tycho
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| posted on 25/11/08 at 03:09 AM |
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Boring out wheel centres
Hi, not a kit car question, but does anyone know anywhere in the south west where I can get some steel wheels rebored from VW to Renault hub diameter.
My closest engineering shop want £45 per hour (which seems OK rate wise) but more than I can afford.
Or a way of DIYing it. I have a hobby lathe & milling machine at my disposal & a Myford Super 7 but nothing I can chuck up a 13" steel
wheel in.
Oh & this is my first post; so hello.
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Mal
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| posted on 25/11/08 at 06:21 AM |
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If your milling machine table is large enough for the wheel why not use a boring head tool to enlarge the bore?
If you don't have a proper boring head make up a simple adjustable radius fly cutter.
A good website for tooling is: Chronos.ltd.uk
Mal
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DarrenW
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| posted on 25/11/08 at 01:31 PM |
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I cant help thinking it might be cheaper to source some Renault steels.
Could an old hub me modified so you can mount the wheels on the myford and still machine the wheel bore?
Personally im not a fan of modding wheels. Doesnt sit right with me.
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mangogrooveworkshop
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| posted on 25/11/08 at 03:30 PM |
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quote:
Originally posted by DarrenW
I cant help thinking it might be cheaper to source some Renault steels.
Could an old hub me modified so you can mount the wheels on the myford and still machine the wheel bore?
Personally im not a fan of modding wheels. Doesnt sit right with me.
you are right on the money with that statement If its a critical component you may be taking the design outside its original paramaters.
Opening you to a failure of the big kind.
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v8kid
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| posted on 25/11/08 at 04:19 PM |
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I did this years ago when fitting wider alloys on my Renault Espace but it was decidedly dangerous!
Jack the nearside front driving wheel up and put the handbrake on very firmly. Get a standard lathe boring tool and clamp it to a 3 foot long bar with
a t piece welded on to the end. You will need the T piece to stop it twisting.
Get a trestle and jack the front driving wheel so its center is the same height as the trestle. Move the trestle as close to the wheel as possible
without touching it.
Put the car in 5th and start it. Let it idle
Just like using a wood turning lathe bore out the center. Take a firm grip and make sure it does not dig in and break your arm or other extremity
I was young and stupid then - would not do it now! But it worked.
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tycho
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| posted on 26/11/08 at 03:01 AM |
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my lathes & milling machines are far too small to be modifying the wheels directly. Was wondering if some kind of jig/guide could be made up with
the tooling I have.
I have a flycutter, but no way of using it directly.
I only need to open up the centre bore 3mm diameter & if everything is kept true & square I don't see any problems. I get scared when I
read web posts about welding up holes in hubs & re drilling etc but I feel that is different.
I would buy Renault wheels if I could but I need 13x5" or 13x5.5" in FWD & the only car that had them apparently was a Renault 18
& no luck so far finding any near me.
I could fit alloys in the correct size, but it's not want I want for the car.
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MikeRJ
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| posted on 26/11/08 at 10:58 AM |
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Firstly are the wheels designed to be hubcentric, or do the bolts/studs center the wheel? Virtually all alloys are hubcentric, but not all steel
wheels are. If not then you don't have to worry about precision, and you may be able to use e.g. a die grinder to carefully open up the
holes.
If they are then as you don't have a lot of material to remove, you could possibly turn up a tapered reamer on your lathe and milling machine,
using tool steel inserts as the cutting edges.
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tycho
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| posted on 27/11/08 at 02:38 AM |
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Unsure if hucentric or not. The rears are fairly tight on the hubs but I can't remember about the fronts. the wheel bolts are tapered after the
threads & so are the seats on the wheel.
Either way, I wouldn't be happy just attacking the wheel with a die grinder but the idea of making a taper reamer sounds good.
Might check with my Brother if he has a big enough taper reamer.
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