WHEELS, Wheels of Steel

[timebandit]

It may well happen that this subject has been covered before, and some of you for sure already know this procedure.
But whata heck, just in case some find it valuable I`ll do it anyway.

I needed some wheels for my F1, but didn`t find any 15" steelies that fitted my application. I am running a 79` Ford LTD IFS
and that one is a bit wider than stock effie, so I needed a little negative offset on the rims.
In this country you cant take a trip to the nearest boneyard to find a load of american car parts. I had however a couple of 50`s Volvo 15" wheels
with 4,5" bolt pattern. But they were only 4" wide. I also had a couple of spare 5.5" rims from an old project laying around, so
I figured I could pair the two together.

The following method can be used on a number of applications. Reversed rims, custom offset, wider rims,narrower rims etc.
It is also the safest way to modify stock wheels to my knowledge.
What you need to know first is that the wheels you are going to pair have close to the same inner diameter of the rim where the center is mounted. More often than not they will match. As an example I once paired a couple of old 7.5" Firebird rims to 60`s VW bug centers with perfect results.
http://home.c2i.net/torjesen/wheels%20of%20steel/wheel1.jpg

[timebandit]

First to do is to remove the center from the rims. The wheel centers can be either spot welded, mig welded or even riveted to the rim.

Mine were spotwelded as you see in this photo. If yours are mig welded on the inside, simply cut through the weld with the cutting wheel.
http://home.c2i.net/torjesen/wheels%20of%20steel/spot2.jpg

[timebandit]

I drilled through all the spotwelds, 8 in all. If you are going to re-use the same rim, dont drill all the way through the center. Easier to weld them together later.
I was going to scrap them, so I use the new holes in the center to weld it to the new rim.


http://home.c2i.net/torjesen/wheels%20of%20steel/drill3.jpg

[timebandit]

Used a butt chisel to knock loose the centers. Wear thick gloves. I once fractured a finger doing this very thing, when the hammer head came loose from the handle.

http://home.c2i.net/torjesen/wheels%20of%20steel/chisel4.jpg

[timebandit]

Dismantled.

http://home.c2i.net/torjesen/wheels%20of%20steel/loose5.jpg

[timebandit]

Cleaned up the center with a wirebrush + the new 5.5" rim. Should of cource have sand blasted them first, but desided to do it later.

http://home.c2i.net/torjesen/wheels%20of%20steel/clean6.jpg

[timebandit]

Knocked the center in the new rim. If the center is a bit loose, you can carefully knock the edge a little bit around the diameter
on an anvil or something to create a little nick. The center should fit tight, but you should not
need to force it in with a sledge hammer. The trick is to be able to adjust it later.
Now you can adjust the rim in or out to get the desired backspace. You could even put the tire on to check fender clearance first before you deside
.
http://home.c2i.net/torjesen/wheels%20of%20steel/together7.jpg

[timebandit]

Other side.


http://home.c2i.net/torjesen/wheels%20of%20steel/backside8.jpg

[timebandit]

Balancing. I guess the best to use is a wheel balancing machine, but I dont have one, and after all this is backyard mechanics.
Mounted the wheel on the front spindle. I use the pointy end of the anvil as an indicator,use whatever you have as long as
it is stable. Give the wheel a good spin and check for trueness. Adjust if needed with a smack with the hammer until it
is perfectly true.


http://home.c2i.net/torjesen/wheels%20of%20steel/anvil9.jpg

[timebandit]

Tack weld the center on the backside first, and check it for trueness on the spindle again. If everything is correct weld it up
solidly.
The end result is a safe, economic custom width wheel with perfect offset for your application.

http://home.c2i.net/torjesen/wheels%20of%20steel/tire10.jpg

[34 GAZ]

I see your 5.5 leftover project rims are for tubeless
tyres but do you know what they were from?

[Rocknrod]

Hard for me to imagine a couple spot welds handling a 3,000lb car being thrown through the corners... but I guess thats the way they've built em for years on end, havent heard of many failures!

Cool, cheap tech... I vote a tech-o-matic on this one! http://www.jalopyjournal.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cool.gif

[timebandit]

[ QUOTE ]
I see your 5.5 leftover project rims are for tubeless
tyres but do you know what they were from?

[/ QUOTE ]

The rims are 1973 VW 1303S super beetle. Leftovers from a buggy project some 8 years ago. Back then I paired the bug centers with 9" rims.

[Roothawg]

Very interesting. I like the fact that you used what you had and made it work. Very Kool.

[34Fordtk]

Very cool,great job!!

[Levis Classic]

This is the old hot rodders trick. They used 7 and 8 inch wide 50's buick rims and put in Ford centers.

Good stuff!

[ray]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
I see your 5.5 leftover project rims are for tubeless
tyres but do you know what they were from?

[/ QUOTE ]

The rims are 1973 VW 1303S super beetle. Leftovers from a buggy project some 8 years ago. Back then I paired the bug centers with 9" rims.

[/ QUOTE ]

the more things change......

neat how you used the old "narrow" wheel scraps to widen some even narrower wheels!

[Paul]

btt

[atch]

to drill the spot welds out do you just center punch each one by eye and use a hand held drill?

or is there a better way?

[timebandit]

Yes. just center punched and used hand held drill.
The welds broke loose right away in my case.
But perhaps one could use a special spot weld drill bit.
The spot welds are usally quite large in diameter however