Dick, if the spokes aren't lose or broken I wouldn't and splines are good I
wouldn't consider it "dangerous". Individual spokes are more likely to
break or loosen than the whole wheel to just let go at some point, although
I suppose it could happen.
48 spoke wheels were marginal for the cars (if driven hard) when new, if you
have modern radials on the car they will put much more strain on the wheels
than the original bias plys when driven hard.
When I got my car it had old 48 spoke wheels on it with bad splines and very
loose spokes. Nevertheless I drove it that way (hard sometimes) for a few
moths without major failure, in retrospect I wouldn't recommend it but it
was my first big Healey and I had to explore the limits and handling
dynamics!
48 spokes in good shape are fine if you just like to tool around in the 4
cylinder cars which are a little lighter. My sixty spokes on my BN1 have
held together for about five years now while autocrossing a couple of times
a year, I think they are a good compromise on the early cars between
durability and appearence.
Greg Lemon
54 Bn1
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