So I bought a bullnose stroker

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Geoff
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Re: So I bought a bullnose stroker

Postby Geoff » Fri Feb 06, 2015 1:05 pm

Yup, 6061.

I could probably get a few sets made up if people want. I did run into a few design considerations that I had to deal with (read on).

The first is that the wheel hardware is 9/16-12. Nobody makes a 9/16-12 flat head cap screw so I had to use the factory wheel bolts to hold the adapter to the hubs.

This leads to the second design consideration... Because the factory wheel bolts had to be used that meant that I ended up with a rather thick adapter. I started out thicker than I thought would be needed knowing that I could take off some material. The front seems to fit with the thickness I ordered but the rear was too thick (ended up rubbing the tire on the fender). So I removed some material on the lathe at work.
Thinning.jpg

This took a while so I only did it on the rears for now. When the snow clears and I can drive it I'll assess whether the fronts need to be thinned out a bit.

I was working on fitting the adapter to the right rear and ended up having to thin the rear adapters down so much that the bolt head protruded above the adapter face. This means I had to carefully skim a little bit of the top of the head off of each rear wheel bolt. I didn't really want to do this but I figured there are five 9/16 bolts on each side of the rear of an 1800lb car so it shouldn't really matter, especially with the concave heads that these bolts have. When I test fitted things to the left rear of the car there was plenty of room and I wouldn't have had to thin the adapter out as much (meaning no need to skim the wheel bolt heads). Either my axle is slightly off-center or my right rear fender is sitting a little bit inboard. Raising and lowering the rear of the car doesn't cause the axle to shift side-to-side so I'm not too concerned about it rubbing over bumps.

Because of the considerations I ran into with the thickness of the adapters it would be nice if I could fit them to some other cars before I had more made. This way I'd be able to figure out if bolt heads really need to be skimmed down (on a 96) or if they'd even fit on a Sonett. Another thing I'm not sure about: longnose and bullnose rear fenders are different. I don't know if there's a width difference or if it's just because of the gas tank filler placement.
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gmreider
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Re: So I bought a bullnose stroker

Postby gmreider » Fri Feb 06, 2015 6:24 pm

Hi Geoff. Look at a place called Bolt Depot. They have 9/16-12 cap screws and allen headed cap screws. There must be others.
When you are satisfied with the design, let me know.

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Crazyswede
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Re: So I bought a bullnose stroker

Postby Crazyswede » Sat Feb 07, 2015 11:15 am

Perhaps you could use threaded rod too.
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Geoff
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Re: So I bought a bullnose stroker

Postby Geoff » Mon Feb 09, 2015 12:52 pm

Thanks Gary, I looked at Bolt Depot but no 9/16-12 flat head socket cap screws.
Image
The flat heads are necessary for keeping the adapter from rotating and centered (like wheel nuts/bolts with their 60° taper) so a standard cap screw or socket head cap screw shouldn't be used.
The tight tolerances of a shoulder bolt could be used similar to flanged lug nuts (like on Incas, 99/900 Soccerballs, etc.) but no 9/16-12 available...

I thought about using a stud (9/16-12 to some other size) but all the studs are too long so they'd have to be cut. Cutting down and dressing up the threads on 20 studs per car seemed like a pain. Plus it would add about another $100 in raw material cost (not including labor time to cut all the studs).

Threaded rod won't work because nobody makes a 9/16-12 lug nut.

I think the adapters could be made to work where the factory wheel bolts are used and the heads don't need to get ground down but I'd need to test fit on a few more cars to be sure.

Here's my right rear adapter mounted on the car.
Rear Adapter.jpg
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iceman_ca
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Re: So I bought a bullnose stroker

Postby iceman_ca » Wed May 27, 2015 10:23 am

anymore work been done on the adadpters. I really want a set

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Geoff
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Re: So I bought a bullnose stroker

Postby Geoff » Wed May 27, 2015 11:50 am

Not yet... I was supposed to get together with a friend who has a few Vintage SAABs back in April. I was going to check the adapters against his cars but those plans ended up getting cancelled. Another project has taken up all of my spare time for the past month. I'm hoping to get back to the 96 in a few weeks.
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iceman_ca
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Re: So I bought a bullnose stroker

Postby iceman_ca » Wed May 27, 2015 2:54 pm

I bought a 1968 95 and want to update the wheels to something more current. I have alot of work to do on it, but figured I would gather the parts as available. The Car is RHD so it is a bit novel over here, espically in Canada. The 95 and 96 where not imported here

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Geoff
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Re: So I bought a bullnose stroker

Postby Geoff » Thu May 28, 2015 11:57 am

Well, that car must be pretty rare in Canada! The previous owner of my '64 had a RHD 96 at one point...

I'll post some updates to the wheel adapters when I get to working on that car again.
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iceman_ca
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Re: So I bought a bullnose stroker

Postby iceman_ca » Fri May 29, 2015 7:57 am

Thanks I will check in regularly to see if there is any progress

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Re: So I bought a bullnose stroker

Postby Crazyswede » Fri May 29, 2015 1:42 pm

iceman_ca wrote:Thanks I will check in regularly to see if there is any progress


Dont check too regularly and any progress will seem more impressive :lol:
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Re: So I bought a bullnose stroker

Postby iceman_ca » Wed Jun 03, 2015 12:22 pm

lol good call


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