Seatra's ERA 289FIA in production

[Grubby]

I was surprised by the no side curtains. Jack was nice enough to let me measure and get a lot of pictures from a pair he had. It was a lot of work to make them, but they look exactly like ERA supplied them.

Same with the floor mats. I found a supplier for the ERA patch and ordered some mats and put it all together.

The pictures I have from 755 were valuable in the build of 838. I will be hesitant to sell 838 as it will be tough to replace.

The ERA rear is pure sex appeal.

John

[jasond29]

I think there may be an oportunity for one of us owners to design a bolt irs for the era's using a 9" center section and cc axles with outboard brakes. I have tossed around the idea of working with DSS for a package deal, axles and center section.

[patrickt]

That would be nice, but a chore. The ERA outboard rear is a joy to work on. It's surprisingly simple, elegant and adjustable.

[Grubby]

93-96 XJS uses an outboard braked version of the rears used in ERAs. You can see Bob’s inspiration for the ERA rear hub design in them.

That might be an option. There is currently a hub carrier on EBay.

John

[seatra]

Well I’m all in if a good option becomes available

[PDUB]

Originally Posted by Grubby

93-96 XJS uses an outboard braked version of the rears used in ERAs. You can see Bob’s inspiration for the ERA rear hub design in them.

That might be an option. There is currently a hub carrier on EBay.

John

I think the latter couple of years, 95-96, used vented rotors, as well... I am using the 95 version on my car.

[seatra]

Progress on 2164 has been slow but steady. I took the body prep and paint first route and most of my time has been spent sanding then filling, shaping, then primer and sanding, then another primer application and sanding, then sanding, and more sanding... I'm almost ready for the color coat now. While taking a break from sanding I saw a thread about Trigo FIA wheel fitment. I have 6-pin drive hubs and Trigo FIAs. The rear axle is all set and ready for installation. The front hubs are mated to the rotors and waiting for install after paint. I took one of the front rotor/hub assemblies and mounted it on a front wheel. I installed the wing nut hand tight and was only able to engage about half the treads of the nut. The flange portion of the hub sets firmly against the wheel mounting face. It appears that the threaded portion of the front hub is too short or the wheel center section is too wide. Curious about the rear wheel fitment, I mounted a rear wheel to the rear axle hub and engaged nearly all the wingnut threads. Although they are shaped differently, I placed the front hub next to the rear hub and they looked similar in thread size and placement. This led me to take a closer look at wheel differences. I took the rear wheel and mounted it on the front hub assembly. Fitment was similar to the rear axle hub with nearly all wingnut threads engaged. Clearly, the front wheel mounting surface to the outer face is wider than the same area on the rear wheel. My crude measurements confirm that the front wheel is approximately 5/16 inches wider. I triple-checked the fitment of the front 6-pin hub on both front and rear wheels and the mounting flanges are snugged up together. The photo on the left side is the rear wheel on the front hub and the photo on the right side is the front wheel on the front hub. Maybe I'm missing something but I can't believe I am the first to have this issue. What's the solution? I don't think I want to be running front wheels with only half the wing nut threads engaged...

[patrickt]

Something's wrong. I have the six pin drive hubs and have threads showing on all four wheels with the spinners tight. There are pics in my gallery but if you don't clearly have threads sticking out after tightening down the spinners then something is definitely wrong.

[jasond29]

The front wheels need to be machined down the 5/16". I had the same issue. I believe this is usually done by trigo for era cars but my guess is this got missed. I know there was a backlog for wheels getting out the door so i bet this is why. I had access to a mill and machined them myself. Its a pretty simple process, any local machine shop should be able to do it.

[seatra]

That's what I thought, at least I know I'm not going crazy

[seatra]

Jason,
Appreciate the confirmation on the issue. I think I have the same hub/rotor and brake setup as you. Did you take off exactly .312" from the wheel mounting face ? It looks like there is plenty of hole depth left for the pins and I assume your big break calipers fit fine inside the wheel hoop.

[jasond29]

Yes, the pin holes are deep enough and the big brakes clear. I cant remember how much i took off. I think the backspacing is listed in the manual to get the exact amount to remove. I want to say i rounded up and took 0.4 off.

[6TNCRZY]

If the wheels look correct in the body, DO NOT CUT THE WHEELS FOR MORE BACKSPACE. I had the same issue with 2158. The proper way to fix the issue is to have spinners with the bevel cut deeper. I contacted Vintage wheels and he knew exactly what I needed, evidently the FIA wheels have a thicker hub when machined to the same backspace as the 427 Hillabrands. He sold me 2 matching aluminum spinners machined to fix the issue.

[6TNCRZY]

Here is a pic of what you need.

[seatra]

Originally Posted by 6TNCRZY

If the wheels look correct in the body, DO NOT CUT THE WHEELS FOR MORE BACKSPACE. I had the same issue with 2158. The proper way to fix the issue is to have spinners with the bevel cut deeper. I contacted Vintage wheels and he knew exactly what I needed, evidently the FIA wheels have a thicker hub when machined to the same backspace as the 427 Hillabrands. He sold me 2 matching aluminum spinners machined to fix the issue.

My suspension is not installed yet so I don’t know how the wheel fits in the body yet. When talking with Trigo, he mentioned a different spinner bevel too. He said some owners might not like it due to spinner wing proximity to wheel. My rough measurements put my current spinner sitting up in the wheel bevel about .25 inches above the bottom of the wheel bevel area. If the spinner bevel is changed to capture this room on the wheel, then that leaves about .15 inches of spinner threads still exposed. I’m assuming the modified spinner has the same 1.2 inches of thread. I’m surely up for a test fit of a modified spinner

[6TNCRZY]

The car looks better with the modified spinners too, as the spinner does not stick out so far from the rim. I only put them on the front, the original spinners on the deeper rear wheels make removal easier.

[King- cobra]

I have tried to PM you, Call me at 770-851-3585 as I had the same issue and resolved it without machining the Knock off.
Steve

[seatra]

Appreciate all the input on this. While it is clear that the Trigo FIA front wheel center section width is causing the fitment issue on the ERA hub, I'm going to try the alternate Trigo spinner that they developed for the 427 5 PIN. The bevel on this spinner will definitely capture more of the hub threads and hopefully solve the issue. If not, then its off to the machine shop. Should know by Friday...

[seatra]

It's been a long slow process but the car is nearly ready for paint. I wet-sanded the body, hood, trunk, and doors to 400 last weekend. Thanks to the guide coat, I found a few pinholes that needed attention. I am ready now for a thorough deep clean. Got my paint lined up. I'm using the PPG Deltron line. I'm going with sealer, base, then clear. Color is Azzurro Metallic 505C. Now if I could just get that photo rotated...