Western Wheel Turbine Mag for '67-'78 AND '79-'85 Eldos!?!

[hornetball]

Some of us like in-period customizations such as a vintage mag wheel.  One such wheel available for Eldos was a turbine-style wheel made by Western.  Most of us are familiar with the fitment on '67-'78 Eldos as shown in this picture:


But did you know Western made exactly the same casting for '79-'85 Eldos?


How do I know?  Because I managed to acquire and restore 3 of the '79-'85 wheels along with 1 of the '67-'78 wheels.  I was pretty excited when I found these in a local junkyard and even more excited after I had them restored by a local wheel shop.


Alas, when I test fitted them on the car, 3 wouldn't fit.  There are 2 differences between the wheels.  Bolt circle (5 x 5" for the older models - top picture, 5 x 4.75" for the newer - bottom picture):




And offset.  To correct offset, Western added a wheel spacer (no wheel spacer for older models - top picture, with wheel spacer for newer - bottom picture):




Aside from these two differences, the wheels are identical.  They are both Western casting number 4056 with a 1580# load rating.




Anyway, I put the one that fits on the car.  Looks snazzy.  I'll need to get the spacers removed and bolt holes filled/redrilled on the other 3 wheels.  Fortunately, with the prevalence of aluminum wheels and tools to work them these days, getting these services done is pretty easy.

[The Tassie Devil(le)]

Congratulations on finding the later ones, and removing the spacers would be simple, as they look like they are bolted on, and as you say, re-drilling the holes for the new bolt pattern will be a simple job for a competent machine shop.

Bruce.

[hornetball]

Congratulations on finding the later ones

LOL.  Thanks!  I wish I had known to be cautious about it.  It would have been much simpler to address when originally restoring the wheel.  Neither I nor the wheel shop had a clue we were dealing with two different wheel designs.

Live and learn.

[The Tassie Devil(le)]

I found out the same when I purchased some wheels for my Ranchero.   I had a set of Torino Elite, and found a pair of Thunderbird ones.   Looked exactly the same, but the bolt spacings were different.   Only found out when I tried to use the wheel caps.

I brought them home in the back of my Caddy, which took up space that I could have used for other stuff.

Bruce.

[cadillacmike68]

That's a nice set of wheels.

It looks like the later set was the same casting, with just the smaller bolt circle and a spacer bolted on to accommodate the decreased offset of the 79 & later ElDorados. That 1st gen, 67-78, had just about the largest positive offset of any car I've ever seen.

[hornetball]

It looks like the later set was the same casting

Yes, they are both Western casting #4056.

I suspect Western was trying to preserve their Eldorado/Toronado business when the '79s came out.  Alas, it wasn't too long before GM was offering their own aluminum wheel.  That pretty well sealed the fate for the Westerns.

[R Pope]

I just found a full set for the early Eldo locally. Unfortunately I could only find 3 center caps. Not sure I will ever put these on...depends in the restore cost. Not to get to personal, but what is the general rate for restoring, ballpark range is fine if you are willing to share. PM me if you prefer.

[cadillacmike68]

Those wheels almost make me want to go out and get a 1971 ElDorado convertible.

[hornetball]

Not to get to personal, but what is the general rate for restoring

Rimspec in Arlington, TX charged me $150 per wheel for the restoration.  That included:

1.  Wheel straightening
2.  TIG filling all gouges
3.  Re-machining wheel surfaces
4.  Powder coating

Had we discovered the bolt circle mismatch, I'm sure they could have easily addressed that for a nominal extra cost.  At this point, I'm afraid it's going to be more expensive to get that done and then restore the finish again.

Also, there were a couple of options for center caps.  One is the cap that covers the wheel studs like Bruce uses.  You can also use chrome bolts and get a smaller cap for the hub and finish that off with a Caddy emblem.  That ends up looking like this:

[R Pope]

Thank you for posting the details. Not as bad as I thought. You are doing an amazing job BTW.. I live in a small town and will probably have to go an hour or so away to get this done. They do look better than I thought they would. I grabbed them from the junkyard just because I had never seen them before.

[The Tassie Devil(le)]

Looks like it has had its fair share of gutter scraping.   But, anything can be fixed.

I have some of those caps with the W and the Cadillac crests, but not enough to go all around, so there is a pair on one side, and another on the other.

The thing I love about the Western Wheels is that both their Bullet Wheels, and the Cyclone II, which is the Cadillac one, had Hub Caps to cover the nuts.   At the time, they were the only manufacturer to do that.   Adds to class.

When I got my second set, I had to buy the car, a rusted out '78 Eldorado, which saved it from the Demolition Derby, had the wheels and numerous other parts removed, then it ended up at the recycler.   That helped pay for the car, and postage to me.   (Which wasn't cheap)   At least USPS did Surface Postage back then.

Bruce.

[Cadman-iac]

Those wheels almost make me want to go out and get a 1971 ElDorado convertible.

Mike,
I have a "beautiful"  '72 Eldo convertible that's only missing a few parts (and pounds) for sale if Bruce doesn't have me strip it for him!
Just kidding! Not much left now.

But those wheels do look nice. I'll try to remember what they look like next time I'm at a scrap yard or a wheel/tire shop that deals in used wheels and let the forum know if anyone is interested.

[cadillacmike68]

Mike,
I have a "beautiful"  '72 Eldo convertible that's only missing a few parts (and pounds) for sale if Bruce doesn't have me strip it for him!
Just kidding! Not much left now.

But those wheels do look nice. I'll try to remember what they look like next time I'm at a scrap yard or a wheel/tire shop that deals in used wheels and let the forum know if anyone is interested.

71 only. I don't want those blasted rubber strips around the outside of the bumpers, terrible looking and a rust nightmare after time.

[Cadman-iac]

71 only. I don't want those blasted rubber strips around the outside of the bumpers, terrible looking and a rust nightmare after time.

No problem,  it would take too much to fix it up at this point anyway.  Here's a picture of that "beautiful" car though,  so you know what you missed out on.
( She's sacrificing so others may live on!)