[AMC-list] What I do - Rebel Machine Wheels Restoration

["Thomas, Jeff" <jeff.thomas@xxxxxxxx>]

Hello AMC folks,
I just sold a set of RM wheels on FEEBAY yesterday. I had a few
questions about the process and what's involved. I decided to put
together a little narrative to explain what goes into the wheel
restoration and also unfortunately why the costs are so high. There are
several steps and  quite a few people that contribute their time and
talents. Here's goes and call me 407-297-9500 if you have any questions.


1)	Trim rings are removed by me and wheels are sand blasted. Metal
integrity and welds are reviewed by me and my machine shop friend. 95%
of the wheels don't get past this step. Too much rust and too many
pulled welds or welds not no longer secure cause a wheel to be set aside
for further machining 
2)	Other causes for rejection: No flat spots allowed, no over
widened lug holes, no over widened valve stem holes. Flat spots look bad
and lead to issues on step #3. They will not pass spin test. Once an
original wheel passes inspection the wheel is then taken for spin
testing
3)	Wheels are spin tested for 2 levels of balancing. If they pass
and are under 0.05 they are now officially ready for painting. Again,
fail any of these steps they get set aside for step # 4. To find 4
wheels that can pass all these steps is not easy. Generally multiple
wheels are involved to get 4 good ones
4)	If a wheel doesn't pass these steps ... original OEM KH style
rims have been purchased as a replacement. These rims are exactly like
the originals in every critical dimension. I remove the welds in faces
and original rim to separate the slotted faces. Old rim gets tossed, new
rim (2 halves) are welded to the original slotted face. I ensure that my
machinist beefs up the welds so that they are better than the original.
He then he places 4 hidden small weep holes for moisture run out in each
wheel. We hope folks will cherish the restored wheels and not run the
risk of putting dings in the stainless by hammering them but if they
feel the need for speed, the wheels will hold up. I have 2 racers now
using my wheels as is. Machined wheels are also spin tested a second
time to ensure they are true.
5)	Rings: this work is done by professionals in Miami. They are
Cuban guys who are geniuses with metal work. I have no pretense about
being able to repair what they repair or put the brushed finish back on.
By the way, this cost is $200 and can be up to $400 PER RING. All ring
work is charged based on dollars per hour. The Finishing Touch that
everyone in AMC land raves about charges about the same or more. Sorry,
but unless someone can find me a guy who can do the same work they can
do, and not distort the metal or make it lopsided, I'm going to continue
using them. It's a specialty skill that isn't easy to find, at least not
here in FL. Finishing Touch is good too, I'm just closer to these guys.
6)	Paint/Body work. I grind out all pits to the faces and prepare
the newly welded wheels or original style wheels for paint and body
work. Many color mixtures and spray out card tests have been performed
trying to get the right mix of color, metal flake size and texture
finish onto the wheels. My wheels look like the originals but will hold
up better and behave like show wheels. The originals lose their paint
rather quickly to scratches as there is no protective coating on the
paint. I like the look of my wheels. If you place my wheels against the
NOS wheels, they are very very close. My body shop guy keeps an NOS
wheel handy for quality control. He knows I won't accept the finished
wheels without the comparison. 
7)	Rings come back for re-seating. Rings are fit tested with a
wheel down in Miami but of course they are fit tested again by me. I
lube the backs and edges and use my special made press tool the push
them back into the factory channel.  This step can be a nightmare as the
rings generally want to spin on the wheels or possibly get stuck getting
pushed down into the channel. I have had to back off rings and try try
again many times. This is an area where a lot of expertise and
experience pays off. 


-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://list.amc-list.com/pipermail/amc-list-amc-list.com/attachments/20090816/d02bb6c6/attachment.htm>
_______________________________________________
AMC-list mailing list
AMC-list@xxxxxxxxxxxx
http://list.amc-list.com/listinfo.cgi/amc-list-amc-list.com