Luke wrote:another thing to check (have we mentioned it) is where the new holes are in the brake drum
The brake drum holes wouldnt be a problem. plenty of space for them i recon
Luke wrote: Who worries about cost in this day and age hey - EEK!! I'll knock some pics up on photoshop and tell you ive had it done then
problem is you do that it'll look so good you'll convince yourself to spend
Ha ha well you're probably right, Shame the wheels arent mint really, got to wonder if its worth the effort! Suppose slighty grubby wheels matches the slightly grubby van though
Well update time: (Luke you're gonna kill me!) The other day I decided to take my rear set up to a machine shop and get the hubs, half shaft and drum redrilled and machined. I know a chap who runs the shop floor of a steel fabricators local to me, I get a few bit there every now and again for work and he gives me very good cash prices
so I thought I'd start with ringing him, He's more then happy to help with anything I put his was however he said they dont have a lathe or milling facilities!! Bugger! (They mainly deal in RSJ and structual building works) So I thought I'd go visit my mate who runs a farm hardware/iron monger type garage just out of town, (He also builds stock cars in a shed out the back
) He's got a few machines and he does a bit, but he looked at what I wanted doing and suggested a specialist wheel company to me not far away, who cut out the middle of wheels and weld them into other wheels, refurb and build all sorts of wheels etc. He said he had a hub redrilled by then once, and that they've got a clever 5 chuck head drill thing which you center up, set to the right pcd and hey presto! Sounds good! So I went to hunt them down, showed them my bits and pieces, and they scratched their heads a bit, and then had a look at the wheel. Took a few measurements and reconed I'd get away with redrilling the wheel!!!! Although its gonna be very close to the edge of the mounting ring they recon I'll just get away with it and it'll be fine! I couldnt quite believe it after all this time but there we go. Well they've got the wheels now, and im supposedly picking them up tomorrow morning. I'll take a pick to let you see how the drillings gone. They're doing it for £15 a wheel which Im fine with, yeah I could prob do it myself but for what its worth and the time involved...
This solves my spare wheel issue and means it can go back to standard easily, and its by for the cheapest solution, however I felt a little disapointed not to try out everything we've discussed and figured out on here the last few weeks
Anyways in summery I'm pretty sure it would have all worked had I redrilled the way we discused. Standard transit rear hubs and front hubs could be redrilled to a 140pcd so be it with a little messing around.
Im looking forward to picking my wheels up tomorrow
Im having my rear seat/bed cushions recovered and my replacement bonnet sprayed this week too