1963 R-2 Gran Turismo Hawk

[dualghia]

I am looking for a 52 spoke ( or less ) wire wheel to fit my car. I would like to have a Studebaker insignia on the hub cap part of the wheel. My car has disc/drum brakes. Any thoughts/suggestions would be appreciated. I am a 24 year member of SDC. Thanks, Phil

[JDP]

Buy aftermarket wire wheels for Ford or Mopar, put the Studebaker wheel decals from Studebaker International on them. 4 1/2 inch bolt circle, 15/7 inch.

Studebaker On The Net http://stude.com
64 R2 4 speed Challenger
63 R2 4 speed GT Hawk
63 Daytona Convert.

[sbca96]

quote:Originally posted by JDP
4 1/2 inch bolt circle, 15/7 inch.

On a Hawk, depending on the offset of the rim, 15 x 6 to be safe. I
had a 14 x 7 on my 60 Hawk, I had to "negotiate" with the fender lip
to get the tire/rim to not rub on corners. Keep in mind that the
rear springs allow a decent amount of movement, and even MORE on the
later LONGER leaf Hawks! If you get the 'right' offset, you can go
to a 8 or 9 wide possibly. You will be looking for a 60's vintage.

Tom

1963 Studebaker Avanti, 102,000, custom made brake brackets to mount 1998 Mustang GT 4 wheel disc brakes (soon to get 13" Cobra front brakes, 2003 Mustang Cobra 17" wheels, GM altenator, will be getting : 97 Camaro Z28 tan leather seats, 97 Camaro Z28 T-56 6-speed trans, Ported 'R3' style Avanti heads with stainless full flow valves, 'R3' 276 duration cam w/chrysler solid lifters, shortened push rods, aluminum cam gear, Edelbrock AFB Carb, GM HEI distributor, 8.8mm plug wires, waiting in the garage.

[studegary]

Welcome to the forum, Phil. Do you have a Dual Ghia, as your ID suggests?

We have taken this question/issue off the SDC forum.

[N8N]

15x7 will be fine, with 1/4" to 3/4" offset on a C-K body. More offset (more backspacing) will allow wider tires, but with a full 3/4" offset then you start to get awful close to the tie rod end.

Dayton can probably make you a wheel to your specs, if money is no object.

nate

--
55 Commander Starlight
62 Daytona hardtop

http://home.comcast.net/~njnagel

[chevpartsman]

quote:Originally posted by dualghia

I am looking for a 52 spoke ( or less ) wire wheel to fit my car. I would like to have a Studebaker insignia on the hub cap part of the wheel. My car has disc/drum brakes. Any thoughts/suggestions would be appreciated. I am a 24 year member of SDC. Thanks, Phil

I HAVE A 1961 HAWK WITH 15 X 6 CHRYSLER WIRE WHEELS ON IT. A LITTLE CLOSE ON THE REAR BUT NO RUB. THEY ARE AVAIL IN REPRO (cadillacworld.net) SEND ME YOUR E-MAIL AND I WILL SEND YOU A PIC OF MY HAWK WITH THESE ON IT
CHEVPARTSMAN@ALLTEL.NET


1961 HAWK..BLACK.. 4bc,4-speed,TT

[sbca96]

quote:Originally posted by N8N

15x7 will be fine, with 1/4" to 3/4" offset on a C-K body. More offset (more backspacing) will allow wider tires, but with a full 3/4" offset then you start to get awful close to the tie rod end.

Nate, the problem is in the rear on a Hawk, the half covered wheel
opening doesnt leave a lot of room for tires w/7" wide rim. Trust
me on this, I ran a 7 inch wide rim, and HAD to modify the fender!
The front cleared fine, but on full lock, the tire would rub the zerk
fitting on the upper control arm pin. A 15 inch rims might help to
solve that problem (I had 14"). I know that the 17" I have on my 63
Avanti eliminated that problem. They are 8 inch wide. You COULD run
the offset rim that I have, and then use 1/2 spacers on the front. I
am not comfortable using 1/2 spacer on a stock diameter wheel stud.
You could use a bolt-on 3/4 spacer on the front, and no spacer rear.
(thats with a 8 inch wide rim w/ 5 inch backspacing).

