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Skip & Lynne

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Ok guys I am color sanding and buffing out the wheel wells after reading your responses, now for question 2 I am going with 72 spoke stainless wheels which size wheels do you guys think work best on big Healeys.
 
I used to have 15 x 6 center laced (AC Cobra) wheels on mine. They were eye catching!
 
Skip,

The usually available 72 spoke wheels such as Dayton are available in 15 x 5, 15 x 5.5, & 15 x 6. Since max usable tire diameter is around 25.5", the apect ratio of the desired tire will largely dictate the wheel width. Wider tires require a lower aspect ratio to maintain the same overall diameter. Low wide tires usually have more footprint & more traction.

The choices on apperance, wide & low or higher & narrower. A personal preference. If you want the car to look like a racer, low & wide is the way to go.

The down side of wide & low is rougher ride, usually less wet traction, possible tire clearance problems between sheetmetal & suspension compoments & reduced ground clearance which Healeys have very little of to begin with.

I think that a wheel of 5 to 5.5 width & a tire of 70 to 75 aspect ratio looks best on the original car design & is a fair compomise between performance, ride, & appearance. I think wide low profile tires look competely out of place on the original Healey design. If looking & acting like a racer is the goal put on the widest setup that will fit. Some like the Formula One appearance so there is room for both choices. Again a preference between original design & more modern design.

On a purely personal note, with the original AH Hundred styling I prefer something more like a 60 spoke 4.5 wheel & 75 profile tires of 165 or 175 section . Since the Hundreds are relatively scarce & the original styling was so perfect, I prefer to stay as original as practical. For that matter the later Big Healeys are not exactly plentiful either. Race car or original? Track or street styling. Your choice.

BTW - good choice on the wheel wells.
smile.gif

D

[ 04-07-2004: Message edited by: Dave Russell ]</p>
 
Skip,

I chose 60 spoke painted dunlops with 175 Michlen from coker. This is a lower cost, somewhat closer to original tradeoff. Stronger than 48 spokes, less expensive and closer to original than chrome 72s.
 
I may be one of the few who used the 72 spoke stainless/chrome wheels with 165's, however I thought they looked terrific. Comes down to personal choice and how original you want to keep your Healey. I tried to make everything on my Healey as original as possible, only exception being the wheels. I thought a few more spokes would add a little more sparkle and strength. mac
 
Brian,

Actually the 48 spokers are not very weak. My first Healey BN2, in the early 60's had stock wheels, stock rear axle, & stock 4 speed behind a Vic Hubbard well built Chevy small block.

The whole drive train is very strong. It survived five years of dragstrip starts & fast road racing through the Santa Cruz mountains. Highway 9 & Skyline Blvd. Toward the last the spokes were just starting to get a bit loose. When you look things over, the transmission & axle have as strong or stronger construction than a lot of modern high HP cars.

I put 60 spoke chrome wheels on my present BN2 just for looks. No concern about strength.
D
 
<blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by Brian N.:
So just how weak are these 48 spoke wheels? That's what are on my car. What should I expect and what should I avoid?<hr></blockquote>

I've heard if you autocross (gymkhana) a Healey with 48 spoke wheels, the fast cornering will allow the spokes to flex, thus loosening them up to the point of breaking. I know when I first bought my car it had several broken spokes on the 48 spoke wheels.
driving.gif
 
48 spokes are not as strong as 60 which are not as strong as 72. For normal driving 48 are fine. Personally I would put on what you like. I think chrome 60's have a great look. I don't go to shows that look at the nut on the bolt that holds the muffler in place up under the car where no one can see it. It gets a bit rediculous after awhile. So I would go with what you like unless you really want to spend tons of money to try to get a first place at the shows that look at a car for perfection and not overall beauty and impact.

Side note - if you do go to those shows with intent to win it does not hurt to make sure you join the same club that the judges are from.
wink.gif
 
Yokohama used to make the A321VR, 185/70VR15 at a reasonable cost. Looks great on a 5.5" rim. They are great for performance work. Remember, if you want to auto-x or race, the 6" rim might move you to another class.

