Steroid's 6 lug Permacast thread

[Steroid]

Here is My all time favorite rim. Permacasts. These are becoming increasingly hard to find and I am very lucky to own six. I have two 15" X 10" and four 14" X 7". First, here is a product review:

 

 

From what I can tell, all Permacasts had 40 spokes.

 

Second is a view of what I believe to be an easy way to tell Permacast rims from Western, Keystone, Appliance and other turbine rims:

 

 

You will notice that on both the 5 lug set and My 6 lug set the blue material that was added from the factory. I have heard in the past that some rims would leak air from tiny imperfections in cast rims. Possibly this happened on early Permacasts so the decision was made to add the blue material for this reason. It is fairly thick and somewhat hard to puncture.

 

There were only a few 620s that I remember having Permacasts as they were pretty expensive. For this reason I always wanted a set but never had enough money in the mid 70s to purchase a set. Here is the Mini Vini with a set:

 

 

And My set on Wasserman's Wonder:

 

 

These rims have been removed and are now in the process of being cleaned and polished. This is NOT a fun task and I predict possibly 10 to 12 hours a rim to get them looking like new again. As of today, this is as far as I have progressed:

 

 

 

You can see I have a long way to go. I still have not used muriatic acid on the inside areas. That will be done as soon as final sanding with 150 grit sandpaper is done. The next step is to totally sand them again with 1000 grit, then totally again with 2000 grit and finally polishing with a Dremel!!! I must be crazy but You can see the 5 spokes I polished to see how they will look.

 

Here is an idea that a guy did long ago:

 

 

It looks like He had them anodized and then painted the insides black. Kinda' cool!!

 

I keep looking for more to add to My collection. I would like to have another set of 15" X 10" and a set of 14" X 6". Maybe one day I will find them.

[phiz]

Pretty cool, Mike.

I remember people either loved them and couldn't afford them, (van guys), or hated them and wanted to get rid of them, (Bricklin SV-1 guys).

 

Remember when Permacasts came stock on Bricklins?

 

I know some Permees were recalled during the Bricklin days because of casting problems but, compared to everyone else's knockoffs, Appliance, ET, Western, even the Rockets I have on my Z, are crap compared to real deal Permacasts.

 

PS, the last complete 6 lug set of hugely wide 15's I saw for sale, (at Pomona, like 7 or 8 years ago), the guy wanted four bills for 'em.

[Steroid]

Hi Phiz!!

 

I would have gladly paid $100.00 per rim for 6 lug 15" X 10" Permacasts!!! I just paid $80.00 each for these:

 

 

 

The set I removed form Wasserman's Wonder will now be placed on Choptana. All of the red rims have been removed and My idea is to make it look like the 70s build, Chopsuey. I have always loved this picture and My hopes are to recreate this look:

 

[Steroid]

By the way, these are 2 of only 3 Permacast center caps I own. Apparently VERY hard to find (in any condition) I am lucky to even have these!!

 

 

 

If You guys ever run across any with that blue logo, PLEASE let Me know!!!!!

[]2eDeYe]

Man those wheels look great. :cool:

[Peter_Pablo]

i love those rims too

 

[Steroid]

Hi Pablo,

 

Nice 620!!! I think actually Your rims are Westerns. See how there is a smooth area where Your lugnuts go? Permacasts have the fins drilled and the lugnuts set down inside the fins. Also, Your rims have the fins reaching out all the way to the outer edge, such as Westerns did. Permacasts have a polished edge between the sidewall area reaching into the rim an inch or so before the fins start. Westerns were much more common than Permacasts.

[deathrace2000]

Not mine. But pretty.

 

[Steroid]

Wow!!! I can only hope Mine come out that nice!! As are the ones You posted, Mine will be painted black also between the fins. Either that owner took real good care of that set or His hands became extremely sore!!! There MUST be a better way!!!!!

[Radim]

Hehe, the ones you bought at Haliburda?

[Steroid]

Hi George,

 

Yes, I bought those two. I will NOT be detailing them like the set I am doing now though. I am considering shipping them to Detroit Wheel. For $150.00 per wheel they acid bath wash them, then powdercoat between the fins and finally turn them on a lathe like they were done at the factory years ago. They would come back looking like the set in post #8. Mine will be polished with a slightly different look. Polishing catches the light differently than turned wheels. Hopefully in the next 2 weeks I will be finished with the rears. I finished the 150 grit sanding yesterday and started detailing the back sides with a drill and fine wire wheels. When they are done I will post oics!!!!

[Radim]

Very cool!

Looking forward to seeing them all done up!

[tdaaj]

So what kind are these? Don't look like permacast.

 

[Steroid]

Ted,

 

Those only have 30 "fins". They are also "flatter" at the edge where the Permacasts kinda' "roll over", if You will, where the fins end at the outside. I was told that ET bought out Permacast, but I am not 100% sure. Those might be ET rims.

[Steroid]

So here is what 30+ hours PER RIM (And NO, I am NOT fooling ! ! !) looks like ! ! !

 

 

First, I sanded EVERY fin with 100 grit paper, and that is 40 times 4= 160 fins. Next, sand again 160 fins with 1000 grit paper. I used Mother's Mag polish instead of water to not only lubricate the paper but polish as well. Next, as shown here, mask each fin with FineLine tape:

 

 

After that, paint not one but TWO coats of black oil based paint!! Next, remove tape and polish each fin and inner area 3 times over with a Dremel tool using a righthand drive and small polishing wheels:

 

 

 

 

 

Tomorrow I finally mount the rear tires on the 15" X 10" rear rims. Next week, after the paint on the front rims has dried, I will polish those (Another 2 hours or so per rim) and then mount the front tires. This has been the worse project I have ever taken on ! ! ! None the less, Choptana will finally have the look I have waited to own for almost 40 years ! ! !

[Guest 510kamikazifreak]

So here is what 30+ hours PER RIM (And NO, I am NOT fooling ! ! !) looks like ! ! !

 

 

 

 

 

Looks amazing :w00t: :thumbup:

[]2eDeYe]

X2 Nice work :cool:

[Steroid]

Here is what they will be looking like with tires:

 

 

The tires do not yet have "tire shine" applied but this view pretty much shows final polishing. Yes, there will be center caps. I am working on those now as well as the front rims. Within the hour Choptana will finally start looking like the truck in the bottom photo of post #3. That view is from Truckin' Magazine of 1975 and I have waited this long to finally have a clone of that truck. It won't be long now ! !

[Pacific coast Datsun]

Looking good.

[Steroid]

OK guys, today I took a BUNCH of photos of Choptana on the golf coarse. Here are a few shots showing how My rims turned out after installation of the vintage knockoff center caps. These rims are totally gorgeous. I have always loved them. If You look closely the designer even went to the trouble to make the inset ends rounded instead of just carrying them into where the center cap hole area is. Incredible. To see these in person is really a trip. Enjoy ! !

 

 

 

 

[]2eDeYe]

Looks fantastic! :cool:

[socaldatsun]

What are these?

[Steroid]

Those are Keystone Turbo 3s.

[socaldatsun]

Rare? Thinking on picking them up on Friday.

[Steroid]

Pretty rare. Try to get a full set of 4, trying to obtain matching fronts might be hard. I have a pair just like those and haven't found any matching fronts, but I haven't really been looking. My pair of 15" X 10" are available.