I seem to recall reading that folks were looking for riveted wheel centers. I’m spending the rest of the week at a old scrapyard and today we are starting on wheels. The riveted ones have bent outer s but the center is good. Take or toss?
Depends what center it is, what condition and what bolt pattern. The riveted centers seem like it would be easier to take apart to re hoop. But my natural instinct says take 'em if they're free.
Yep, they're not making them anymore... especially with most aftermarket wheels using multi-fit centers these days, it's not easy finding a OEM-style anymore.
We used to get the riveted center wheels and drill out the rivets and make reverse wheels for cheap. Line them back up with bolts and spin on the front hub for run out, to tru them up then weld on the back side.
You probably know what the early Ford centre looks like , if not here you go, take note of the four little inner bumps to hold the hubcaps, wheels with clips are Mercury but the rest of the profile is the same. Happy hunting
If you leave 2 rivets across from each other, you just spin the centers around and they stay lined up.....
recently acquired a '65 Thunderbird - one of the specs on their 15" wheels is that they are welded, no rivets because of weight of cars.
Back in the day, chevy 15", I would drill out the rivets, knock center out, reverse center, bolted to line up, weld center in, weld stem hole, redrill stem hole and magic, reversed wheels for 0 cost, paint red or black, done. I had a set of recap street slicks on a pair for years when I was a street racer, In Wisconsin it rains a lot, that's why I did not leave the slicks as my cars at that time were my daily drivers. The good old days, I was happy to have 1 car, never had 2 cars until I was into my 20's.
As difficult as it is to get the ctrs straight out, there is no way they would spin on 2 rivets, they fit that tight....
I had a set of 4 16 inch wheels that were rusty as hell but the centers were in great shape. Drilled out the rivets and sold the centers to someone who was doing their own deep dish wheel set up.
When I had chrome wheels built for the miss elegance 55 I sent 55 chev wheel centers for them to use when they built the wheels
I'd say that the they nailed the reason spot on. it is a lot easier to drill and knock rivets out than to cut welds to take the wheels apart to use the centers to build the wheels you want or reverse them as Moriarity had them do with his to get the wheel he wanted.
When I did the back wheels for my barracuda I did one of each, one riveted and one welded, the riveted one was definitely easier to get apart with simpler tools. The welded one I cut apart in the big lathe at work.
I figure I’ll just drag them home and sort it out later. First trailer load of 33 15” wheels and tires is loaded and there will be a second load. Then bring the 14” wheels and tires plus the riveted ones back. The ol’ tire machine will get a work out
Brings back memories of a pair of Chryslers we did in the 9th grade ! One came out near perfect, the other was out by an inch ....
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