I have been reading and nit sure I know the answer. I am going to be ordering my brakes and figured wide 5 to stay with the og look of 356 but wondering if I would then need to get a narrower frame or can use the original of my 73 beetle.
Replies sorted oldest to newest
Your 73 will have 4 lug drums. If you’re doing disc brakes, just get Wide 5 ones. Lots of options on a Speedster.
My .02. While I think the car looks "most" correct with the wide 5- 10 slot 'mangles' wheels, If you are ordering (checking boxes on spec sheet) I would likely order it with the p-car's 5x130 bolt pattern hubs - if you have the option... mount the late 356 or early 911 10-slot 5.5 wide wheels and roll for most 'correct' look or choose any P-car optional wheels.. Doing this means more wheel and tire choices available now and in the future ...
this advice & $5 will get a large coffee at your local coffee joint. (ok, this advice is really worthless for coffee..but will help you 'future proof' your speedy)
FWIW, I'm working on this choice myself.. except I already have the 4x130 pattern front discs.. but no wheels. so do I buy wheels for now then have to buy new hubs, drums & wheels later? or start the conversion before even getting car on the road? Decisions, decisions..
thanks guys, did you weld in new adjusters to drop height on your beam or just cut and reweld the beam wiht the set screw it came with?
@Erik A Hopperton posted:thanks guys, did you weld in new adjusters to drop height on your beam or just cut and reweld the beam wiht the set screw it came with?
Almost everybody uses Avis beam adjusters (top and bottom tube), and most everybody buys an already completed beam.
I got a beam from South America.. has the adjusters already in. But yes what @Stan Galat says about the adjusters.
I like the drop spindles.. as it keeps suspension geometry more correct with stock stuff.. There are also spacers that go behind the lower tube of the beam to improve trail. meaning better feel and reduce the feeling of the car wanting to follow ruts and grooves in pavement. I'm still building so I don't have either of these. My plan is to build with what I have, then while the body is off being painted, correct the suspension, brakes & wheels with what I want.
It all depends on how low you want the front of the car.. and what you feel driving it.
But no need for a narrowed beam if I am building a speedster with the wide 5s?
@Erik A Hopperton posted:But no need for a narrowed beam if I am building a speedster with the wide 5s?
It's not the front where you'll have the issues. It's in the back where you run out of space pretty quickly, unless you have a short-tube swing-axle.
I'm leaning towards 5-130, fake Fuch's. I like the look. My Spyder isn't to be looking like an original and I have more tire options if I go with 16". Probably black centers w/chrome lips.......Bruce
I don't have a side-photo of Angela Lane's Spyder (maybe some West-Coaster does), but hers was jet black with polished-spoke Fuchs 5X130's and look appropriately Bad-Ass.
Thanks Gordon............Yup.......Thats the look I like. Later, I think I will make a set of wind wings that look more stylish for a Spyder. Since it won't have a top I'm thinking they could be a little bigger or at least a little taller.......Bruce
I love that black spyder maybe it's the photoshop but black is for sure a beautiful colour on our cars.
Was this her black Spyder that was sold on BAT? Fuchs but not polished.
@Jon T posted:Was this her black Spyder that was sold on BAT? Fuchs but not polished.
Yes
Thanks Jon T......Bruce
That must’ve been scary to drive ! Imagine all that power and no rubber.
Ray........I'd be happy if I get 215R6015's on like that car. At least in the rear......Bruce
Bruce it would be nice but I would want to make sure the throttle was VERY progressive so that the car would not get away from you.
@aircooled posted:Ray........I'd be happy if I get 215R6015's on like that car. At least in the rear......Bruce
Bruce, that car was wider than the standard. I think a 205/60 rear and a 185/65 front is about the limit on a Spyder. Maybe DannyP and Carlos can chime in.
I like the 5x130 small Porsche pattern but what replica rims are available 5-6 inch wide except replica Fuchs ?
There are tons of rims for the 4x130mm pattern
Sorry for misleading you - I thought they were polished spokes but I've never seen the car in person. My bad....
Looking at the "hundreds" of photos on the BaT auction, it looks like stock 911 Fuchs so that would probably be 6" wide front and 7" rear. The rears might be 8" but it's hard to see if the spacing is that deep in the photos.
Still, that's a lot more meat on the ground than a stock Spyder and with that 6-cylinder engine, it would need all of that.
@Wrenn Smith posted:I like the drop spindles.. as it keeps suspension geometry more correct with stock stuff.. There are also spacers that go behind the lower tube of the beam to improve trail.
One of the advantages of drop spindles is that disc brakes are offered that don’t need the caliper adapter which is an extra 2-3 per front corner. But I have n9 idea how that relates to fit and figment on a Speedster.
I felt a bit sad seeing the photo of Angela and her car.
@dlearl476... ghia style spindles (which actually came on my donor) have direct mount flanges for the brake caliper. just can't get the front end as "low" without compromises to suspension geometry. It's all in the trade-offs of what one wants vs the cubic dollars one is willing to spend. 
(me I don't have cubic $ budget, it's more like shoestring)
That’s what I mean. You can get disc brake kits for lowered spindles that don’t have a flange. The caliper mounts directly to the spindle like a normal car. On the CB Perf discs, that weighs ~3lbs. On top of the other 20 from the disc and the caliper you’re adding to the unsprung weight.
@imperial posted:I like the 5x130 small Porsche pattern but what replica rims are available 5-6 inch wide except replica Fuchs ?
