Magnesium Minilite resto

[Thorp]

Good point, yes, they had several layers of paint on them, so nothing visible in terms of marking, but will have a better idea once they are blasted and prepped.

I wont be machining anything for now; just wondered if it were possible.

[Thorp]

Quick update, wheels have been blasted and the repairs are in progress. Much better than expected.

Does anyone have an image of an original wheel that I can see the colour of? I don’t think they were a modern metallic silver originally; more a satin grey/silver, but grateful if anyone has an image or knows the correct colour.

[mk1]

Looking good!

If you are collectinmg from Ian. Drop in to see me & you can have a look at one of my NOS Minilites c/w original paint. I'm about 7 miles away from Ian.

[Thorp]

Thanks for the offer Mark, but I’m at the other end of the country unfortunately otherwise I’d happily have a look at an original one.

The colour they suggested is per below; is this about right? Difficult to tell in photos as it depends on screen settings etc, but this is a silver/grey.

[mk1]

The original colour is quite "blue-ish" I'll take some pics & see what they look like.

[Thorp]

Wheels finished..... what amazing service.

Should look lovely with some period style rubber on.

[Thorp]

And one more

[mk1]

I said he was good didn't I

[MiNiKiN]

I wonder how they filled the holes prior to painting? what was the cost?

Though not magnesium, I currently have a Cosmic Mk1 wheel (the missing one I found after a years search) that hast a nasty notch (1mm deep / 250mm long) ground in by a brake disc when it came loose at some point in its live.
Secondly the bores in the steel insert boss have been bored out to 13mm for larger bolts and the seat was changed to tapered rather than radius.

Both damages I am now going to have laser build-up welded - we shall see how it goes.It's not too cheap at the estimated 200€

TBH honest in hindsight I should not have bought it, but I was to happy to finally have found one to notice the defects during purchase.

Cosmic_#2_LR.jpg

Cosmic Mk1 #1_LR.jpg

[GraemeC]

I don't know those wheels well, but can you not just knock the inserts out and replace?

[MiNiKiN]

I don't know those wheels well, but can you not just knock the inserts out and replace?

No, they seem to be cast in, I.e. I assume it is a whole boss, not just inserts.

[Peter Laidler]

Like Graeme C says, I don't know the wheels well either. But I'm not sure about them being cast in as part of the alloy casting for several reasons. Nope.......

[GraemeC]

I've certainly had later Cosmics where the inserts were missing

[MiNiKiN]

What shall I say, I now took all my courage and tried to knock one out* - I stand corrected, indeed they are just inserts - one of 2 issues solved. Thx.

* on my spare wheel Cosmic Mk1 which has a slighly different centre hole

[Thorp]

The mag alloys are welded up, rather than holes being filled. Ben Jemison (Ian’s son) does the wheels. They did not apply any filler, which is probably better from a safety angle too.

Re cost, probably best to give him a call so he can assess what you want done, but I thought it was very reasonable. Certainly less than the cost of a set of new (non mag) wheels for my 4 and one of mine was pretty corroded.

[miniminor]

Amazing how good those turned out comparing before and after pictures. I think I'd still only use them for show use though.