Redrilling Hubs?

[MR22ZZ]

OK, so I've read on another forum that someone was intending on redrilling his hubs from 4x114.3 to 5x114.3 in order to be able to attempt to fit R32 GTR rims.

I don't know about you guys, but it sounded like complete dodginess to me, I've never heard of it, but he said that other drivers of this particular front wheel driven vehicle (not a Toyota) have performed the same modification to fit big brake kits.

Like I said, I've never heard of hubs being drilled. I've seen brake discs re drilled and rims rims redrilled (again I think that's a dodgy practice too), just looking for other people's opinions and to see if anyone has heard or seen of it before?

[YLD-16L]

All the hubs I have seen are always thicker where the studs are located and then have less material in the space between the stud or even no material so changing the pattern on such hubs whilst "doable" would certainly not be good.

I'm sure people do it but I doubt it'd pass any sort of engineers inspection.

[MR22ZZ]

The concern I have most is not so much the redrilling, as the redrilling from 4 stud to 5 stud as that leaves very little meat between the vacated hole and the new one. Add to that the temperatures that hubs reach when being pushed hard through friction and heat from the brakes and I can only see one out come from this.

converting between to different 4 stud PCDs I can understand more as there is more meat between the holes but from 4 stud to 5 stud is just uber dodgy.

[YLD-16L]

There is a level of dodginess to it no matter what path they take. New hubs machined from scratch would be the way to go if nothing else can be converted to fit from a donor car.

[oldcorollas]

only one hole is a bit dodgy

what temps do you think the hubs get up to?
they will melt at what? 1300-1600deg, and should hold strength until 500 or 600 maybe (as a guess) surely bearing failure would occur when grease is baked out at 200-300..

if you have alloy calipers, they will melt around 600-700, and lose strength at a much lower temp.

it's a bit dodgy, but... could be worse

got a pic of said hubs?

[big_zop]

While im sure not many would know the answer to this, but i wonder what the Nissan did with the non-turbo (4 stud) vs turbo (5 stud) skylines - are there any relevant comparisons to be made from toyota? Im sure they would be different castings, otherwise they wouldnt have saved money from the 4 stud, and i assume smaller bearing/driveshaft package.

Besides, most of the times i have seen something similar (wanting to upgrade from 4 to 5 stud), the whole hub and often part of the suspension is changed from a suitable donor model (SW20 to AW11, R32/R33 to A31/S13/AE86 even!).

Is the car in question one of those companies that dont have the sort of interchangability that Nissan/Toyota is blessed with (or is it the cheapo nature for us to find a factory solution - hence bolt on and cheap)?

[oldcorollas]

these S14 ones look dead easy to redrill.. they are (almost ) same thickness all the way round

http://page3.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/auction/c176739441

[big_zop]

these S14 ones look dead easy to redrill.. they are (almost ) same thickness all the way round

http://page3.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/auction/c176739441

And wouldnt it be easier to use a 5 stud S14 hub?

[MR22ZZ]

only one hole is a bit dodgy

what temps do you think the hubs get up to?
they will melt at what? 1300-1600deg, and should hold strength until 500 or 600 maybe (as a guess) surely bearing failure would occur when grease is baked out at 200-300..

if you have alloy calipers, they will melt around 600-700, and lose strength at a much lower temp.

it's a bit dodgy, but... could be worse

got a pic of said hubs?

yeh, haha on the temps, but still...

Going from 4 stud to 5 stud is not drilling 1 hole either Stu, I'm sure you realise... it's 4 holes with 2 being in VERY close proximity. It's the proximity of those 2 holes which is the biggest issue here.

no pics, as I said it's not been done yet and I'm trying to warn the guy against it. He has now decided to do some more research into alternatives.

EDIT: Stu I also passed on that pic of the S14 hub, cheers for that.

big_zop - the hub swap path is the one I was trying to push him down. The car is a Nissan so I'm sure it can be done.

[wilbo666]

Most early toyota hubs have the disk mount to the rear, and as such have scalloped out sections where the wheel studs press in for clearance, and more importantly the wheel side isn't fully flat...



The pic isn't the best but hopefully you can make it out...(RA60, stuff, for sale if anyone wants them )

Going to 4 / 5 via redrilling isn't going to work on that is it!

Cheers
Wilbo

[Joshstix]

Front wheel drives as per the first post tend to have a flat hub face though. A lot of front wheel drive hubs do have one large hole through the hub face though. Plenty of people redrill axles from 4x114.3 to 5x114.3 and vice versa with no problems.

Unfortunately there is nowhere near enough material in an AW11 hub to redrill it to anything better than the povo 4x100 it has standard.

[MR22ZZ]

this isn't for the AW11 Josh
wouldn't dream of doing this to my own car.
Interesting information to know all the same though.

I'm just getting some qualified, trusted opinions for a Pulsar owner.

[big_zop]

lol

so he wants to fit GT-R wheels to his Pulsar? All this effort and cost to change his car to suit the wheels and he could save his money and either buy wheels to suit instead or a proper GT-R.

[MR22ZZ]

save his money and... buy better wheels

kind of what I told him but he can get the GTR wheel 'cheap' is his argument.

I loled when I thought about the extra expense involved in said 'cheap' GTR rims.

[oldcorollas]

GTR rims ARE cheap tho

the 6.5" can be had for $50 a set, and the 8" $150-200 or less.....

they are nice (but heavy) rims, but geez