Making wheels fit & other conversions!

How to improve the Cornering & Stopping of your Alfa
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PETROLHEAD
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Joined: Thu Sep 26, 2013 7:51 pm
Location: Nottingham

Making wheels fit & other conversions!

Post by PETROLHEAD »

Hi all

Its not new to anyone who knows me that i'm always surrounded by lovely old wheels, refurbishing, buying and selling etc etc, and a lot of that was born out of my own interest in proper retro and classic wheels, but struggling to find the styles i like best in suitable PCD stud patterns, sizes, etc to bolt to an array of Alfa's over the years.

This became a personal determination to make the most of whats available, and not have the VW lads have all the fun and the best styles, and this led to all manner of engineering thoughts, ideas, and designs. Some triumphant, some less successful, but i do have a "never be beaten" kind of approach and believe that you can fit any wheel to any car, with enough work and application, and this has led to some pretty wild car and wheel set ups! all within the boundaries of good taste of course :D

Anyway, to cut to the chase, i have made some excellent but long suffering contacts and friends in engineering and machining etc over years of messing with wheels and parts, and aswell as the usual refurbishing i do, i can also offer these services commercially now.

First of which, is spacers and adaptors.

A common part for most folk over the years, notoriously associated with the Carlos Fandango's amongst us, but more importantly, they can allow us to fit wheels of a different stud pattern to what our cars are currently equipped with, opening up a whole different world of options.


These are my first creations under the new arrangement, and these are to fit a friends Pug 206 gti hubs, which are 4 x 108 pcd, and allow us to fit a wheel i had that he fell in love with, that is 4 x 100 pcd and a completely different offset and centre bore.

2015-08-19 17.34.08.jpg


and once the fit is finalised i'm going to powder coat the adaptors in a matching gold to look like an extension of the actual wheel.

2015-08-20 14.13.04.jpg


As a custom made adaptor, it has been machined to be a precise internal fit to the Pugs hub protrusion, and internal bore of the wheel centre, so this eliminates the use of any spigot rings or other parts required to accurately centre the wheel prior to bolting up, which will be done via a full stud conversion and tuner nuts in the instance.



If anyone should require any of these hubcentric spacers, pcd adaptors, or work done to their hubs, wheels and parts, then just holla.

Alternatively, if you just want to throw some idea's around, then use this thread to discuss and we'll see if we can't come up with a method of fitting your dream rims! :D
SHREW

I AM the Law!


Alfasud 1.7-16v, Charade Turbo SR, & The Dirty Diesels - GT Cloverleaf, 159 Ti Sportwagon, Saab 9-3 Sportwagon

justsuds
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Joined: Mon Jan 27, 2014 8:50 pm
Location: Chorley Lancs

Re: Making wheels fit & other conversions!

Post by justsuds »

love it Shrew, brilliant ! - can you give us a guide on cost ?
John.

Veesix75
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Joined: Mon Jan 27, 2014 8:37 pm

Re: Making wheels fit & other conversions!

Post by Veesix75 »

That's top notch Shrew, might help with my compo turbo's...... :D

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PETROLHEAD
Posts: 3045
Joined: Thu Sep 26, 2013 7:51 pm
Location: Nottingham

Re: Making wheels fit & other conversions!

Post by PETROLHEAD »

Hi all.

The material cost isnt too bad, a tad wasteful, as these had to start from a substantial billet before being parted out and then machined individually,

But time is the killer and costly bit.

I'm trying to save as much engineers time as possible by doing all the design and draughting myself, and begging the basic machines whenever i can leaving only the final cad stuff to the real engineer.

All that considered, this set currently stand me at around 130 pounds, plus nuts bolts and more drilling to do.

If i was to offer this sort of thing commercially, id guess they'd have to be 150 the set, or i couldnt get the engineer to turn on the lathe again!

Does that sound realistic?
SHREW

I AM the Law!


Alfasud 1.7-16v, Charade Turbo SR, & The Dirty Diesels - GT Cloverleaf, 159 Ti Sportwagon, Saab 9-3 Sportwagon

justsuds
Posts: 335
Joined: Mon Jan 27, 2014 8:50 pm
Location: Chorley Lancs

Re: Making wheels fit & other conversions!

Post by justsuds »

That sounds very realistic Shrew, anything bespoke like this is expensive because there is no economy of scale.
John.

Veesix75
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Joined: Mon Jan 27, 2014 8:37 pm

Re: Making wheels fit & other conversions!

Post by Veesix75 »

Sounds fair all round to me, some of that could be saved by getting cheaper wheels from more a readily available pcd

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PETROLHEAD
Posts: 3045
Joined: Thu Sep 26, 2013 7:51 pm
Location: Nottingham

Re: Making wheels fit & other conversions!

Post by PETROLHEAD »

Veesix75 wrote:Sounds fair all round to me, some of that could be saved by getting cheaper wheels from more a readily available pcd

Now thats what its all about really Tim, right on the money.

Not only is the 4 and 5 x98 choice painfully slim pickings, but also rather costly if you do find something, or even more so if you want something different.

This way, and other methods, give an enormously wider choice and better value with it.


My own sud will have modified hubs with 4 x 100 studs. I've already done them, but as you all know, haven't got round to fitting anything yet! :lol:
SHREW

I AM the Law!


Alfasud 1.7-16v, Charade Turbo SR, & The Dirty Diesels - GT Cloverleaf, 159 Ti Sportwagon, Saab 9-3 Sportwagon

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Johnboy
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Re: Making wheels fit & other conversions!

Post by Johnboy »

Great work chap ! I know of a set would that do with this ;)
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