How is the fit different for steering wheels between early and late cars? (70-74 vs 75-76) I have a beautiful Nardi wheel from our old Benz. Looking for a Nardi hub for my 75 teener. The only adapter I can find is 70-74 or 911 stuff. I thought they were about the same.

Believe the split was actually late '72, not '74. The spline count, shaft depth and diameter, and horn contacts are some of the notable differences between the early and late columns.

EDIT: most aftermarket hubs are '70-71, and 72-76.

The Nardi/Personal hubs can be hard to find, and the descriptions on them are less than helpful. I was looking for Formuling hubs a couple years ago for a different car and ran across the Luisi hubs. Looks like there's one listed for the '72 and on cars that may be worth a try.

EBay Luisi link

Another option is the tried and true MOMO hub with an adapter/spacer ring. The MOMO hub part number is 8002. There is a solid and a safer "collapsible" version, both with the same part number.

MOMO hub

MOMO to Nardi adapter/spacer

This is not true. There are no differences in spline count, shaft depth or diameter in all 914 steering columns. All of the Porsche columns use the same spline count as the 914. The only difference in the 914-4 is an additional plastic adapter attached to the back of the wheel to hold the VW wiper contact. If you take it off, you can use the steering wheel on a 911 or 914-6.

If you do a search, there is a video on here that shows Ed Mayo (PCA 914 tech adviser) moving a steering wheel from a 914-6 to a 914-4 and it goes on with no issues.

And I have seen a VW Thing with a 944 steering wheel on it. The spline counts are all the same.

Edit: Here is the link to the 914World thread on this. It has the video in it. http://www.914world.com/bbs2/index.php?sho...77498&st=20

In addition...

Since that thread, we bought a factory six. When we bought it, it had an aftermarket steering wheel in it. Betty's 914-4 (a 74) had a 73 steering wheel on it. My six conversion (A 73 with a 911 column) had a 70 steering wheel on it. I had a 74 steering wheel redone to Betty's specification for her car. So I put it on her 914-4, moved the 73 wheel to my six conversion with the 911 column, and put that steering wheel to the 1970 914-6.

All of the steering wheels used in 914s are all the same.

Apologies. I seem to remember having problems getting a MOMO 0230 in an 8002 box and it not going on properly. I know the switches and horn contacts vary. Perhaps those are the provisional differences between the early and late aftermarket hub adapters. They are VERY different. I know on the late hub you have to transfer over the contact/cancel ring from the stock steering wheel. Early uses a totally different horn contact method.

70-71 MOMO hub p/n 0230


72-76 MOMO hub p/n 8002

That's correct. The plastic adapter on the back of the stock steering wheel is completely different between a 70-71 and a 72 and up 914-4. But all of the shafts are splined the same and all of the 914 factory steering wheels are interchangeable. You have to move over the correct type of adapter/cancel ring for the early 4, late 4 or 6 steering columns. That's why the adapters are different, not the actual factory steering wheels.

In my experience with a Luisi hub on my 1970 model year 914, the hole in the hub for the spring loaded horn contact is not drilled in the correct place to actually make contact with the brass horn ring piece in the steering column.

The more you know! Thank you for the info, Clay.

Something I always wanted to know. Thanks for the info Clay.

Matt

Regarding a Nardi pattern hub, you may have luck connecting with Tactico-RA.com as all of their wheels use the Nardi bolt pattern and they also sell hubs.

I took the wheel and adapter to a shop
I had them make me a 1/2 inch round adapter to go from Momo to Nardi

I could not find just a nardi to 914 adapter.
The momo stuff is all over the place online.

Rich

Little info on stock hubs and wheels...

914 Steering Wheel Numbers

914/6:
914.347.803.10 for 914/6 Model 70/71 hard rubber
914.347.806.10 for 914/6 Model 70/71 leather
914.347.805.11 for 914/6 Model 72 leather

914/4 Model 70/71:
914.347.804.10 for 914/4 Model 70/71 hard rubber
914.347.805.10 for 914/4 Model 70/71 leather
914.347.090.10 for 914/4 Model 70/71 hard rubber w/ horn pad USA only
914.347.091.10 for 914/4 Model 70/71 leather w/ horn pad USA only

914/4 Model 72 onwards:
914.347.804.11 for 914/4 Model 72 onwards hard rubber
914.347.090.11 for 914/4 Model 72 onwards hard rubber w/ horn pad USA only
914.347.805.11 for 914/4 Model 72 onwards leather
914.347.091.11 for 914/4 Model 72 onwards leather w/ horn pad USA only
914.347.809.00 for 914/4 Model 72 onwards foamed ring

Any early 914-4 wheel that ends in "10" is identical to a 914-6/early 911 wheel.
Besides not having the two little holes drilled to hold the 914-6/911 cancel ring, the wheels that end in "11" have a slightly different chamfer or angle on the back of the aluminum hub where they rest on the steering shaft. The "10" fits a Porsche steering shaft, the "11' fits VW, though you can make either one work. The switchover point between the 10 and 11 wheels started in the 1972 914's. The '72 914-6 used a VW steering shaft and thus used a 914.347.805.11 wheel.


Stock OEM Hubs
Early Hub left (70 to late 72)
Late Hub right
Note height difference...
Click to view attachment
Click to view attachment

That’s not true. All the wheels will fit all the years but not perfectly. Early 914 wheels use a 911 hub. 72-76 use a VW hub. While the splines on the wheel are the same, the back of the hub is different. They will all fit but not perfectly and not the way Porsche designed them to fit. The early/911 hubs have a 90 degree face on the rear. The VW hubs have a chamfered face on the back. The chamfered/VW face does not sit flat on a 90 degree/Porsche steering shaft. That’s why the early/1970-71 914 wheels are desired by the 911 guys. The 1973 911RS and 1974RSR used 1970-71 914-6 wheels with a flat hub and not a 1973-1974 914 wheel because by 73-74, the 914’s all had VW hubs.

It’s a small detail but important if you what the fit between the hub and steering shaft to be perfect, not just acceptable.