Tom

[Alan]

True Spoke makes a nice 50 spoke wire that is half the price of other brands. And their cap makes a nice spot for the Stude decal.

[N8N]

Tom, it's all in the offset. I am guessing you were running a zero offset wheel? I have MoPar cop car wheels (3/4" offset) on my '55 coupe, even with 245s in the back there's plenty of room. In the front I actually added a 1/4" spacer to avoid the zerk fitting problem you describe.

I had some Jag wire wheels on my car previously that with their adapters were about 1/4" offset; I could only run 215/70s on those. Looked good, though, if you like wire wheels.

nate

--
55 Commander Starlight
62 Daytona hardtop

http://home.comcast.net/~njnagel

[sbca96]

quote:Originally posted by N8N

Tom, it's all in the offset. I am guessing you were running a zero offset wheel?

You know ... I am not sure. Probably so. I have the rims in the
back yard right now. Offset is definately the key, as the 8" Cobra
wheels would easily work on a Hawk, since the wheel is closer to the
rear leaf, then the fender! I was just expanding on the potential
difficulties that can raise their ugly head if not careful. With the
17" rim, the tire clears the zerk, but because of the backspacing,
the rim will hit the zerk .... and that leads me back to why I made
those Cobra brake brackets ... (rotor is .27 at hub)

Tom

[N8N]

Another thing to keep in mind is scrub radius, which is basically the distance between the kingpin axis and the centerline of the tire's contact patch... if the scrub radius is significant and the tire is outboard of the kingpin axis, the car may feel "darty" and if it's too much the other way it will be very stable but a little dead feeling. I have a Porsche 944 which has a monster scrub radius and you do have to watch when you're driving that the car doesn't pull itself off in some odd direction when you're not looking. So I'd try to keep the wheels in about the same range of offsets as stock, which is about 3/4" to 1" depending on which wheels the car was originally equipped with.

Now with your brake conversion - you're throwing another wrinkle in there, the thickness of the rotor hub (as compared to the original drum center...)

Probably not HUGELY important in the grand scheme of things, but something to think about. I do like the "deep dish" wheel look, but I don't think it will work well on a Studebaker unless you narrow the suspension, even if you work out the fender clearance issues.

nate

--
55 Commander Starlight
62 Daytona hardtop

http://home.comcast.net/~njnagel

[sbca96]

quote:Originally posted by N8N
Now with your brake conversion - you're throwing another wrinkle in there, the thickness of the rotor hub (as compared to the original drum center...)

True, though its not much - .25 inch basically. Stude did a similar
thing with their own conversion to disc, since the earlier cars had
a drum pressed on the outside of the hub, the disc brake cars have
the rotor on the inside of the hub, which means that there is the
thickness of the drum between the two, thats roughly 1/8 inch between
the two factory setups. Thats means my conversion is just a hair
over 1/8 inch more then a stock drum brake car. Dave at Steeltech
had stated that his 12 inch kit moved the wheel out between 1/4 and
1/2 from stock. I was originally going to go with his kit, and even
had supplied him with a dimension to check, but it was Christmas time
and he didnt get back to me, and no money, so I designed my own setup.

Tom

[N8N]

well, if you're only pushing the fronts out... that's not all bad. The fronts (at least on a C-K, on a Lark it's a whole 'nother issue) can come out a little bit and if you hold the rears in the same place, that will actually help you when it comes to picking a set of wheels - can run more offset which means bigger tires in the rear...

nate

--
55 Commander Starlight
62 Daytona hardtop

http://home.comcast.net/~njnagel

[sbca96]

quote:Originally posted by N8N

well, if you're only pushing the fronts out... that's not all bad.

Well .. the same would apply for the rear, the discs are the same
thickness back there too - 1/4. It really all comes down to research,
measuring and a little luck.

There is an issue with Avanti II's hitting the front fender on a bump
at full lock. I am not sure if it can happen on the Stude version,
but I know that many Avanti II's have cracked front fenders. They
added a piece of fiberglas to the opening when they lifted the body
on the frame. I guess they continued the curve, and that brought it
closed to the fender? Since I got the Cobra wheels, it brought the
tire back in, so it isnt an issue.

Tom