Our 2010 Holiday Party will be on Saturday, December...

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Page 2 of 13 Board Members President: Larry Palguta V.P. Membership: Kai Shepherd Phone: 574-288-3923 Phone: 574-233-6967 Email: [email protected] Email: [email protected] V.P. Activities: Keith Wishmeier V.P. Communication: Herminne Marrese Phone: 574-277-7746 Phone: 574-271-7550 Email: [email protected] Email: [email protected] Secretary: Maurice Levitt Treasurer: David Piser Phone: 574-231-1565 Phone: 574-217-8557 Email: [email protected] Email: [email protected] British Marque’ Car Club News If you are not receiving this publication, please advise Kai Shepherd at (574) 233-6967. Newsletter Submissions This is the Newsletter of the Michiana Brits, Ltd., Car Club and is distributed to all paid Annual Members as part of their dues. If you would like to submit articles for publication, they are most welcome, the deadline is the 25th of each month. Send all correspondence, (electronic submissions are preferable), to the Newsletter Editor: [email protected] or bring it to a General Meeting. Material is subject to editorial revision and opinions expressed are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of the © 2010 Michiana Brits, Ltd., British Car Enthusiasts. Our Club’s Last Event for the 2010 Season Our 2010 Holiday Party will be on Saturday, December 4 th . This will be a 6:30 pm Pot Luck Dinner at Keith & Mary Wishmeiers home at1834 Ribourde Drive, South Bend, IN 46628 Tel # (574) 277-7746 Club members planning to attend, please contact Mary at (574) 277-7746 as to what food they will be bringing to the party, as we don‟t want to have 10 plates of potato salad! The Club will be providing the meat dishes, and members should bring their own beverage. There will be an Optional Gift Exchange at this party, with the following rules: Each guy to bring a gift for a guy with a British or motoring theme for the value of $10 to $15, and each girl to bring a gift for a girl for the value $10 to $15.

Transcript of Our 2010 Holiday Party will be on Saturday, December...

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Board Members

President: Larry Palguta V.P. Membership: Kai Shepherd

Phone: 574-288-3923 Phone: 574-233-6967 Email: [email protected] Email: [email protected]

V.P. Activities: Keith Wishmeier V.P. Communication: Herminne Marrese

Phone: 574-277-7746 Phone: 574-271-7550 Email: [email protected] Email: [email protected] Secretary: Maurice Levitt Treasurer: David Piser

Phone: 574-231-1565 Phone: 574-217-8557 Email: [email protected] Email: [email protected]

‘British Marque’ Car Club News

If you are not receiving this publication, please advise Kai Shepherd at (574) 233-6967.

Newsletter Submissions

This is the Newsletter of the Michiana Brits, Ltd., Car Club and is distributed to all paid Annual Members as

part of their dues. If you would like to submit articles for publication, they are most welcome, the deadline is

the 25th of each month. Send all correspondence, (electronic submissions are preferable), to the

Newsletter Editor: [email protected] or bring it to a General Meeting.

Material is subject to editorial revision and opinions expressed are those of the authors and do not necessarily

reflect those of the © 2010 Michiana Brits, Ltd., British Car Enthusiasts.

Our Club’s Last Event for the 2010 Season

Our 2010 Holiday Party will be on Saturday, December 4th

.

This will be a 6:30 pm Pot Luck Dinner at Keith & Mary Wishmeier‟s home at1834 Ribourde Drive,

South Bend, IN 46628 Tel # (574) 277-7746

Club members planning to attend, please contact Mary at (574) 277-7746 as to what food they will be

bringing to the party, as we don‟t want to have 10 plates of potato salad!

The Club will be providing the meat dishes, and members should bring their own beverage.

There will be an Optional Gift Exchange at this party, with the following rules:

Each guy to bring a gift for a guy with a British or motoring theme for the value of $10 to $15, and

each girl to bring a gift for a girl for the value $10 to $15.

