American Racing Torq-Thrust Wheels

[Cornpanzer]

Yes,
Appliance made D Spokes, but there is still no evidence that anyone other than American Racing made a specific Porsche bolt circle and offset.

Keep in mind that Appliance wheels had visual differences. 1) the chamfer from the rim to the spokes was steeper than Americans and 2) the lug holes were countersunk quite a bit deeper than Americans

Until I see a catalog, print ad or some other form of evidence, I am going to stick with my gut that only American tooled up and built this unique offset and bolt circle for the Porsche application

[Cornpanzer]

Oh, and BTW, the set I bought earlier this month have American Racing lead wheel weights on them

[JKH]

Yes,
Appliance made D Spokes, but there is still no evidence that anyone other than American Racing made a specific Porsche bolt circle and offset.

I have one of the 15x7 alum. no name that has the american racing sticker/instructions. I will dig it up and post a picture.

[Cornpanzer]

Ahh, that would be nice to have in my archives. I woud appreciate it if you would share! Thanks

[RodKnock]

Yes,
Appliance made D Spokes, but there is still no evidence that anyone other than American Racing made a specific Porsche bolt circle and offset.

Keep in mind that Appliance wheels had visual differences. 1) the chamfer from the rim to the spokes was steeper than Americans and 2) the lug holes were countersunk quite a bit deeper than Americans

Until I see a catalog, print ad or some other form of evidence, I am going to stick with my gut that only American tooled up and built this unique offset and bolt circle for the Porsche application

While I've not had a Porsche D spoke in my hands, I have had several sets of Appliance D and AR D spokes, both 15x6 and 15x7 sizes, made for the mid-year Corvette to clear the 4-piston Delco disc brakes, and the only visual difference to my eyes are/were the countersunk lug holes. The rest of the wheel was an exact copy IMHO. Also, with the Corvette D spokes, the backspacing for the Appliance wheel was 3 5/8" versus 3 3/4" for the AR.

[Cornpanzer]

Raj,

Thanks for sharing! That is very cool.
That being said, these are Magnesium and the mag Americans never had the American Racing markings on the back.

What a neat set of wheels though!

[67Porsche911S]

I have this set of 15x6 magnesium wheels which came with my 67S.
Can some of you wheel gurus identify what type it is and if they are period correct for a 67S, please?
There is only a short combination of letters and numbers cast in one of the spokes at the back which I can't read.




Thanks!

[Cornpanzer]

Michael,
In my opinion, those are PERFECT for a 67S!

They are indeed magnesium American Racing Torque-Thrust. They appear to be 15x6.

American made improvements to thier casting over a short time. The first wheels did not have the strengthening ribs in the back of the spokes nor did they have the rib running the perimeter of the spoke. The second generation recd the ribs in the backs of the spokes and the third generation is like yours with the rib running the perimeter of the spoke.

Here is a pic of mine. They are second generation and you can see that they lack the ribs around the spokes.

Great wheels! Congrats.

[Cornpanzer]

More period pics...look like 67 "S" to me

[Gburner]

Don't shoot the messenger.

Found on Wikipedia.

Magnesium wheels are flammable and have been banned in some forms of motorsport in the UK following fires which are very difficult to extinguish. Mag wheels have been known to catch fire in competition use after a punctured tyre has allowed prolonged scraping of the wheel on the road surface.
Some variants of Magnesium alloy wheels may have low corrosion resistance.

What is the crack check process for 40 year old magnesium rims?
I've read some both crack test and x-ray, is that the norm for magnesium wheel owners?
After they pass the 1st crack check how frequently should these wheels be crack checked?
Is there a common area the magnesium rims tend to crack?

Since aluminum rims do not suffer the flammable and low corrosion resistance issues, why the attraction to the magnesium version?

The info would be helpful as I've got a pair of welded fuchs that need to be checked before they can go on the car.

My only magnesium wheel failure experiance...
A buddy of mine crashed his car and wasted a magnesium rim. I'm almost positive that the 60s era magnesium wheel did not cause the accident. The magnesium wheels failed due to the accident, but it was odd how the wheels broke into many small chips the size of wheel weights? Not the bent or dented wheel failure you typically see.

A google search for cracked magnesium wheels contained safety info not discussed on this thread. fyi for ex.

https://www-auth.cs.wisc.edu/lists/v...msg01831.shtml

Magnesium is famously porous. All magnesium wheels have to be sealed in some
way on the inside or they will pass gas.
For the sake of accuracy, magnesium is not 'corrosive', but is
'reactive'. Acid is corrosive, while magnesium is subject to corrosion.

It's not that magnesium is brittle. Quite the contrary, mag is very
soft. Problem is that, like aluminum (and unlike ferrous metals),
magnesium has no 'indefinite load strength' (my term - I forget the
official term). Said another way, aluminum, magnesium (and I believe
titanium) will slowly work-harden under _any_ load, eventually
_becoming_ brittle, which means they will eventually fail. Magnesium
more quickly and at lower load than aluminum. Ferrous metals, i.e. steel
alloys, have a load-limit below which they will _not_ work-harden, and
will last theoretically forever. This gets into the same process that
recommends that one never use grade-8 bolts for suspension or brake
attachments. The grade-8 bolts are much more brittle due to their
hardening, and the vibrations and shock-loading involved in suspension
attachments will cause a grade-8 bolt to ultimately fail