Classic cars forum & vehicle restoration.

[oilyrag2]

Hi Team
I are restoring a 1935 ford y and are wondering how to best prepare the wheels for painting . They are fixed spoke wheels and i would like help with stripping the paint . IE Is there an easy solution to dip the wheels in ? I could send them all away for blasting or stripping but if there is a simple way to do this at home ,i would have ago .
Cheers
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Phil Smith
New zealand
1935 Ford Y
1945 BSA M20

[Scotty]

Hi Phil,

My comment is more "thoughts" rather than "experience" - I can't think of a simple or easy way to do this job at home because of the construction of the wheels. Cleaning spokes must be one of the most tedious jobs I can think of, I just can't imagine how much more difficult the job would be removing paint and rust from each of them!

Personally - I would go for blasting; the process will not only remove paint, it will also clean off any rust, which stripping won't.
There will be some who consider this process too rough, which in turn might damage the spokes, however if the company is a good one they will know what can be applied.

The only positives I can think of doing it at home is you save money, and you have the satisfaction of knowing the countless hours you spent cleaning them was all your own work.

[Rick]

I'd agree with Scotty on this one, blasting is the way to go. The wheels should be able to cope with the process, if the spokes are in any way damaged by a sensible go with the blaster, then chances are they were in a poor condition to begin with.

I had the spoked wheels done on my 10/4 a few years back, it only cost around £10 per wheel, and that included a lick of primer afterwards to stop them rusting straightaway.

It would be incredibly difficult to get into all the nooks and crannies at home. I've read about home-made devices using an old bath, a battery charger, and some electrical trickeries (I think there's a thread on here somewhere from a couple of years back), but whether it'd get the finish you need I don't know.

Rick
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[roverdriver]

I believe the Y has welded spokes just like the Model A (and a few other Fords). When we restored our A, we were extremely short of money, so hand scraped using a ground-down 3 corner file. That was followed with hand sanding using a cloth-type sanding strip. If we had been in a better position with finances, we certainly would have had them blasted. I say 'we' because my good wife did a lot of the scraping and sanding!

Two items to be aware of- If a spoke is broken, heat it along its whole length to expand it before welding it together again. AFAIK they were pre-heated before being welded during manufacture, thus each spoke is under tension.

The A wheel has a rolled-over 'bead' that holds the tyre in place. That rolled edge to the rim can be subject to moisture trapped inside and therefore can rust from the inside, even though the wheel appears in good condition from the outside. Check carefully and repair if necessary.
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Dane- roverdriver but not a Viking.