Finally got back to the car after a few health issues put me back a few weeks. Over the last couple of months I have been restoring my original steering wheel and today I finished painting it. Unfortunately there was one small blemish that showed up in the final coat but at this stage it will do as I don’t fancy sanding it back to start again. I also had a crack at rebuilding my ball joints today. Seemed to go smoothly but glad I took photos when I pulled them apart as they are slightly different to the workshop manual and what was in my rebuild kits. All I need to do now is give them a paint as I have already sandblasted and rustproofed them.

The original wheel was in pretty good condition but at hairline cracks around either end of the three spokes.

I started by sanding the wheel down.

Sanded wheel.

Then I ground out all the hairline cracks with a dremel and filled the cracks with epoxy putty.

More sanding of the epoxy putty.

It’s tricky getting all the curves right.

When everything was smooth again I painted the wheel with Rustoleum plastic primer.

Primed wheel.

The wheel was then painted with Rustoleum Satin Heirloom, which was a perfect colour match for the original wheel.

Finished wheel with three coats.

The satin paint was a touch flat so I finished it with two coats of Rustoleum Gloss Clear Coat

Pretty happy with the finish but I had one blemish appear. I guess this is the price for painting in the garage and not a booth. It’s only tiny so I will live with it at this stage.

I also sanded back and painted the mirror stalk.

I bought a replacement mirror glass from the Cortina Club but it was too white so it got a coat of heirloom too. Unfortunately I got one little run with the last pass so I’ll let it cure for a few days and give it a light sand and another coat or two to make sure it is perfect.

I pulled apart my ball joints and had them sand blasted and primed.

I kept all the original ball joint parts which was lucky as one kit was missing a circlip and neither kit had enough shims.

Pretty happy for my first go. I will get the mechanic to give them a check over but they seem pretty good to me. One annoying part was that the wire clips that hold the rubber boot on are way to small and thus aren’t a good fit. I might take them off and tie wire them or even cable tie. Might be a good question for the Facebook Corty guys.

That’s the grease I used. My theory was that I couldn’t use too much grease and there was enough oozing out to suggest they were well greased.