There are tons of rims for the 4x130mm pattern
A lot of Speedster and Spyder owners pick either 5x205 or 5x130 mm bolt patterns because most 4x130 wheels don't really "suit" these cars. I will be honest and admit that it is my opinion as well, but if you want to run a 4x130 mm wheel (as Stan says) it's a big tent, with room for all.
Since I run hubcaps, most people won't know if I have 5x205 or 4x130.
@Michael McKelvey posted:Since I run hubcaps, most people won't know if I have 5x205 or 4x130.
This is what I was thinking. But I like the option of no hub caps. I think I will just go the 5 wide. These are the style rims I want.
@Michael McKelvey posted:Since I run hubcaps, most people won't know if I have 5x205 or 4x130.
Only if you have some of the rare 10 slot 4 lug wheels. I’m so used to wide 5s, 8 slot wheels scream “kit car” to me.
But…
I love Mahle Gas Burners, and I think they look great on Speedsters.
So did Rod Emory. (Although these are 5X130]
Man you guys really know how to throw out some options.... I love it but it keeps making me rethink what I wanted. 😅🤣...I plan to have the car done for my kids prom next May.. 🥵
@Erik A Hopperton, just resolve yourself to the fact it will never be "done". All the options are what makes building one so "enjoyable" (that's how it's pronounced, it's spelled maddening), & now your getting under the tip of the iceberg of this "madness". Welcome.
And you can get that style wide 5 -10slot "correct" look 5.5"wide wheel in aluminum.. just another option.
@Wrenn Smith posted:And you can get that style wide 5 -10slot "correct" look 5.5"wide wheel in aluminum.. just another option.
I seen that, I did some searches last night and seen where VMC has the aluminum rims still. About 100 more then when they first came out but it is what it is. I am going to start a build thread today on here.
@Erik A Hopperton wrote: "I plan to have the car done for my kids prom next May.. 🥵
Many of the "old timers" on here have heard this story before ( like from ME! ) But it is a cautionary tale for setting your expectations.
My car, started in 1993, was supposed to be ready for my son's High School Junior Prom in 1995, then got pushed to his Senior Prom, then pushed to his HS Graduation, Yadda-Yadda.
To avoid this becoming an epistle, I finally finished it after his college graduation in 2000, but he didn't really use it until he got married, a few years later.
And then it broke a rocker arm shaft the day of the wedding, but right after the last of the photos were wrapped up..... 🙄 Many thanks to AAA for the tow!
Still..... it was a really nice wedding.
@Erik A Hopperton posted:Man you guys really know how to throw out some options.... I love it but it keeps making me rethink what I wanted. 😅🤣...I plan to have the car done for my kids prom next May.. 🥵
I thought for sure someone was going to throw out the apocryphal word 
. 40 hours or some other comments in jest …. but hey make a plan and execute it you might just make it Alan does it all time …good luck truly it is possible.
@dlearl476, I too like the gas burners and also the Pedrinis. But, alas, they don't have the offset I need to work in the back.
@Gordon Nichols posted:@Erik A Hopperton wrote: "I plan to have the car done for my kids prom next May.. 🥵
Many of the "old timers" on here have heard this story before ( like from ME! ) But it is a cautionary tale for setting your expectations.
My car, started in 1993, was supposed to be ready for my son's High School Junior Prom in 1995, then got pushed to his Senior Prom, then pushed to his HS Graduation, Yadda-Yadda.
To avoid this becoming an epistle, I finally finished it after his college graduation in 2000, but he didn't really use it until he got married, a few years later.
And then it broke a rocker arm shaft the day of the wedding, but right after the last of the photos were wrapped up..... 🙄 Many thanks to AAA for the tow!
Still..... it was a really nice wedding.
I understand the skepticism, fully. But my wife said if you are not going to do and finish it in time then just go buy one; so in order to not eat crow I will be doing my best. I figure I need the car built and tested by this time next year so I can have it pulled apart and painted then back together. It is a lofty goal with only me standing in the way. And Walleye season. going to start my built thread now. stay tuned.
Eat Crow ?? Where did that come from ? My father was an avid hunter/fisherman. He always told us that if we kill something we must eat it. My Brother and I shot some Crows with our new Remington pump 410. Feeling guilty, we cleaned them and gave them to our Mother who cooked them for supper. We never told her, or our Father, what they were. Our mother thought they were kind of small for Pheasants so we told her they were juveniles and she bought it. Everyone at the table, including my Grandfather, ate Crow that evening. Many years later we confessed. My father said he knew what they were because it wasn't the first time for him. He had done it to his Father as well and decided it was now his turn to "Eat Crow"...........Bruce
“Gas burners” are 5x130 and 5.5 inches wide , they are also magnesium.
914 are 4x130mm and the same as 4 bolt VW bug pattern , So look at 914 pics for some wheel ideas , 914 originally had Petrinis which are like 4 bolt gas burners, 4 bolt Mahle aluminum gas burners , and 4 lug Fuchs 4 spoke 2 liter alloys,
Then you have Centerlines , Riviera , Empi 8 spokes and so many more ,
these were all made to fit under the wheel wells so should fit a Speedster.
As always , your mileage may very…..
With typical steel VW wheels, when you go from 4.5" to 5.5" the additional inch is on the outside of the hub. For my IRS CMC, I needed 5.5" wheels with the inch on the inside to clear the wheel opening - the relationship of the edge of the opening to the wheel needs to be the same as for a 4.5" wheel. I got such special wheels from the Beck folks many years ago.
To fit the back of my car I need 5.5" wheels with about a 5" backspace. Unfortunately, the 4-lug gas burners and the Pedrini wheels have less than that as do the nice aluminum wheels from VMC.
