| Author | Message | ||
     Ft_bstrd |
Anyone know what alloy is used to create the stock tuber cast wheel? | ||
| Ratbuell |
Pretty sure it's plain ol' aluminum... | ||
| Ft_bstrd |
What grade? Asking for finishing reasons. | ||
| Ducxl |
What grade? Isn't it Castalloy? I have a set made of Unobtanium(BSTs')    Interestingly,the Castalloys are reportedly the lightest of all BMC Tuber wheels. | ||
| Charlies_s1 |
The guys that just repaired mine said they are made out of recycled beer cans, LOL. | ||
| Steeleagle |
Possible threadjack but the topic was timely. I have a 30-point toss-up: Has anybody tried shoe-horning the cast wheels onto an RS1200? I'm not sure the newer tuber wheels can be retrofitted onto an RS or not. The cast are 3.5/5.5 F/R, aren't they? I've finally got my '90 RS running (It still needs some tuning.) but have a "vision" for making some cosmetic mods and the cast wheels might fall into play...if they'll work and can be adapted to the chain drive. | ||
| Ratbuell |
Isn't it Castalloy? Um...that's the brand name, isn't it? (Message edited by ratbuell on November 21, 2010) | ||
| Court |
That's the name of the company. . . . actually the name is New Castalloy Pty. Limited. Why NEW ? . . . because they were going bankrupt and were the sole source (and you thought Harley-Davidson was "All American") of wheels for Harley-Davidson . . so HD bought them. There have been further developments. I know you didn't ask . . but I've read so much misinformation here in the last week I figured I'd muddy the water with facts.
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| Ft_bstrd |
I still need to know what they are made of. Interesting information, though. | ||
| Court |
Drop them a NOTE and ask them . . they are still owned by HD . . perhaps they'll share the info. | ||
| Ft_bstrd |
No email yet. I dropped a note to the big man. | ||
| Ratbuell |
..and please share, I'd love to get an indicator of "this is misinformation"... I do always love hearing the facts, though. One day I'll figure out where you come up with this stuff - how big is your archives?  | ||
| Jayvee |
Ducxl, how do you get the BST's on a tuber? Is it the spacers, and brake disk carrier and pulley mounts? I want to do this. Maybe I could get Kosman to do the work, I'm no machinist. Just the child of one. | ||
| Ft_bstrd |
"Only the last couple years of tubers had Castalloy, earlier were Marchesini. Whichever company, they will be some AlSi alloy... To expand a little, the alloy will be a 356 derivative, with significant Silicon content..." So there you go. | ||
| Ratbuell |
I think the only tubers with Marchi's were the S2 (95/96) and some early S1's (96). '97 saw the change to Castalloy's. Giveaway is a lowercase "m" cast into the base of the spokes on a Marchesini (on my 95 S2):  Where Castalloys have "Buell" cast in (you can see it in the 4 o'clock spoke - my 98 S1W):  | ||
| Thundermutt |
I could be wrong but i thought they were magnesium. | ||
| Ratbuell |
You are wrong. Magnesium is a great, lightweight alloy...for a race track. It is brittle, and doesn't take well to things like potholes and rocks. | ||
| Guell |
how come some cars come with them then? Maybe a seriously light mag motorcycle wheel isnt a great idea for the street, but any other wheel i think would be ok | ||
| Court |
Magnesium would, I think, be a poor choice for street use. I went through about $1,700 worth of replacement performance wheels on the wife's 35 series tires last year . . I can't imagine if they were Mg. It's been extensively discussed HERE by some folks who are used to paying $3,500 for wheels. | ||
| Jayvee |
"Mag wheels" have been on performance cars ever since I can remember. Make that high performance street cars. (Message edited by jayvee on November 22, 2010) | ||
| Oldog |
