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Caliper to wire wheel spoke clearance.

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Fishplate101

Freshman Member
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Hi Guys,

I'm new here and having a blast working the BJ7. After I cleaned then painted the wheel and calipers, I found the clearance on the left wheel spoke to caliper to be unsafe. While reinstalling the left wheel to hub, I notice the clearance between the spoke and caliper to about 1/16 or less. The right caliper spoke clearance looks good, however someone must have ground the corner edge of the right caliper to produce this clearance. I did not remove the calipers during the cleaning an painting process, I only removed the sway bar, the sway bar is still off in this picture, as I'm waiting for parts.

My question, am I missing something? Did someone install the wrong after market wire wheels? or the wrong calipers for this BJ7. The calipers look like they've been on the car forever, before I painted them. I may be forced to grind the corner edge of caliper to produce clearance like the other side. "YUCK"

I need to double check, but I think the outside caliper face plate states Girling 14. Note: the previous owner drove the car often for ten years......... I drove it for 20 miles before this discovery with no problems it's down now, till I understand this clearance issue...

I need to upgrade my member ship to send more than one pic at a time.

Thanks,

Fishplate
 
Hi Fishplate,
Welcome to the forum !
I have a BJ8 and the first time I looked at how close the spokes are to those calipers I thought the same thing,( these are too close and this is unsafe ).
Mine have the little corner piece notch also.
I was not able to see the photo that you posted but as long as they are the same clearance on both sides of the car and you don't have any broken spokes, you are probably OK.
..... Edited in.... You did say they were not the same from side to side. Yes, I would try to find out what the difference is in the parts used from side to side. And then install the correct parts where they are not now. Perhaps a previous owner used what he was able to get at the time and it has worked fine for many years that way.
The fun begins !

Ed
 
Hi Ed,

Yes the right side caliper corner was ground to produce the clearance I see. The left side is stock with very tight clearance, I've got two very nice photos for you, but the attachment is failing for some reason.

Trying to solve the photo upload issue, funny it shows the attachment but the link is dead.......................

Thank you,

Fishplate,
 
Hi Ed,

Okay Basil cleared the file link issue, support was excellent. I'm trigger happy with the camera no time to reduce size, file size was over 2 meg and pixes 2500 x 1900! Big enough to choke an elephant, images must be reduced. So lets try this again, the left wheel spoke to caliper clearance is very tight. Compared to the the right wheel spoke, which has been ground to produce a clearance.

Also, here is a link to view both images of the clearance issue with the right side ground is this normal?
https://72.151.255.245/caliper

It looks to close, a hard left may flex the wheel enough.
I mean I'm going to take care of this puppy no crazy driving, but if i have to swerve left to miss someone?
Anyway, I'm going to nic the left caliper corner just like the right side to be sure.....

Thanks,

-Fishplate
 

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The wheel will not flex unless it is coming apart.
If you measure a different amount of clearance from one side of the car to the other, then you should take a close look at everything to try and figure out why.
 
Pic of right side showing chamfer on caliper corner.
Does your BJ8 have a chamfer on the caliper corner ?
 

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Now I see what you were talking about.
No, Mine don't have a angled cut like that on the outside edge.
Perhaps someone with a car like yours will comment.
 
I'm not a Healey buff, but it looks like those wheels have too little offset.
Are they rebuilds, do you know?
 
I have a phase 1 BJ8, which uses the same calipers as the BJ7. There is at least 3/8 of an inch clearance between the spokes of my Dayton WW and the calipers.
 
Thanks Shorn,
This is just what I needed to know.
I'm going to verify the make and mfg of wire wheels.
I'll get back to you, this could be the problem someone down the chain installed the wrong wire wheels on this BJ7.

Also, I'll post a picture of my BJ7 caliper after I've pulled the wheel again, please let me know if my caliper is the same as yours.

Thanks to all,

-Fishplate
 
Fishplate,

What wheel do you have? You need a 457F or 459 wheel. You may have a 457C which is for a TR6. This wheel has a diffrent off set.

Jerry Anderson
Hendrix Wire Wheel
 
I have a BJ7 and clearance has not been an issue, I will check mine tonight and report back, but I am sure that I have a healthy gap and equal on both sides.

Not sure if you should be shaving metal on the calipers like that.

I will also check the offset to the rim from say the face of the hub on the spare by placing a bar across the outer hub face and measuring to the rim on each side, that should give an average and will be able to indicate if the rim has been offset to the hub in your case.

Bob
 
Ok

Just measured the distance on my BJ7 there is 8 mm clearance at the tightest point on both sides of the car. The rims measure around five and half inches wide and if you place a straight edge across the front of the hub and measure to the outside edge of the rim I get 37mm at each end.These calipers are G14s standard for the car.

Bob
 
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