pntastar69
Well-Known Member
Picked up this wheel from a FABO member a while ago. Let me add that it wasn't a basket case but it was a 40 year old wheel. I chatted w/a few guys that restores wheels and got some pointers from them on how to redo. The spokes were severely pitted, the rim had the usual ½ cracks/separations, and the rim was slightly bent. I called a few people and inquired about $$$ to restore them and I said, Ill give it a whirl. So, this was my winter project and I just installed it last week. I removed all of the material on the rim and exposed .380 round stock that was welded to the spokes. I also had to straighten out the bent portion of the wheel. I inquired about replating the spokes and opted to blast the spokes and have them powder coated. Once that was done, it was time to start building up the rim with f-glass and epoxy resin until I achieved the correct diameters so the stainless inner and outer rings fit snugly. Many, many applications of cloth and resin were applied and lots of manual sanding w/60 grit to form the rim portion. Once the rings fit snug, more epoxy resin was applied to lock in the rings. I used epoxy products from West Systems. Picked them up at a local marine dealer. They also had colloidal filler to thicken up the mixture to prevent runny epoxy. After sanding it to the OD and ID, it was time to cut in the grooves for the grips. My friend had a NOS wheel and I used it as a template, and marked the wheel to indicate the high spots on the grips, all 48 of them. I made a jig to lock the wheel in place and used a dremel w/a ½ 60 grit sanding drum. I set it up so the depth was the same for each groove and tried my best to center the sanding drum between the high spot marks. Once I cut the 48 grooves, I used a curved bastard file to form the grips. A final sanding to my liking and some filler, I started masking things off. I wanted a black wheel w/out the grain effect, as my interior is black and has no woodgrain. I masked off the spokes, masked off the ss rings and had the wheel etch primed. A quick sand and the wheel was painted black. The mask was removed from the ss rings and the entire rim was then clear coated satin. The masking was removed from the spokes and whala. I had a paint/body shop do all of the painting, etch primer, basecoat, clearcoat. I wasnt looking for concourse, but a nice appearing, different, to my liking, wheel. Would I do another one, maybe.