FT there are a number of alloys of aluminum used for die casting and the like, zinc, silicon, and other miscable metals are combined with AL depending on desired properties, high silicon aluminum is typically used for parts that need good strength, accurate casting. and reasonable workablity, it is not that easy to manage, early jap bikes witness that ( rough cast parts ) in times past die cast aluminum with high zinc made nice looking parts that were porrous, and not repairable we refered to it as "monkey metal" decent cast aluminum is weldable, and machines well with the correct tooling the alloy should be of little concequence for any thing other than plating... As with steel hydrogen embrittlement is an issue for plating, not totaly sure about aly so ask lotsa questions, cast alloys (sand cast) are subject to having pin holes ( a force winder is an example ) same but to a lesser extent with investment cast parts. If you are powder coating it should be done after an initial heating cycle then cleaning if needed, coating and heating to a cure. , you will probably have less issues with the cast wheels and PC than I did with the PMs as they are more "flexable" one last thought on plating if you have it done, it can change the dimmentions and can change fits, for instance if you chrome a part typicaly a base coat of copper is applied, and the chrome is applied to that, as far as I know the same applies to aluminum. so dont plate the bearing bores ( unless they are loose ) good luck. | ||
| Ft_bstrd |
I am actually considering anodizing the wheels. More durable than PC but requires a different etching and desmutting process than forged or billet parts. A356 can be anodized from what I are reading in research. Of the alloys, A356, A360, A380, the A356 has the lowest Fe and lowest Si of the list. Good for taking an anodize as long as you use a Nitrate + Ammonium bifloride etch to prevent the Si from creating a black "skunge". Anyway, just a thought. | ||
| Ratbuell |
"Mag wheels" That refers to the "style", not the material. Back then, you had: Wire wheels Steel wheels (with or without hubcaps) "Mag wheels" - which were a hybrid of sorts. Cosmetically done metal, plated and shaped so they didn't have to be covered. "Mag"nificent, maybe? I do remember reading about some sets of Mg wheels being used on Altered's back in the 50s and 60s...but nothing too successful. Maybe the name "mag wheel" came from the fact that wheels like the Torq-Thrust wheel mimic'd the look of the actual Mg drag car wheels...but I can't think of any instances where it's been used on a production car. The only oddball material I know of for automotive wheels was the Fiberide wheel, used on the 1989 Shelby CSX-VNT. It was a fiberglass composite...and only 500 cars were ever produced with them. Somewhere I have one that I...um...broke a while back. | ||
| Jayvee |
From wikipedia, "the all-knowing": Magnesium alloy wheels Magnesium alloy wheels, or "mag wheels", are sometimes used on racing cars, in place of heavier steel or aluminium wheels, for better performance. The wheels are produced by one-step hot forging from a magnesium alloy known as ZK60, AZ31 or AZ91 (MA14 in Russia). Cast magnesium disks are used in motorcycle wheels. The mass of a typical magnesium automotive wheel is about 5–9 kg (depending on size). They have the disadvantages of being expensive and not practical for most road vehicles. Aluminium wheels are often mistakenly called "mag wheels". | ||
| Court |
>>>"Mag wheels" have been on performance cars ever since I can remember. If you remember paying about $3,500 for them then your "Mag" wheels may have been made of Magnesium (a very poor choice for the street) if not you have the "mag style" wheels that were so popular during my muscle car days. Magnesium are lighter than alloys . . .but, as has been observed, you can achieve the same weight gain taking a good dump. | ||
| Hughlysses |
VW Beetles supposedly had magnesium engine blocks. Magnesium is also supposedly EXTREMELY hard to extinguish if it catches on fire. Occasionally VW engine blocks have been known to catch on fire. Not that these facts are particularly relevant to the discussion at hand... | ||
| Ft_bstrd |
All dumps are good dumps. | ||
| Court |
>>>Magnesium is also supposedly EXTREMELY hard to extinguish I can assure you . . having been kicked out of school for 5 days . . that a mixture of Aluminum power and Magnesium powder is impossible to extinguish. I'd have been oaky with the 9' flames . . . it was tossing the Sodium in the toilet that was my undoing. better chemistry through experimentation. Irony: Tom Hewitt, my co-conspiritor, went on to spend a career with DuPont. | ||
| Bluzm2 |
I can attest to the magnesium engine blocks on VW's. I saw one burn on the road, the FD couldn't put it out. They had to cut a chunk out of the tar and repave it. Sure was bright! | ||
| Buell_bert |
Holy Jumping UP and Down. Sodium in water and Magnesium out of water. Remember that from jr. or high school chemistry class. What other chem classes can we come up with. Still like a little NaCl or MSG on some foods. |
