Swapping 1979 - 1982 vs. 1983 - 1989 steering wheels Thunderbird and others

[BBCFORD]

I was researching the differences between the Factory steering wheels for T-birds but it seems to apply to several other cars as well.


1979 - 1982
Ford Models including: LTD, Grand Marquis, Crown Victoria, Mustang, Cougar, Lincoln, Mercury, Thunderbird, etc.
This style of wheel mounts on the hub with splines (unlike the 1983 up noched style).



1983 - 1989
Ford Models including: LTD, Grand Marquis, Crown Victoria, Mustang, Granada, Cougar, Lincoln, Mercury, Thunderbird, Fairmont, etc. This style of wheel mounts on the hub with two flat sides (notches) instead of splines found on 79-82.

I was hoping I could swap a 83 Turbo coupe wheel, onto my 80 bird ...but this sort of bursts that bubble.

The 83 had 2 or3 wheel options best I can tell.

[Travis T]

It's pretty easy to swap the entire column though.

[Dean_T]

If it isn't a tilt column I swapped just the steering shaft on my '83 Fairmont to a splined shaft so I could use the older sport steering wheel. When I turned the car in to the state I swapped everything back.

The tough part is the tilt column. I believe it's easier to do as Travis said and swap over the entire steering column. One thing I noticed is the four spoke cruise control steering wheel you show in the top picture Thunderbird is different than the ones I've found in '83 Fairmont/Zephyr's and '83 Mustangs. The one in your picture has the buttons on the lower spokes and is made with more sun resistant material (unlike the '78-'82 version which has the buttons on the top spokes and made out of cruddy hard plastic that cracks at the slightest hint of sunlight).

The '83 Fairmont/Zephyr/Mustang steering wheel is made with the more sun resistant material and has the buttons on the top spokes. I wouldn't mind having one of those in dark blue for my '82 Cougar wagon but they are hard to find (just like the clear front turn signal lenses on the '83 LTD/Marquis).

Things get really difficult if you want column shift or floor shift. I haven't found too many Mustangs with the blue tilt column plastic covers intact but non tilt columns plastics seem to be more abundant.

I found out the column plastics I harvested from the '85 Grand Marquis doesn't have the key release knob hole like the Mustang version. Funny thing is my '82 Cougar wagon has the hole. So, got to find a Mustang donor...

[BBCFORD]

"The one in your picture has the buttons on the lower spokes and is made with more sun resistant material (unlike the '78-'82 version which has the buttons on the top spokes and made out of cruddy hard plastic that cracks at the slightest hint of sunlight)."

Your not kidding..I went through my storage boxes today and found my 80 steering wheel. Its so loaded with major cracks in that hard plastic, I honestly don't think its worth restoring. The photos are just some of how bad the wheel is. It must have 12 cracks in it.
I was thinking I would just fill in the cruise control spaces in with PC-7 and all the cracks but now that I'm looking at it, this old wheel is really bad. The plastic is so prone to cracking.

I have a Grant wheel 3 spoke wheel on the car for the last 15 years... but would really like to go back to the stock wheel.



It also seems that some 1983 wheels were the old splines vs the flats. I have been researching it more an read they changed the design mid year in 83, so early ones were splines and later were two flats.

[Monty78]

'79-82 were splined
later had the flat

[BBCFORD]

'79-82 were splined
later had the flat

I wouldn't disagree because everything I read said 1983 was only flat then reading more it was suggested that some of the very early 83 wheels were splines. I haven't seen anything to back that claim up though. If the early 83 wheels were splined it would be pretty odd.

[Travis T]

I would be surprised if there was a clean model year break. Ford does some crazy stuff like the 84 1/4 GT I have that is a mixture of 84 and 84 1/2 parts!

[84GT350CONV]

"The one in your picture has the buttons on the lower spokes and is made with more sun resistant material (unlike the '78-'82 version which has the buttons on the top spokes and made out of cruddy hard plastic that cracks at the slightest hint of sunlight)."

Your not kidding..I went through my storage boxes today and found my 80 steering wheel. Its so loaded with major cracks in that hard plastic, I honestly don't think its worth restoring. The photos are just some of how bad the wheel is. It must have 12 cracks in it.
I was thinking I would just fill in the cruise control spaces in with PC-7 and all the cracks but now that I'm looking at it, this old wheel is really bad. The plastic is so prone to cracking.

I have a Grant wheel 3 spoke wheel on the car for the last 15 years... but would really like to go back to the stock wheel.



