'66-'69 Imperial wheel cover resto

[patrick66]

I decided to pull the wheel covers off the Imperial and restore them, somewhat. All four are the same, but two are original to the car, whereas the other two appear to have been replacements at some point. The color finish is the giveaway.

After some minor shop flooding due to heavy rains and runoff from construction behind me, I got things cleaned up and am ready to get going on the covers..I found what should be the right paint for the project, more on that next post. I'll post process posts as I move along. These are heavy beasts! Did you know these were individually balanced at the factory?

 

[marko]

yes i knew that. werent the later wheel covers colour matched to the body ? or white if the car had a white roof ?
69 thing i think ?

 

[patrick66]

That might be, but there is a green '66 four-door about an hour away that that the same-color centers as the car. I like that so I'm rolling with that.

 

[patrick66]

The first is a cover that doesn't match, as it has a bright center and dark background.

The other is body-color, but very faded. I was thinking one of two possibilities here - make the center shiny and the area behind the turbine yellow, or do both yellow; as the second cover is yellow behind the turbine.

One of the local O'Reilly parts stores does paint, as well. I brought the '66 Chrysler codes to them and they didn't have a Ditzler cross-code ability. But, Ford Crocus Yellow is a dead-ringer! I bought a custom-mixed 7-oz spray can and a vial of touch-up that can be used with a brush. I'm taking apart.my first cover in the morning and see what happens!

 

[crv]

Did you know these were individually balanced at the factory?

There was a photo doing the rounds on FB showing female workers at the factory doing that, if I can find it I'll post it.

 

[detmatt]

All of the ‘66 covers I have are black in the middle and some sort of mildly textured argent behind the turbine trim.

 

[patrick66]

I was looking at the dark-centered cover I have. That is the cover I had apart once. it is black behind the turbine. I'm going to go ahead and stick with my original plan of yellow centers and background on one cover. That'll be a good comparison to see which will look better on the car.

 

[detmatt]

I was looking at the dark-centered cover I have. That is the cover I had apart once. it is black behind the turbine. I'm going to go ahead and stick with my original plan of yellow centers and background on one cover. That'll be a good comparison to see which will look better on the car.

I think it will look great!

 

[patrick66]

First pic is of the weight used to balance the wheel cover. Second is (probably) the date code when it was ready for the line after balancing. The third is impossible to tell, for me. It's very faded. The last pic is of the center and medallion attachment points. There are 12 tiny little 1/4" screws holding it all together

First cover gets disassembled tonight.

 

[patrick66]

I disassembled the first cover today. I cleaned up the six components and masked off the main cover. The Crocus Yellow is so close to what' is on the car! I'm pretty happy. I'll let the paint thoroughly dry overnight and assemble it in the morning.

 

[patrick66]

First one done, three to go. I'll update when all four are done and on the car

 

[marko]

looks great !

 

[patrick66]

Can't wait to take 'er for a rip with the freshened wheel covers! Later on, I'll paint the large argent silver on two of them, where it's worn down somewhat.

 

[MrMoparCHP]

Looks good, I'd check the clocking on the pieces to get the "Imperial" and the emblem centered with the valve stem at the bottom.


Alan

 

[patrick66]

Looks good, I'd check the clocking on the pieces to get the "Imperial" and the emblem centered with the valve stem at the bottom.


Alan

On one, the medallion was glued hard to the cover, so it is a little askew, compared to the other three. This one came out very nice. I painted the Argent Silver on the outside band on two covers, this was one of the two. Next pic will be the covers on the car, and the end of the story.

 

[Mr C]

Here's the link to tell the differences between the 66, 67, 68, 69 Imperial wheel cover treatments:

(Chrysler) Imperial Wheels, Hubcaps, and Wheel Covers

Your wheel covers are not 66 covers. They would have cooling vents around the stamping that clamps to the rim, and the valve stem come out farther inward in the finned area of the wheel cover (1966 only). That was because of the 5x5.5 Imperial "artillery wheels" that ended in 66.

When the rim changed to 5x5 in 67, the wheel covers moved the valve stem farther out.

You did yours "69 style". Very nice! What a gorgeous car.

 

[patrick66]

I had to put 2" valve stem extensions on the car. I couldn't air up or check tire pressure without removing the covers! I really didn't know if I had '66 covers or the later ones. Your comment about the artillery-style '66 wheels makes sense now. I definitely prefer the later color treatment, for certain.

BTW, the weight of a fully-assembled wheel cover is 5.2# or 2.7 kg.

 

[patrick66]

Voila!

 

[detmatt]

Very nice!