Diecast Wheel Swaps

Last post, thanks for your support!

2014-07-14T08:09:00.001-04:00

Hi All,

I've decided to consolidate this blog into my main Mytoycars blog, so I won't be posting anything here anymore. I'll eventually migrate the posts here into mytoycars, and shut this site down, but I'll keep it around for a little while longer.

Thanks for visiting!

Hot Wheels 1970 Chevelle SS Wagon

2013-12-23T07:27:00.000-05:00

This was an easy swap to do. I drilled out the single rivet on the 2013 and 2014 models of this Hot Wheels 70 Chevelle Wagon and swapped the chassis on the two cars. I prefer the look of the gold 5 spokes on this matte black wagon over the original PR5 wheels.

Brand: Hot Wheels
Series: 2013 Mainline
Model: 1970 Chevelle SS Wagon
Scale: 1/64

Before and After: Johnny Lightning 1965 Ford Mustang

2013-04-01T08:57:00.000-04:00

This month, you get a three for one deal on wheel swaps. Featured above are three Johnny Lightning 1965 Ford Mustang Fastbacks. All of them have the plastic wheels. Here's how they looked originally (pictures courtesy of jlcollector.net):

In summary, I took out the gray rims and replaced them with more shiny wheels. Please enjoy the rest of the pictures. Don't forget to click on them to supersize this string of performance ponies.

Brand: Johnny Lightning
Series: Forever 64, Releases 9,15 and 24
Model: 1965 Ford Mustang
Scale: 1/64
Release date: 2010, 2011, 2012

Tutorial: Johnny Lightning Wheel Swap - part two

2013-02-01T20:38:00.000-05:00

In part one of Johnny Lightning Wheel swap, we looked at how easy it was to change the rims on a car that had rubber tires. In this post we will examine how it is also very easy to remove and replace the rims from a Johnny Lightning vehicle that has plastic wheels. No drilling required.

The candidate vehicle for this tutorial is a Dodge Monaco with plastic wheels and black rims. I'm pretty meh on these rims so I'm gonna give this car some extra dazzle by replacing the existing rims with some chrome slotted ones.

Before you start, make sure you have a soft surface to work on so you don't damage the car. I've simply used a towel here. Also you will need the new rims that you want to put on the car. And finally the magic tool I use is simply a pocket screwdriver with flat blade.

On Johnny Lightnings with plastic wheels, there are two slots on the inside of the wheel (see pic above).

You want to place the car so that it is resting on the towel, and you want to place the blade of the screwdriver into one of the two slots behind the wheel. Now, with just a gentle push of the screwdriver, the rim should pop out.

You don't need to apply too much pressure. If you do, you risk damaging the wheel or cracking it. Avoid sticking the blade right through, ie don't do what the pic above is showing.

Here's how the wheel looks like after the rim has popped out (inside view).

Here's how the wheel looks from the outside.

Repeat the process on the remaining wheels.

Now take your donor rims and place them over the wheels. With your fingers, press the new rim firmly into the wheel opening.

Once the rim is in the wheel, work your way around the wheel with your finger to make sure the rim is seated properly.

Here is the car Dodge Monaco the new rims.

Final words of advice, I've noticed that the inside diameters of the wheels varies from on different Johnny Lightning cars. What this means is that you may have rims that are either too tight to fit into the wheel or too loose.

If your replacement rims fall out of the wheels, it means the rims are probably too small. I find that using a small dab of glue on the backside of the rim before I set it into the wheel helps to secure it.

If on the other hand the new rim will not fit into the wheel, take an emery board or a bit of sandpaper and lightly sand the rim all around. Be careful, in that you don't scratch the rim edges or surface. You may have to repeat the sanding and wheel placement a couple of times before it finally fits, make sure you take your time.

Well, hope this tutorial has adequately explained how to easily swap out the rims on a Johnny Lightning with plastic wheels. Thanks for looking!