It also seems that some 1983 wheels were the old splines vs the flats. I have been researching it more an read they changed the design mid year in 83, so early ones were splines and later were two flats.

There is a company out there that restores steering wheels. Can't remember where I saw it but it might have been Hemmings Motor News. It is possible to repair. Weather or not you think it would be worth it, is another matter. I once had a steering wheel recovered in leather at a local upholstery shop. They filled the cracks with epoxy before the material was glued and stitched on. Loved it. They even added extra padding on the rim for a nice meaty feel in your hands. Was not cheap, but I had no choice with the rarity of the car I was working on at the time.

[Dean_T]

It would take a lot of PC-7 epoxy to repair the subject four spoke CC wheel. The plastic is so brittle it keeps cracking. I have a feeling if all the cracks were filled with epoxy the wheel will continue to crack elsewhere. The plastic on my '82 Cougar wagon's wheel is close to crumbling and that car spent 20 years in a garage and only 11 years sitting outside.

If I see an '83 only 4 spoke steering wheel with CC and the newer (less hard more rubbery feeling) material (doesn't feel like the old plastic) at the wrecking yard I'm going to pull it just to see if it is splined or double D. I'm pretty sure the dopey two spoke horror Ford installed in the '83 Fairmont/Zephyr's without cc are all double D but who knows when it comes to Ford and their running changes.

[Mr. Nitrous]

I'll have to dig out and post pics of the leather wrapped 4 spoke wheel I have lying around. I don't remember if it's splined or not tho

[Mr. Nitrous]

Said pics. It's not splined tho.

[BBCFORD]

I ended up going to a yard today and was blown away by how awesome it was. There were lots of vintage cars. I felt like I was back in the 80's when all the yards were full of muscle cars.

Anyway...I scored a wheel off an 82 Thunderbird and to my amazement, it isnt the same hard and brittle plastic, like the wheel I posted above. This has the softer rubbery feel to it. I thought that this wheel was only available in 83 and newer steering wheels (with the flats instead of splines) but sure enough they made them in 1982.

Like Travis mentioned, maybe its a matter of Ford switching stuff in mid year... instead of waiting for the new 1983 production year to begin. But this proves you can get a softer materiel wheel for the 79-82 cars.
Not a crack on this wheel at all, except they still used the same hard plastic rectangle insert (on the back of the wheel), where you have to push out the two retaining pins for the emblem cap.
I know because one was so brittle it cracked to pieces as I tried to push the emblem out. The wheel I picked up today has a hairline crack on that back piece, I'll have to drizzle some super glue across it from the inside but its in super good shape.

The difference is this wheel is a non-cruise wheel, so maybe all the cruise wheels were the hard plastic with the screw on "horn pad bezel" ...and all or some of the non-cruise wheels were made of the later "rubbery feel" material. The bezel is molded right into the non-cruise wheel, vs. the separate plastic bezel that screws on... with a cruise wheel.

I'm going to post a few pictures. Its very dirty but I'll get some up for comparison.

You can see how the only portion that's brittle is the rectangle insert...see how sun faded it is?
I think it's supposed to be red... From the last photo (view of inside) you can see how portions have actually cracked off inside, underneath where the cover goes. My 80 wheel (above) is a maroon color and much darker. Maybe this wheel was also maroon and just sun faded that much.



I made these photos a little smaller but I think they will still prove useful.

Now I have to clean all that black gunk off. The wheel is red under all the crud, but I'm going to repaint it black to match my interior.

[BBCFORD]

I'll have to dig out and post pics of the leather wrapped 4 spoke wheel I have lying around. I don't remember if it's splined or not tho

That wheel is sweet with the leather wrap.

[Mr. Nitrous]

It was sitting in the trunk of the 84 tc that's taking up residence behind my shop. Ill have to clean it up and add it to my wall of odditys

[BBCFORD]

It was sitting in the trunk of the 84 tc that's taking up residence behind my shop. Ill have to clean it up and add it to my wall of odditys

I'm going to paint my maroon color replacement wheel with SEM Color Coat Landau Black aerosol, and looking into purchasing a leather steering wheel wrap kit (the kind you lace with a needle) and see if I can somewhat replicate how Ford did that wheel. I'm hoping it will turn out well and give the wheel a thicker padding.

[Zap's 85 GT]

Did you go to Joes u-pull-it? I love that place. Really depends on the time of year because sometimes that have lots, sometimes they start crushing and have very little.

Looks like the steering wheel you got belonged to a smoker. Nicotine and tar stains make it look very dirty.

[gsims]

This probably does not help you, but here is an SC cruise wheel on my old 85.