[Repoman]

Originally Posted by gtokev

Thanks again. Vintage rim info is difficult to find!

http://www.roadsters.com/wheels/

You should drop Dave an email, or give him a call if the answers aren't there.

[68alpinebluegto]

Here is a link to an ongoing discussion about different Vintage aftermarket wheels.

http://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/show...fpart/all/vc/1

[Ken K]

Here is a wheel painted with the secret blend of silver paint ( Valspar bought at Lowes for $3.00)

[Ken K]

gtokev, there is an ad for Mickey Thompson wheels on the Yenko site. There is lots of real good info there, they have ads for lots of the different aftermarket wheels. Maybe someone could copy some of the ads and info and post it on the Torq Thrust thread. I have some of wheels, the ads on the Yenko site have the dates on them.

[gtokev]

I went through those posts on the Yenko site last night and copied the vintage wheel ads to my hardrive. There are over 60 images of vintage wheel ads, contributed by a few of the Yenko members who appear to collect them.

There is some really good stuff on that thread. I would be willing to copy these images onto Ken's vintage wheel identification sticky thread but I cannot seem to be able to join the Yenko site so that I can post and ask for permission to use the pics. I try to register but they never send me a password through my e-mail.

Are there any interested Yenko members that could get permission for me to post the pics here?

[Ken K]

What I know about the wheels, I did not learn from ads. The info will probably be a little different. I learned most of it before I went onto the net. If someone has a set of vintage wheels, it would be good to post the pictures on the Torq Thrust thread. If you post the pictures of the Mickey Thompson wheels on the TT thread and then maybe the ad, you will see how they match up and I can tell you what I know about how to identify the wheels.

[gtokev]

Well Ken, you sure have a good eye for wheels. I spent some time today cleaning the backs of my previously unidentified Torq Thust style wheels. I found M/T lettering on one pair that you identified correctly in a previous post. Also says Meets SEMA Spec 5-1.

The other pair (which are very similar) have Rocket engraved on them. Good call on the M/Ts!!

[Ken K]

With those ads on the Yenko site, there is probably a way to date the wheels within a couple of years. I never had ads to work with. I learned from word of mouth and by having a bunch of different wheels. The Yenko site has lots of ads but very few people who actualy have the wheels. When you find the wheels, it might only be one or two at a time. You hardly ever find all 4 wheels that are the same at the same time. What happens is a few people end up with all the wheels because the people who only have one or two don't know how to match them up.

[copper128]

I have a nice old pair of Ansen T/E's (Top Eliminator, I believe) that look very much like the old round-spoke Torq-Thrusts. I refinished the centers with the Cast-Blast simulated cast iron paint. It looks really nice, but not really sure how close it is to original. My wheels had the centers painted with black spray enamel when I bought them. I didn't want to lose the original lines from the machining process on the rim faces, so I just cleaned them up with fine steel wool, then aluminum polish. I left the little nicks as vintage "patina". I'll try to post pics soon.

Here are the pics:

[gtokev]

I spent a while today giving my Torq Thrust copy wheels the "machined" look on the outer rim lips. I jacked up the GTO and put the rim on the back and let it spin at idle while I held 80 grit emory paper against it. It turned out pretty good except for a few deep marks which will never come out.

How can I protect the finish on this bare aluminum? Aluminum polish? Clear coat paint?

I would like to see pic of those Ansens, copper.

[Repoman]

Originally Posted by gtokev

I spent a while today giving my Torq Thrust copy wheels the "machined" look on the outer rim lips. I jacked up the GTO and put the rim on the back and let it spin at idle while I held 80 grit emory paper against it. It turned out pretty good except for a few deep marks which will never come out.

How can I protect the finish on this bare aluminum? Aluminum polish? Clear coat paint?

I would like to see pic of those Ansens, copper.

You're going to get corrosion in those deep scratches. Do it again with some 400 or 800. Gibbs brand is the best protectant for wheels. Get it from Dave Mann @ http://www.roadsters.com/welcome/, again, he is the best resource for care + info on early wheels.

[Ken K]

Since the internet there is not much you really need to know except how to identify the wheels. The dealers are not going to tell you everything. As a few people already found out, they won't even tell you what to use to paint the wheels. Now anybody can snag a set of wheels off of Ebay. Before the internet you had to get the wheels where ever you could find them and then match them up. It use to be if the wheels were not made by American Racing, nobody would buy them, that has changed. There are people with over 1000 of the vintage wheels in their garage. There are some high profile people on the net but they are not the ones who have all the wheels.

[Ken K]

All the vintage wheels over 7 inches wide won't fit in the wheels wells of most older cars because of the offset. That's why the 15X7 wheels are going to be the hardest wheels to buy. Now all you need to know is who made the 15X7 wheels and how to buy them.

[Ken K]

gtokev, I remember the M/T wheels had a different width than some of the other wheels. Are your wheels something like 6.5 inches wide?

[gtokev]

Ken, I measured the width and the M/Ts are 7 inches from outside surface to the other outside surface or more like 6 inches from inside the tire bead to the other tire bead. Perhaps they are 15 X 6? The Rocket wheels are the same. The M/Ts are about a quarter inch wider than the Rocket wheels (outside to outside).

[gtokev]

Repoman, I emailed Dave Mann. I'm looking forward to his response.

[Ken K]

I know where there are a bunch of the Crager and Rocket wheels, I don't think they are real valuable. I was looking at the Yenko site and there is a catalog with Motowheel Spyders in it, I know where there are a full set of the 15X7 Spyders. I have some of the Magnum 500 wheels like in the article. I have found 2 sets of real Rally 1 wheels by digging around at used wheel shops. Scrap aluminum yards and recycling centers have old wheels and intake manifolds, you can buy it by the pound.

[Ken K]

The torq thrust wheels you have to be carefull with are the ET wheels. I don't know how they were making them but it's not uncommon to get wheels with strange offsets. I have had sets that came off the same car and the rim width was the same but the offset was not right from one wheel to the other. I had a full set of the ET super wheels and out of 4 rims, only 2 of the wheels matched up the same, the other 2 had the strange offsets.

[gtokev]

The offset on my Torq Thrust copy rims is 3 inch. That will put them over an inch and a half further out than the Rally IIs currently on it. Good thing the 69 A-body has a lot of room in those wheel wells. I'm looking to fill those wheel wells out better (going from 14 inch to 15 inch and more positive offset). I will be using 70 series tires to complete the period look.

I am painting the thin whitewalls on my Michelin X tires red. I love the look of Torq Thrusts and redlines. Can't wait.

[gtokev]

Repoman, I got a reply from Dave Mann. He said that I can leave the rim edges cut with the 80 grit if I coat them with Gibbs. I have e-mailed the only Canadian supplier of Gibbs products to buy some polish/protectant.

The 80 grit sounds aggressive but it looks pretty smooth on the rims.