Tutorial: Johnny Lightning Wheel Swap - part one

2013-01-01T21:52:00.000-05:00

The one thing that has really appealed to me about Johnny Lightning cars and trucks is the fact that they come in a variety of tire and wheel combinations. There are so many different style of mag wheels, hub caps, wheel covers that it's hard to keep track of them all. Sometimes a vehicle will have plastic tires and other times it will have rubber tires. In some cases, there have actually been cars and trucks that had both plastic and rubber tires. And yet, even still sometimes I'm not completely happy with the wheel choices that come on a car.

Take for instance this beautiful silver Ford Country Squire station wagon from the current Forever 64 release 27. It originally comes with rubber whitewalls and hubcaps, but I just find that this combination doesn't work on this car. I wanted to kick it up but not make it look too racy either.

For rubber tired Johnny Lightnings, it is so easy to change up the wheels. Simply peel off the tire from the hub. The rims will come off at the same time. Easy peasy. Now keep in mind that I've been collecting Johnny Lightnings for more than ten years so I've amassed quite a few wheels and tires over the past year, but if you've got a handful of rubber tired Johnny Lightnings, you could do a wheel exchange between one car and another to practice.

I use pill containers to separate out all my different rims and tires, so I can easily differentiate the ones I want to use. Here, I've decided to go with a nice wire rim. I've run out of skinny blackwall rubber tires so I decided I would just flip the whitewalls inside out and reuse them with the new rims. It's very easy to pop the rims out from the tires after you have removed them from the car. And simply, push the new rim into the tire and make sure it is aligned properly. I definitely recommend that you put the rims into the tires before remounting the tires on the car, much like in real life. After you have installed the rims into the tires, now you can press the the rim/tire back onto the hub. Make sure you have seated the tire properly and give it a spin to make sure it's true. Now, repeat the same process for the remainign wheels and you have successfully performed your wheel swap.

In part two, I'll post the tutorial on what you'll need to change the rims on a plastic wheeled Johnny Lightning.
Stay tuned and thanks for looking!

Addendum: Here's part two - plastic wheel swap for Johnny Lightning.

Before and After: Johnny Lightning 2003 Nissan 350Z

2012-12-01T20:23:00.000-05:00

Here's another Johnny Lightning with updated rim treatment. This time the model is the 2003 Nissan 350Z that was part of the 12 car Poker Release set that came out in 2005. Excellent detailing on the vehicle, including the Z badging and license plate. The poker series added the "spades" tampo to the hood and green felt interior. I added the blackout rims with chrome accents to the plastic wheels to give it a more aggressive appearance. Here's how the car looked originally (picture courtesy of jlcollector.net).

Brand: Johnny Lightning
Series: Poker Release 1
Model: 2003 Nissan 350Z
Release date: 2005

Before and After: Johnny Lightning 1970 Chevy Camaro

2012-11-01T22:24:00.000-04:00

I have a few of the cars from the Johnny Lightning Pro Collectors series that are still in their blisters. I decided to bust this open from the packaging because I don't have too many loose 1970 Chevy Camaros in my collection. Most are still on their original card. This wheel swap took less than five minutes and consisted of popping out the old 5 spoke wheels and replacing them with sportier cragar mag wheels. Enjoy!

Brand: Johnny Lightning
Series: Pro Collector Series Release 4
Model: 1970 Chevrolet Camaro RS/SS
Year Issued: 2003

To see the entire Pro Collector's series, click here:
http://jlcollector.net/pcr4.html

Before and After: Johnny Lightning 60s Camaros

2012-10-01T09:25:00.000-04:00

picture above courtesy of jlcollector.net

Here are six different chevy camaros from my Johnny Lightning collection. These were all plastic wheel cars from Johnny Lightnings 40th Anniversary or Forvever 64 series and I easily swapped out the rims of these cars and customized them with the replacement rims as shown.