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Dinner/General Meeting at Papa Vino’s Restaurant – Oct.14, 2010. There was an excellent turn out of 24 members for this meeting on Main Street, Mishawaka. We were all

seated on a long table, the food was good, and there was no 18% service charge added to our checks that

normally we have to pay at other previous dinner restaurants we have had meetings!!

Larry ran the General Meeting reporting on the following items:

Financial Report: David reported that the current Club‟s cash account balance was $ 2,672.93.

Club Membership: Our Club Membership has now grown to 55 Annual Memberships. New member

Mike Ross of Granger was introduced at the meeting.

Fall Color Drive – Oct. 23rd

: Randy advised that he will be providing soft drinks, hot apple cider, coffee

and chili at the Pot Luck dinner, and requested that all going on the drive to call ahead and advise what

they will bring to the Pot Luck dinner.

Car Show Class Signs: New car class signs and some new directional signs have been ordered for the

Car Show, and will include several blanks for future use.

Advertising Revenue: Britannia Hotels in the UK have a link to their website in the text on our

„Weddle Car Collection‟ web page. We received an annual payment of $124.37 for providing this link

to our website.

Webmaster: The Board decided to provide 1/2 of advertising fees to our webmaster for all he does

annually for the club - advertising layouts & postings, designing website pages, website maintenance

and monitoring, continual updates of website, car show and Tea poster designs, collage picture and text

changes for car show mailer, designing & posting car drive/tour and show write-ups with photos on

new web pages, posting photos of members cars, etc., etc.

Last 2010 Club Events: Fall Tour - successful tour of a beautiful part of our State, shopping,

antiques, hiking, dining, and fabulous LBC driving on SR 62 - Report to follow. Fall Color's Drive -

Saturday Oct. 23rd, starting & ending at Glanders' abode - lunch at Fisher Lake Inn, great scenery, nice

driving, last drive of the year. Advise the Glanders of what potluck carry-in item you will bring.

Next meeting: Nov. 20th, Portage Avenue Cafe, northwest of downtown South Bend, and then our

Holiday Party at Keith & Mary Wishmeier‟s home – see details above.

Loran Prine

It is with great sadness that we have to report the passing away of Loran Prine on October 17 and his

funeral was on Friday, October 22nd. He was a valued old time member of our Club and a contributor to

the British Marque publication. He was an active Board member of Mad Dogs & Englishmen Car Club in

Michigan and we are sure their Car Show will not be the same without his and Marna‟s assistance. He was

a true gentleman with a wonderful sense of humor and he will be sadly missed by all who had the good

fortune to know him.

The Michiana Brits British Car Enthusiasts Club would like to extend

our sincere condolences to Marna and family.

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Our Club has received the following message from the Pine family:

From the Prine Family:

Thank you to all who drove your LBCs that served as an honor guard for Loran's funeral procession. It

was a fitting tribute. He would have been so pleased, and our whole family was touched to see each and

every car arrive and line up. Thank you for taking the time to bring your LBC out for that beautiful day.

We know that some cars were already tucked in for the winter, and we appreciate the effort to untuck them

and so honor Loran and Marna.

Thank for all the support, kind words, cards, flowers, meals and other gestures of kindness you've shown to

our family. Each one came at just the right time.

Thank you, thank you!

Marna Prine

Melissa (Prine) and Tim Rosin

David Prine

Josiah and Eden Rosin

Board Meeting – November 2nd

, 2010

The following items were discussed at this Board Meeting:

Financial Report: David reported the Club‟s current checking account balance to be $2,513.03.

Car Show new class signs: Proofs of the new signs are scheduled to be available next week, and after

approval, an order will be placed. All the new signs will be at the same cost/sign as signs purchased

for the 2010 car show.

Saint Mary‟s College car show contract has been received.

Holiday Party: Keith & Mary Wishmeier have kindly volunteered his home for this year‟s event to

take place on December 4th

. Weekly reminder emails to be sent to members prior to this event.

The following P.O. Box may now be used for Club mail: P.O. Box 11074., South Bend, IN 46634.

New Club Policies: The following new Club policies where discussed and approved, and to be

effective from January 1, 2011:

A) “The Newsletter shall be provided to Annual Members and distributed exclusively by email”.

