[JimmyHunt]

I was talking with Tom Coker (who just won best of show at Charlotte)about his awesome car and he asked if I had ordered the pin drive option which allowed him to use deeper dish wheels. Could someone explain what this option is?

 

[ORANGE CRUSH]

Well I'm still at the very early stage of my build and I'm no expert but here goes. I ordered the pin drive option on my car which came in on Easter Sunday. The reasoned for that option is to get the deep dish look on the wheels, assuming your not going with rims such as the Cobra R's and are thinking of something more period correct like Halibrand or Torque Thrust wheels. The deep dish look is accomplished when the pin drive option is added because the control arms are aprox 2 5/8 shorter in the rear and about 7/8 shorter up front. This allows you to decrease the back spacing of the center section of the rim, giving you a real nice deep dish (center of the rim where it bolts to the hub sets farther back )
Hope this helps you.
Mike

 

[forrest1]

Mike is correct. The oroginal intended use of the shorter "pin-drive" arms is to allow use of Trigo pin-drive knockoff wheel adapters. The Trigo adapters are plates that bolt to the hub, and provide a centarl pillar for the knockoff wingnut, and a set of 5 (or 6?) pins that engage the back of the wheel for transferring torque from the hub to wheel. You then have knockoff wheels, with all the attendant advantages and disadvantages. The adapter plates are 7/8" thick, I believe, and would make the wheels stick out too far if the control arms were not shortened.

Forrest

 

[JimmyHunt]

Forrest1 and Orange Crush - Thanks for the info.
I spoke with Joe at FFR today and he basically confirmed your comments. I got the brackets for using the SN95 spindals up front. Joe said as long as I used a standard type wheel I could still use those brackets but if I used the pin drive wheels I would need to swap for a new bracket. My only comment today would be that FFR does not really let you know what options are available. If it was not for the forum I'd be clueless.

Thanks again!!

 

[Tony Chiles]

For the car that I just finished , I did pin drive offset for the rear only. You really don't want the offset in the front,it just makes the steering even harder because of the scrub radius.I also used the 15" torque thrust 2s- 10s on the rear and 8s on the front.

 

[Gatorac]

Alright Tony, let's see some pics.

 

[Hula Master]

And now for the rest of the story.

Pin drives are cool. After all, that's what the originals had. Drawback is...tire availability. If you go with 15" pin drives you've got about 3 tires to choose from and none of them are particularly good when compared to the choices that you have in 16, 17, and 18's. If you're just a cruiser, and tires (grip) is not a big issue, go 15's. A big block and big HP with 15" wheels and Goodrich T/A's seem like a contradiction to me, IMHO.

I think I read or heard that someone is making 17" rims for the pin drive setup. Now THAT would be cool. TONS of GOOD tire choices and pin drive. Doesn't get much better.

 

[Gatorac]

Here's a pic of Tony's car with the pin drive rear suspension. The ability to use deep dish wheels is a great feature.

 

[JimmyHunt]

Hula Master - Compomotive sells 17" HB Pin Drive Wheels. They are $1,900 base price + $1,000 for pin drive option = $2,900 with spinners
I talked to Belinda recently at 800-621-8408
If I can come up with the bucks that's the way I'd like to go. web link www.usacomp.com/hbpd.htm
Jimmy

Originally posted by Hula Master:
And now for the rest of the story.

Pin drives are cool. After all, that's what the originals had. Drawback is...tire availability. If you go with 15" pin drives you've got about 3 tires to choose from and none of them are particularly good when compared to the choices that you have in 16, 17, and 18's. If you're just a cruiser, and tires (grip) is not a big issue, go 15's. A big block and big HP with 15" wheels and Goodrich T/A's seem like a contradiction to me, IMHO.

I think I read or heard that someone is making 17" rims for the pin drive setup. Now THAT would be cool. TONS of GOOD tire choices and pin drive. Doesn't get much better.