The first before pic depicts a Johnny Lightning factory wheel variations. I was not lucky enough to find the rubber tire version shown and ended up with a plastic wheeled version.

The second silver 69 camaro had nice rims but I wanted to use them elsewhere and ended up putting some cragar SST rims on it instead.

Ditto for the last silver camaro with the factory slotted rims which I liked but needed them for another car so i gave it some different rims instead.

All before images of the Johnny Lightning Camaros are courtesy of jlcollector.net. Don't forget to click on the pics to supersize them.

Brand: Johnny Lightning
Series: Forever 64 and 40th Anniversary
Models: assorted 60s chevy camaros

Before and After: Johnny Lightning 1955 Chevy Nomad

2012-09-01T09:11:00.000-04:00

Before picture courtesy of jlcollector.net

Ok, I'm not sure if this wheel swap of the Johnny Lightning 1955 Chevy Nomad wagon improved the look or not. I needed the original rims from the car and swapped them with some white bling type 5 spokes. The wagon itself is detailed nicely and you can actually read the logos on the car. I think this colour scheme is particularly eye-catching. So, what do you think of this plastic wheel rim swap. Love it or hate it?

Brand: Johnny Lightning
Series: Street Freaks Release 14
Model: 1955 Chevy Nomad
Casting: 242

Before and After: Johnny Lightning 1970 Plymouth Superbird

2012-08-01T16:20:00.000-04:00

Before: pic courtesy of jlcollector.net

Hey there! sorry for not posting for awhile, but now I'm back. Today's featured wheel swap is on the Johnny Lightning 1970 Plymouth Superbird. As you can see from the first pic, the car originally came with white 5 spokes but I thought they were kinda chunky looking. I decided to go with some chrome rims, not sure what you call them, but I think they add some class to this very potent Mopar muscle car. Jut a note that this was the last issue of this casting in 2011, as Johnny Lightning has not since released any new versions of this Superbird. Enjoy!

Brand: Johnny Lightning
Series: Forever 64 Release 15
Model: 1970 Plymouth Superbird
Release date: 2011
Casting: 915

Before and After: Johnny Lightning 1977 Dodge Monaco

2012-07-01T10:40:00.000-04:00

Todays wheel swap candidate is the Johnny Lightning 77 Dodge Monaco in forest green. The original back hubcaps were really boring so I changed the rubber tires and rims and gave it some mopar rally wheels and redline tires. Top picture is from jlcollector.net.

Before and After: Hot Wheels Baja Breaker

2012-06-01T10:08:00.000-04:00

pic courtesy of hotwheels.wikia.com

I don't like it when Mattel pus these weird coloured wheels on their cars and trucks. This Hot Wheels Baja Breaker ford van from the recent 5 pack needed some new wheels in my opinion. Unfortunately i did not have any offroad tires laying around, so this wheel swap is temporary for now.

Before and After: Hot Wheels 68 Copo Camaro

2012-04-01T09:46:00.000-04:00

One of these Hot Wheels Camaros has had it's wheels swapped. Can you tell which one? If you guessed orange, you are correct. To change the wheels I had to drill out the base of the orange car and replace the chassis with an extra burgundy camaro i had laying around.

Before and After: Johnny Lightning 1965 VW Kharmann Ghia

2012-01-01T16:37:00.010-05:00

above picture courtesy of jlcollector.net

Today's before and after is the Johnny Lightning VW Kharmann Ghia. I'm usually not a big fan by any means of the bling wheels that Johnny Lightning has recently adorned their latest cars with. I swapped out the original plastic cragar wheels to use on another car and put the bling wheels on this Ghia. Surprisingly this doesn't look too bad!

Brand: Johnny Lightning
Series: Volkswagen Release 5
Model: 1965 Volkswagen Kharmann Ghia
Casting: #275
Release date: 2007

Before and After: Johnny Lightning 1976 Dodge Van

2011-09-01T09:19:00.000-04:00

This Johnny Lightning Dodge Van was from the Mopar 10 car box set. It used to have boring gray rims.