B) “A reduced Annual Membership fee of $ 15 is available to a person who is both a member of the

North American MGB Register (NAMGBR) and whose NAMGBR Membership is affiliated with

Michiana Brits, Ltd”.

The January 15th

, 2011 General Meeting/Breakfast will be at Perkins Restaurant & Bakery in Elkhart.

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Club’s Fall Tour to Switzerland County – Sept. 23rd

. to 26th

.

A full trip report will be included in a future Newsletter.

Our Clubs Annual Fall Colors Drive on October 23rd

.

by Larry Palguta & Tom Shumaker

Saturday October 23

rd started out as an overcast day and stayed that way. But it didn‟t dampen the

enthusiasm of the Brits as they gathered at Randy and Bev Glanders‟ house in Elkhart for back country

driving through multi-colored trees and cool breezy weather. Four MGBs, an MG Midget, a Stag, two

Spitfires and the Shepherd‟s SUV made up the caravan of nine cars for the day. Randy set up a drive that

followed the usual route from his home but with a few changes. The following is a photo of the cars lined

up for the start of the Drive:

As usual, traffic was a bit heavy northwest of Elkhart and, after a missed turn by the tail-enders, the

caravan reformed and drove along less populated roads. At one point we merged into the Vintage Car

Club of Elkhart which included a Model T Ford in the lead and a Jeepster. Fortunately the now greatly

extended caravan didn‟t last long (have you ever driven behind a Model T at its cruising speed of less than

30 mph!!?) and the Brits split off to head north. Randy‟s route included a new road around the north side

of Corey Lake. The road twisted and turned through woods and then snaked along between cottages and

the shoreline. Near the end it devolved into a one lane, small asphalt lane just above the shore - a really

fun road to drive. Shortly we arrived at Fisher Lake Inn at Mendon for lunch. The Inn was ready for us

with our own waitress for the 18 diners (Roger Deacon was truly “Stag” and Dave Terhune drove over in

his beautiful 1974 MGB to join us just for lunch). There was a lot of lively conversation at the table,

including Fearless Leader expounding on the two universally forbidden subjects - politics and his Speedo!

During the relaxing and good lunch, the President, Bev Glanders and Michele Shepherd (the hardcore fans)

checked college football scores on the TV and I-phones.

After lunch, it began to rain as everyone headed out to the parking lot for the afternoon‟s drive.

Surprisingly, in the back of a pickup truck was a fully restored, vintage 1914 Harley Davidson motorcycle

(rear end of bike in photo just below Fisher Lake Inn sign).

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It was obviously still being driven, as indicated by an LED tail light mounted on the rear. Anyway, for

those who ran over in the rain for a quick look, the bike was a real beauty. Because Roger was tired of the

solo driving, he invited Deb Palguta (now aka “Drift” from the Fall Tour) to drive his Stag until we got to

Bonneyville Mill County Park. Driving in the rain was somewhat enjoyable since the club so rarely drives

in rainy weather. Anyway, the rain stopped after about 20-30 minutes but left the roads wet. Entering

Bristol at a sharp angle intersection, only Roger could see back out of the right side window and told Deb

to go when the car ahead went. So she did, then saw in the rear view mirror a Mini Cooper bearing down

fast on the Stag‟s rear bumper, and stomped on the gas pedal of the Stag which, unlike the MGB she is

used to driving, responded powerfully and fish-tailed all over the road. Fortunately the Mini slowed down

and everyone made it into and through Bristol. Now the intersection is known as “Deb‟s corner” and, lost

in the confusion and jokes, was an opportunity by Roger to flag down the hard charging Mini and ask him

to join the club. At Bonneyville Mill County Park, everyone got a potty break, a chance to visit while

stretching their legs and backs, and Chuck Knight replenished his supply of milled cornmeal.

