Lotus Cortina Steering Wheel Compatibility - Early vs Late

[Benny]

I've posted this elsewhere, so my apologies if you are seeing this for a second time. I'm about to purchase one of Len Chandler's replica Lotus Cortina SE leather steering wheels.

To make a long story short, I plan to use the wheel on my pre-Airflow car for the next year or two, then swap it over to my Airflow car when that car is back on the road.

My question is whether the hub on an Airflow LC steering wheel will "play nice" with the steering column surround on the early car, or will there be a potential interference? Len wasn't sure, so I wondered if anyone had tried this combo?

Thanks,

Ben

[tommy]

Pre aeroflow car has a flatter steering wheel,with a longer steering column compared with an aeroflow, with it's dished steering wheel and shorter steering column. Aeroflow steering wheel in a pre aeroflow car will have the rim of the steering wheel closer to the driver than originally intended. Self cancel for the indicators (turn signals) is on the steering wheel boss on a pre aeroflow, but a plastic cam on the column is how it's done on an aeroflow, so self cancel won't work with your aeroflow wheel on a pre aeroflow.
Tommy

[Benny]

Thanks Tommy,

My car has its seats mounted quite far back, so the extra dish on the steering wheel should not be a problem. My main concern was interference between the boss and the shroud, but the shroud can slide down the column a bit, so I'm confident it will be ok.

[tommy]

I had a mk2 1600E steering wheel on my pre aeroflow deluxe (mk2 uses the same column shroud as an aeroflow mk1). It went on no problem, but there was actually a fairly large gap between the rear of the boss and the shroud.