Bola B7

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Discussion

eff eff

754 posts

203 months

Wednesday 17th May 2017
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Daz maybe you could counterbore the small holes to take a standard hex nut

mk1fan

10,507 posts

224 months

Thursday 18th May 2017
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RobXjcoupe said:
As far as I'm aware, the 5 stud conversions used Tuscan hubs as per all the last built tvr five stud cars. I've never done the conversion myself as the original tvr spiders are too wide for the front. Only one tyre size is suitable too so never felt the need for the conversion and put the money into the image wheels instead.
When you say machining wasn't good, in what respect? The tolerance is on the spline, bearing and wheel holding centre bore. The surface finish of the hub face isn't critical as long as it's running true and square to the bearing journal diameters. The original Ford hubs are just cast iron lol
By 'not good' I mean the shaft was slightly oversized so wouldn't fit inside the bearings. Tolerances were woeful.

stevesprint

1,114 posts

178 months

Thursday 18th May 2017
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Toolbox200
Firstly, Huge thanks for your pictures unveiling to the world the new Bola 17s with 4 studs and actually fitted to fitted to a TVR, very very helpful and appreciated.

Jhonno said:
You have.. They are 5x114, Ford hubs are something else.
Originally I thought they were 5 x 4.5 inches however 5x114 does seem to work.


mk1fan
I always assumed the narrow open nuts are call tuner nuts because they are often found on Japanese tuned cars like MX5s. All the kids love tuner nuts and even the after market wheels on my sons classic mini has tuner nuts, therefore get tuner nuts if you want to get down with the kids.

RobXjcoupe said:
As far as I'm aware, the 5 stud conversions used Tuscan hubs as per all the last built tvr five stud cars. I've never done the conversion myself as the original tvr spiders are too wide for the front.
mk1fan said:
The pcd on the 5-stud is 112mm so you need a set of hubs with this bolt arrangement and matching spline fitting for the stub axle.

One conversion method was to take the existing hubs, remove the bolts and re-dirll. Not sure if this involves any fill work too.

Another method is to use Ford hubs with 114mm pcd (i may have got the pcds mixed around) and use concentric nuts to hold the wheel on.

If you have two sets of hubs then swapping them over is reasonably involved but not complicated.
My 5 studs hubs are an identical copy of the factory 5 stud conversion which uses the original Ford Sierra hubs re-drilled. No filling, but does have an additional inboard ring that the studs are pressed into and an outer alloy finishing disc.

You can see them in these pictures



Plus, here’s TVR’s original 5 stud conversion instructions with a few more pictures.
http://www.stevesprint.com/TVR-Griffith-Docs/griff...

According to this thread https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?t=12... the later T car’s 5 stud hubs are from Jeeps and I doubt will fit the Sierra driveshafts & bearing carries otherwise Sportmotive wouldn’t offer exchanged 5 stud hubs for Spiders. I suspect Ian re-drills the Sierra hubs like the factory use to but please correct me if I’m wrong.

mk1fan said:
Looks great - to me.
Now just need a 16-inch version with 0 offset laugh
Agreed.
I run 16” TVR spiders all round, the 225/45/16s on the front have proved perfect and there’s plenty of tyre choice. My issue is the rears 245/45/16 and hence my interest in 17 inch spiders. Unfortunately The Bola 17s Spiders having tuner nuts instead of the OEM 12x1.5 T60 (60 degress) closed nuts sadly spoils my plan to run TVR OEM 16s on the front with Bola 17s on the rear. Arrr ha, maybe the Bola 17” 5 studs would use standard closed nuts?

