[dogstar]

i was just discussing cars and wheels with a couple friends and they asked why i didnt just change over to five bolt hubs.

well, that got me thinking...

how would one go about doing a five bolt conversion?
im guessing there are junkyard parts that i could use to do it.

would it change my offset? would the handling change?
what kind of price range would i be looking at?
how much work/how difficult?

and the big question...

is it worth the trouble??
what benefits would i get, aside from possibly having access to more varied wheel selection?

 

[SupraFiend]

http://www4.tpgi.com.au/users/loats/technical/ma61/fronthub.html

Its been done, at least partially last I heard. But its a PITA and the parts you need to do it aren't available on this continent. The benefits are debatable, I won't get into that discussion again. :?

 

[zank]

I think Norbie was working on this a while back but i dont know if he finished them or not. you might want to ask Norbie about this?

 

[dogstar]

ah, i see, well thanks for the link,
seems its doable... in australia, or if you have too much money.

i had thought that ma70 parts MIGHT work, but i guess im wrong (at least its not the first time )

 

[BillyM]

Unless it changes it to a 40+ offset, it would only make it harder to find rims in the necessary size.

Right now, the only rims in our almost 0 offset product-base are old-school rims, which most will be 4-bolt's. The other option we have are custom rims, which you can get in 4bolt as easily as 5bolt.

Thus, I would only change to 5bolt if it gave me a more modern 40+ offset. Otherwise, it would just make wheel-buying more expensive than it allready is.

--BillyM

 

[SupraFiend]

Also you would loose those wonderful big lips our low offset wheels have if you went to a +40 offset. Hey Mike M, exactly how many inches of lip do you have on your rear wheels again? (no seriously, I can't remember)

 

[Supra Bob]

Damon Saul and I had a discussion about this very thing. He knows a company that will take our stock axles and rework the hubs to a larger offset with a 5 bolt pattern... he is just looking for someone to take care of the front end. The cost wasn't all that bad either... I'll talk to him this weekend and see if he has made any progress.

 

[williamb82]

the front is easy, its the rears that are a pita. the fronts can be swapped from cressidas. hth. also, how much would that rear hub modification cost bob?
william

 

[Supra Bob]

William... He was saying between 50 to 150 a pair.. He mentioned that they had a couple of ways of going about it, and the way they did it changed the price... I'll call him and talk about it... and if I can't convince him to come on here and post about it, I'll get the info and come back with it.

William, which Cressedia's, and specifically what do you swap? What offset does it end up at?

 

[SilverMk2]

I would be interested to see how they could rework the axle flange for a 5 bolt. I looked at doing this and the problem was the bolts would be right on the edge of the axle. The easiest way to do this would be to get hubcenteric adapter about 15-20mm thick. There are quite a few 5x4.5" wheels in 15-20 offset that still have some lip. I've seen a few MkIIs with your typical FWD wheel on them with adapters and they look quite funny, the style of wheel is too new and the no lip is odd on a car with fender flares. If you could get the Mk2 axle flanges changed over to 5x4.75 (or even 5x5 or 5x4.5), 0 offset wheels would be extremely plentiful, its a common bolt on pattern for American cars. I know late 80's TAs had a really nice 16" mesh wheel thats is really common.

 

[dogstar]

silvermk2 hit the nail right on the head...
old camaro/TA rims had a nice lip on them, are extremely cheap, easy to find, and there are thousands of other options... buick gnx wheels anyone?

 

[SupraWes]

"buick gnx wheels anyone?"


I'll take the whole car please!!!! :shock: :lol: :!:

 

[dogstar]

so would i if there were ANY for sale in my area...

course, me having money would help too

i can however get two or three sets of wheels from them.

 

[Cossie]

Hey guys, just caught the thread on 5 stud. If u want a pretty good wrap up, go to www.eds.au.com It's all covered with a few differing ways to do it. Mite be easier in oz, but i'm sure there's gota be someone smart enough to adapt the idea over there, and wheels for the same offset are just the standard ford wheels that came out over here-huge range and pretty cheap(from AUS$1200 for 17" with tyres)
Cossie

 

[Supra Bob]

I know late 80's TAs had a really nice 16" mesh wheel thats is really common.

Those would be from the mid to late 80's GTA's... which if ya took them and powder coated or painted the centers black would look incredibly alot like Malloy's Simmons...

 

[SupraFiend]

Yeah thats the link I posted at the top. Its not all there though thats the problem, it doesn't cover the rear hubs. Kind of pointless unless you can do all 4. And the problem with american muscle car rims, besides the styling (my opinion!), is almost all of the street rims are bloody heavy as hell. The mesh gta rims would be nice though and should be comparitvely light, but Riken and Enkie meshies are the easiest after market rims to find for mk2s so I wouldn't do the swap just to get a set of gta mesh wheels.

 

[Supra Bob]

Damon is supposed to call me tonight at work, so I will ask him about this and get as much info as I can... or get him to come here and post his findings.

 

[Supra Bob]

Well, appearantly I misunderstood what he said before. He is working with a place to try and get them to do it, but they are somewhat reluctant for whatever reason. They do say its possible, and even changing the centerbore wouldn;t be too difficult if your going to all that trouble already...

 

[kjurkic]

5 bolt conversions

What would it be worth ($$-wise) to people to have the five-bolt?

There are adapters out there. Aren't you buying a lot of extra hassle for not much gain?

Just curious :?:

Ken

 

[dogstar]

everything ive been told says that five bolt is much stronger for braking and road impacts than four bolt.
whether or not this is as big a difference as ive been lead to belive, i dont know, but better is always good, especially if you can better with junkyard parts.

plus the differing wheel selection would be nice, as an aside, although that isnt a purely practical item.