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The group drove back to the Glander‟s house where we were joined by Chuck & Rosie Gushwa and Mike

& Carol Montgomery, and everyone began a sumptuous potluck dinner. This was my third Fall Colors

Drive and it was as fun a drive and fellowship as the previous two drives; a great way to finish up the

year„s driving season. But as a first club drive, it may look and feel different to someone who just joined

the Brits. So here is Tom Shumaker‟s synopsis of the day:

Little British Cars are noted for going around curves and enjoying the tour of the road, so I‟ve been told.

Well I had to experience it for myself. I bought an MG Midget and joined the club. My first experience

was going to Winona Lake. That wet my appetite and going on the fall foliage run was a must. With my

wife beside me, we thoroughly enjoyed the winding, twisting roads thanks to Randy. Seeing all the cars

ahead and behind us was exhilarating. Food fellowship and cars is a good combination.

Tom & Debbie Shumaker and everyone certainly enjoyed the day and the fellowship. While the Brits are

pretty good at providing day drives and longer trips, we‟re almost as good at dining along the way.

Our Club’s Web Site - www.michianabrits.com.

When was the last time you logged into our Club’s Web Site? Do you know what information is on our Club‟s Website? The Website provides a number of pages, and

I am going to include another one of the pages in this monthly Newsletter to let you know what you are

missing. So, here goes with another of the pages you will find on our website:

LINKS

The opening display consists of eight groups of the following subjects:

1. Other Clubs in the Midwest 2. National Organizations

3. Parts Suppliers 4. Forums

5. Other British Car Sites 6. Sites of Interest

7. Reading Resources 8. Web Rings

Each of the above groups provide numerous links within that subject with whom to contact.

If you have questions for our President, Larry Palguta, please feel free to send him an email.

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SUMMER ROAD TRIPS

By Larry Palguta

Getting a “Driver”

Anyone who looks at cars on eBay knows that the number of cars offered for sale increases noticeably

during the summer months. This is particularly true of Little British Cars (LBCs), and can present an

opportunity to go on a road trip with someone who is picking up a “new” to them car.

A few days before Tuesday July 27th

, member Jim Betz sent out an email asking for help bringing an MGA

back from southern Wisconsin. Jim had purchased the 1960 MGA from a seller in Minneapolis, MN, and

the car was being trailered down to the national MGA Get Together in Delavan, WI where Jim could drive

it home to South Bend. Myself and Roger Deacon volunteered to go along and drive Jim‟s crossover

vehicle back while Jim got to drive his new car. Shortly before 6 AM on Tuesday, Roger was parked in

our drive way, Jim arrived in a few minutes, and we were on our way to Chicago and north to the Illinois-

Wisconsin border. Delavan is adjacent the northwest shore of Lake Geneva, site of one of the original

Playboy Clubs. We expected to breeze through Chicago and up the Edens Expressway amongst light

traffic well before the rush hour. Wrong!! The loop area was a little slow, not unexpected, but the heavy

and at times slow traffic north of Chicago on the Edens was a complete surprise. Still, we made decent

time and got to the Lakelawn Resort well before noon. Lakelawn Resort sits on the north shore of Lake

Geneva, a beautiful site for a car show. Lots of well manicured lawns, shade and cool breezes off the lake.

The national MGA Get Together had a long row of MGA 1500s and a row or two of MGA 1600s (see

below where Jim is thinking “Where the !!?**!! is my MGA???”):

Among the 200+ cars at the show were 31 MG Magnette sedans, a bunch of MGBs, two Woolsleys, an

MGA Twin Cam, some odds and ends saloons, a Volvo, and several parts dealers including member Jim

Zorn‟s Little British Car Company from Detroit. The Woolsleys are the only two in North America, one

from Canada and one from Oklahoma (see photo below of antiques). The show was a several day affair

with lots of activities for the attendees who could stay at the Resort.

