Thanks for clearing this up. Do the welded rims also have a 1" rib?
Dave
cfchrist wrote:
> ok you have proded me into this here. there are 2 types of early riveted
> rims with the vent holes in them. yup 2 types. it apears that in 58
> austin healey was enjoying structural failure with their first design rims
> breaking around the wheel lug holes. they can be identified by the length
> of the raised reinforcement ribs between the lug holes. the later rims
> while still riveted had longer reinforcement ribs to deter the flexing on
> corners wich was found to be causing the failures. then(dont know year/
> month) the welded rims came about thanks to the wonderfull world of mass
> production. the process was also practiced chevrolet in 1955. riveted rims
> were too fragile for the sedans(reguardless of model or # of doors) . in
> early '55 chevy droped the riveted rims on all models except for corvette.
> corvette used riveted rims through '57. they solved the surplus rim
> situation by delegating them to their light weight sports car wich exerted
> less stress during cornering. with little to no failure recorded. austin
> healey was not alone in these teething problems. i am positive other
> manufacturers experienced this but i am not up on the history of evrything
> under the sun.
>
> appx. measurements:
> early riveted rim reinf. rib between lug holes 1/2"
> late riveted rim reinf. rib between lug holes 1"
> 2 of each of these rims are on a customer's 1957 jabro mk1 sitting in my
> shop.
>
> chuck.
> btw, i also have a set of the old cheater rims from the early 60's corvair
> rims reversed with sprite centers, with redrilled valve stem holes(so they
> are on the outside again).corvairs were 13"x5" back then. and just for
> giggles corvair was a 1 year rim in first year of production due to it being
> riveted also. second year of production saw the advent of welded rims for
> corvair..................C.
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