Did you need to change out the studs in the Speedway adapters? I love the look of wide fives without the hub caps but hate seeing the wheel adapter prompting me to do something about it. I have used some of your parts at work (Fosses Hot Rods and Cool Cars), they are good parts. I am doing these adapter covers as a small business venture on the side while I still work at the hot rod shop. Thanks for the encouragement that I am on the right track. Jim
I left the adapters as they are but I run restored 39 hub caps, I've run with no front cap & the chrome hub looks cool but never removed the rear caps , that is why I was contemplating cutting down old drums, getting them chromed to match the front.
Quick question, Maybe I'm missing something and I'm way off here but why not just machine them out of original drums (like in the first picture, I think)? Junk wide 5 drums are cheap and plentiful. You should be able to buy as many of those as you want for less than the cost of casting this new piece. Jimmy
That's what Titus did for me. Before (you can kind of see the Speedway adapter in this pic): After: Cutting down the junk wide 5 drum Speedway adapter sandwiched between wide 5 drum face and 9" drum The finished product with wheel in place Side view of car with matching wide 5 drums up front
No need to cut down old drums, I hope to be done with the first run of these in the next couple of months. The aluminum ones will be much lighter.
An original drum cut down weighs about 10 pounds and the aluminum one a bit over 2 pounds. The other reason for doing the adapter cover is that I am making a convertible pattern, meaning I can make rear covers and then change the snout to make front covers. The best part is by bolting another piece on the back of my pattern I will be able to cast front disc brake hubs that fit on 37-48 spindles. This has been my goal all along
Update, I spent the last couple of weekends fixing up my dads old lathe so I can use it to turn my adapter covers. Got the second half of the pattern made and just need to mount it to a board this weekend and get it back to the foundry. Jim
Pattern is being primed and painted, the lathe is working much better (it is over 100 years old) and I got my mill drill up and running. Progress is always slower than I would like. Jim
Here are a couple pics of the casting with the snout faced off and the center hole drilled and reamed. I need to buy some tooling for the lathe to facilitate turning the faces. Jim
Jim; Is the idea that this piece you're casting would be sandwiched between the wide 5 adapter and the wheel? In other words, beyond the functional wheel mounting surface (disc or drum) 1st - wide 5 adapter, 2nd - this newly cast hub, and 3rd - the wide 5 wheel? If this is the case, will the front and back faces of this casting (where it meets the wheel and wide 5 adapter) need to be machined to be sure the faces are perfectly parallel so that the wheel spins true? I think this is a wonderful idea and I look forward to see how it works out. Good luck!
Yes the stack up is as you say. The front and back will be machined parallel to each other in the lathe, I still am working on the tooling to do it on both sides at the same time like a brake lathe to save time and keep costs down. Jim
Got started on machining the faces this weekend. Should be able to get the faces done next weekend and drill all the holes. Jim
Looking good. I've been working on the same idea but for just one project. I'm using the original drums and using my lathe to remove the brake surface. These is going on a one shot deal 60HP scaled down modified. Yours would be a whole lot lighter so when you come up with a price I might be a customer. Keep us posted on your progress. Frank
They are going to cost about $295 a pair. I was not able to get to them this last weekend as my wife is in the hospital. Jim
Here are the pics of the finished product. The adapter is sold by Dick Spadaro and I am making the adapter cover. The $295 is for a pair of adapter covers plus $20 shipping US. Questions call or text 360-536-1441 or email [email protected] Thanks for your interest. Jim Ford (55willys)
Nice parts. Do you think there's much of a market for this when it will cost basically $1000 for 4 adapters, 4 covers, shipping, etc? Maybe so, but it seems like this will fall into the same category as repro finned aluminum drums where, while its possible to do, the finished product just costs more than 99% of rodders would be willing or able to pay.
The Jalopy Journal
