The Cal-look Lounge

Anyone out there making repairs to Magnesium wheels? I have a D spoke similar to the one in my avatar that needs to be repaired. The wheel is straight, but it has some serious pitting where it looks like it was sitting in mud or water...... The top 3/4 of the wheel is near mint. Check out the center snout,...see the slight taper up. Most mag d spoke wheels I have seen have a flat center cap area. Maybe someone has a singe they want to sell.

It has been a loooooooooooooooooong wait finding one of these wheels, I would like to be able to save it, rather than use it as a spare only where the bottom of the rim is out of view.

thanks,
P-

(http://i192.photobucket.com/albums/z148/2manytoys_photo/Dspokemagpitted.jpg)

this is my ad..........http://www.thesamba.com/vw/classifieds/detail.php?id=1005918

I would say if anyone can, it would be Eric Vaughn.

I have heard that Eric no longer will machine magnesium wheels.  Somehow I think it was due to his having a mag caused fire-has anyone else heard that?  I could be wrong.

I called him today and was out all day. Will try him tomorrow, but I understand from someone else that he does not work on magnesium wheels any more. I will follow up with him again.

But thanks ZG...

P-

You tree'd me. And yes I heard that he is no longer doing magnesium wheels because of a fire,...but that is not confrimed from Eric.

I heard before that Clyde Berg fixed cracked BRMs,  maybe try him?

Sil Modesti will do that also, he's pretty close to me. But as for major corrosion...???

I would try bead blasting it first. I have done this with BRM's & under the fuzz they were pretty decent. Worst case you will need a lathe turn on the lip & a polish. You could contact Sihilling metal polishing in Santa Ana for the polishing & I think Clyde B. could do the machine work if needed. Bill

here are a few adresses i found from a bike forum i on as well.
the best way to protect magnesium is using zincromate that seals the magnesium complete of from the air.

http://www.framestraightsystem.com/Video.htm

Mackie Welding in Sierra Madre
Close to Pasadena
decades of experience
(626) 355-7058

DR Johns Frame Repair in Orange County California.

henk!!!

Thanks for the leads,..I will follow up and let you know what I find out.

Any American Magnesium D Spoke wheel experts out there,.....on here? These wheels are actually not "D", but rather GTP wheels I believe, they pre-date the D spoke wheels.

p-

Its hard to see in picture, Is it just pitting or is the lip of wheel damaged ?  If you need to do any welding on lip of wheel, Find somebody with a big lathe! Maybe PIP, He has been doing some outstanding wheel work lately !. Have him or somebody do a cleanup cut on lathe maybe .020-.030 cut Then chemical clean wheel, Do not blast, It will just contaminate mag even more. That is the problem welding, dirty metal is a bitch to boil out when welding . So do a lot of wire brushing with SS brush and a chemical that will remove any corrosion. And if you do any welding, Have a bucket of sand/dirt handy. To dump on mag if she catch's fire! will help knock oxygen out of fire. Hope this helps in some way.

Looks like the first generation D spoke with hollow spoke backs and no strengthening ribs around the perimeter.  later generations got ribs running radially in the backs of the spokes and the final generation had small ribs on the sides of the spokes.

Most of these wheels came with the hub like this. I havent figured out if people machined them flat so that they would accept a cap from a Fuchs wheel or if American offered them with the flat hub.

Harvey Weidman at Weidmans wheels iin Orrville Ca can weld mag. Tell him hi when you speak to him.

Darn it Danny,...it did a little bit of media blasting on it today to see what it looked like(but only a little). The wheel is straight,..very straight, and the top 3/4 is clean...mint clean. There are no cracks or dings on the rim. The pitting on the bottom is the problem. I talked to a couple people about fixing it. One thing is, if it needs welding to fill imperfections, it is best to use magnesium from an old rim as better to match the type of material in the wheel. I have a good buddy here in Nor Cal that can weld magnesium...Dave Bonbright of Engine Masters, he is an artist.  I think it can be fixed, it's just a matter of putting in the time. One person suggested if it is just for show, use epoxy to fill any pitting, sand it and paint the center. I have other people say don't bother, the old mag is too dagerous to run a car on......... I like them. The wheels look awesome. They are really works of art, and the fact that these are super early, I want to see if I can save it.  I am not sure if some of the early wheels had the snout cut off flat to accept a porsche cap, but I am not going to cut these.

I have talked to a couple of people (thanks Henk) about the rim repair, and believe it or not, I may have some luck. I will be checking runout on one rim and cleaning more with wire wheels (Thanks Danny) to see how bad or good the rim is.

thanks,
P-

I have used Dr. John's as an outside vendor to our dealership on motorcycle crash repairs for many years.  They do all kinds of frame and wheel  alignment and repair work.  They are a very knowledable shop and have the years of "hands on" experience to look at something and give you true expert advice and service.  They are located just north of La Palma between Tustin and Kramer. 

I would try to stay away from doing any welding on that wheel, If you can! Might open a can of worms. Maybe try a light cut on the lathe on wheel lip. And try sanding deep pits out by hand. Start with rubber pad and maybe 36 grit and work down on grit, on spokes. Just a Idea.

I have bead blasted lots of magnesium wheels & polished them & they turned out nice, never had them welded on however....I did a set of BRM's for Russell a couple of years ago that looked like that. I thought they were going to be nasty under the fuzz, but it came off & they were pretty decent underneath. I think a light lathe cut is in your future to make the pits shallower & a polish to flow them out..

I talked to Jim, I think his name was Jim, at Dr. Johns in SoCal. Nice guy and they do work on Mag wheels. I explained the situation and they may be able to help. I actually have two wheels that need some help, the wheel with the pits,...there is no way to remove the pits with sanding,..no way not how. Well, there is, but I would remove way too much wheel. The other rim was curb shot pretty hard on the inside I would say by the looks of the damage. If I can get Dr. John to make the bent wheel straighter, I could use the pitted wheel for a spare.....or sell it once it is cleaned up.

I never realized how hard it is to find this style mag wheel. The flat snout later version are like noses..everyone has one. The taper snout on the early wheel, forget it!

....anyway you could post some pics if you have any? I want to compare the different wheels I have, early and late mag and aluminum,....

Thanks,
P-