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After some searching, we located the man who had trailered the MGA to the Resort for the seller. Jim had

a long discussion with him to learn about the history and operation of the car which had been converted to

a six cylinder Ford engine modified to produce about 200 horse power. After a test drive, Roger and I got

in the crossover and Jim in his new car, and we drove to the nearest gas station to fill up. The MGA had a

fiber glass hard top attached by plastic ties; Jim decided to remove it. Off it went and into the rear of the

crossover. Good idea; the car had a vent that dumped heat into the passenger compartment that made Jim‟s

drive home a hot one. After a lunch at a nearby Panera Bread, we headed back with a plan of staying west

of Chicago on I-290 and I-355 and then swing south around Chicago to eventually link up with the Indiana

Toll Road. Everything went smoothly - for an LBC! Not too far along, the rear brake lights come on

dimly after a stop light and stayed on until a stoplight in the next small town. There was lots of

construction on I-290 so we were driving in some one lane, bumper to bumper traffic at 50-60 mph. The

MGA hit a lip in the roadway and Jim bounced about 6 inches up out of his seat, which was much

appreciated by me as I knew what was coming. It put a new twist on the driving expression - “we were

flying along!“. Soon thereafter the right rear running light died for the remainder of the trip. Of course,

Jim was riding in a well heated passenger compartment even though the hard top was gone and the soft top

down. Oh, did I mention that the A/C system didn„t work either. After running into some friends from

church at a travel plaza on the Toll Road (and Jim being pan-handled by a guy with the old “student headed

back to Purdue” story, a pitch I got at the same plaza about 2 years ago), we got back to South Bend with

no problems. A fun and interesting trip to a great show at a beautiful location. A few days later Jim and

Kim drove the MGA to a wedding in Yorktown, IN. While returning, they drove into a gas station and the

car just died. Seems a battery terminal had popped free, no doubt well-loosened during the bone-rattling

drive around Chicago.

Getting a “Bone Yard” Car

During the long drive back from Delevan, Roger and I talked about picking up a Triumph Stag from a bone

yard located a bit down state. About 10 years ago when he purchased his now restored 1974 gold colored

Stag, the seller offered him this less desirable Stag sitting outside in an auto bone yard (aka “grave yard“).

Roger declined but now years later a deal was struck and the car awaited pickup, or more accurately,

recovery from the bone yard. So I showed up at Roger‟s Monday morning August 2nd

and we headed

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southwest in his pickup pulling a trailer borrowed from John Dieringer. We were headed to a rural town to

pick up the rusty remains of the Stag. Along the way we stopped at a company that was to repair a rusted

out Stag gas tank for Roger. The gas tank was supposedly too far gone to repair, so we picked it up and

were back on the road. Eventually we arrived at a small building displaying a Maserati, a Ferrari, and a

Bitter sedan (Austrian) located next to the bone yard. We explained what we were after, and the gate to the

bone yard was unlocked. After unhooking the trailer, we drove the pickup between the rusted out hulks of

cars - trying to identify all of the various makes: Pulsar, Fiat X/1 9 and its successor Bertone, Jaguar,

Triumph Standard, Spitfire, TR-7, TR-8, Stag, MGB, MGA 1500, MG Midget, AH Sprite, Mini Cooper, a

Morris Minor truck (see photo below), Sunbeam, Volvo, Austin America.

We found the Stag amongst many weeds and in front of a red Sunbeam.

We got right to it. Roger has all of the equipment and experience to recover a car - we pulled the Stag out

of the bone yard and onto the parking lot, mounted three new tires, wenched the Stag onto the trailer, and

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tied it down in less than 1 hour. We checked the manufacture plate and found the Stag was made in June

1971. Then we went on a tour of several large sheds where the better condition cars are kept. It was truly

“barn find” heaven - two restored yellow AH Bug-Eyed Sprites, Ferraris, Jaguar saloons & a 140, MG

Midgets, a white restored MGA 1500 and unrestored 1500s, MGBs, MGB/GT, MGC/GT, MGTD, Big

Austin Healey, Triumph Hearld, TR-3s, TR-4A, a large repainted Maserati saloon, and a familiar looking

sedan converted for racing but we couldn‟t quite identify it. We took just a few photos of the

approximately 30 cars but spent most of our time trying to weave our way through dusty antique cars

parked side-to-side and bumper-to-bumper. It was an amazing collection of highly restorable foreign cars,

nearly all being well-known British brands. Afterwards we walked through the bone yard looking a bit

closer at those remains. We discovered that the red Sunbeam rusting away behind where our now

recovered Stag had sat, had lots of big weeds growing through the rusted-out floor boards and was a

