Fun under the Speedster

Hey Bob,

Good to see you going after it. I hope it works out well.

 

I had no idea there was a spacer behind the adapter. Good to know.

So, do you have wide 5 drum rear brakes?

Ted

Bob, what do you plan on doing with your front brake setup?

If you plan on staying with wide fives, I'd throw those crappy adapters away and purchase a wide five front brake kit from someone like CB.

 

If you really want a flat surface, go find (fastenal.com, etc) some Class 12.9 flat-head socket cap screws in either 12mm or 14mm (or whatever matches your stud threads into the discs). Then have a machine shop change the existing taper of the 4 lug nut recesses on the adapter to match the angle of the screw's head. Bolt it on with red loctite and you'll have all the inner bolt heads recessed with a fully flat area to mount the drumskins.

 

I'm not sure you'll find lug nuts that will ever be short enough to fit under anything.

 

I wanted to day the same thing, but I didn't want to be a total downer. I think the Wide 5 disk brake kit would be the safest and quickest way to get the look you want. What's it going to cost to get everything tapered, cut, chamfered, etc? I don't think the drum skin is going to look 'right' on top of the two adapters. With the thickness of the adapters, I think the center 'cap' will be recessed back further than it should be.

 

That being said, an innovator should always exhaust all options. If everyone listened to us naysayers, we'd never have anything cool or new to marvel at.

 

Keep us posted, but don't risk safety for a few extra bucks.

 

I'll go back to the naysayers union hall now... you have to attend the meetings or they won't let you stay.

 

T

Justin, I've been telling my buddy Bob the same thing for almost a year. $100 would take him all. the. way.

You have a point with the center's being further recessed. However, if he were to use ones like this: http://www.cbperformance.com/P...asp?ProductCode=4430 the front skin has no center opening so it wouldn't matter how far back it was recessed. Since he already has wide-five drums on the back, they will look normal too.

 

They look to be the same ones on Todd's car here: https://www.speedsterowners.com...68#11145799296150668

 

I've seen several example too that paint just the center nipple on the fronts black to match the exposed axle nut in the rear to emulate a separate hub dust cover.

Stan, you can lead a horse(Bob) to water.......

 

You know, I am going to change the pads on my CSP front wide5 discs this year. After 32K, they are finally down to changing time.......

Bob:

 

Did you try McMaster-Carr?

 

http://www.mcmaster.com/

 

They have just about anything and you can order small quantities of bolts.

Bob;

Is this the one?

http://www.amazon.com/Socket-I...ported/dp/B005DS4V36

 

Art

Sorry, didn't realize those bolts would be so difficult to find. At least now you can say you've done your due diligence on looking for a cheaper alternative to a wide-five front brake kit.

Pete at Airkewld should have them.

Oh my, that is funny!

 

Maybe the shipping won't be too bad. See what they quote you.

 

I'm pulling for you on this one!

Ted

Bob-

 

I've got Airkewld brakes on my bus, and I've dealt with Pete. What you want is not a specialty part-- it's just specialty hardware, and you can get that from McMaster Carr or Fastenal. If Pete had it, he'd most likely be buying it from McMaster Carr or Fastenal.

 

Art's link is actually a fantastic deal-- it's $13 or so for a pack of 100. I'd pay attention to the head size, you want a reasonably big head to get a good bite on the spacer.

 

McMaster Carr has everything you need. They have the bolts in any length you might need. I got the part numbers for the bolts, the countersink, the whole shooting match last fall. You can buy in quantities of 5 for $12.14. The P/N for the M14 (2.0) x 40 is 91294A414. The link is here (Link to 14 mm Flathead Screws) I don't think 40 mm is going to be long enough for you to use your spacers, but thats OK-- they've got longer ones as well. They ship from Chicago, and will be here in the AM if you order before 7 PM or so.

 

Fastenal has a branch in every town with more than 35 people in America, but none of them stock anything. Fastenal will be slower and cost more than McMaster Carr.

 

The whole thing would take an afternoon, and you'd be ready for drumskins (which I'd buy from CB for $100- Here is the Link to the Drumskins). The painted (non-chrome) wheels are the hard part-- fopr some reason, they only come in about once a year from China. CIP had them last fall, and still lists them on the website for $50/. (The Link to the Wheels is Here). I'd get a set before they are NLA for another 6 months.

 

50 bucks would take you all the way with McMaster Carr, tool and freight and a trip to Perdue's included. A Benjamin gets you the drumskins, 2 more get you the wheels. You can countersink your adapters on my drill press so the labor is free. That's as far as I can take you, my friend-- this is by far, the least expensive way to get to wide 5s there is out there.

The wheels are 275.00 after delivery. Ouch.

 

But damn, they sure are pretty.

 

Imagine those on a lowered black speedster... mmm... yeah. 

With drum skins?!... Oh my...

 

Keep at it, Bob.

T

Yes, they are $275 after delivery. For 4 wheels. That's as cheap as it's ever going to get, unless you live on the left coast.

Yeah, and in all fairness - that's not a bad price for a really great improvement to the looks of your car. It looks like Bob could go pick up a set and save the shipping.

How's the quality? thin? crappy paint? or good stuff?

 

If I had a car, Id be thinking long and hard about them.

T

Bob lives in Peoria. That's a long haul from CIP1. The quality is like everything else from China-- it's what we've got to work with, unless you want something fully custom that costs 10x as much.

 

I've got a set of Biven's Aluminum wide 5s, brushed and clear powder-coated. I've got every bit of 10x as much as the Chinese steelies in my wheels. Sometimes, if you ant to play, you've got to pay.

 

In this case, not so much. This is as close to free as any major upgrade will ever be.