Just got a set of American racing 15x4.5 fronts ,traded some machine work for them. Less than a hours shop time(95 bucks) . Really nice at that,no curb rash and scars. There out there but People need instant gratification. Be patient and keep your eyes and ears open. Having a few bucks in your pocket helps too. As far as street miles, I probly have around 15-20 k on my halibrands on my coupe. Driven from ny to fla in a snow storm and even traveled on the bqe.that alone should be test enough.
they are still out there. i bought a set for real cheap on the hamb parts for sale recently. its all a matter of how bad you want them and how much time hunting you want to spend to get them.
Tough crowd, these are my "fakenesium" wheels that were graphited. I used the money I saved over buying real wheels and invested it in the drivetrain. They have fooled a few wheel "experts".
Right on, I'm no expert but those look legit, would love to make my aluminum knockoff kidney beans look like that.
Is magnesium even legal on race cars anymore? I know if it starts to burn the fire is all-but-impossible to put out.
They are legal in some classes. The faster pro classes require beadlocks so you won't find them there or any class that requires a sema sticker.. It's the mag panels around the driver that are illegal in all racing. Sheet magnesium can be heated and bent to shape. It's not easy to do. Dragsters were known for using it before carbon fiber became popular.
Ok, just to irritate those that need it the most, a quickie tech on "fakenesium" is now required... . Marcus...
A lot of people giving the original poster a hard time but I just checked - this topic has been discussed a number of times, going back at least ten years.
I bought as cast rocket injector wheels that were real light so I mixed up a potion of graphite and old motor oil worked great just rub it in the more times you do it the darker it gets. doesn't rub off but will clean up with wheel cleaner if you want the light color. just my tip.
I wanted the carb plate, an intake to have a Mag Look, I blasted an shot with a product called magnacoat a friend got me from a welding shop he worked at, was alcohol based, They sprayed it on pressure vessels they built, When shipping
The scrapyard I worked at handled magnesium turnings. The safety officer warned a new guy not to get any type of flame near them. 10 minutes later there was an alarm as a fire and they tried to use the fire hose to put it out. Putting water on a magnesium fire is the wrong thing to do. One worker was smart enough to start moving the boxes out of the warehouse or it would have been worse. The fire department had to put a guy with breathing apparatus in a skidsteer to put sand on the box that was on fire. It took 2 weeks to cool and spalled the concrete floor. The new guy didn't believe that the stuff would burn. He picked up some and lit it with his lighter. When it started burning in his hand, he dropped it back into the box.
I had a friend named Billy, back when we had glass fuses, the ones for the aircompress blew out he put pennies behind the fuse and screwed it back in. Long story short, the fuse box caught fire and the mag wheels stacked near by caught fire ,fire department came and put water on the shop that's when things really got interesting, they finely just let it burn itself out, sure was a bright White fire.
Tried the spray can graphite (with powdered graphite mixed in) and applied with a brush on my coupes aluminum wheels. Don't know how they will hold up, but for now, I like the look.
DDDenny, Do you remember these? I posted them awhile back on the traditional 32 build thread. They still look good after 1100 miles. Started with real Magnesium Halibrands that were blasted and powder coated with dull silver. Then given a light gold tint (to allow silver to bleed thru) and finally powder coated with matte clear. Looks as close to Dow 7 as possible. No more Gibbs or wheel polish.
Those do look good but in all honesty I can't remember what I had for breakfast. They look nice and fresh hanging there but I really like the shot of the coupe at a distance. They resemble the process that Real Rodder Wheels calls Retro Finish, not sure if it really is Dow 7 but that's what they call it. By the way, I was told by an older racer that the difference seen in various Halibrand Dow 7 coatings was due to who was doing it from batch to batch.
Oops, sorry, no that's my car with powdercoated aluminum wheels, that were glass beaded to knock the shine off. The photo below are real American magnesium 5 spokes on my 210.
These are P.S. Engineering Sebring true knockoff wheels, I had Phil make these when he owned the company, current owners call it P.S. Vintage Wheels. http://psvintagewheels.com/home.html I may have to knock these down and patinize them, aluminum won't do it on their own. They look a little anemic.
I use Seymour brand cast blast on mine. Clean up the outer ring with 320 paper. Than just a little Never-Dull. Question...isn't making what you can't find or afford, part of hot rodding??
I’ve done the same on my ‘49 chef beater truck and they look just like these. Fools a lot of people. Sent from my iPhone using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
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