Sunbeam Tiger. We opened up the hood and there was the V-8 engine. It‟s the first Sunbeam Tiger I‟ve

seen - a highly desirable car for some collectors. Later I noticed the bone yard MGA 1500 had a 1976

license plate from the Ft. Wayne area - my home town. After saying thanks for letting us tour the property,

we went out to lunch at Pizza Hut and then headed toward Roger‟s home outside Granger. On the way we

stopped at Richie Milburn‟s residence on east Dragoon Trail, saw the garage part of the house and two

other out buildings one of which houses his Jaguars, and talked about his plans for future work on import

cars. This road trip was a great experience - a chance to see how a pro like Roger recovers a car the easy

way, and then the best part - seeing lots of good “barn find” condition British cars. I‟m hooked on road

trips and am ready for another one - you just never know what and who you‟ll encounter along the way.

In every month’s Newsletter, I will include a topic that I hope you will find useful in connection with the maintenance and enjoyment of our cars.

So this month the topic is: Wire Wheels Overview

(Article written by Arthur Kelly, and provided by courtesy of the VTR)

I have heard many "short" discussions about wire wheels. It seems to me that the reason those discussions

were short is that very few people knew a whole lot about wire wheels. First - a story, which will lead to

the some conclusions / information about wire wheels.

The Story

In 1993, at the VTR South Eastern Regional in Sebring Fl, while the judges were looking over my TR4,

one of them noted that my right rear wheel was a forty-eight spoke wire wheel ( my TR4 should have had

60 spoke wheels). That was interesting and showed me how little I knew - I hadn't even noticed this in the

almost two years since I had gotten the car back. In fact, I really had to look to see the difference. (The 60

spoke wheels have a second row of spokes behind the outer row of spokes). Since the 60 spoke wheels are

original for the TR4 and since they are safer, I decided to replace that 48 spoke wheel and figured that as

long as I was at it I might as well refurbish the 4 other (60 spoke) wheels. I began to research various

options.

I knew that the four 60 spoke wheels were the original wheels on my car and that they had about 95k miles

on them. The 48 spoke wheel had obviously been a replacement (my car, which I had picked up new at the

factory in '64, had been sold to someone else who had it for several years before I bought it back in late

'91). I could see that the original four 60 spoke wheels needed to be restored and I thought I could have

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them trued, tuned and repainted the correct color. I wanted to get the best wheels I could for the least

amount of money.

A local TR club member (which is one reason why it pays to join a club) gave me the name of a place in

California specializing in British wheels. Then another club member said he had an old 60 spoke wheel

which I could have for nothing. I thought I was all set. I could keep the car on the road by sending the 60

spoke wheels one or two at a time (since I now had five 60 spoke and one 48 spoke wheels). My idea was

to have the five 60 spoke wheels refurbished and then get rid of the 48 spoke wheel and have "proper new

wheels all around" as well as a spare.

I called the wire wheel company in California and inquired about cost etc. It appeared that it would cost

$105 for each wheel to be completely refurbished (that included shipping both ways). That appeared

reasonable and new wheels were more expensive. I shipped the 60 spoke wheel which I had been given

with instructions for them to re-do it. I figured this way that: 1) I would have a sample of their work, 2) I

could figure a scheme for sending the other wheels so that the car would never be off the road and 3) I

could spread the cost over several months.

After about a week I got a phone call from the company in California. What they said was that the wheel

was not worth refurbishing because the splines were too worn. I really didn't know what they were talking

about. However, after a 20 minute conversation I finally began to understand some vital things about wire

wheels.

What I Found Out

A wire wheel consists of an inner hub and an outer rim connected by spokes. These spokes can become

bent or broken, which will cause the wheel to be out of round, or warped, and possibly weakened.

