Amy & Group...
The problem with the conversion is conversion the rear end.
The casings on the steel wheel cars are slightly wider than that of the
wire wheel car. I had read that you could just remove the axles and
hubs from a steel wheel car, and replace them with the wire set. I was
partially right. This is possible, but the axles will be about 1/4 -
1/2 inch shorter into the differential than they should be since the
wire axles are meant for a shorter setup. With this in mind, this will
give you less support at the ends of your axles, and MAY cause you axle
to break. There are several people who have run like this though and
have experienced no problems.
The other problem is that the wire wheels will stick out slightly
farther than the steel wheel, and on anything but the stock tires and
could rub on the inner wheel well.
As for me, since I already have the axle half shafts anyway, I'm going
ahead and doing it this way, I figure that if I ever do snap an axle,
then I'll go out and find a complete rear end for wires (or at least the
casings and shafts). I will not be racing this car, and I don't foresee
much more than light around town driving and some highway miles.
But anyway, what you will need to do is remove the front hubs and brake
rotors, and replace them with a set off of a wire wheel car, this is
pretty straight forward. I'm doing this along with the total rebuild of
my front-end, so it may sound like I have had more troubles, but that
has been with the other parts, the hubs and rotors have been fine.
For the rear, you can
1. replace the entire rear end
2. replace the casings, emergency brake rods, and axle shafts
3. just replace the axle shafts.
I can't tell you what to do about that since I have had as many people
who I trust tell me that I'm ok doing this the way I'm planning, as tell
me I'm a fool.
I hope this was some help,
Patton
Amy Soich wrote:
>
> >
> > Larry and Sandi Miller wrote:
> > > There is a set of Spridget wires currently advertised on the "MG parts
> > > for sale" web page for $100. This seems to be about average of the
> > > ones that I've seen.
> >
>
> You know, I would _love_ to put wire wheels on my sprite. However, i am left
> terribly confused by the recent thread on this. I believe Patton was trying to
> convert to wire wheels and received various messages that it was more
> complicated than he thought. Can anyone break it down into steps for me so i
> know what all is involved? Is it possible? is it hard?
>
> Thanks,
>
> Amy
> 67 Sprite MkIV
--
Patton Dickson Dallas, TX
1967 Austin-Healey Sprite H AN9 L 69437
See My Austin-Healey Sprite Page
http://www.geocities.com/TheTropics/Shores/1256/page2.html
|