RobXjcoupe

3,151 posts

90 months

Thursday 18th May 2017
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Those converted hubs look very well done. The additional ring behind the standard hub is there because the standard Ford hubs have raised boss areas/extra material around the pressed in studs for strength. The fella has machined off those raised areas to seat that new 5 stud ring, then re-drilled the new pcd. The ring on the front is to hide the old 4 stud holes.
Neat and nicely finished but you can't reverse back to the original 4 stud hub, unless you make another ring to mount behind the hub as the new 5 stud conversion but with 4 studs. I suppose if doing the job again thats what I'd ask for if you wanted standard fit wheels back again in the future? For the purist perhaps? Not me wink

Toolbox200

131 posts

124 months

Thursday 18th May 2017
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If only Bola had done a bit of market research first!!

The 17" version is produced undrilled for either 4 or 5 stud variants which is why they have the straight drillings and tuner nuts.

The holes on the original Bola18" 5 stud versions have the nut appertures formed as part of the casting with a nice lead in to the hole.

I do think it's a shame they didn't get it quite right.

I am happy to run them at the moment and if they start to niggle me I may look for some ideas to improve the look.

Cheers Pete




swisstoni

16,850 posts

278 months

Thursday 18th May 2017
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I wonder what the holes are like on the 18" 4-hole ?

SILICONEKID 345HP 12.03

Original Poster:

14,997 posts

230 months

Friday 19th May 2017
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Just had a message back , they can drill larger holes for standard wheel nuts on the 4x108.

phazed 11.83

21,844 posts

203 months

Friday 19th May 2017
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swisstoni said:
A Chim can easily get away with18s all round IMHO.


Out of interest, what size tires are you running?

I assume these are oh 18 inch X 8 inch?

swisstoni

16,850 posts

278 months

Friday 19th May 2017
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225/35 x 18 front
235/40 x 18 rear

All the work of PHer Restless Native when he owned the car.


stevesprint

1,114 posts

178 months

Friday 19th May 2017
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RobXjcoupe said:
Those converted hubs look very well done. The additional ring behind the standard hub is there because the standard Ford hubs have raised boss areas/extra material around the pressed in studs for strength. The fella has machined off those raised areas to seat that new 5 stud ring, then re-drilled the new pcd. The ring on the front is to hide the old 4 stud holes.
Thanks & Correct, the rear rings are bolted to the hubs and hold the studs in the correct locations but not sure about the ‘raised boss areas’.
P.S. Your car transporter picture is brilliant !!!

RobXjcoupe said:
Neat and nicely finished but you can't reverse back to the original 4 stud hub, unless you make another ring to mount behind the hub as the new 5 stud conversion but with 4 studs. I suppose if doing the job again thats what I'd ask for if you wanted standard fit wheels back again in the future? For the purist perhaps? Not me wink
swisstoni said:
Anyone know if the 5-stud conversion is reasonably easily reversed back to original?
If I was desperate to go to real Spiders, I'd still like the option to return to standard some time.

It's really this question that's making me consider Bola.
To revert back to standard just keep a spare set of standard hubs, there’s always plenty available on ebay.


Toolbox200 said:
The 17" version is produced undrilled for either 4 or 5 stud variants which is why they have the straight drillings and tuner nuts.

The holes on the original Bola18" 5 stud versions have the nut appertures formed as part of the casting with a nice lead in to the hole.
eff eff said:
Daz maybe you could counterbore the small holes to take a standard hex nut
Eff Eff, Great minds think alike and yes very doable including ‘a nice lead into the hole’.

SILICONEKID 345HP 12.03 said:
Just had a message back , they can drill larger holes for standard wheel nuts on the 4x108.
Hopefully that means they can also drill the 17" 5 x 114 for standard nuts.

I'm still waiting to hear if they have cast 17 x 8.5 because that size is not listed on any websites.

Toolbox,
Would you mind taking a picture of the spiders from above so we can see how deep the curves are on the spokes,Thanks.

Toolbox200

131 posts

124 months

Friday 19th May 2017
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Photo, no problem although am away so won't be till after the weekend. The 7.5" wheel spoke curves are not as pronounced as the wider 18" genuine spider but will confirm with some photos when back.

Interested about availability of 8.5" x17 as they weren't offered when I enquired.


