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-   -   ERA FIA 5 pin wheels? (http://www.clubcobra.com/forums/era-speak-bob-putnam/140218-era-fia-5-pin-wheels.html)

Bearwolf 02-12-2018 04:02 PM
ERA FIA 5 pin wheels?
 
My deposit has been in with ERA for a while now and I've been doing a lot of work planning on how to spend my extremely tight budget on my future 289 FIA build and I think I need some help. I really want to run FIA wheels, but I have heard that the ERA FIA Cobras need a little extra machined off of the back of the wheel to have the correct offset. I have also heard that 5 pin FIA wheels might not work on ERA cars as there isn't enough on the back of the wheel to machine off. If getting the car to look correct absolutely requires 6 pin hubs, then I might have to save a little longer and go that route, but I was kind of hoping to save the money by running a 5 pin adapter from Trigo or Vintage for some 15" FIA wheels and then just having a set of 17" bolt on wheels for the track.

Anyway, the main question is, has anyone here put Trigo or Vintage 5 pin FIA wheels on an ERA? How did it turn out? Have any pictures?

I'm really open to any thoughts on this issue, maybe you'll open my eyes to something I'm overlooking.

Thanks for reading.

Grubby 02-12-2018 04:32 PM
I had Vintage 5 pins on an older ERA 427.

Bob at Vintage is very knowledgeable and helpful. He will be able to answer your question with certainty.

Vintage will machine back spacing at no added costs.

John

DanEC 02-13-2018 07:37 PM
Same here as Grubby. Vintage can fix you up with FIA or Halibrand style wheels for your ERA and take care of the backspace machining for 5 pin or 6 pin. I believe Lippy's 427 ERA has 5-pin FIA wheels if I'm not mistaken (and I may be) - but they are FIA and look great. Go to Build Logs and scroll down to Lippy's #797 ERA build log and there should be a photo of them towards the end on page 10.

Bearwolf 02-16-2018 05:48 PM
Very well. I'll give vintage wheels a call. I've seen some nice 5 pin wheels on 427 cars but my main concern is that the FIA has 1" less width to the front and rear track than the 427, but it uses the same suspension, so that will have to be made up for in the backspacing. That's an extra half inch of metal taken off of each wheel over the 427. Thanks for the comments and as always, any further input Is appreciated.

patrickt 02-16-2018 06:26 PM
I have six pins and, while they are a delight to have, only you ever know that you have them. That said, what is today's cost differential between five and six pin? :confused:

Bearwolf 02-16-2018 06:36 PM
On ERA's 289 options page of the site it lists the 6 pin hub system at $3560, no wheels, just the 6 pin hub system.

DanEC 02-16-2018 07:41 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by Bearwolf (Post 1438659)
Very well. I'll give vintage wheels a call. I've seen some nice 5 pin wheels on 427 cars but my main concern is that the FIA has 1" less width to the front and rear track than the 427, but it uses the same suspension, so that will have to be made up for in the backspacing. That's an extra half inch of metal taken off of each wheel over the 427. Thanks for the comments and as always, any further input Is appreciated.
Vintage FIA wheels are 7.5 in and 9.5 in rim width so you wouldn't lose any width over Halibrand style wheels.

Bearwolf 02-16-2018 08:52 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by DanEC (Post 1438666)
Vintage FIA wheels are 7.5 in and 9.5 in rim width so you wouldn't lose any width over Halibrand style wheels.
It's not the width of the FIA wheels that is one inch less, it's the width of the 289 FIA style body of the car that is 1" less. If I'm thinking about it correctly that means that each wheel needs an extra half inch of back spacing, thus an extra half inch of metal taken off of the back of the wheel.

DanEC 02-17-2018 05:44 AM
Quote:
Originally Posted by Bearwolf (Post 1438670)
It's not the width of the FIA wheels that is one inch less, it's the width of the 289 FIA style body of the car that is 1" less. If I'm thinking about it correctly that means that each wheel needs an extra half inch of back spacing, thus an extra half inch of metal taken off of the back of the wheel.
OK - Bob at Vintage should be able to address that. But considering how the wheels/tires of the 427 SC cars still have to tuck inside the wheel openings (just barely) as compares to the open wheel well flares of the FIA to allow tire clearance, I'm not sure you will need that much additional backspace or the tires might fall well short of the edge of the fender flares. But I will be very surprised if Bob/vintage hasn't already dealt with this on ERAs several times over.

Karl Bebout 02-17-2018 08:29 AM
I have Vintage 5 pin on my ERA 289FIA. I run 10x26x15 front and 12x26x15 rear, MT tires, and they are well tucked. You will be hard pressed to find anyone that is better to deal with than Bob Lacey @ Vintage. He gives excellent customer service!

Bearwolf 02-17-2018 03:14 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by Karl Bebout (Post 1438695)
I have Vintage 5 pin on my ERA 289FIA. I run 10x26x15 front and 12x26x15 rear, MT tires, and they are well tucked. You will be hard pressed to find anyone that is better to deal with than Bob Lacey @ Vintage. He gives excellent customer service!
Awesome. Do you by any chance have any pictures I could check out? It would save me a lot of experimenting with tire sizes if your car has the look I'm going for.

Karl Bebout 02-18-2018 07:18 PM
Bearwolf, I sent you an eMail through CC's list. I'll also send a PM.


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