Build Thread 1978 Fairmont. I bet somebody back home’s thinkin’…I wonder why he don’t write..?

Remind me never to buy from American Racing. How the F can you having “racing” in your name, and then state your wheels aren’t promised to be round and good to 90 mph. What a joke. They should change their name to American Paper Weights.
 
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Remind me never to buy from American Racing. How the F can you having “racing” in your name, and then state your wheels aren’t promised to be round and good to 90 mph. What a joke. They should change their name to American Paper Weights.
Whether or not that guy speaks for American Racing I cant say. You cannot talk to AR directly. During the conversation he also said that I could not use the criteria that BMW uses when balancing a wheel, that these wheels are not intended to go on a car rated to travel at triple digit speeds, and the precision machine that a BMW dealership uses will never certify one of the AR wheels as acceptable.
It is laughable to be sure that a company has drawn a line in the sand and stated that the manufacturing process they live by is the “close enough” rule, and rely on wheel weights to get it the rest of the way.
 
Whether or not that guy speaks for American Racing I cant say. You cannot talk to AR directly. During the conversation he also said that I could not use the criteria that BMW uses when balancing a wheel, that these wheels are not intended to go on a car rated to travel at triple digit speeds, and the precision machine that a BMW dealership uses will never certify one of the AR wheels as acceptable.
It is laughable to be sure that a company has drawn a line in the sand and stated that the manufacturing process they live by is the “close enough” rule, and rely on wheel weights to get it the rest of the way.
That "precision machine" a BMW dealership uses is the same damned Hunter wheel balancer every other dealership uses.

What an asshat.
 
After this last update, I searched, and found the Web address for American Racing. I basically cut and pasted a cut from my previous reply detailing the conversation I had with the guys at wheels for less. Wondering if I would receive a confirmation of my email, I checked this morning to see if they had sent me anything back.

They had.

A confirmation that wheels for less was looking into my inquiry, and would respond to me shortly.

Its pointless to complain to this company, they do not take care of their problems directly.
 
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Much to talk about..

I've been in a conversation with American Racing. A couple of days ago, I send an email to "Wheel Pros" who are now the owners of several different custom wheel companies.
Within a day, I get a sympathetic reply with a name, and contact info for a customer service representative at Wheel Pros...
I Tell him what happened when I ordered my wheels the last time, I tell him how the conversation went this time when I attempted to purchase another set of wheels from the company while having to deal with one of their " certified dealers".

He Apologizes..He's so sorry I had this terrible experience, and he was here to help me resolve the issue im having.

Then proceeds to do absolutely nothing.

He offers no discount..he offers no direct resolution to getting another set ordered..( tells me to use Discount tire direct).

I ask him to tell me what kind of turn time I should expect if I order a set of wheels tomorrow....He checks...He tells me that the centers, and the hoops are in stock at one of their warehouses, and that ( while he couldn't guarantee it) I should expect a 6-8 week turn.

Thats it..

This morning, I call a local tire store that lists themselves as a dealer for American Racing. I Tell the dude what I want, he tells me he has to call Wheel pros to get a price, and a turn time, af tells me he'll call me back in 5.

He calls back in 5..He tells me that the wheel is 500.00 ea. ( good)..and that it'll take 16 weeks to build it.

"16 Weeks!" The show I want to be at is a little over 10 weeks.

"All I know is what they're telling me sir"

This afternoon, I call the guy at Wheel pros, and tell him how my conversation went with the local retailer...

He's got nothing but apologies...

"DUDE! In the company I work for when somebody gets treatment like what I've been through..WE MOVE MOUNTAINS to try and fix the problem".

"I'm not asking for the wheel tomorrow..you told me 6-8 weeks,....I'm asking you to step in and find out if you can get the ONE FREAKIN WHEEL that I need built w/i the 2 month time frame im expecting instead of the 16 week turn time I was quoted today."

He can only apologize.

If he only knew about the power of social media...

On the other hand..


Im off for four days.

Today I went down the path to bling town...I removed the coil mount plate, removed the valve covers, and stripped the paint off of them.
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It was a pain in the ass.
Im just gonna leave the coil mount plate raw...Im gonna paint the valve covers Testa Rossa to match the " Why is the puke tank red?" vibe.
I thought about painting them copper, but that doesn't change anything really. I thought about polishing them, but after the hell I went through today just getting the coil mount plate acceptable as " brushed"..there's no way in hell im doing that.

SO......red.
 
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Before..
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After.

Its not a big difference, but it adds detail to an otherwise monochromatic engine. By painting the valve covers, i’ve committed to nothing when comparing to the investment to have them powder coated. This will give me some time to decide if, or how I want to change it.
 
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Personally, I think the change that made the biggest difference was the coil plate. I think the red kind of hides the engine in a way, if that makes sense. Just a spitball idea for consideration - what if the valve covers, coil plate, and puke tank were grey? A little darker than the bare metal bits like the turbo and caster/camber plates but definitely lighter than black. I know you're looking to break away from monochromatic but it is a mechanical piece, I guess I feel it should have some sort of industrial look or something, especially since it's swapped into a car it's not meant to be in. And since the valve covers are essentially hidden under the coil plate I think if they were both the same color the coils would have something to stand out against. If you want to dress the engine a little you could use polished or stainless fasteners, especially on the darker pieces, although a lot of them look hidden from what I can see. It just seems like a dark area now, something lighter would make it stand out. Anyway, just something I would consider. :shrug:
 
Meh,...I gotta admit I'm not all that in love with it. I want it to look like the old monster engine, but can't figure out what I need to do to match this kinda vibe w/o cutting open the side of a maverick engine, swapping over to a Aussie head, and hacking on 6 BMW tb’s.
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Why does the new engine have to be so........boring?
 
Copper/Bronze color before looked better man. Just my 2$.
You’re right. I will return it back. The difference will be that I won’t paint the copper over wrinkle black..( it’ll be painted over red,instead).
I don’t know if I’ll wait, and run it this way for a bit, or I’ll take it back apart immediatel.

( Who wants to take a guess on this decision)