Rims modification

Mr meteor

Mr meteor

Member
I've had my 54 Meteor in a quonset hut since I picked it up last June while I get the engine all tidied up on a stand. Evidently its pretty dark in there and there are things I'm still noticing about the car.

This saturday after putting on some new water pumps and running the 8BA with coolant for a while, I decided to drag the car out into the hut to take some photos and generally admire it.

The back tire was low so I went to air it up and I couldn't find the valve stem. A little more headscratching and then I realized the stem was on the back/inside of the rim. I had noticed that the center of the rim was car color and the outer rim was rusty but I assumed it was because the hub cap had protected the paint. When I got down and looked I saw the car color on the inside of the rim along with the valve stem. Someone before me must have modified the rims

There are 235 75 15s on those back wheels and 205 70 15s up front.

So I am quessing that he had to modify the rim to fit the larger tire in the wheel well? Does this change the tire off set?

I was planning on putting 205s on the back wheels instead of 235s. Now I'm wondering if I can 'ondo' the mod or if shopping for new rims is easier. Or would 205s look ok with these modified rims?

Thoughts?
 
Would love to see the pics you took. As for me I'd much rather have a 235 on the rear. Not just for looks, but the O.D. should be much closer to the original bias plies that Henry spec's for the car. The 235 might even afford a little bit of 'rubber overdrive' for today's driving. Best would be some 15" rims that allow the 235, but have the valve stem out where it belongs. My $.02
 
"Reversed wheels" were a big thing back in the day. This was before "Mags" and Chrome wheels. You could make them yourself and they looked good; deeper than stock wheels. In the late fifties, I reversed a set for the rear of my high school '51 Ford. Everybody who saw them was impressed, so we made a few more sets. They became so popular that the local junkyard (and sometime speed emporium) "Carmichel Auto Parts" in Excelsior began taking orders for them. They'd supply the wheels and I'd reverse them. I would only do riveted wheels as I had no way to handle welded wheels. I even got to putting Buick rims on Ford centers, but they didn't fit well, and I have to admit it, I "fudged" them by "pie-cutting" the centers and forcing them together. Nothing bad ever happened, and I think the statute of limitations has run out over the last 60 years, so I can finally "come clean". I had a jig I could spin them on, so at least they always ran true. Unfortunately, the valve stem hole ended up on the backside. Most buyers put up with that inconvenience because of the clean look with no valve stem sticking out.
 
tubman said:
"Reversed wheels" were a big thing back in the day. This was before "Mags" and Chrome wheels. You could make them yourself and they looked good; deeper than stock wheels. In the late fifties, I reversed a set for the rear of my high school '51 Ford. Everybody who saw them was impressed, so we made a few more sets. They became so popular that the local junkyard (and sometime speed emporium) "Carmichel Auto Parts" in Excelsior began taking orders for them. They'd supply the wheels and I'd reverse them. I would only do riveted wheels as I had no way to handle welded wheels. I even got to putting Buick rims on Ford centers, but they didn't fit well, and I have to admit it, I "fudged" them by "pie-cutting" the centers and forcing them together. Nothing bad ever happened, and I think the statute of limitations has run out over the last 60 years, so I can finally "come clean". I had a jig I could spin them on, so at least they always ran true. Unfortunately, the valve stem hole ended up on the backside. Most buyers put up with that inconvenience because of the clean look with no valve stem sticking out.
Click to expand...

Geez, what a great story Denny!! American determination for sure.
 
I have to wait for my wife to develop the film to see the photos, but I did take this video. Come to think of it, the 235s do look kinda cool on the back. Maybe I'll keep running that size.

uPNatXf
 
Ive got a set with the stem on the inside , over10 yrs of dealing with this I realized that I could drill the appropriate hol on the outside and install a new ( smaller) valve stem . I’m just a little slow I guess
 
It sure sounds like the rims have been reversed. The center sections rivets were drilled out and the outer part of the rim reversed, or maybe different outer rims were put on your original centers. I bought four '50 Mercury rims off of a '40 Ford Coupet hat this was done to the rear wheels. I was thinking I'd use them on my '34 pickup, but I decided on 16" wires instead. I must have fifty different wheels I've collected over the years, back when they were cheap, Ford 16"disc rims, sets of them, 15" early Ford rims, '50 Merc rims, lots of 16 Ford wires, one set of 16" Kelsey wires, 17" ford wires, I like them all. The poor pickup is waiting in the garage for me to get off my butt and go work on it since my stroke.
 
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