Toolbox200

131 posts

124 months

Saturday 20th May 2017
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Steve, not sure if this helps, had this image on my phone, presumably the 8.5" version if it exists would have an extra 1/2" of extra curve. I think the ET range you can choose is based on how much they machine from the wheel inside hub so wouldn't make any difference.

Any idea what the bore of the stud hole needs to be to accept standard nuts?

SILICONEKID 345HP 12.03

Original Poster:

14,997 posts

230 months

Saturday 20th May 2017
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Hi, We can do full size 29mm hole Regards J..

Thats what they drill them to

What size tyes are you using for the front?

215 40 17 have a very small wall and 215 45 17 catch on my car .

Anyone tried 205 45 17 ?


SILICONEKID 345HP 12.03

Original Poster:

14,997 posts

230 months

Saturday 20th May 2017
quotequote all
SILICONEKID 345HP 12.03 said:
Hi, We can do full size 29mm hole Regards J..

Thats what they drill them to

What size tyes are you using for the front?

215 40 17 have a very small wall and 215 45 17 catch on my car .

Anyone tried 205 45 17 ?

Toolbox200

131 posts

124 months

Saturday 20th May 2017
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Daz, pretty sure I am using 205/45/17, will check when back home on Monday.

Tonymg

768 posts

196 months

Sunday 21st May 2017
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any one running 17s on a Tuscan ? any photos if you are I was out today and the roads around Oxford so so Bad

Tony...

stevesprint

1,114 posts

178 months

Sunday 21st May 2017
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SILICONEKID345HP said:
,They already do 7.5 and 8.5 in 17s and will do 18s in a batch of 10.
Anyone interested ?

quite happy to do a batch if there was a group buy
we are manufacturing constantly on this wheel so no issue, if we got 10 sets you can choose spec and colour

we already have 7.5x17 and 8.5x17 in 4 hole if required

Regards
Juli
I email Bola Wheels asking what widths is the 17" B7 available in and received the following reply:

Good afternoon and thank you for your email, the B7 is available in 7.5x17 with an ET range of ET30 to ET45,

The holes on this size of wheel would be with the Tuner style but we are looking into methods of supply this model possibly with the full size holes for the future also.

If I can be of any further help please let me know

Gavin Muir
Bola Wheels
phone: +44 1888 560505
site: www.bolawheels.co.uk
email: sales@bolawheels.co.uk

Toolbox200 said:


Steve, not sure if this helps, had this image on my phone, presumably the 8.5" version if it exists would have an extra 1/2" of extra curve. I think the ET range you can choose is based on how much they machine from the wheel inside hub so wouldn't make any difference.

Any idea what the bore of the stud hole needs to be to accept standard nuts?
Thanks, the picture is really helpful. I can see the spokes are slight less curved than the TVR 16" spides spokes plus the 17" Bola has a slight & small step on the outer rim unlike the TVR 16" Spider. I'm not sure they are similar enough to run them together with TVR 16" spiders and we'll have to wait and see if they eventually manufacture a 17" x 8.5 spider.

The socket I use on the standard nuts is 28mm dia and when on a nut the bore hole looks between 29 and 30mm.

SILICONEKID 345HP 12.03

Original Poster:

14,997 posts

230 months

Monday 22nd May 2017
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premie_kvn3798rgz@members.ebay.co.uk

The 8.5 rear 17 " are comming in four weeks .

Premier wheels are cery helpfull.

Toolbox200

131 posts

124 months

Monday 22nd May 2017
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Toolbox200 said:
Daz, pretty sure I am using 205/45/17, will check when back home on Monday.
Daz, nope....215/45/17 Have not had any problems catching on et40.

Pete

Toolbox200

131 posts

124 months

Tuesday 23rd May 2017
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Toolbox200 said:
Daz, pretty sure I am using 205/45/17, will check when back home on Monday.
Daz, nope....215/45/17 Have not had any problems catching on et40.

Pete