Hi

Anyone out there please has got encylodprdic knowledge of Ford and other steel wheels?

I am wondering what narrow steel wheels would fit a book chassis Ford MkII Escort axle and Ford MkIV/V Cortina hubs (108mm PCD)?

Thinking of a low powered Locost (45-60 bhp) in the spirit of the early Lotus Sevens (Series II) powered by a 948cc or 1098cc BMC A Series engine (as in early Austin Healeys Sprites/MG Midgets), so 3.5 wide rims (as per Series II) would be fine on 145 tyres or perhaps up to 4.5 inch rims (later Series II) if a bit more power was on tap later (or 5 inch with 155 tyres). If I was using Triumph running gear I would be using Triumph Herald or the wider Vitesse wheels but PCD of Ford front hubs and rear axle does not suit (and no converter available unlike for converting Herald/Vitesse uprights to Ford PCD).

I understand Series 3 Lotus Sevens initially went with 5.5 inch rims but for more powerful Crossflow engines and a common fitment in Locosts is 6 x 13 Ford Laser alloys with 185 tyres including the 750 Motor Club 1300cc Crossflow powered series for book chassis. All seems a bit too much tyre and unsprung weight for a lower powered version.

Also what offset would be required?

What wheels would suit and what is available?

I note Caterham picked up this low power and skinny steel wheels idea in their 160 model.

I happen to have some suitable engines and gearboxes in the shed, hence thinking A Series engine. And a rolling Locost chassis…

Cheers
Mike

[Edited on 20/12/22 by Mike Wood]

[Edited on 20/12/22 by Mike Wood]

[Edited on 20/12/22 by Mike Wood]

[Edited on 20/12/22 by Mike Wood]

[Edited on 20/12/22 by Mike Wood]

[Edited on 20/12/22 by Mike Wood]

The suzuki engined caterhams use a 4x100 pcd, using different hubs to the rest of their cars to make this change.

For locost, a ford ka mk1 steel wheel is 5jx13 et38 which should be workable and fairly easily available, the caterham uses 4.5jx14 et39, so reasonably similar.

The only part that might be tricky there is the caliper clearance, i've not tried ka wheels over cortina uprights/hubs and m16 calipers to know if they go.

Another wheel to consider is saxo/106/partner/berlingo (not c1/107 as they use toyota hubs), the offset on those is et24 which should be more favourable. There are some 5jx13 options, and they'll need spigot rings to centre the wheels as the centre bore is larger.


Dave

tyre availability is often the bigger problem

there is some choice in the 13" sizes - but you could be down to just budget options at the narrow sizes (or pretty much anything in a 12" or 14" )
if you have a preferred tyre or 2 that'll narrow down the best options for the car quite a bit

there are loads of options for small / narrow ford steels (probably mostly fiesta based) but also as the Peugeot/Citroen ones with spigot rings

getting wheels with exactly the right offsets might be a little harder, but decent hub-centric spacers will sort that out (you even get ones made for Pug wheels on ford hubs)



Since your not all that far away from me - I've got a pile of old 4x108 Ford wheels off various tin-tops - mostly 6x15" from teh mk1 focus/mondeo, but some smaller too (mix of various fiesta ones I think - I'd need to check sizes)

[Edited on 20/12/2022 by mcerd1]

I love the idea of a skinny wheeled old school car - I had a thread on this a few years ago. My car is traditionalish - I didn’t built it, but it has a supercharged MGB First thing I did when I got it was to swap the sticky, wide Toyos for skinny Sierra wheels.
What I found, to my regret, was that I needed 14” wheels to clear the Sierra rear calipers, which restricts my choice of steel wheels

I hope that you find something suitable! For the tyres, Toyota fitted the GT86 with ‘eco tyres’ as these were what was available, and the limited grip made handling more entertaining.

I’d love to see more pics of your build as it progresses.

What size are the original escort wheels? If have thought they'd have fitted nicely

My old car had 185/70 x 13" tyres - really pleasant to drive, no nasty surprises on tight turns and slippy roads. Very predictable.

Though I am glad that I no longer have the worry of replacing them, as there isn't much of a choice in that size these days.

Are Space Saver steel rims an option?
Not sure they come in smaller diameters.
Also you may check Drag Racing suppliers as narrow wheels are used at the front to save weight.
HTH.

Season’s greetings,

I’ve got early (stripped & powdercoated) Cortina 4.5” steels on my Gemini at the moment.
[img]https://flic.kr/p/2jwBh8q[/img]

They are fitted with Uniroyal Rain Expert 3: Rear @ 175/70 R13; and Front @ 155/70 R13

I went with these tyre sizes as they give me very similar rolling radius to my 205/60 R13 and 185/60 R13 Yokos.

If you can hang on a couple of months, this set will be for sale post-IVA. They’ve been used twice in the wet.

Trying image again...

Thanks all for the very helpful info and advice. I will pst some pictures when I get going on the project later this year.

Tim. Great to see a pic of the Gemini and he is getting close to IVA.

Yes, some 4.5 inch wide 13 inch diameter Cortina steel rims would be ideal thanks. Let me know when these come up for sale please - I am not in a hurry.

Cheers
Mike

[Edited on 6/1/23 by Mike Wood]

[Edited on 6/1/23 by Mike Wood]

Mike, I have 4 good ford rs Laser alloys 6x13 if of interest.
South Lanarkshire
Cheers D