72 Super Beetle steering wheel upgrade

[RainbowManFan]

My 72 Super Beetle still has the stock steering wheel which is a bit large for me and is not in very good shape. I have searched all kinds of aftermarket wheels and haven't found anything that I like. I would like to find a padded wheel with padded center/horn button that looks similar to the late model Mexican beetles or perhaps a pre-airbag jetta, golf, rabbit, etc. Does anybody know where I can find this style steering wheel that will fit my 72 Super or perhaps a way to make a later model VW wheel fit? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[Bruce]

The problem you will face is that the later Jetta steering wheel has a smaller spline than your existing wheel.
Have you looked at wheels to fit early Porsche 911s? They use the same spline as your car.
To fit the later Jetta wheel, you would have to swap the steering shaft. If you get the shaft from a mid 74 and later Super, it will have the smaller spline. I'm not sure if the later shaft is a direct fit. If not, you'll have to do some custom work.
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[Joel]

A 74 shaft would be a direct fit but 75 on are slightly longer because of the rack and pinion
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Quick little bug, you got a Porsche motor in that?
1974 Germanlook 1303 2.5 Suba-Beetle

[Bruce]

With Joel's info, you need a steering shaft from a Beetle with a VIN higher than this : 134 2353 465, but lower than 135 2000 001
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[Santiago Cevallos]

[Rome]

'72 was the first year in which the windshield wiper switch was relocated to the steering column; previously was on the dash. The wiper stalk requires installing a steering wheel with a deeper hub so that the wheel rim does not contact/come too close to the stalk. I think the ones from Porsches don't have a deep enough hub.

A '72 VW Beetle steering wheel has a hub depth of approx. 4" from the bottom edge of the hub to the underside of the steering wheel rim (the side closest to the wiper stalk). I have an early Porsche steering wheel with the 4 wide "X" spokes, that has a depth of 3.5". So even if the splines match, it'd be too close to the wiper stalk to still get your fingers in between. I don't know if the Porsche 914 also used the new wiper stalk due to many shared mechanical parts with Type 1. Implying that if so, a steering wheel from such a 914 might work if it has a correspondingly longer hub depth.