Check out Phil's Nuts
 

Hi All,

Phil and I have been looking at alternatives to the traditional wheel spiners for pin drive wheels. This is a concern for Classic Revival cars equiped with pin drives since the shallow dish on the wheels puts the spinner out in the breeze. While in my opinion this looks cool we were both a bit worried how the authorities will view the Ben Hurr style wheels.

http://www.clubcobra.com/photopost/d...wheel2-med.jpg

The solution is a set of Hex Nuts that Phil managed to source through Finish line in the US. These are a neat tidy looking setup without the thrashing wings of the spinner.
http://www.clubcobra.com/photopost/d...9wheel_nut.JPG

The next challenge was how do you get them on and off? The nuts measure 70mm accross the flats and that's a pretty big socket. There are comercially available 70mm sockets but they are expensive. They are also 3/4" or 1" drive so you also need to buy a bar or torque wrench to fit the socket. The other issue is that the sockets are steel and they will mark the surface of the alloy hex nut.

I had some 6061 billet alloy in the right size so I machined up a socket to fit. This was a bit of a challenge since I'd never machined an internal hex before. I looked at the design of some good quality sockets and made a 6 point flat drive socket. This means it applies the pressure to the flats of the nut rather than the corners so there is less chance of marking or rounding the nut. The 6061 aluminium socket while strong is still softer than the anodised surface of the hex nut. So far it desn't leave any marks on the surface of the nut.

http://www.clubcobra.com/photopost/d...1409socket.JPG

driving the socket turned out to be pretty easy. I made up a bar to run through the side of the socket. This had an added advantage since it keeps the point of leverage close to the nut so there is less chance of it skewing sideways and marking the nut. The bar is about 5' long but I'll make a shorter 2 piece one so it can be carried in the boot.

You can put plenty of torque on the nut and I believe they normally run at about 450 foot/pound. To do that reasonably accurately just weigh yourself on some scales and then work out how far from the pivot you need to apply all your weight to achieve the right torque. Mark the bar and then stand on that point when tightening it.

http://www.clubcobra.com/photopost/d...09shifter1.JPG

That's one more distraction out of the way, now I better get stuck back into the wiring and other stuff.

Cheers

Mike... I dunno what the dark side would do wiffout ya ;)

Good stuff mate :p

Mike,

Excellent work (as always). That should get rid of the protrusion issue at rego/rerego time.

Thanks again for the top job.


Phil
:D :D :D

Mike,
Time to open that cobra shop of yours;)

This months specials:

Gear shifter mods
Side pipes
Hex socket and tensioner (comes with instructions)
11" wheel suspension mods
Hydratrack Diff conversion
Cross-drilled vented front discs
Fuel rail mods
Roll bars
Custom serge tank

In Development:
8TB's
Completely new cobra design by Aussie Mike

:D

I'm amazed by your tinkering abilities Mike! Great Stuff! :)

Hey Al, One thing you missed in Mike's to do list :JEKYLHYDE

Telescopic handle for large nut remover. :D

Mind you, I've no doubt that when he does invent the above gadget, it will be dual purpose. Like it will remove wheel nuts, will also serve the jack for the car, will form part of the roll cage so it stores unobtrusively, and finally..

Will serve as a balance bar for when he has to lifts that engine out . :LOL: :LOL: :LOL:

Cheers

No problem Phil, it was fun working out how to machine up the hex. Thanks for the loan of the nuts to get me through rego.

Telescopic... Hmm that might work. 26mm medium black pipe slides neatly inside 32mm medium black pipe. 3.2mm wall thickness would still be plenty strong enough and a bit lighter than what the 26mm heavy black pipe I'm using.

Mrs Pneal is pretty handy with a sewing machine so I bet she could put together a vinyl pouch to store the whole thing neatly in the boot.

Cheers

Come on Mike,

Go the whole hog and get those spinners extendable - like James Bond's DRB 5 (Sorry DB) car.

And while your at it - how about some machine guns popping out of the side vents:D :D :D

Very nice - I take my hat off to you;)

Don't know about the machine guns and the tyre shredders but I think I'll be able to work out right foot activated smoke screen. :p

Cheers

Yeah definatly the first shot of your Cobra that would be an ADR breach and a red sticker job.

I had some problems with bolted joints in my old 4WD Patrol project and two books that helped me alot were:

High Perfomance Hardware
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg...=UTF8&v=glance

Carroll Smith's Nuts, Bolts and Fasteners and Plumbing Handbook

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg...glance&s=books

The new ones look nice.

I guess I should get my hands on a colour book of ACs so I can see what they looked like and what the differences between the models were. You blokes got any ideas?

Now this Thread will get some hits
 

Aussie Mike

Now I bet this 'Thread" gets more hits than Lionel Rose


Check out phil's nuts

Bernie

Bathrone: One book that may interest you is "Original AC Ace & Cobra" by Rinsey Mills, photography by Mick Walsh with John Simpson and Ned Scudder, edited by Mark Hughes, published in 1990 by MBI Publishing Company in Wisconsin, USA. Lots of informative stuff from the beautiful '54 AC Ace right up to the 427 Cobra. Great photography and a lot of it on the AC cars. :D Rich

Bathrone
For a few book sugestions check out thread on page 2 "Authentic Cobra Bullet List"