Can steely rims be plasma cut?

Heres my situation...I may remove the entire rear axle from my '54 pontiac as it has 4:10 to 1 gears in it. And then replace it with a modern day set up with a more hiway friendly ratio.
I love the look of the factory dog-dish hubcaps but they are held on by 3 springloaded tabs that slip through thin slots in the original rim and fastened from the back side.
And since my original rims are 5 on 5, they won't fit the newer style bolt pattern on the axle hub.
Can a thin slot be plasma cut into a modern day rim? I really want to use these hubcaps.

Thanks, Rick

 

Have a machiene shop redrill axel and drums to 5X5. Easy

 

Cut out the center of the dog dish and weld in one that works with the wheel you are going to use. Easy peasy!!

 

The plasma cutter will cut your wheel centers for sure.
Idk if those slots will hurt the integrity of the wheel.

Gotta be another way to mount that clip or fab a different style clip to hold a hub cap on.
Or just redrill the axles. There are some pretty good techs on doing that here. One has a really neat jig dimensios.

 

make sure you dismount the tires first or you will blow yourself up

 

how big are these slots and how wide of a width? there are much easier ways to do this then trying to cut small slots with plasma. post some pictures of the tabs and the mounting slots

 

Use a '55-'56 pumpkin in your housing; a auto was 3.23 and bolts in. Been done for years or use a newer rear with a 5x5 pattern. Can't go too new or you get into overdrive ratios like 3.73. Chevy Caprices,caddys, have 5x5 with gears into the 2's.Just don't gear it too tall;the 3.23's were always popular.

 

There are several Ford Motor Company 9" rear ends with 5 on 5" bolt pattern. Starting in '57 with Mercury thru at least '60, '58 on some Edsels (Corsair & Citation, I believe). Full size Fords & Mercs from '73 thru '78.

Chevrolet 1/2 tons from '70 or '71 and up are 5 on 5" as are full size GM cars from '71 thru '76.

Your Pontiac wheels should bolt on to all of the above.

Ray

 

I was thinking about getting a chev pickup rear end in the mid 80s to early 90s in the 2:76 to 3:08 range.
Or, hell....go all out and swap in a 350 EFI with a 700R4 and say a 3:23 rear end. The OD tranny would help.

 

It shouldnt be that hard to find a decent ratio pontiac rear they were mostly automatic after all, granted the autos used a relitively low ratio for a auto

 

I presume your 5 on 5s are early non-safety rims without the additional bead on both sides of the outer? Personally I'd feel safer with late model outers and dog dishes. Drag out your tape measure and look at your inners, the tabs might be easily transferred to late model inners, only a spot weld required on each tab.

 

i dont know anyone that has ever had a safety problem with old wheels, including a couple guys that have pretty close to daily driven their old cars

 

I don't anyone either.

 

You want a HD-chassis 1980s GM rearend. Should be dirt common, out of a Caddy, Olds 98, Buick LeSabre (1982-up), or any of the station wagons. (Caprice, Parisienne, 1981-back LeSabre and Catalina among others are light duty chassis and run a Chevy bolt pattern). You'll have to cut off the mounting stuff and put a set of perches on them - Speedway sells a set under $20. 5x5 pattern, wheels will bolt on, rearend fits the car (I've had one under a '51 Chevy), problem solved. 71-76 GM or a pickup, especially an 88-up pickup, is going to be way too wide. You can use one out of a 77-82 car also, it's just a pain in the ass to explain which ones are 5x5 and which aren't.

Or, you can round up a Camaro/Trans Am 10-bolt, redrill the axles, and use brakes/drums from a 10-bolt rear from an 80s pickup/Suburban/van. Should bolt right on the stock springs with no changes at all, may need to fab lower mount plates for the U-bolts depending on how the shocks attach.



And for you guys who don't know, Pontiac rims have a whole different shape to the centers to run the clip-style caps, the caps won't even fit right on a wheel with the nubs for the later snap-on center caps.

 

I would just get the rear end you want and re-drill the axles. Easy and done.

 

plenty of rears with 5x5 that will fit...

 

Here is a new drill guide we are all but ready to go into production on, within a few weeks we would be able to sell you one. It will redrill your bolt pattern much cheaper than a machine shop and new seals/gaskets.

Here is the link to my webpage with abbridged instructions http://www.rottenleonard.com/Menu.html

 

That is very cool rotten leonard! Will you be doing 5x5 to 6 lug?
Paul

 

We have most of the common 5 hole patterns covered, then we will branch out as demand commands.

 

that is so cool, awesome piece!

 

There are some tire diameter/rear end ratio calculators online. What if you could simply run a taller tire and get the difference you need? It sure would be a lot easier. Plus it gives you a nice raked look. Check my Olds in the avatar.