OK team so I went and broke one of the cardinal rules of car building. "Thou shall not buy something because it looks pretty and is shiny and you think it will be awesome for you Hot Rod, but don't actually do any research before spending lots of money". I recently bought a Model A Coupe. It had the original wire wheels on it and the tires were really badly cracked. So I got a really good deal on some steel rims and tires (The rims are painted in a red metalflake and look amazing). I knew I was going to have to do some machine work on the drums to make them fit without cracking the rim but the are the right stud pattern. I had already read about the issue of steel rims on Model A's, Mr Grinder and I where going to have a weekend together in the shed making everything fit. So now come the time where my sparkly rims are coming to bite me in the ***. I want to put a Drop Axel front end in with hair Pins and disk brakes. so I jump online to go buy me a front end and some disk brakes, but I cant seem to buy a kit that will fit Now before I go any further in my story I just want to say I am very new to this stuff and I have a pretty well equipped shed full of tools but I don't have much in the way of fabrication knowledge but I am leaning. My rims are F100 Steel; 15 x 6 5 by 5.5 Can someone please point me in the right direction I want a drop axel front end Hair pin and Disks brakes that will fit and work with those pesky beautiful sparkly rims. I don't mind if I have to buy different bits and fit it all together huckleberry style. I just have no idea what gear to get to begin with to make the rims fit. Thanks guys I would really appreciate your input.
contact Sid at nastalgia Sids dropped axles are what he does he will get you going. He is a great guy tons of positive reviews from people he does a bunch of dropped axles. If he cannot help you he can get you going the right direction. He might be able to make something work with what you have
Speedway has a disc brake kit for '37-48 spindles with 5X 5 1/2 bolt pattern, but says it is made for disc brake wheels.
I wonder if those rims will clear disk brakes anyway, regardless of bolt pattern? At that point, you may as well use pattern adapters for clearance and to solve the pattern issue. I sure hope this car is retaining it's fenders. If it's not, skip the disks and put some 40-48 Ford car drums/hubs on it.
if all else fails, stop and have a plan for the look that you want to achieve. this can change multiple ways but, hopefully will not completely change the basic original plan. as for the wheels, if all else fails and you have to go with a different style likely can find the same, or real close, color and look to paint the new ones. there are so many threads with such a vast amount of good and bad experiences posted here. but, they usually end with a good lesson in what does and what does not work, so, take the time to absorb as much from here that you can before jumping in to anything. oh ya, you need to post some pics of your project car and those special wheels. have fun.
Well if I want a V8 Hot Rod I have to have Disk front end. That's the rules here in Australia unfortantly
Not necessarily. You can have drums, if they p*** the brake test. Check your local state specific rules on this.
X38 is on the money! I just checked the street Rod manual it says Hydraulic brakes must be used. This changes things a lot for me. Thanks guys for your input
I would also check that the dropped original axles are allowed in NT, as in QLD an original has to be certified. Contact Gary Page, he drops and certifies axles. I had him drop an A axle for my roadster. I will pm you the number mate.
Also at the very least.. if you keep it simple with old parts.. you shouldn't have too much of a problem. Only interference issue i've had to date using all early Ford bits was my steering arms not clearing the '36 wishbones.. heated and bent them down about 30mm and all was good in the world again. Other than that.. all the old stuff with not all that much work just bolts together nicely. You start mixing new street rod stuff and old early Ford stuff and maybe it can get confusing..
Indeed. Keep it all old, and a good percentage of the parts will come from a 8-10 year run of factory Ford parts. You will have a neat "could have come that way" look, for the untrained eye.
Look for a complete F1 front brake setup. That's what I've got on my dropped axle and it fits inside my 15" wheels no problem. If disk kits are still a must, look in the truck section of any of the big speed stores. Disk conversion is very common for F1 and F100 trucks.
A new version of the manual was agreed late last year and published about a month back. One of the changes was to remove the recommendation for disc brakes, and just have a performance figure the brakes need to achieve So well set up drums are fine again If you want any advise on whats needed for rego in NT, talk to Ian Kirkham If you need any info on the NSRG guidelines, pm me as I managed the latest rewrite, and wrote much of the recently approved version oh, on your brake "problem", my advise is too fit drums. 40 thru 48 Ford, pre 57 F100 or new aftermarket Lincoln are the best choices, in order of performance (and price) Have fun, and enjoy the build process
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