Popular Hot Rodding - April 2007 - Vintage Wheel Works

PHR PROJECT CAR
REI TI
THE HEEL
All cars gota have 'em, but
do they all have to look the
same? Here are four ideas
for making your wheels
stand out in a crowd.
By Johnny Hunkins
Photography by the author
When most magazines get a new project car, the
frst thing they do is throw on some new
rolling stock and say: "Look how clever we are!
We know how to buy wheels and tires." (Yawn.) It's a
necessary evil, but that doesn't mean we have to go
down the same path. Yes, we did score new wheels­
the same killer-looking Vintage Wheel Works V40s you
saw last month on Brian English's '69 Chevelle. These
wheels fat-out rock; the spokes are straight (not
54 ww.popularhotrodding.com
curved like a Torq Thrust), and have a peak in the cen­
ter. It's a subtle diference, but it really looks good. The
centers of these two-piece wheels have a rough, as-cast
texture, and the outer hoops are highly polished. We
also loaded up on a set of Nitto's premier sticky street
tires, some NTOI R-compounds. The combo looks and
works great on our '68 Chevelle project car. Now that
you know that, we can talk about something you might
also be interested in: making your new (or existing)
wheels look way better without spending a fortune.
We wanted the wheels to be integrated into the
overall look of the car, so we decided early on that we'd
paint the V40's wheel centers in a color that would
complement the SS stripes we planned on laying down.
We found the right graphite color in Dupli-Color's line
of High Performance Wheel Coatings. One can of this
stuff is all it takes. And, it's just $5.99. The change was
immediate and dramatic. We apologize ahead of time
to the super guys at Vintage Wheel Works for all the
pesky phone calls they're going to get about a wheel
color they don't even offer, but so be it, we gotta be dif­
ferent.

These are the knock-of 14-inch slot mags we bought the
Chevelle with. We ended up throwing them in the office
dumpster. No telling what magazine they'll show up in next.
Before ordering wheels and tires, we used our Percy's Wheelrite
tool (about $90 from Summit) to measure the available space.
Rather than use the plastic chrome wheel caps that Set the tool at the desired wheel diameter and ofset, then bend
come with the V40s, we decided to make our own billet the thick wire to the desired tire profile. If anything rubs, then
aluminum block-off covers. We had 'em made on a
change the diameter, ofset, or tire size. Make sure to check the
$130,000 waterjet cutting machine, and they only cost
$37 for the set. Another $10 bought a can of Mothers
front clearance with the car's weight fully on the suspension, and
check with the steering at full lock. The rear is much easier-all
you have to do is put the jack under the differential when check­
Polishin' Pad, which brought them to a spectacular
shine to match the outer hoops. Speaking of which, if
ing clearance.
you've got a tired set of oxidized rims, a Mothers on the sidewall. The oversprayed "race tire" look would
Polishin' Pad is a good way to get them looking cool in be cool.
short order. The next thing we tried was Dupli-Color's In spite of our wheels starting out looking like
new tire-paint-in-a-pen, but the verdict is still out on almost every fve-spoke on the planet, we've now got
that one. (Good thing we tried it on old tire frst.) We wheels that stand out from the crowd. But you can't buy
suggest they repackage the paint in a spray can and let 'em like this-you'll have to do it yourself. Fortunately,
us make a cardboard template for spraying the letters it won't cost a lot. Here's how we did it. @
APRIL 2007 POPULAR HOT RODDING 55

PHR PROJECT CAR REINVENTING THE WHEEL
The V40 wheels from Vintage Wheel Works have classic looks,
with a modern flare. They're cool as delivered, but we wanted
to make them nicer. Our rear wheels (shown) measure 17 x 9.5,
with a 5.5-inch back spacing and have a GM 5 x 4-3/4-inch bolt
circle. The fronts are 17 x 8 with a 4-3/4-inch back space. These
two-piece hoops have media blasted centers, machined and
polished outer hoops, and are cast aluminum from virgin 356
and heat treated to a T6 factor. Center cap and lug nuts are
included. For tires, we went with our favorite rollers: Nitto NT01
R compounds (245/45ZR17, front, and 27 5/40ZR17 rear). You can
buy stickier tires, but they aren't street legal.
"You want to do a cheap build?
Show tech on how to make your
own parts. I'll climb down of my
soapbox now. Sorry to vent on
you guys ... " -earthquake68, Team
Cheve//e message forum - - - - - -
The wheels were masked
of using fine-line mask­
ing tape and some 2-inch
masking tape. Note how I
cut a "donut " out of card­
board and taped it to the
back. The idea is to get
the Dupli-Color graphite
wheel coating only on
the rough-cast center
section of the wheel. It
pays to take your time
masking of unpainted
areas-the wheels will
look so much better.
RE UP YOUR TIRES!
not a marker per se, instead of " coloring " the letter
We've used a lot of Dupli-Color stuf in the past few
space, you make a series of paint dots. Ultimately, we
months, so you'd think we had stock in the company, or decided not to use it on the project Chevelle, because
maybe hufed too many paint
yelow or white just d idn't match
fumes. We like the NASCR-fr­
• the rest of the car as we'd
the-street look, so we wanted to
hoped. We do, however, plan
tr Dupli-Color's new Hot-Tires tire on using it on our road race
paint (HT300, yellow; HT-100,
tires for project g/28, our '76
white), which comes in a paint Camaro prject (which is now
marker tube and costs about
in an Alabama bodyshop). It
$8. The idea is to color inside would be great if Dupli-Color
the raised letters, filing in the
ofered its tire paint in a spray
letters evenly with paint. It's a can. We'd love to see what
time-consuming operation-it it looks 'lke sprayed over
takes about 20 minutes per tirebut
the results are worh it It's
a template for that race tire
overspray look.
It looks like I'm
having way too much
fun with this spray
can. The Dupli-Color
High-Performance
Wheel Coating went
on smooth and easy
with no drips or
spurts. A light coat
was followed by two
heavier coats at
about 30-minute
intervals. I'm lazy,
so making the wheel
centers the color of
brake dust will save
me loads of time
Before mounting the tires, I wanted to check the fender-to-rim down the road.
clearance and compare it to the measurement I got from the
original set of rims. Here, a wrench on a string acts like a plumb
bob so I can measure the horizontal distance with a ruler. The
V40s were about 3/8 inch closer to the fender lip, which will
make the Chevelle look considerably better.
56 www.popularhotrodding.com

