convert 520(ford pcd) to 521 pcd?

[Mark Wainwright]

so.. ive just found out, at great expense and effort, that 521 alloys dont fit my 520.. i really want those alloys on my car.. how srraightforward is it to swap the hubs over for stuff from a 521> ?  what bits would need changing?

cheers,

mark.

[rjwooll]

Looks like the hub assemblies and the discs/calipers (front). There is an online parts listing for the Elite/Eclat that shows the differences: http://www.rdent.com/manuals/index.html

And don't throw the old ones away! Someone's bound to want them to do an Eclat Sprint recreation with 13" wheels. Tests at the time said what a fun car it was with the 13" wheels (generally more chuckable).

Do you have pics of the steel wheels on your car? I don't think I've ever seen them.

Richard

Edited November 27, 2016 by rjwooll

[mikeeech]

The steel wheels must be valuable to the right person. My cars running gear came from a sprint. You don't need to change the calipers. Just the discs although you need smaller discs than fitted to the elite originally! 

[Mark Wainwright]

yeah, nothing will get chucked, i intend to keep anything original that I remove. sadly i dont have steels on it (or i might have been tempted to keep them on, theyre pricy to get hold of too) it has cobra, or similar, slot mags, which im not very into..  love the turbine alloys tho.. super cool! 

[Mark Wainwright]

16 hours ago, mikeeech said:

The steel wheels must be valuable to the right person. My cars running gear came from a sprint. You don't need to change the calipers. Just the discs although you need smaller discs than fitted to the elite originally! 

what discs would I need then?  I`m a bit confused..  smaller discs than the original elite?   is that because of my different calipers?   so i`d be looking for a compatible but smaller disc?  

cheers,

 

Mark

[mikeeech]

yes. your calipers will be 2 pot calipers as fitted to the ford granada as i understand it (girling type 16PB) and not the 3 pot ones fitted to the elite. 245mm discs (perhaps thew same as a triumph GT6? - £12 ish) 

[Mark Wainwright]

1 hour ago, mikeeech said:

yes. your calipers will be 2 pot calipers as fitted to the ford granada as i understand it (girling type 16PB) and not the 3 pot ones fitted to the elite. 245mm discs (perhaps thew same as a triumph GT6? - £12 ish) 

I think the discs I already have on are GT6 ones..    standard on the 520 as far as I understand?   

you say you have sprint running gear, but you have lotus alloys on?

 

 

Edited November 28, 2016 by Mark Wainwright

[Mark Wainwright]

just spoke to lotusbits and they said i shouldn`t need to change the discs and calipers (and caliper mount), but its probably advisable, not sure why, possibly a performance thing regarding the bigger wheels? heavier maybe? rotating mass? not sure if the GKN`s are heavier than what i`m taking off. 

but I will need new wheel bearings.

what i`ll probably do is give it a go without changing discs etc (if it works) and see if it behaves any differently, if it does then i`ll change the discs etc at a later date, bigger brakes is never a bad thing after all.

Edited November 28, 2016 by Mark Wainwright

[mikeeech]

5 hours ago, Mark Wainwright said:

I think the discs I already have on are GT6 ones..    standard on the 520 as far as I understand?   

you say you have sprint running gear, but you have lotus alloys on?

 

 

Yes I have lotus alloys on although I don't know how it got to that point. I do have a spare front hub so I should measure that since this may be a remainder from the eclat sprint. I also have x1 lotus caliper! 

[Dunc]

You just change the hubs and bolt the new wheels on with new nuts. It is very easy, you don't need to fit the bigger brakes unless you want to.

The GKN wheels are very light - much lighter than the later speedlines.

NB - it is a shame you dont have the steel wheels as I believe they are Lotus Cortina items (but not 100% certain).

[Mark Wainwright]

2 hours ago, Dunc said:

You just change the hubs and bolt the new wheels on with new nuts. It is very easy, you don't need to fit the bigger brakes unless you want to.

The GKN wheels are very light - much lighter than the later speedlines.

NB - it is a shame you dont have the steel wheels as I believe they are Lotus Cortina items (but not 100% certain).

yeah, I thought they were lotus cortina ones too..     maybe my spare is, i should have a look...   . 

[Mark Wainwright]

are the wheel bearings different for the different hubs? i have triumph dolomite listed on my spreadsheet, is this the same for the 520 hubs as for the the elite/521> hubs   ?   

do we know what each of the hubs are from?    so i can update my cross reference spreadsheet? 

cheers,

Mark

Edited November 29, 2016 by Mark Wainwright

[Dunc]

same bearings, just the hub PCD that differs.

[Dunc]

note, the bearings on our cars are triumph for the fronts only, the rears are much beffier and are sourced from the front of an Austin Maxi.

 

[Elite 4.9]

Quote

so.. ive just found out, at great expense and effort, that 521 alloys don't fit my 520.. i really want those alloys on my car.

Not sure if this will help you but in searching for tires, I was forced to go to a larger 16 inch wheel as there weren't any Z rated tires made for the original 14 inch Lotus wheels.  The new aluminum alloy's were simply redrilled to match my hub so I didn't need to change anything. Bolted right on. 

[Mark Wainwright]

On 02/12/2016 at 20:22, Elite 4.9 said:

Not sure if this will help you but in searching for tires, I was forced to go to a larger 16 inch wheel as there weren't any Z rated tires made for the original 14 inch Lotus wheels.  The new aluminum alloy's were simply redrilled to match my hub so I didn't need to change anything. Bolted right on. 

I put firestone 195/65 H 14  on my lotus wheels, figuring they are wider and better than whatever would have been on the little steel wheels anyway.     looks like the sprint had 185/70 H 13, dunno what the standard 520 had (manual is at home), but what ive put on is an upgrade regardless  

[Dunc]

185 70 HR 13 on the 520.

 

 

[Dunc]

Lotus Cortina steels I believe....