Here is the Dodge van following the plastic wheel swap. I think the Cragars really improve the appearance of this JL 76 Dodge Van and doesn't make it look so Cut-Rate anymore.

Brand: Johnny Lightning
Series: Mopar or No Car
Model: 1976 Dodge Van
Casting: 398
Release Date: 2004

Before and After: Johnny Lightning 1966 Pontiac GTO

2011-05-01T19:45:00.000-04:00

This Johnny Lightning GTO has an excellent metallic silver paint job, but the wheels were really detracting from this model, for me anyways. Love the lines of this car and the hood scoops too. The above picture is courtesy of Jlcollector.net.

And here it is after swapping on some 5 spoke cragars. Now this Johnny Lightning GTO looks perfect.

Brand: Johnny Lightning
Series: Forever 64 Release 2
Model: 1966 Pontiac GTO
Year Issued: 2010
Scale: 1/64

Before and After: Johnny Lightning 1967 Pontiac Firebird

2011-04-01T19:54:00.000-04:00

Before: pic courtesy of jlcollector.net

Today's before and after subject is the Johnny Lightning 1967 Pontiac Firebird. It originally came with the black plastic wheels pictured above. Love the casting, hate the wheels.

Now, here it is with some shiny rims which I prefer.

Brand: Johnny Lightning

Release: 40th Anniversary Release 3

Model: 1967 Pontiac Firebird

Release date: 2009

Casting: 094

Before and After: Johnny Lightning 1965 Chevy Impala

2011-03-01T09:52:00.000-05:00

The original wheels on this Johnny Lightning 65 Chevy Impala just looked so wrong (picture courtesy of Jlcollector.net). And here below it is after I added some steelies.

Pictured here is the Chevy Impala after a wheel upgrade. I couldn't do anything with the original wheels, which were like little donuts, so I ended up drilling out the base to replace the wheels. Pictured in the background is the maroon 65 Impala from 40th Anniv R8. I didn't recall doing a rim swap on it but looking back at the original pictures on http://jlcollector.net, it looks like it also got the treatment.

Brand: Johnny Lightning
Series: 40th Anniversary Release 6
Model: 1965 Chevrolet Impala
Casting: 943
Year Issued: 2009
Scale: 1/64

Before and After: Hot Wheels Datsun Bluebird 510

2011-02-01T07:42:00.000-05:00

The above two pictures (courtesy of hotwheels.wikia.com) show the latest 2012 Hot Wheels Datsun Bluebird 510 with the oh-so-ugly wheels. Here are the "after" pictures.

I swapped out the FTE2s on the Hot Wheels Datsun bluebirds and sacrificed a couple of Hot Wheels studebaker pickups to get their wheels. For those of you with keen eyes, you'll notice that the Ferrari FF and Ford offroad van got some new wheels too. As always clicking on the pics, supersizes them. I think the new wheels are a definite improvement.

Brand: Hot Wheels
Series: Mainline
Model: Datsun Bluebird 510
Casting: 092
Release Date: 2012

Before and After: Johnny Lightning 1965 El Camino

2011-01-01T11:01:00.000-05:00

Pictured above are two Johnny Lightning El Caminos. Pictures courtesy of jlcollector.net. Here are the cars after I removed the tampos and changed the rubber wheels and rims to give them a stock look.

Johnny Lightnings wheel swaps are easily achieved on the rubber tired vehicles by simply peeling the tires and rims from the axle. Replacing the wheels is just as easy. Have you tried a wheel swap on your Johnny Lightning cars?

Brand: Johnny Lightning

Series: Classic Gold Release 27 (station wagon), Coca Cola Calendar 2005 (pickup)

Model: 1965 Chevrolet El Camino

Year Issued: 2004 (wagon), 2005 (pickup)