The Jensen Owners' Club

Austin Westminster A90 A95 Single 15inch Steel Wheel Rim Solid Needs A Clean Up
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Austin-Westm ... 000%7C7000

eBay item number:303562464817
Expires: (15 May, 2020 20:09:31 BST)

Please doublecheck this will fit before purchase! Around £30 delivered at present.

I purchased this and had it sent to Image Wheels so that they can measure it up to make reproductions for the 541 and C-V8 models.

That's an altruistic thing to do , it will be interesting to see how they "turn" out.

Glad I took the trouble to post about it.
Will it be an "exact" copy? I didn't know that image produced a steel wheel. Original wheels of this age can crack when used in racing etc. so it will be nice to have an alternative.

As Stephen has just mentioned one of the reasons so many C-V8s lost their original wheels is because the original wheels cracked between the vent holes (in normal road use and not just when racing) and JML fitted reinforced wheels to later cars. Unfortunately I have no idea what form this reinforcement took. It's something to bear in mind when getting the wheels reproduced as if you copy exactly a wheel that didn't start life on a Jensen then the new wheels might crack as well.

John

Did CV8's ever have factory fitted Rostyles, or were these fitted later to cars who's Austin derived wheels failed?

VFK44 wrote:Glad I took the trouble to post about it.
Will it be an "exact" copy? I didn't know that image produced a steel wheel. Original wheels of this age can crack when used in racing etc. so it will be nice to have an alternative.

It won't be an exact copy as the centre will be made of billet aluminium and the outers of rolled aluminium. I'm hoping that the inner section will look pretty similar to the original, with the same curves and hole locations, and the ability to take the original hubcap. Picture a D type Jaguar wheel, except with the same outer ring of holes as the C-V8 wheels and with a C-V8 hubcap.

Being made of billet aluminium, the centre section will be thicker than the originals. The outers are made of two parts that are bolted to the centre from behind so that the bolts aren't visible from the front. The inner and outers are available in 1/2" steps and there is some flexibility in the amount of material left on the mounting face. This gives a lot of flexibility when it comes to width and offset.

As for the original wheels, I just can't believe how flimsy they are. The material is very thin and they haven't been formed in a way that would provide any strength. I went through a whole bunch of Austin Healey 3000 wheels looking for suitable centres and the majority of them had cracks coming from the stud holes. If the original centres crack on a Big Healey, what hope do they have on a car weighing a 1/3rd more with almost two and a half times the power?

This us how the original compares to Image's D-type wheels:

This photo better depicts the curve in the Image wheel. The curve reduces as the wheel diameter increases. As the pictured wheels look larger than 15" I would expect more of a curve in a 15" version.
vs Austin
This is how they are constructed and should give an idea how the width and offset can be customised.

The wheel diameter makes a big difference sometimes. Image do an alloy "wire wheel" which looks really convincing at 18" diameter, but only like a BMW/Alleycat design by the time you scale down to 15".




With the Austin wheel, will they be using the exact same centre hub as the "D-type" off the shelf to save development costs? And then machine the holes to match the Austin design? The originals retain hubcaps using three "bolt heads" which do not exist on the alloys. Will these be added, or will they use the "hidden fastener" which retains their own brand of hubcap in other pictures? I assume the standard Austin hubcaps will fit?

With all the experience Image have with high-powered vehicles I have no worries about the strength of these new wheels.

VFK44 wrote:
With the Austin wheel, will they be using the exact same centre hub as the "D-type" off the shelf to save development costs? And then machine the holes to match the Austin design? The originals retain hubcaps using three "bolt heads" which do not exist on the alloys. Will these be added, or will they use the "hidden fastener" which retains their own brand of hubcap in other pictures? I assume the standard Austin hubcaps will fit?

With all the experience Image have with high-powered vehicles I have no worries about the strength of these new wheels.

I haven't spoken to them since the wheel arrived on their premises to confirm what they can and can't do. I envisaged a "D-type" centre but with the holes machined as per the Austin design. Regarding the hubcap, they will use something like a ball stud so that the standard hubcap will fit.

Frankoid wrote:Did CV8's ever have factory fitted Rostyles, or were these fitted later to cars who's Austin derived wheels failed?

I don't know the answer to that question but the prototype Interceptor came back from Italy in June 1966 on its C-V8 wheels and apparently the first brochure picture was taken with fibre glass mockups because the Rostyles were not yet ready. Certainly by the time of launch in October they were ready, all the cars taken to Goodwood for the press launch had them including the prototype.

Image Wheels are going to need a hubcap because the locators on the steel wheel are different from the ball studs that Image Wheels use and they will need to determine the correct P.C.D to locate the hubcaps.

There are plenty of cheap Austin hubcaps on eBay, but I have no idea of which ones are the right size for the wheels. It's either that, or I try and get an original or reproduction C-V8 hubcap to them.

I have a spare reproduction hubcap I can send... PM sent

Thanks for that.

The centre section of these wheels is 15 to 20 mm thick. In comparison, the Austin wheels are 3.7 mm thick, so the difference is around 14mm. That should mean that from the outside a 5.5" rim would look very similar to standard, in respect to the relationship between how far the hubcap protrudes compared to the edge of the rim. For a 6" or 6.5" rim it should still look pretty good. Some widened steel rims can look a bit odd in this respect.

As for the appearance, the perimeter holes will be drilled and the edges will look like the Image 46 wheels styles.

Colour wise, I'm going for a black centre to match my car. For the outers, I was planning to do silver paint. Other options for the outers include polished and anodised.