It's been awhile since I've posted anything on the '64, but that doesn't mean that there isn't anything going on with it. Actually, quite the opposite. I have a bunch of stuff going on, but I have been hesitant to post anything that's half-done with no expected completion date. I've been working some long hours, but in my spare time, I have been able to complete a portion of the build that was pretty important. The wheels!!
Because I converted the suspension to 1/2 ton, I now had the good fortune of being able to use a 5-lug wheel, which I prefer. The truck is being built with a mid-60s vibe, so naturally, a 5-spoke Torq-Thrust style wheel was what I had in mind. Finding an old Torq-Thrust style wheel in 5x5 was much more difficult than I expected. I did not want the later D-Spoke style wheels because I don't care for the curved spoke. They HAD to be the old straight-spoke style from the '60s. I found a pair of 15x8.5 ET Supers on the H.A.M.B., and I had a pair of 15x6 ETs in my parts stash, so the next step was to restore them to a '60s look.
One of the rear wheels turned out to be cracked, so that meant it had to be fixed. The best way was to stop-drill the crack, then grind a "trench" and TIG weld it closed:
Because the wheel lips had some damage, it was a perfect opportunity to chuck them up in the lathe and true the lips and dress down the TIG weld at the same time. Next, the wheels were taped off and the centers were bead-blasted in preparation for paint. The fronts were already fully polished, so the blasting went really quick:
When it came time to paint the centers, Brad (hotrod49) had some extra paint left over from some previous custom jobs he had done, so we took some charcoal metallic base color paint and kept dropping in some silver base to get the shade just right. We waited until we had a calm morning and shot the wheels before the winds kicked up:
The ET wheels had a really funky oval center cap back in the '60s, and I thought that they would be perfect for the wheels to enhance the '60s vibe. I had been looking for months, and found a guy on a VW site called the Samba who had a set of N.O.S. ET caps so I grabbed them.
I haven't got the rear tires yet, but I hope to have them in the next few weeks. I have to get them first before I hammer out just how much I have to narrow the 12-bolt rear to get the wheels/tires to fit. I already have the Moser housing ends and a buddy who builds race cars owes me a favor and is going to do the narrowing as a payback.
A BIG thanks to Brad for all of the help on painting the wheels, and the use of his awesome blast cabinet!!
I've got lots of other stuff going on as well, and I'll post up the progress as I finish them.