American Racing mags on ebay

rs911t · 12-19-2002, 10:14 AM

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=1875098889

pwd72s · 12-19-2002, 10:23 AM

YUK! Why did he PAINT them??? Also, to each their own, but I'd be nervous about running on 30+ year old magnesium wheels...

Cornpanzer · 12-19-2002, 10:49 AM

Those are nice wheels and crack checked too. If I hadnt just found another set for my 70 "S" I would probably bid on them. The paint is kinda nasty but they seem to be nice wheels. For normal street driving I dont think that the magnesium wheel would be much to worry about.

david c. · 12-19-2002, 11:46 AM

what do you guys think these are worth? I saw that auction and was tempted to bid as I am looking for some good autocross wheels. I can't use those tires, so I'm unsure of the value of the package.

Cornpanzer · 12-19-2002, 11:51 AM

Dave, honestly I think you would be better off with a Fuch if you are really going to be side-loading the wheels. These wheels are very rare and are more of a "vintage racer" kinda thing. The $1000 buy it now price is pretty fair if this is really what you are looking for. Be aware however that the mag style lug nuts for a 14mm stud are nearly impossible to find.

Markus30 · 12-19-2002, 11:57 AM

Cornpanzer,
Have you mounted the mags yet? Would love to see a pic of your car with them on.

Markus

david c. · 12-19-2002, 11:57 AM

okay, thanks for the info.

gregk1 · 12-19-2002, 11:58 AM

Refinisher used dye pen to check for cracks and then smoked a Big fat JOINT!! before he painted them:

Cornpanzer · 12-19-2002, 12:01 PM

Markus, I havent actually received them but I will post pics when I get them. Gotta figure out the offsets so that I can decide on tire sizes. If you want to see some early 911s competing with these wheels check out the great Trans-Am series photohistory thatis at book stores.
Gregk1....Im LOL!

rvanderpyl · rvanderpyl's Garage

>>Be aware however that the mag style lug nuts for a 14mm stud are nearly impossible to find<<

Nearly? did you manage to find some, I have a set of these that came on my car, but I am missing at least 4 lugnuts as they were stripped. If I could find some I could actually use the wheels.

Cornpanzer · 12-19-2002, 02:35 PM

Ummmm....hehe.....replace the word "nearly" with the word "completely"

In answer to your question, no I havent found any new ones. I got a set with some Americans I bought a few years ago but they were rusty and peeling so I gave them to a freind to put on his beater race car. I installed that particilar set of wheels on my Cal-Look VW and simply changed the studds to 12mm which makes it very easy to find lugs. I will keep my eyes peeled for you.

Randy W · Randy W's Garage

The proper lug nuts are so hard to find that I know one guy who borrowed one and had a machine shop make 20 new ones from scratch!! $$$

ted · ted's Garage

I made a set of 14mm open end mag lugs for a set of D spokes.

I did find 14mm mag lugs in the acorn style with long shoulders that happen to be the correct OD for the D spoke lug holes.

On a lathe I removed the acorn end for the open lug style. I did this b/c the studs for Fuchs were too long and I still wanted to be able to use my Fuch rims with stock lug nuts.

Also the new D spoke lug shoulders were too long so those were shortened to the correct length on the lathe.

So I ended up with some steel open ended lugs that worked great, looked right and racy.

I think D spokes provide a true vintage Trans Am race look.
Rather obscure to most Porsche people as this racing not in Europe and over 30 years ago.

Agree with Cornpanzer, the old Mag D spokes are best for show and easy street cruising.

Get some cheap Fuchs for racing.

Oldporsche · 12-19-2002, 04:41 PM

I am pretty skeptical of these wheels.

I am familiar with American Racing Wheels. They haven't made wheels that will fit Porsche with the 130MM bolt circle for at least a decade.

One of my early autox pals had a set on his 914-6 with flairs. As I remember the wheels the "D" shaped spoke extended all the way to the rim with the continuous "D" shape of the spoke.

The wheels utilized a "stepped" lug nut. The wheel stud extended into the "pocket" of the lug. The "step" of the lug nut extended into the pocket. As far as I can remember the stud was a normal 12mm stud.

The other thing was that the American Racing Wheel was probably cast aluminum. I seem to remember an article in Hot Rod Magazine about machining these wheels. The term "Mag Wheels" was tossed around in the hot rod circles as if they were made from Magnesium. As far as I know, only the Halibrand wheels that I saw in knock off versions had any magnesium content. These were found on early cobras.

I would prefer the Doug Cook spun aluminum wheels for the early cars over the American Racing wheels. They were lighter, stronger, and the individual wheel halfs were replaceable if damaged. They also could be had in custom offsets and widths.

Good luck,
David Duffield

Cornpanzer · 06:09 PM

David,
I have had 6 sets of Porsche bolt circle Americans over the last few years. 3 sets were aluminum 15x7 (weighing approx 17 lbs) and 3 sets were magnesium 15x6 and 15x5.5 which weighed approx 12 lbs. The mag ones are true magnesium wheels...pretty high content too. They were very high quality tho. I have seen the magnesium ones in 15x5 and 15x7 sizes as well. They were made in the late 60's for Porsche road race cars and were primarily used in the small bore Trans-Am series here in the states from 1967-1969.
Yes, both styles of Americans use the shouldered "mag style" lug nut. They were 14mm to match the 14mm stud of the 911 which makes for a very thin shoulder to fit back in the lug hole of the wheel. You can no longer find the correct lugs to my knowledge. I may do what "TED" did with his wheels and have a set modified for the open end look. I saw them once on his car an they looked good. Oh, and American Racing made many different style of true magnesium wheels back in the late 50s and through the 60s. As you can see Im a bit of a wheel nerd

cegerer · cegerer's Garage

"As you can see Im a bit of a wheel nerd "

So just between me and you Dave: how's the top secret Fuchs R wheel replica project coming along? I've convinced myself that my car needs these ....

-- Curt

rvanderpyl · rvanderpyl's Garage

You can get a 14mm lug, it just isn't the correct size to fit the existing hole, as CornPanzer said the shank is very thin on the originals, anything that is available is much thicker. I was thinking of taking the wheels to a mchine shop and having the hole bored the little bit bigger it would require.

But I did some comparison to a Fuchs and it turned out that my wheels were heavier (15lb vs 12lbs) and had exactly the same backset as the Fuchs, so I just bought a set of Fuchs instead.