Looking to upgrade my 65 mustang steering wheel. Would like to have some
input from people that have already done this. What kind, how hard to do, etc, Thanks, Keith

 

I tried a Grant real walnut wood steering wheel on Muskrat (66 Mustang) and I was... less than happy, the horn button was... stupid. I loved the actual wheel, but I hated it overall because of the horn situation.

I found, quite by accident, a woodgrain 'original' plastic one, and immediately bought it on site. I suggest that. I simply cannot recommend anything other than spending the money on a good quality 'original' steering wheel, simply for the horn ring issue.

Now, I just looked, and (as it happens, the place I found the above) they have the 'Pony' woodgrain steering wheel compete kit:
http://johnsmustang.com/Parts/details-10194.html

Very nice. If they'd had that, I would have totally gotten it. That's the correct wheel for any '65-6 Mustang, you ask me.

 

Yeah I don't really recommend grant wheels even though I have it on mine. There is another one Mustangs Unlimited has that I would like, just search sebring style and it will pop up.

 

Here's the "Sebring" wheel installed on my 67 coupe. It is a much better choice both technically and style-wise. I too bought it from Mustangs Unlimited.

 

I think I have a grant wood steering wheel kit, I like the look but when im at the track the light turns green and I dump the clutch the horn button hits me in the chest then my horn is on till the end or my run.

 

The wheel is nice the horn button kit is not so good.

 

Exactly.

 

If you want to keep your Grant wheel, there’s a way to replace the crappy Grant horn cap with something that works! It is a bit expensive but it gives you a finished wheel that looks like an original wood-grain wheel for half the price.

Go to any Mustang aftermarket parts supplier (National Parts Depot, Mustangs Unlimited, Virginia Classic, Mustangs Plus, etc.) and order the steering wheel cap kit for the original wood-grain wheel. Be sure the kit contains the cap, outside emblem (Mustang or Shelby), spring clip retainer and foam pad. The cap comes assembled with emblem on the outside and the foam pad and spring clip retainer inside. You’ll also need the horn spring from the Grant cap.

When you first attempt to place this cap on the Grant wheel, it will be obvious that it doesn’t fit. You need to make two modifications to make it so. The gaps for the three arms of the Grant wheel don’t exactly match the wood-grain cap. You must use a Dremel tool (or the like) to grind off enough of the side-to-side space in the arm gaps to make the cap line up. Be careful here not to let the tool run away and scratch your new cap! Also, only take off enough to leave a proper side-to-side fit.

When you have the cap openings cut enough for the cap to fit down comfortably over the arms, it still won’t latch correctly as it stands. The second fix simply involves bending the 3 spring clips on the inside curves of the retainer plate (inside the cap) inward about 3/8” each until they can engage the rounded cutouts in the Grant horn top plate.

When all this is ready, install the cap for real with the spring and test it out!! That modified cap will NOT come off at will. In fact, it will be a challenge to manually remove the cap if you need to.

For pictures of the cap item I’m talking about, go online to National Parts Depot (http://www.npdlink.com) and look up part 3623 on the bottom-right of p. 93 of the current 65-73 Mustang catalog. Flip the page to p. 94 at top-left to see an image of the retainer plate.

I did this cap modification some 15 years ago on a ’65 coupe and it came out looking really good!! I’m truly disappointed that after all these years Grant still hasn’t fixed the horn button issue.