The Front Wire Wheels Get Started

http://www.sussexclassiccar.co.uk/ managed to get a set of front wire wheel hubs. An exchange was done in the return of the bolt-on kit. I’m feeling guilty now as I seem to have done too well out of the deal!

Unfortunately I spent the next few weeks either in Stockholm or fixing the fence which blew over in the wind.

Finally I was free to visit the garage and start the front wheels.
I removed the wheel and brake calliper and then undid the main wheel nut.
After a few wallops with the hide hammer it was obvious the wheel hub wasn’t coming off so I referred to the manual which advised a puller.
Darn – I had just taken it back to work.

A few days later the hub was easily removed with the puller. The inner bearing stayed on the stub axle as advised in the manual. The bearings were new so it could stay there and hopefully when the wire wheel hub goes on it will fit. Not sure what the oil seal will do…

The outer bearing was removed from one hub and fitted to the other. The wire hub then fitted to the new brake disc and all slotted back onto the stub axle and tightened.

The split pin is tricky to fit through the tiny hole and I now need a wire wheel dust cap.

Almost there, Now I just need to refit the brake calliper and the new wire wheel.

Easier said than done…

Wire wheels fitted again

With the axle bolted back into place it should be a quick job to fit all the ancillaries and see how the wires fit.

It should be but it wasn’t.
I fitted the bearing pack and found it rubbed on the brake springs, they were fitted incorrectly and it took ages to work out how they should be fitted.

The hand brake linkages (shorter ones for wire wheels) took a while to fit as the felt washer’s refused to sit in the right place.

One prop shaft bolt wasn’t with the rest of the nuts and bolts ad took ages to find it - on the other side of the garage!

Other than that the job was fairly easy and the new wire wheels look good on the back.
The rear wheel arch has a lot space between tyre and arch as one would expect and the spinners are less likely to chop off the knees of the local children.
So the job was worth doing.

The snag now is that the front splines are proving difficult for the shop supply so I still have two steel wheels on the front.

Maybe next weekend.

Start of Diff Swap

The next day I found the second hub had moved slightly on the half shaft and it was then possible, with difficulty, to remove the rest of the hub.

I took the half shafts and new hubs to Blaker welding in Dial Post to have the hubs pressed back on.

The weekend was time to actually swap the axles. Quite an easy job really, mainly because the old axle had already been dismantled 10 years ago and it hadn’t seen the outside world much since.

On the old axle, the brake drums were new, the bearings and seals had been replaced and most bolts were new. All this came off easily without having to undo any brake hoses.

The old axle was slid out sideways and then offered up to the “new” axle. The “new” Diff had some extra backlash so the Diffs were swapped. A new gasket was made from a Not-made-from-wheat-made-from-oats-instead-abix packet as both old ones were demolished.

The “new” axle was then slid into place and bolted onto the springs. The original brake backplates then bolted into place.

Time for a tea break.

Half shaft refuses to come off hub

More hassle with the “new” axle.

Trying to remove the half shaft from the wire wheel hub proved difficult.

Even with a hydraulic puller borrowed from work it refused to budge. I left the puller on over night and gave it a tweak the next day and then the bond broke with a crack and the first one was separated.

The next one proved impossible. Even with a good half hour with the blowtorch. I’ll have to find an Engineering facility to remove one and fit both into the new splined hubs.

At least I managed finish de-rusting and to paint the axle and fit new bearings and seals to the hubs.

Wire Wheel Axle

A wire wheel back axle was found at a local MG scrapper in Chichester on the advise of a friend of a friend. The yard has another two in stock.

I collected it last Monday and then went to Stockholm for the week (Nice place).
This weekend I stripped the axle of all the parts ready for a cleanup. I’ll fit new bearings and seals. Not sure at present whether to stick with the diff it came with or use the one currently on Jemima.

The brake adjusters are worn out on this “new” axle so these will be swapped over. Maybe I’ll be able to do it without breaking the brake lines so I don’t have to bleed the brakes again.
The hand brake rods need a clean up too.

The splines will be replaced as they are slightly worn and wouldn’t like to fit them in a new wheel. The problem now is trying to get the half shaft out of the old one.

Wire wheel installation hits a snag.

The tyres were fitted and the conversion kit collected.

In the excitement I rushed on with the job in the hope that this will mean she can finally drive off down the street with good tyres and the correct number of nuts on each wheel (I've lost quite a few over the years!)

The front wheel conversion kit and wheel was easily installed but the wheel studs do need to be trimmed to ensure the wire wheel fits snug on the splines. The wheel looked a little proud and the spinners had that Boadicea, ankle chopping, look about them.

The rear kit was then fitted to give the overall impression on that side. Again chopping a few millimetres from each stud was required.
I sat back and admired my work and the gleaming wheel, black tyre and sparkly spinner.

I lowered the trolley jack and had another look.
The rear wing was sitting on the tyre!

80110ck5!

I got out the tape measure and pondered. Maybe if I had 145 profiles tyres? With this tyre I would lose 12mm in width (6mm each side) my overhang was 5mm. It would squeeze in but almost any cornering action would result is a scuffed tyre as well.
I think maybe I should have gone for minilites…

A sleepless night was had by all as we pondered the options.

• 145’s may help but the tyres can’t go back (Wonder if M&S do tyres!) Some web reports from folk say that the 145’s don’t make for a nice handling car either.
• Chopping back the wheel arch isn’t an option.
• Hydraulic expanding gear also no way.
• Minilites don’t look good on MKII’s.
• Wire wheels are nice.
• Steel wheels aren’t.

Any body got a wire wheel back axle spare?

Minilites, wires and tyres

One Job on the list complete this week. The washer bottle was fitted! I didn’t fill it with water so maybe it is still only half a job.

The main thing this week was a decision making exercise.
Minilites or wire wheels?
Miniltes are cheaper but wires look so much better.

Years ago, when the wife was about to buy the car in 1974, a friend said “You should buy one with wire wheels, if you don’t you will regret it for years after”.
34 years later and still regretting it, a chap at Moss was helping the wife with the pros and cons. The Minilites came out on top until he said “Of course, you will regret not getting the wires for the rest of your life.” We may not last the next 34 years so we know we can cope with that…

We then had to visit our local shop and touch the two options. We came out with 4 new chrome wire wheels. The conversion kit is to follow later.

Tyres are also a problem. Dunlop SP Sports were the tyre of choice but during the last big MOT failure (We left her in Findhorn in 1985 when we moved jobs) she was fitted with cheap Courier Steels which were like driving on jellies. Now you only seem to be able to get Dunlop SP Sports in the right size in South Africa. Odd.

There doesn’t seem to be many opinions on the web of which tyre to choose. So I had a look around for tyres the right size and this site helped with the new fangled tyre profile stuff to work out the relative tyre diameters. 155 / 80 R 13 seems best choice.

I thought a British name on the tyres was better than a foreign one. Not realising that Avon tyres are now owned by Cooper Tire and Rubber Co, I chose Avon CR322’s .

Getting a local supplier of these tyres was trickier than expected. One shop with an Avon logo on its signs and big Avon stickers in the office didn’t stock or supply Avon tyres!

Littlehampton tyres could order the tyres in so I should be able to fit the new wheels next weekend.