Old school C/L wheel question
 

I’ll get right to the point. I want to remove the factory rivets from the wheels and replace with some nice stainless socket cap bolts. Any safety or performance issues? Have you or anyone you known done this job?
Thanks.

I can’t imagine doing that, those aircraft rivets expand to fill the holes so I’d think getting them out would be time consuming and difficult.

I think that’s one feature that makes them tough and robust enough to withstand hard use, the fact that they’re tightly riveted together along with the stamped rather than spun rim halves. I’d be worried that the alignment of the rim halves wouldn’t be optimal after converting to bolts.

Centerlines often leak air between the rim halves, the silicone used to seal them is not reliable so tubes are often required as you’re probably already are aware of.

Good luck with your endeavor, personally I’d never consider doing this. Now that they’ve become somewhat valuable from being out of production I’d have to think hard before attempting it.

All great points. Thanks

Are these actually 2 pieces?
Seems the newer ones just had one piece wheel with the rivets for looks.
(could have been knock-offs I guess)

But as b-man said probably not a good idea if 2 piece wheel.

:confused:

I have Centerline auto Drag wheels on my car. Bought them in 1985. They probably have well over 50k on them. Hard to estimate. Never had any trouble with leakage. I would not try to replace the rivets.

In theory if done correctly it should work if the holes were re-drilled for a tight fit for the new fasteners, grade 8 fasteners were used, red loc-tite used and torqued to proper spec for the size bolt used. With that said this is a safety issue I wouldn't recommend it. But if I did do it, I would remove half the rivets (every other one), redrill for an interference fit, install half the fasteners, then do the rest.

Your theory is wrong. Bolts are not a substitute for rivets.

Well the fact is that after 35 years I wanted to change the look of the car and started polishing the wheels. The fronts are almost done . Sanding in between the rivets has been the worst, went through 2 sets of skin off my thumbs. The rears are 15x15 and will be 10x worse. I’d just see and ask if it could be done. Sounds like it’s not worth the risk.

That is a pile of work! I agree. I would file it under probably would be fine not worth the risk.

I bought my first set in the summer of 1977, they were all the rage. Almost all my friends were running them, they were a new thing that first came out in 1973 if I’m not mistaken. All Centerline Auto Drag wheels are 2 piece and riveted, fake copies were cast in one piece with fake rivets to look like Centerlines.

When Cragar came out with the Cragar Super Trick 2-piece wheels we all loved that look, all the early seventies Pro Stock racers were running them but we were out of luck because the Super Trick wheels which bolted together 2 spun aluminum rim halves were too fragile and were not street legal.

Lately I’ve been buying up good used and if I’m lucky enough some NOS Centerlines. Pictured below is my daily driver in early 1978 at OCIR starting a burnout, I regularly street raced it too.

Loves me some old school Centerlines. :)

I totally get wanting to get those pesky rivets out of the way so you can polish them. Working around those rivets is a bitch and a half. I sent a set for professional polishing and they pretty much ruined my wheels, whoever did the work zig zagged their polishing tool over and over between the rivets effectively digging a trough which although very shiny looked like crap with that wavy look.

I wanna say mine said not for street use. Lol! Do the ones pictured have tapered seat lug holes? Mine are straight through mag lug nuts.

The wheels pictured are 5 on 205mm wide-5 bolt pattern for early VW which will accept the stock ball seat lug bolts, some people drill out the threads in the drums and convert to aftermarket studs using ball seat lug nuts.

Wheels built for American cars have a thick aluminum hub insert and use long reach lug nuts and flat washers. The 3-1/2” fronts have an extra thick center requiring very long lugs and studs.

I bought the set for my GTO in the early 90s already polished from Centerline, for the same price as satin finish as they were competing with Weld and others for market share.

Here’s the same 1957 VW I had from 1977 shown in 2020 after I bought it back from a friend. Over the years it had become a dedicated race car but now I’m putting it back on the street by pouring too much money into it, for the sake of nostalgia of course. :D

Fronts polished so far. Wasn’t too crazy about it at first. Growing on me now, been satin since 1989.

I had some steel Cragar Super Tricks on my GTO in the 80s. Chrome, looked great, rusted though.
I wish I had pics of the car with those wheels and a fresh black Judge paint job. Every single time I drove it someone said. NICE CAR.
It was like a ego trip just buying gas. I even had 2 cops pull me over just to check it out. Both used to own one.
Sure a lot faster now, not as pretty.

My son runs a vintage set of Centerlines on his Vega. 15x4's and 15x7's in the 4x4 Vega bolt pattern is super hard to find. In fact I'm building a narrowed 8.5" 10 bolt rear for the car with custom axles using that bolt pattern just to keep the wheels on the car.

Centerlines on my Chenoweth sandrail too. I polished them years ago and agree, the rivets are a pain. Always loved the looks of these wheels.

I’m a centerline fan, like the satin look. Bought a set of champ 500 wheels in spring of 83, had them on the car for summer of 83 and 84. Been on the tire rack since fall of 84, the tires still on them. Thinking of putting them on my car , 15x10 gonna run a bit. Got a picture, have to find it.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

The nice thing is, if I don’t like them polished, just hit them with some mag wheel cleaner, and a scotch bright and they will be satin again in no time.

I’m thinking once you start trying to drill out and remove the first rivet you’ll regret ever starting the job. Those rivets would be very hard to drill on center and super difficult to remove.

Glad you’re liking the new polished look, they’re a classic hot rod and muscle car wheel that defined an era.

I have passed on the rivet removal. But if I was, I was thinking of grinding down the back of the rivet flush to the wheel and using a punch to knock it out. But I’ll just keep on sanding, the skin on my fingers is almost back. 👌

I have worked in aviation since 1971, I know a little about rivets, bolts, hi-locks etc. What is stronger, an aluminum rivet or a steel bolt? It's true that the rivet does expand when bucked which makes it an interference fit. If done correctly using a smooth shank bolt with an interference fit it would be stronger than the rivets. Because you would be using dissimilar metals, I would recommend installing the bolts wet, using either a special sealant or FR primer to prevent corrosion. I would use a reamer for final hole size and make the hole .001-.002 smaller than the bolt then put the bolts in dry ice for a couple hours before installing them. I would remove every other rivet then install half the bolts then do the rest.