Z3 AC Schnitzer Steering Wheel Refurbishmemt

[Jjim]

My Silver ‘97 1.9 has slowly been progressing over time with more and more AC Schnitzer parts being added.

My latest addition is a genuine AC Schnitzer steering wheel. Unfortunately the one I found was in a bit of a sad state, but the leather was still intact. Time for a refurb

The steering wheel in its raw state as I received it

So the carbon wings were removed, the leather cleaned downed and prepped.

There were a couple deep scrapes on the leather, so these were filled and flattened a couple of times.

I then applied 4 coats of black nappa dye, and then 4 coats of Matt sealer.

The top clear coat on the carbon wings was extremely discoloured and peeling. So the clear coat was removed and 2 layers of clear resin applied. Between the layers wet and dry sanding was used to level out high and low spots.

The finished wheel

Happy with the end result

Just waiting to fit it to the Z3. Problem is the Z3 is in storage 260 miles away, and I’m in lockdown till who knows when

 

[andyglym]

Top job mate

 

[mwpe]

Great looking job Jim, that's a nice looking wheel.

 

[billz]

Excellent job. Looks great

 

[Craig Machin]

Great job looks really smart

 

[petecossie]

I bet you could sell it now refurbished for a lot more than you bought it for, great job you have done there.

 

[Mint]

Excellent job you've done there James. Good man

 

[Stevo7682]

Nice work again James your becoming a dad hand at the re dye stuff .

You must be well pleased with your results.

Stephen.

 

[Jjim]

Nice work again James your becoming a dad hand at the re dye stuff .

You must be well pleased with your results.

Stephen.

Thanks

Enjoy working with leather. Going to have a go at recovering the dash trim around the heater control & switches with some real carbon fibre fabric and resin coating it. See how it comes out.

 

[Stevo7682]

Look forward to see how it turns out is this to compliment the wheel.

 

[Nodzed]

Excellent James.

 

[Davyhoogy]

Where did you even find one of those? Is that what's really at the end of a rainbow? Lol

 

[Jjim]

Where did you even find one of those? Is that what's really at the end of a rainbow? Lol

Lot of hard searching and in the end I got it from bloke in the Netherlands.

 

[Stevo7682]

Is that all the ACS parts you can get for the silver zed or is there still bits out there.
Stephen.

 

[Jjim]

Is that all the ACS parts you can get for the silver zed or is there still bits out there.
Stephen.

Still on the lookout for the AC Schnitzer door mirrors and centre console.

Found some mirrors on the continent but the bloke wants €2000 for them
They are rare as, and don’t think I can justify the cost.

Only seen the centre console for LHD

 

[Grumps]

That looks great mate.

 

[Sean d]

That's is a quality job pal, I love refurbishing stuff like this,

 

[Paul Rice]

Lot of hard searching and in the end I got it from bloke in the Netherlands.

LHD only then

 

[Althulas]

I’ve been looking for centre console for years as well. I have some carbon wrap that I was considering wrapping it in but not what I really was after. I’ve been looking at some vids from easy composites https://www.youtube.com/user/easycompositestv and thought after seeing what you did on your steering wheel that you might find it interesting with your skill set. This video

View: https://youtu.be/zeE1FdcQ3c8
on using sheet wax may be an approach I was considering. What do you think @Jjim

 

[Jjim]

I’ve been looking for centre console for years as well. I have some carbon wrap that I was considering wrapping it in but not what I really was after. I’ve been looking at some vids from easy composites https://www.youtube.com/user/easycompositestv and thought after seeing what you did on your steering wheel that you might find it interesting with your skill set. This video

View: https://youtu.be/zeE1FdcQ3c8
on using sheet wax may be an approach I was considering. What do you think @Jjim

Very interesting

Hadn’t thought about creating a mould. I was thinking about covering in a carbon weave and then covering in resin.