Quick release steering wheel

[George Heighway]

Hi, just bought my first Westfield. It's a 1992 Se narrow and I'm looking at fitting a quick release steering wheel to make getting my 6'2" self in and out of the car a little easier. Only trouble I'm having is finding out what shaft has been fitted, been told by previous owner it's almost certainly a ford shaft. Are the boss' universal and will fit any steering shaft? Or will I have to find out exactly what make it is and then order a boss accordingly. Thanks 

p.s. I don't have  any photos of the shaft at the minute but if needed I can get some. 

[Terry Everall]

Talk to Luke at Playskool

[Kevin (Mr T)]

+1 for Luke. His Works Bell quick release is superb (not cheap) and he will weld the slug onto the existing shaft, if you send it to him.

[Captain Colonial]

As a fellow narrow owner, I can confirm a quick release will help in getting into the car.  Fitting it now when it's cold is ideal.  +1 for speaking to Luke.

http://www.plays-kool.co.uk/acatalog/WorksBell.html

The things you need to consider:

> Distance from the back of the wheel to the dash / distance from the front of the wheel to your chest.  Get this wrong and the wheel could be so close to the dash that your hands rub the dash and switches, or so close to your chest that it makes driving uncomfortable.  So the QR depth needs to be taken into account.

> Wheel diameter.  Measure what you currently have.  I reduced from 300mm to 280mm and it made a big difference to leg movement at the knees and thighs.

> Wheel PCD.  You'll need to know the spacing between the wheel bolts if you want to stick with your current wheel.

[SootySport]

In most cases you'll have one of two steering columns,  you need to remove the horn button or centre cap on the wheel to find out     Ford version has a bolt securing the steering wheel to the steering column or a British Leyland version with a nut holding the steering wheel to the column.

I have the BL version so I can tell you that,  if splined end has  48 splines  ( you'll need to count them)  then this is a Land Rover/Mini/Allegro column.  You can then change the old 100pcd boss to a more modern standard 70/74pcd boss and then fit the quick release and steering wheel of your choice, nearly all the steering wheel manufactures use the 70/74pcd boss.    These bosses have the capability of fitting either the 70 or 74 pcd steering wheels.  

It's difficult to work out how much more projection the steering wheel will stand off the dashboard  before you buy any parts. Best to buy the boss and steering wheel of your choice and fit them, you'll then have an idea where the steering wheel will end up as the smaller steering wheels as fitted to Westfields are generally flat and not of the dished variety.  You can then buy the QR and/or spacers to fit between the steering wheel and the QR to achieve the correct distance or have the column welded shorter or longer.   If having the column welded you really, really need a competent person to do this and Luke at Playskool is recommended.

[DE04*]

+1 playskool works bell,really good quality