching it? Unless you ARE willing to touch it, but then you’re going to scratch it!!!

Are you taking orders?

i used a router to shape the wheel and then glue the two halves around the wheel inner frame. then a lot of filling, sanding and staining ! the vinyl was a challenge for sure. took a lot of trying to get the stitching the way i wanted.
drove it 150 miles yesterday on a road trip . a lot better look than the big ugly black thing right in front of you ! :wink:

It really looks great and I congratulate you on a beautiful job, be proud.
In my case, I also own a '94 convertible in BRG. My steering wheel is a factory one that came with the last Celebration models of '95 and '96. I purchased it at my local dealer (SoCal) the day after I got the car, no less than 20 years ago. The airbag cover is black, but I love your recolored airbag better, it looks great. I do have some other wood laminate work on the dash, I’ll send some pics soon.

I could do so much innovation to your dash, making it purely unique. Just let me know…

its unique enough for me.

Well, let’s see unique . . . .

My '94 interior work. Sure hope the pics went through OK

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Looks VERY nice! Where did you get the non-factory wood such as around the climate control? I love your “new” steering wheel so I dyed mine today! It looks much better than the black!

Richard

I made a clear template from the original piece and marked it up on a thin aluminum piece and on a piece of burl wood veneer, then carefully cut both pieces and glued them together. Then finished the veneer with many coats of polyurethane. Finally, I epoxied the aluminum side to the OEM panel. – The top little pieces are just finished veneer glued glued to the OEM surfaces. Just need to be patient and precise with your cutting so the finished product does look like original.
Cheers,

Is the start/stop button functional, using a proximity device? No “key” required? The only thing I miss on my ‘88 is auto door unlocking when the outer door handle touched and push button starting (as long as the proximity device is on my person)), compared to my newer cars.
Otherwise I would pick the Jaguar to drive any day.

I’ve never really understood why such unsecure things are so popular. Is the convenience of saving a few seconds unlocking and starting a car with a key so problematic that you would choose a different car? The journey would have to be shorter than driving out of the garage for it to make any difference.

Wears soft whie clean cotton mittens,

BTW, you asked me where I got the non-factory wood. Well, the material itself I ave a lot of veneer in various patterns. In case that you’re interested I can send you some pieces, just give me the necessary instructions.

Cheers!

Since the car already comes with remote control security and door locks, which is working just fine, I didn’t consider the proximity device. I built a special relay network so one push of the button starts the engine and the next push stops it, and so forth. I built another relay circuit that perfectly emulates the starter switch. It is connected in parallel to the OEM switch, so you can use either one without affecting the other, which is why my design does interface with the car’s security system.

So, was it, then, a Jaguar mistake to begin replacing the key ignition with a push button to “save a few seconds unlocking and starting the Jag”?

I wouldn’t choose one car over another because of keyless; I would always pick the Jaguar for the driving experience. Sometimes stuck with the Jeep if snowing, or the MGB V8 with the top down if weather permits. Or the Chevy if going somewhere less safe.

By the way, where do cadjag and cosmoxl get off for mocking my question? Just asking if it was functional; I also enjoy newer car feature evolution. Comments like yours are whats wrong with this forum. Most of us try to help others, not mock them.

I wasn’t mocking your question on functionality, that isn’t everything that you said. I was surprised that you would consider the choice of which car to drive being down to the entry and starting mechanism. When do you ever drive it if you never choose to unlock it and start it? Just seems strange to me.