SB
 
The 60 spokers on my BJ8 were in poor shape when I purchased the 72 spoker replacement wheels in 1976 or so. They were great and I loved them. I drove them until a couple of years ago when I put on the minilite-repro alloy wheels. It could be my imagination, but the wheels seem much easier to balance, ride smoother and I really like the look. I still have the 72 spoke wheels (I did a "restore" job and repainted them) in case I want to go back to the traditional look of spokes. I suppose my point is that the lighter alloy wheels are available and if you don't give a rat's a__ about judges' opinions you might want to consider the alloys.
Regards from somewhat sunny San Antonio. See some of you at Conclave Texas in June? Also, the Roundup in Marble Falls, TX is this weekend. Regards again and "happy Healying!" Stever
 
Skip: On my BT-7, I used Dayton 15X5 72 spoke stainless/chrome wires with Michelin tubeless 175X15 tires from British Wire Wheel. That was in 1999 and I have never regretted that decision for even a minute (aside from the 'sticker shock'). Personally, I think the painted 72 spoke wheels look as good as the chrome ones but chose chrome, myself. I also think the 72 spoke wheels are substantially stronger, having experienced cars with other types before. In everyday use, all wire wheels rust and loosen and the spokes become broken with age. No more than our cars are driven, they will last almost indefinitely if you stay away from those curbs and other impediments! FWIW AL Bradley
 
Brian,

Hey, you are lucky!! There is a fella there in Santa Cruz who used to be the rebuilder/restorer for British Wire Wheel. When they moved shop and downsized that department he stayed behind and still does trueing/mounting from his home. He did my new ones before I mounted them "just to be sure". Nice fella and charges very little for what you get. He gets wheels from as far as NY by mail from some long time clients. I will try to find his contact info for you. I finally gave up on my old 48 spokers due to the "klunk factor" and scuttle shake. If you decide to replace the wheels be ready to do the hubs also. New rims go bad fast on old hubs and vice a versa. Best 1,500 spent yet (rims/hubs/bearings). Varoomm
 
I used the guy in Santa Cruze also. I got new wheels and they were out of tune and true from the factory. He fixed them right up. One was damaged in manufacturing. He marked it where it was defective and I sent it back to Moss. They shipped a new one to him. He tuned it and sent it off to me(I'm 200 miles away). He does great work and is a nice guy. Loves you to watch and be involved. Best to find out if your new wheels are perfect before he installs the tires, which is what he did for me. Money well spent!
 
<blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by Brakin80:
I've heard the term 'scuttle shake' used a few times. Can someone elaborate. Be gentle, I'm pretty new to this.<hr></blockquote>

Scuttle shake is when the area on top of the dash shakes around while driving the car and when going over rough surfaces. It should be minimal on Healeys. Donald Healey commented that he had to constantly "get onto them" about the lack of welds on the area of the transmission tunnel. There's brackets leading down to the frame that need extra welds to prevent scuttle shake. On restorations that area is usually strengthened by adding braces.


driving.gif
 
<blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by Brakin80:
I've heard the term 'scuttle shake' used a few times. Can someone elaborate. Be gentle, I'm pretty new to this.<hr></blockquote>

Scuttle shake is caused by some component of the drive train being out of balance. This could be the wheels, tires, brake drums, drive shaft, etc. It gets transfered by the weakest area of the frame, the U shaped opening for the transmission to the dash, windshield and steering wheel area. With scuttle shake you don't need to be on a rough road, it occurs when you get to a certain speed range, say around 50 to 60. You can weld in reinforcements to the tunnel area to mask the imbalance in the drive train. Also intalling a hard top will stiffen the windshield/dash area to reduce or eliminate the shake. I had pretty bad scuttle shake on my BJ7 but when I replaced the bearings, hubs, wheels, tires and had the tires properly balanced the shake went away. Sometimes it is caused by out-of-balance brake drums. BTW, it can happen with other vehicles, I used to have really bad skuttle shake on a '49 stepvan and it turned out to be caused by a bad U-joint.

Cheers,
John
 
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