Wheel Change...

[Haxman]

Ok Thanks Luke, I need to go do some investigating!

I'll post a pic of the wheels soon, and a pic of the wheels on the van in due course...

[Haxman]

Origional wheel with origional hub cover, next to chrome wheel, very similar style but far smarter

Right, I had a measure up today, and this is what I found: From the mounting face of my standard wheel to the outside of the tyre its 60mm and as previously stated the chrome wheel is 115mm, so its gonna stick out 55mm wider then the origionals.

I measured the clearance from the hub mounting faces to the outside of the wheelarch, the front is 109mm and the rear 130mm, so with my reconing the front wheel will be just out past the wheel arch by 6mm assuming I redrill, and the rears will be out past the arches by 10mm assuming I can get 25mm hub adaptors made up... Do ya recon thats risky? Does it matter that the wheels are not on the inside of the wheel arch in terms of arches rubbing the tyre? is that a risk??

The front hub diameter is fine for sitting inside of the chrome wheel...

[Haxman]

Luke, the drawing you have for the hub adaptors on the Fitting non Transit wheels to a Transit (5 stud only) Mk1-5 thread shows them as being 20mm wide, is that definate? Good news if it is but i thought the existing wheel studs were longer then that??

When redrilling the front, you talk about putting in new studs, is it not possible to use the old ones?

[Luke]

i'll have a proper read of this when i get home (at work at the min) but it's looking good
oxtonyxo has had some adapters made and working i'm pritty sure he did them 20mm and been on for a while working fine - in the drawing i made them as narrow as i thought was safe - but i know people have PM'd me to ask if they can be made wider, which they can.

[Haxman]

pritty sure he did them 20mm

I recon you'd have to grind the end of the studs down if using 20mm adaptors as im sure the studs are longer then that, that shouldnt be a problem tho hey...

[Luke]

pritty sure he did them 20mm

I recon you'd have to grind the end of the studs down if using 20mm adaptors as im sure the studs are longer then that, that shouldnt be a problem tho hey...

yeah i think the head of the stud is 5mm and the gap is the same so once they are tapped in just tickle them up with the grinder if needed

[Luke]

one think i remember from measuring arch clearance is try both sides the tolerances with these old vans isnt that good and you might find the axles not central - i cant find the measurents i did but i took an average from both sides - mine was over 5mm out and a mk3 i had was summat like about 20mm out never fully investigated why but i presume it'd had some sort of accident damage

[rover]

They are all way out Luke Mine is 22mm different from one side to the other, the body is offset to the axle and chassis, not the axle offset to the body.

Rover.

[Haxman]

one think i remember from measuring arch clearance is try both sides the tolerances with these old vans isnt that good and you might find the axles not central - i cant find the measurents i did but i took an average from both sides - mine was over 5mm out and a mk3 i had was summat like about 20mm out never fully investigated why but i presume it'd had some sort of accident damage

Ok, thanks for the advice, I'd better check both sides...

Does it matter that the wheels are not on the inside of the wheel arch in terms of arches rubbing the tyre? is that a risk??

Im gonna try and confirm an order for the adaptors over the next couple of days

[Haxman]

Well I had another measure up today and ive found that the rear wheel arch height from the ground is slightly less then the diameter of the wheel I want to fit. As the wheel (with adaptor fitted) will be slightly out past the arches it will just foul on the arch pretty much constantly i recon so therefore I dont think the conversion is possible

I could cut the arch out I suppose but Im not sure I wanna take that approach.

Have others who have used rear adaptors for a conversion managed to keep the wheel inside of the arch then? I didnt think Id have a problem as they're only 15" wheels and the total diamter of wheel and tyre is the same as my standard
The wheels are'nt that wide but i guess its just the offset. Anyone else managed to fit SJ wheels to a mk 2?

[Luke]

would rolling the arches help

[Haxman]

Maybe? Dont know anything about that? How much can you get them rolled up by? I'd need a fair bit of clearance if my wheels are directly below the arch though

[Luke]

one of these bolts to the hub and gradually rolls the lip up flat

[Haxman]

Hmm, neat but would that work with a a mk2 transit arch profile? It looks like it forms a perfect arc to me, the top of mk2 transit arch is pretty flat. Do you know any one whos had it done?

[Luke]

Hmm, neat but would that work with a a mk2 transit arch profile? It looks like it forms a perfect arc to me, the top of mk2 transit arch is pretty flat. Do you know any one whos had it done?

no i dont ive been on about making one for years they are £250 to buy i know what you mean about the flat bit not sure how it would get on with it and how much you'd need to flatten

do you need to flatten any tho this van seems to not need the arch taken back (or mabe it has) - is there enough travel on the suspention - i had wellers on my mk1 for years and would regularly carry bricks etc. which would have the axle on the blocks and it never touched the tyres