"Rebuilding" the wheel means that the spokes are replaced if damaged or missing, and all spokes are

equally tightened so that the wheel is round once again. This is called "truing" and when finished the

wheels are said to be "true." During a normal rebuild the wheel is also stripped of paint and rust, then

primed and repainted. When that is all done the wheels are "tuned". That is not difficult to understand,

although I have since found that "truing" is an art. But there is a problem in that the hubs are also vital. If

the hubs are worn it is a waste of time to rebuild the wheel.

So we need to understand the role of the wire wheel hubs. Let's assume the car has disc wheels. In order to

install wire wheels the disc wheels must be removed. Then the bolts, on the axle, which held the disc

wheels must be replaced by shorter bolts to prevent interference with the spokes (the old bolts can be

shortened but I recommend replacing them). A splined hub adaptor is bolted onto the new bolts at the ends

of each axle. After the adaptor is in place, the splines on the inner hub of the wire wheel fit into splines on

the hub adaptor. A "knock-off" then screws onto threads at the end of the adaptor and holds the wheel onto

the car. (see my article on wire wheel tightening at the VTR web site).

When new, the splines are long and shaped like a pyramid with the top 10% cut off. As the splines wear,

the sides become uneven i.e. the sides of the pyramid are actually ground down or become "L" shaped. The

splines (both sets - adaptor and wheel) eventually wear out and after about 70k miles a clicking sound will

come from the rear wheels when the clutch is first engaged. If the wheels are pulled off and the both sets of

splines are inspected, the wear is evident. (Eventually this wear will cause the hub to spin inside the wheel,

although I imagine that this would take quite a long time before happening). An important consideration

here is that because the splines are cast they cannot be repaired. Hence, if the splines are worn, both the

wheel hub and the hub adaptor must be replaced. If only one of them is replaced, the old splines will

quickly wear down the new ones.

I had no idea what the mileage was on the wheel which I had been given and which I had sent to

California. I told the company to keep it rather than pay the shipping charges back to Florida. Then I

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inspected the hubs and hub adapters on the other wheels on the car. They were visibly worn. Refurbishing

was no longer the answer; all the wheels (and the adaptors) would have to be replaced. The next step was

to decide which wheels to buy.

At the time I was doing this, most new wheels that I found available were made in India for Dunlop. They

ranged in price, at several vendors, from 132 to 150 dollars apiece. However, The Roadster Factory had

wheels made in the U.S. by Dayton. These wheels were regularly priced at 189 dollars apiece. But the

impression that I got after talking with 4 or 5 vendors was that the Dayton's were definitely a better quality

wheel. Then I realized the because of an ongoing TRF sale and because TRF also gave credit towards

"freebies" the total difference in price came to only about 12 dollars per wheel. I decided to buy the Dayton

wheels.

The next step was to choose the correct hub adapters, which were about 75 dollars apiece. An important

note here is that the adapters are different for the left and right side of the car due to opposite turning

threads on the knock-offs. Two left and two right hand hub adapters MUST be used. I ordered four hub

adapters and four wheels (figuring I would keep the best of the old wheels as a spare and buy a fifth wheel

at a later time). In addition I replaced the old adaptor bolts on the axles since they were worn.

I received the parts and spent another 50 dollars to have the tires/tubes taken off the old wheels, installed

on the new wheels and then dynamically balanced. Care must be taken here that the tire shop understands

how delicate the finish is on the wire wheel rims and that the shop has a machine which will not chip the

rims.

Now the clincher - When the new bolts, adaptors and wire wheels were installed I noticed the most

significant change in road handling that I had ever seen. The car felt "tight" and, of course, that clicking

noise from the rear wheels was gone. In addition a front end vibration which I had at 58-62 MPH was

gone. And the wheels look great - my wife's comment was "They look exactly as they did when the car was

new."

To sum it up - it was well worth it. As usual, it pays to do your homework regarding prices, deals etc.

before deciding what and where to buy. A new set of wheels costs about twice as much as having the old

ones refurbished but will last much more than twice as long. Refurbishing does nothing to the old splines

on the wheels, never mind the hub adaptors.

An important reminder --- the method used to tighten your wire wheels will affect not only your safety but

also the life of the wheels. See the article on tightening wire wheels .