Does anyone use 48 spoke wheels on a 100?

[simon1966]

What has been your experience? Is it a way to go or are the 60's that much stronger without altering the look of the car too much?

 

[HealeyRick]

I think it depends on how much you prize originality and how you drive the car. If you really want originallity and don't drive the car that much, especially in competition, you'll probably be ok with the 48s. Regular use, I'd probably go with the 60s.

 

[Bob_Spidell]

Our BN2/100M has the original (AFAIK) 48-spoke painted wheels. I just took it on a spirited drive up Mt. Hamilton Rd. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Hamilton_(California)) and didn't have any problems. However, it's shod with relatively small 165/80 tires (Nexen) and, if I was to buy new wheels I'd go with slightly larger tires and 60-spoke wheels. Keep in mind Healeys originally came with bias-ply tires with nowhere near the grip of modern radials, which put more strain on wheels.

 

[Marvin Gruber]

Have both sets. 48 for show and the 60s for regular driving. I plan to have 60s for show and 72s for driving on thr BJ8

Marv

 

[Healey 100]

I think the 48's look and work just fine,I even bought a couple of new ones last year. I understand the 60's don't fit well over the front drums, and the 72's look over chromed to me. I do enter a gymkhana once in a while at a conclave, but mostly I treat this car like the 60 year old antique it is. Not real comfortable with flinging it around turns or street racing on mountain roads. It will break a spoke now and then, I always carry a few spares when I travel.

 

[nevets]

My BN6 (100/6) has 48 spoke wheels. I am careful to avoid potholes and such and I slow to a crawl when crossing railroad tracks. They look very nice, though I would prefer 60's but was told that 60's are not compatible with the front brake drums. Interestingly, 72 spoke wheels will work, but I don't like the look of them.

 

[Michael Oritt]

60's will work on drum brakes if they are set up correctly.

 

[British_Recovery]

Dayton lists a 60 spoke wheel designed to clear the front brake drums on 100-Six cars.
Bob

 

[Michael Oritt]

Yes, those are the ones I have. I got them about five years before I converted to discs--and was able to use them after the conversion with no change or problem

 

[CraigC]

Michael, you should not have had any problem fitting the "standard" Healey 60-spoke wheels on your BN1. It was the wider brakes of the BN2, BN4 and BN6 that had brake drum to spoke interference issues.

 

[Michael Oritt]

Craig--

You may very well be correct. I purchased my car in 1999 and shortly thereafter bought a set of 60's from British Wire Wheel. I frankly cannot now remember whether they asked if the car was a BN1 or BN2 but in any case the wheels arrived and they fit with no problems. 17 years and conversion to a set of front disc brakes later all is still fine.

BTW I have always run Michelin radials since getting the 60's--175 XZX's for the first 16 years, switching to 180 XAS's last year, which are great in terms of ride, feel, directional stability and performance in both wet and dry, not to mention appearance.

 

[pan]

What about the wider rear brake drums on late BN1s? Simon, does your 100 have the late hypoid axle? (5 stud hubs).

 

[Michael Oritt]

Pan--

My car is #222333, built December 1954. No problem with, in view of Craig's post, the normally set-up 60's.

 

[bighealeysource]

Hey Simon,
Been using 48 spokes on my 100M for over 5 years and no problems at all. Have chrome Daytons. Also used 48 spokes on a 1958 BN6 for 3 years and never had any issues. Of course, I do not drive it hard and am careful with pot holes, etc but way I look at it if good enough for Donald Healey for all those years, good enough for me !
Regards
Mike

 

[CraigC]

What about the wider rear brake drums on late BN1s? Simon, does your 100 have the late hypoid axle? (5 stud hubs).

Chassis #228047 is apparent change to wider front brakes(start of BN2 production)
Chassis 221536 is the rear axle/brake change point.
Thanks to Pan for correcting me!

Pan--

My car is #222333, built December 1954. No problem with, in view of Craig's post, the normally set-up 60's.

Looks like you had the narrow front brakes with wide rears(hypoid axle). Any chance of a pic of spoke clearance at the rear?

One note about the BN2 rear drums. The appear to be a different design than on 6-cylinder cars, although I don't know exactly when change took place. There is a large "ring" on the outer face of the BN2 drum. It looks like it is used for balancing purposes. Both of mine have been partially machined off, which leads me to suspect they are for balancing. These rings "may" interfere with 60 spoke wheels. I had some 60's on the rear of my car once while having the 48s rebuilt. I don't recall any fitment issues. I have another 60 I may try fitting "just for grins". Physically the drums should interchange--same diameter, width, bolt pattern, etc.

Like many other 100 owners, I have always run 48's on my 100M. I actually prefer the look over the 60's. Had the originals rebuilt a couple times when I drove it daily back in the 1970's and early 1980's, but never had any real problems. I did not baby it, either !

When I pulled my car out of a 30 year hibernation early last year, the first items of business were wheels, tires and hubs. Since the splines were worn on both the wheels and hubs, I started with shopping for wheels. First issue I ran into was that no one seemed to have the Daytons. I later found info that the then (relatively) new owner of Dayton had decided to stop producing the wheels. I ended up getting 48 spoke MWS "Dunlop" through Tom's Import. Yesterday this thread made me curious about the Daytons again. A Google search turned up a result showing that the D452D, which is the 60 spoke to fit the drum brake cars, is actually available through Jeg's Performance. It is listed as "Coker Tire D452DCTT - Dayton Spline Drive Wire Wheels for British and Italian Sports Cars". It looks like the wheels are now supplied by Coker Tire and the entire line looks to be available through Jeg's.(https://www.jegs.com/p/Coker-Tire/D...tish-and-Italian-Sports-Cars/3621544/10002/-1 )I will be at an event tomorrow at which Coker generally has a display, so I will see what info I can get. I could not find the wheels on Coker's site and the Dayton webstore appears to be gone.

 

[pan]

Craig,
I have to correct you about the brakes on BN1s. The hypoid axle with 2.25" wide brakes was introduced in late '54. The fronts remained at 1.75". To compensate, the front wheel cylinder bore was reduced to 0.875". The wider front brakes were introduced with the BN2 in mid '55.

 

[Bob_Spidell]

... if good enough for Donald Healey for all those years, good enough for me !RegardsMike

I don't think any A-Hs came with radial tires; my '67 BJ8--imported in late '66--came with 'Roadspeed' tires, which I believe were bias ply. Radial tires have more grip and can put more side load on the wheels.

 

[CraigC]

Pan, you are correct. I was scanning through the parts a little too quickly. It would explain why I remember several club members being able to run the 60 spokes on their BN1s while BN2 owners could not. Looks like BN2 started with chassis #228047.

I'm going back to correct my post. Thanks for the heads up.

 

[Michael Oritt]

I still seem to recall that the 60'S could be set up with more offset to accommodate the later brakes.

 

[CraigC]

Michael, I believe that is exactly what the D452D wheel is. Just a D452 60 spoke that is setup with a little less backspacing. Moving the rim outboard slightly gets the inner spoke away from the drum. I could not find the backspacing measurement for the wheels anywhere.