The following day, I took the plastic wheel cap that came with
one of the V40 wheels down to Advance Waterjet & Engraving
in Anaheim, CA. I traced the cap on a sheet of paper, handed it
to my man Mike, who then turned it into 1/8-inch thick billet alu­
minum hub block-of plates. This $130,000 machine uses high­
pressure water to cut through metal, and can make lots of cus­
tom stuf on the cheap. We paid just $37 for four covers, and
they're the only ones on the planet like it. If you want some, just
call up Mike at Advance. The CNC program for the plates will be
on file. The waterjet is great, and we'll be back for sure.
The Mothers Polishin' Pad
worked like a charm. Just pull
of a few inches from the
rolled-up cotton wad, and pol­
ish. When it turns dark gray like
this, use a clean towel to buf it
of. It really is like magic, but
don't take our word for it.
Yeah baby! We're rolling now. All
bufed out, the block-of plates give
the Chevelle a serious, race car
look for the street. Bye-bye plastic
center caps!
Fresh out of the Omax
JetMachining Center Model
55100, these hub block-of plates
aren't quite ready for the project
Chevelle. I was going to scuf
them with 100-grit paper and call
it a day, when publisher Ed Zinke
suggested I polish them to match
the rims instead. See, sometimes
publishers can have good ideas!
With graphite-painted centers and billet aluminum hub block­
ofs, our Vintage Wheel Works V40 wheels will turn heads for
years to come. In fairness to Vintage, the stock V40 looks
absolutely killer, but we wanted more. We got a unique look for
just a few bucks more, but you can do the same things to just
about any wheel, including the ones you already have. If you're
down on bucks and have a weekend to spare, you can transform
the look of your car for next to nothing.
HOW MUCH DID WE SPEND?
We spent $2,041.98 to get the look you see here
(which also counts the Dupli-Color Hot-Tires tire paint
pen we opted not to use). Thats a litle higher than a
run-of-the-mil set of fve-spokes with new street rubber,
but not by much. The thing we want to point out is
that only about three percent of that amount (roughly
$61) went to making this rolling stock look really cool.
Between the graphite Dupli-Color wheel coating
($5.99), the custom hub block-of plates ($37), the
Mothers Polishin ' Pad ($10), and the Hot-Tires paint
pen ($7.99) , you have the makings of a one-of-a-kind
set of rollers. For a few Jacksons and a leisurely weekend
in the garage, you can make any tired set of fvespoke
wheels look like ours.
Vintage Wheel Works V40 wheels
(17 x 8, frnt, 4-3/4-inch backspace) .. ... .... $299.5 each
Vintage Wheel Works V40 wheels
(17 x 9.5, rear, 5-12-inch back space) ........ $319.75 each
Nito 245/45ZR17 NT01 R-compound
(front) .................................
tires
....... ................................ $174
each
Nito 275/40ZR17 NT01 R-compound tires
(rear) ...... .... .................... ............................. .. ....... ...... $197 each
Dupli-Color High Perormance Wheel Coating
(graphite, WP102) ......... ..................................... . ... .... .. ... $5.99
Custom hub block-of plates ............. _ ... ............ ............. $37
Mothers Polish in' Pad .......... .... ............................. . .......... .. $10
Dupli-Color Hot-Tires tire paint pen
(yellow, HT-300) .................. .... ...... . ......... ....... ...... ........... $7.99
Total: .......... .............. . .... .................................... . ... .... $2.041.98
APRIL 2007 POPULAR HOT RODDING 57