Rally Wheel Restoration

[Tim S.]

Can anyone provide me with pictures of a correctly restored wheel. I am looking for spray patterns as well as any suggestions for paints.

Thanks,

Tim

[Lynn H.]

Re: Rally Wheel Restoration

Tim,
Probably won't find too many "correctly restored" rally wheels as most of them that you would see would fall into the category of "over-restored". Correctly restored would tend to have a lot of runs, metallic sags, and uneven coverage. Most people (myself included) tend to do a much nicer job than was originally done when the wheels were manufactured. As far as paint, depends somewhat on exactly which year. The 1970 wheels tended to have more of a greenish tint and later wheels were a brighter silver. If your going with spray bombs, most of the major catalog houses have spray cans. I have had decent results with the paint from Volunteer Vette Products, but I think most of them would be very similar. I thought there was a old Restorer article with paint codes for having paint mixed at the paint store, but exactly when escapes me right now. Maybe someone who has the CD's will chime in (faster and easier to find specific articles) and help you out with that. The best example for you would be a very clean original, if you want to see what they were really like.
Lynn

[Alan S.]

Re: Rally Wheel Restoration

Hi Tim,
Here's a link to some pictures Kevin Goodman posted of the spare tire from his 72 LT-!, a/c, car. I think he knew you'd be asking because these are GREAT pictures.

https://www.forums.ncrs.org/showthre...52415&uid=2002

Regards,
Alan

[Ridge K.]

Re: Rally Wheel Restoration

Here's a photo of the spare out of my 46,000 mile '67. It is a large DC with a non-DOT tire.
I do not have any proof or documentation that it is original to my car, as I have not found owner #1 yet.
I do believe the rally wheel is original to my April built '67. Judges have advised me the tire is not original.
Ridge

[Terry M.]

Re: Rally Wheel Restoration

Can anyone provide me with pictures of a correctly restored wheel. I am looking for spray patterns as well as any suggestions for paints.

Thanks,

Tim

Tim it is always wiser to attempt to reproduce original finishes than to reproduce reproduction finishes. Doing the latter is like making a copy of a copy, and all too often will yield unsatisfactory results.

The fact that on a given day material XYZ received no deduction in judging will not mean a thing unless you can round up the same judges on another day. Your chances of doing that rival your chances at winning the lottery. Do your own research and satisfy yourself. That way at least one person, you, will be happy for a while.

[Patrick H.]

Re: Rally Wheel Restoration

Front:



Back:

[John H.]

Re: Rally Wheel Restoration

Here's the original spare wheel on my '69 Z/28 (same rally wheel, same factory paint process); shows the typical localized light "shadowing" of argent silver overspray through the openings on the black back side of the wheel.

[Tim S.]

Re: Rally Wheel Restoration

Thanks everyone!. So, after examining the pictures offered, is the wheel black before the argent or is that a dark metallic gray on th back side? Yes, the car is a 70. Is the spray bomb offered by Volunteer the green tint?

Thanks to all for your time and input!

Tim

[Lynn H.]

Re: Rally Wheel Restoration

I believe the whole wheel was painted black, then the front side painted the argent silver. I think most of the spray bombs are the bright silver, but would be worth a phone call to make sure before purchasing. I looked in their catalog and they only show one kind (P/N #PT75), so I think it is the brighter paint. If I find someone who lists the green tinted paint I will follow up to you on it.
Lynn

[Tim S.]

Re: Rally Wheel Restoration

Just to add to the information provided, here is ome input I received from the Yenko website. A couple of GREAT pictures.

http://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/showflat.php/Cat/0/Number/454698/an/0/page/0#Post454698

[Jeff C.]

Re: Rally Wheel Restoration

Follow-up question on restoring rally wheels... Should the silver paint also cover the outer and inner part of the wheel lip? In other words, when the tire is on the rim, you see silver all the way up to the tire? Given how the factory painted the wheels with the silver blowing through the rally holes on the rims, I would not be surprised if the edge was silver or a combination of silver and black.

Thank you - Jeff

[Jack H.]

Re: Rally Wheel Restoration

My understanding is the wheels came from the suppliers (eg. KH) dip painted black. At St. Louis, the wheels were 'hung' using a clip through the empty valve stem hole and and sprayed Argent silver as they passed through a paint station.

Like other painting issues affected by human factors (eg. blackout) the degree of coverage varied based on painter aggressiveness, his particular time-in-motion traits, Etc. Bottom line there's no 'correct' answer as to how much coverage + where.

But, as mentioned, runs and sags WERE common and the direction ought to 'follow gravity' presuming the valve stem hole is up...

[John H.]

Re: Rally Wheel Restoration

When the primed wheel face was color-painted, it was mounted on a turning spindle, at about chest height, laid back at about a 15* angle from vertical, on a rack suspended from an overhead conveyor. The sprayer spun the wheel on the spindle and sprayed the face of the wheel, from the center all the way out to the edge of the rim flange.

There was some blow-through of overspray through the slots in the wheel that created some "shadowing" on the back side of the wheel, and there was very little color paint between the rim flanges (in the rim area under the tire).

The wheel was only hung stationary during its trip through the wheel prime system.

[David B.]

Re: Rally Wheel Restoration

John,

You should do a book on the assembly line procedures. Easy for me to say.. I know it would be a lot of work. But, the stuff you put up here is really helpful. I can only imagine how much other info there is that is just never asked about.

Dave B.

[John H.]

Re: Rally Wheel Restoration

John,

You should do a book on the assembly line procedures. Easy for me to say.. I know it would be a lot of work. But, the stuff you put up here is really helpful. I can only imagine how much other info there is that is just never asked about.

Dave B.

Dave -

I did an extensive start-to-finish paper on the '67-'69 Camaro assembly process a few years ago for the other side of my hobby that the steel car guys might find interesting - it's at:

http://www.camaros.org/assemblyprocess.shtml

I also did a complete series of feature articles on the Corvette assembly process (A.O. Smith and the St. Louis Body, Paint, Trim, Chassis, Final processes) in the June '06 through January '07 issues of "Corvette Enthusiast" magazine.

I will be doing a 2- or 3-hour Tech Session/slide show on the complete St. Louis Corvette assembly process, start-to-finish, at the 2011 National Convention in Novi, Michigan next July.