Steering wheel : flat or dished?
 

Hi,
I'm looking into replacing my 121's steering wheel with something a little smaller, preferably wood-rimmed.

I quite like the look of the Luisi Montecarlo wheel. Luisi also do a hub that fits on the Amazon.

https://evilspeed.eu/products/luisi-...d-spokes-390mm

However, I think I read somewhere that if the wheel is flat, there's a risk of my hands constantly fouling the indicator stalk. Can anyone confirm?

Dished to clear switches

Based upon my experience with the Moto-lita steering wheel in my 142, you will want dished or a spacer under the hub. I didn't have a big problem hitting the turn signal stalk; but, I did repeatedly whack the OD switch stalk on my 140. The biggest problem was with my legs. Even though the Moto-Lita was smaller in diameter, the lack of dish compared to the OEM steering wheel meant that I had less clearance between the top of my legs and the bottom of the steering wheel. Clutch and brake operation required that my legs go out side ways to avoid hitting the wheel. I am 6' with a 33-34" inseam. If you are shorter that might not be an issue for you. A 1" spacer eliminated the stalk fouling and leg hitting the steering wheel problems so a 1- 1 1/2" dish would probably be a good idea. The dish also eliminates the vintage Italian arms straight out steering style which makes for a more relaxed drive.

When selecting steering wheel diameter, remember that smaller diameter = more steering effort. The large diameter steering wheel was Volvo's answer to no power steering assist. If you need to parallel park a really small steering wheel will be painful.

I bought a smaller diameter Motorlita wheel for my Amazon but found the steering just too heavy so switched back to the larger original. I do run wider Minilite type wheels on my car though which does increase the effort needed over the standard wheels.... .

15" is about as small as you can realistically go. Shallow dish is fine and should clear the switch levers. If you are very careful they will bend a bit but grip the stalk solidly on the column side before you try.