SDGuy

OK, I had been admiring the handiwork of a fellow in Britain who was selling the Club Sport type steering wheel but with a nice twist - an inset cloisonne gold crest rather than the "stuck on" kind sold by several US vendors. See his ebay auction for background:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...sPageName=WDVW
and this previous thread on Rennlist that I had started:
https://rennlist.com/forums/924-931-944-951-968-forum/200119-930s-968-club-sport-steering-wheel-madness-group-buy.html
As it turned out, the ebay'r wrote back to me and said he was modifying the horn pad to insert the crest.

So I tried my hand at it today:

1) ordered a Porsche horn pad # 968-347-059-00-8YR ($60)
2) I got a nice crest that was slightly larger than the embossed crest on the pad
3) I use a heat gun to gently peel off the leather (whew, intact)
4) I used a straight router bit on my drill press to cut out an area for the crest on the plastic base that was 1/16" oversized all the way around and 3/16" deep at the deepest point (the surface is rounded, so it is shallower at the edges).
5) I recovered the pad using the same leather piece and spray adhesive
6) I peeled off the backing on the crest and stuck it on.

What do you think? Now I just have to get the steering wheel which will come with another horn pad.

ps - not sure if this method will be identical for the aftermarked 930S wheels sold by Pelican/AJUSA, etc. Can anyone tell if the bsack of the horn pad looks like it has the same mating pins as this Porsche part?

horsepowerfarm

Boy, I thought I was twisted.

Great job.

bigsheldy

Nice job! That's really clean. How much did all that set you back?

SDGuy

Thanks. I'll take a picture of the entire wheel when I get the thing installed. The horn pad is the cheap part - about $60. The entire steering wheel runs about $400. The crest is under $30 and my labor, of course, priceless .

Mongo

hey dude what part of San Diego are you from? Great job BTW! I love those steering wheels!!!!

SDGuy

I'm in Poway. Are you familiar with San Diego?

bigsheldy

Wow, that's alot more than I thought. In any event, it's a really nice, clean wheel (as I said before). You should make a few of those and sell them, I'm sure there's a market.

testarossa_td

Excellent work...can't wait to see it installed.

MichelleJD

Very nice!

Judson951

Man I paid like 258 shipped with the crest installed for my 930s steering wheel from Aj usa.

SDGuy

Going to install the wheel today. Is the socket size 24mm? Is the wiring tricky? Thanks....
pic below - if the horn pad doesn't look flush, it is because it is laying on top and not ""clicked on".

shmucklebuckle

I think so.
I've taken my 944's steering wheel off a few times, there is only 1 wire - the ground. It just clips on.
Wow! soooo nice looking!

SDGuy

Here it is in the car. Feels very good.

shmucklebuckle

Yes Well! For several hundred dollars, it had better feel at least "pretty good!"

SDGuy

Several people have pm'd me about the details of replacing their wheel with this style wheel. I think I confused people because I bought an extra horn pad initially to experiment with. There are 2 flavors of wheel - the Porsche part 968 club sport wheel that I installed and an aftermarket sold by the catalogs (FVD, Pelican, AJUSA). Both come WITH A HORN PAD, are made by Atiwe in Italy and are of high quality. After seeing them both in person, I would be happy to own either. The catalog version with the 3 pieces of leather avoids the long center seam at the bottom and feels a bit smoother with more of a glove-soft padded feel. The Porsche part uses a pebbled leather that feels firmer and "drier" for lack of a better term. The diameter on both wheels is about one inch smaller than stock and the wheels are both of identical thickness which is thicker than stock. Here are some details:

1) You must have a late 944 or 951 or 924S from what I understand. It fits the 968 but requires disabling the airbag- probably not a good idea.
2) AJUSA offers a Rennlist discount. See this link for the discounted $345 AJ USA wheel:
http://www.ajusa.com/cgi-bin/pb/view...+348+084%7C232
If ordering from AJUSA, the hub will be included in the price but be sure they are giving you the proper hub - # 1729X
3) For the Porsche branded part, you might try Sunset Porsche at 800-346-0182 and order part # 968.347.084.00.8YR Cost was $380 plus $10 shipping. This is the wheel I have and includes the hub already attached and ready to go. The horn has the embossed crest into the leather.
4) You will hear talk of need a "spacer/offest" device with these wheels when you read through the catalogs. Not necessary for the 944! Turns out that this is recommended for 911 installs, because the wheel gets too close to the turn signal stalk and also can obsure the guages. My replacement wheel is in the same spot as the original wheel.
5) Remember, neither of these wheels comes with the gold crest. If you need help insetting a crest, send me a PM.