When I first purchased the car the first thing that I did not like was the steering wheel.
It is a great size and has a good feel to it. I did not hate it but I thought it could be improved upon. So I bought a wheel from a 2001 Celica.
When I first got this wheel I notice that the center emblem was all beat to shit. So that had to go.
Then I made my own……
I laminated a piece of 3M 200 PSA to a piece of .04” Acrylic.
Then laminated a piece of Dura-Lar acetate
Cut out my geometry….
Laid out a piece of 3M 92 Polyimide tape (Works great for masking).
Etched the tape…
Removed outer mask. Primed using Rustoleum Professional Primer and Rustoleum Professional Black paint (Flat).
Then removed mask and test fit…
Now believe it or not this was all for a “test” piece. If you noticed, probably not because I missed it too, the logo is different that the OEM MR2. I originally copied the “MR2” design off of a website that had a picture of an MR2 sitcker. Well, now I have the logo on the back of my car to go by.
It sucks that is it off by only a little bit and probably would never get noticed. But I know it is there and it bugs me. I will re-produce the same thing with the appropriate logo. But this was a good test to verify I would have good adhesion with the paint and the acetate. Also, I wanted good peeling from the polyimide and the top coat. I tried 6 different paint types and the Rustoleum worked the best. After I produce the final badge I will encapsulate the entire thing with Polytek 1420 casting resin.
Once I have the final badge it will be held in place with 3M 4905 VHB.
