I braved the cold to do some high tech measuring....hopefully it still makes sense in the morning 
I braved the cold to do some high tech measuring....hopefully it still makes sense in the morning
mke said:In reply to vwfreek :
If I had OEM 308 wheel....
Its a shame because the OEM 308 wheel looks like it was designed to be cut down with a sawzall and turned into 3 piece split rims
Addicted said:mke said:In reply to vwfreek :
If I had OEM 308 wheel....
Its a shame because the OEM 308 wheel looks like it was designed to be cut down with a sawzall and turned into 3 piece split rims
That they do! But they are pretty expensive...like $2K+ a set and I think the center would be too small Dia...I have 18" and the biggest OEM is 16
I took some of the numbers from last night and setup a front wheel that SHOULD work....its not bad. The wheel bolts get kind of long as the spacer needs to be about 45mm but it looks fine I think. I still need to adjust the center bore and such but this show what'd I'd end up with
Here's the rear wheel using the identical center and spacer as the front, posited in the rim for correct fitment to I THINK allow a 315 tire inside the fender and not hitting the engine. Right now th wheel is a 32mm offset and clears the oil pump by about 32mm at ride height and about 25mm at full extension.....so I'm thinking its ok to drop to 18mm offset giving about 11mm clearance at full extension and 18 normally...that seems like enough. The tire will stick out a bit more but its mostly the wheel near the pump so I thin it will work....and I really want the 315s so....
It looks like this will work so I'll put a little more effort into getting the wheels a bit more similar visually I guess. Billet is really expensive so saving thickness makes a HUGE difference in cost....this uses 1" for the centers, the spacer need to all of 1.75 and that makes them 1/2mm thinned than planed and the lip ring would need to be a separate part...so 2". Then the 308 wheel have a raised center, I'll make that a press or weld in part and this conversion will be as cheap as I can make it I think.
Just joined the forum. Very nice work, sir....inspiring!
It looks like they fit on a 30x30 sheet....about $700 delivered from online metals....hmmmmmm...time to request funding I think. Oh Honey.....
Seems super close. Do you even have room to get an end mill between those two spokes?
BTW, your project is the most awesome ever.
What about some coffin-spokes? http://www.imagewheels.co.uk/billet-81-classic-build-alloy-wheel/
They have a number of sizes available and who doesn't love a 308 rally car?
sorry have to post one more....
In reply to mblommel :
The on car are the real version of what the image (which are OUT!) wheel wants to be...I've seen them but forget what they are???...other than really expensive that is ;)
You're right that the layout is a bit tight, just playing round to see what I'd need to understand pricing....there is a little room to spread them out as needed and a corner off a little doesn't really matter as they are getting welded in place and that will easily fill anything under 1/4" :)
I'm pretty much settled on cutting and welding at this point vs buying, no reason to mess with the project theme this late in the game. I have 2 sets of the 550 wheels, I'll cut the one set up and ebaying the should about cover the cost of converting the 1st set. ...so this path is basically free! which is in budget.
Edit: I think the only big wheel question left is paint of powder coat?
*polish
or powder.
FWIW you can do MUCH better than online metals pricing at a local place....
java230 said:FWIW you can do MUCH better than online metals pricing at a local place....
I'll check around, thanks.
Tuned it up a little bit...the center part is more 308ish now I think
FunkyCricket said:*polish
or powder.
Maybe...I could do the same satin I did on the engine it's just a bit of a bother to maintain and doesn't look stock of course which is why I was thinking silver paint ot powed.
Powder will stand up to heat and chipping better.
I've read and lurked on here for years, and finally found a build thread that induced me to sign up.
I'm just a schmoe with one post here but I have to weigh in on the plan to cut the centers out of those 550 wheels. I'm not an expert, but my understanding is that modern cast wheels are manufactured with some differential cooling to set up stresses in the wheel for better strength to weight ratio. If you cut the center out of such a wheel, it will warp such that it's not round or true.
That might be something that you can mitigate given how you've resolved warping on the block and heads here, but I still wanted to give a heads up.
I also want to suggest that you call Sandy Kosman before you proceed. He's a motorcycle guy but has made a living of cutting wheels up and welding them together for decades. He's also a very nice guy who likes to talk. He might have some insight or advice for you. It looks like this service is now being farmed out to another organization, Sandy might be harder to reach now but I'd still suggest trying him or Walt:
Making a split center isn't an option? 18" barrels can be sourced both new and used for reasonable money and would eliminate the risk of warped 550 "barrels".
It would make for a lighter wheel aswell as give you more room for brakes compared to a cast wheel :)
Cassius said:Making a split center isn't an option? 18" barrels can be sourced both new and used for reasonable money and would eliminate the risk of warped 550 "barrels".
It would make for a lighter wheel aswell as give you more room for brakes compared to a cast wheel :)
I'm not sure I understand what you're saying...barrels like from 3 piece wheels?
Yeah; there's places like https://shop.wheelflip.com/ that do stuff new if you don't want to scrounge ebay. 18" is pretty common for these sorts of things.
You will need a little larger piece of aluminum for your centers, but using off the shelf rim halves will open up the possibility of 6061T6 or 7075T6 centers with no welding to kill the temper.
I was basically ready to saw, I do not like being pushed back into redesign.....
So a pair of new spun barrels are like $350/wheel. Then probably $200 per for billet....so $550ish per wheel plus the work. I'm not really sure what the wheels I have are worth....I paid I think about $1000/set maybe 15 years ago but I don't know the going rate now.
Also I had kind of forgotten how close I put the spring to the wheel, so any change to the wheel size/location means moving that.
mke said:In reply to mblommel :
I'm pretty much settled on cutting and welding at this point vs buying, no reason to mess with the project theme this late in the game.
I like this sentence. It would make a good sig line.
You've proven multiple times in this build that cutting and welding is a 100% viable strategy for you to solve a lot of problems!
Good luck, those of us cheering from the sidelines are excited to see how your plans play out!
I'm typeless!
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