Time to focus on a specific chunk again, which is always nice - it feels like progress is faster that way. So I'm looking at the wheels and brakes next.
I've already cut the hubs away from the rims and investigated having the original rims rechromed but it was just not economical, so I have ordered a new set of rims and spokes. I went for stainless steel rims, which were a bit more expensive but shouldn't rust like chrome. But the main reason was that the chrome rims were drilled for the spoke holes aftre chroming and it seemed to me that would be a real weak point for rust.
The tyres were almost solid - they were at least 40 years old - and I had to resort to a hacksaw to remove them!
I pulled all of the bits and pieces of brake arms and axle spacers etc off and either spray painted or wire brushed them back to clean metal. I actually painted some bits silver instead of black for the first time. I was really pleased at how the speedo drive came up - always gives me a thrill to see something approaching 60 years old look like new again for a little bit of elbow grease and a few pennies worth of paint!
And then onto the main event of cleaning 40+ years of accumulated oxide off the hubs before polishing them up. The process was to degrease, then get the worst off with a rotary scotchbrite disc in the drill, then work through three grades of scotchbrite pad before finally polishing with solvol autosol. I was really pleased with the results. The first pic shows the front hub (before) and rear hub (after). Very pleased with that. Now just need to repeat for the front hub and they will be ready to lace up once the rims and spokes arrive.
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