Hub spinner direction

[Roger King]

As usual, we are in danger here of considering 'racing' practice to be some sort of higher plane. This is simply not the case for street-use cars.

Joe Average has chrome two-eared spinners on his MGB, or even those horrible octagonal jobs which you tighten with a little 9" long, no-moment spanner. He whacks the spinners reasonably hard with his hammer, not a bl**dy great press. The taper on the wheel inner hub has a thick layer of silver powder coat on it, the inside of the spinner is chrome-plated. Both wear or chip over time. How often does he check them? When he next changes a wheel? MOT time?
Almost without having to think about it, then - all bets are off.

Fernando Fandango's racing car has fancy anodized single hub nuts. Metal-to-metal contact, probably a finer thread. They are done up with an air gun which is set to torque, and are taken on and off several times in a weekend. He doesn't need to check them - they'll be tight.

This reminds me of Felpro intake gaskets. The fancy, Printoseal Performance Racing intake gaskets, with the blue bit around the holes. Great idea - silicone built into the gasket face, to help with seating. Ah - only a great idea if you USE them as performance racing gaskets, and tear the engine down every few weeks at the very least. For a road car, where you might like to fit the intake and leave it there for a couple of years, maybe not so clever.

Felpro.jpg

This intake was assembled to torque two years earlier, with guide rods for location and Würth black RTV to seal, the best there is bar none. This failure is becoming well recognized in the US - a straight Victor Reinz fibre gasket is cheaper, and a much better bet. And is designed for street use, not racing.

Moral - one size does not fit all, and 'racing' is a specialist set of parameters which do not always translate to street use!
Please, guys - keep the 'left' side on the left, and the 'right' side on the right.

[Paul Blore]

keep the 'left' side on the left, and the 'right' side on the right.

I agree and I hope I didn't suggest otherwise. As is often the case on these kinds of threads, they develop a life of their own and take a direction that was never originally intended.

The only point I was making, was that with a wheel that is properly tightened, the thread direction is irrelevent. In the real world however, countless other factors come into play that can cause the spinner to work loose and once that happens, the thread direction can then become relevent.

It does though highlight how important it is to maintain your wheels, hubs and spinners properly, regardless of which direction they go.

Just to be clear, the purpose of the press in David Kirkham's post was to test the strength of the threads in the aluminium spinner and no other reason.

On the subject of gaskets, what rocker cover gaskets do you recommend Roger? I've got cork gaskets with tin covers and they seem okay, but I'm sure there must be better gaskets available.

Paul

[Roger King]

Paul, I think we've pretty much exhausted that topic between us!

I used to use cork gaskets Evo-Stik'd (Evo-Stuk?) to the valve cover, with a smear of grease to the head. You can get away with several re-uses this way.
My favourite now is the rubber-steel-core variety.
http://www.summitracing.com/parts/FMS-M-6584-A50/
These I stick to the valve cover with RTV and use a smear of grease to the head as before. The current pair have been on for 4 years now, and survived numerous reuses.*
On a similar topic, this is my favourite type of sump gasket:
http://www.summitracing.com/parts/MRG-6683/
Again, one of these has been on for 4 years now, with the sump dropped at least 4 times. I've even fitted a different sump (Canton T diamond-baffled) re-using the same gasket. The sneaky trick with these is to RTV them to the underside of the block, not the sump.

*these gaskets are for non-lipped valve covers, not the pressed-tin variety. I dare say they are available for both.

[kaiserbilly1]

Time Gentlemen Please !!

Roger, add another anorak to your collection.

Paul, you can start you anorak colletion now.

To make things simple, I just give my spinners a great big bloody whack.
They have never come off

[Roger King]

Time Gentlemen Please !!

Roger, add another anorak to your collection.

Paul, you can start you anorak colletion now.

To make things simple, I just give my spinners a great big bloody whack.
They have never come off

Being a nancy southern softie who doesn't want to nadger up his chrome, I have one of these:

http://www.ahspares.co.uk/products/prod ... 29e8e075f7

Hide hammer (as in leather, not concealed) in the boot, though.

[Cotton Mouth]

Looks metric to me. Imperial hide mallet any day

[Roger King]

Looks metric to me. Imperial hide mallet any day

How dare you, sir - judging by the loose fit, it's British Standard Fine, and proud of it.

Actually, on this point, I do begin to wonder if the Anoraks do truly fit...
...when I built my car, I did go round changing Gerry's metric fasteners for Imperial ones.

[Paul Blore]

The problem with the copper and hide mallets is that while the hide is soft enough to use on the spinners, the hide itself is held within a steel head and if you either mis-hit the spinner or you glance off it, you risk hitting something with the steel part of the hammer, which will leave a mark, especially on ali wheels like Halibrands.
I left a small dent on one of my rear wheels doing exactly this, so I now use a lead hammer, which you can beat away with to your heart's content without risk of marking anything.
It is also a good bit heavier than the Thor hide mallet, so requires less effort to get the same effect.

What colour are these anoraks, I'm not wearing a red one.

[StewbieC]

Paul, I think we've pretty much exhausted that topic between us!

I used to use cork gaskets Evo-Stik'd (Evo-Stuk?) to the valve cover, with a smear of grease to the head. You can get away with several re-uses this way.
My favourite now is the rubber-steel-core variety.
http://www.summitracing.com/parts/FMS-M-6584-A50/
These I stick to the valve cover with RTV and use a smear of grease to the head as before. The current pair have been on for 4 years now, and survived numerous reuses.*
On a similar topic, this is my favourite type of sump gasket:
http://www.summitracing.com/parts/MRG-6683/
Again, one of these has been on for 4 years now, with the sump dropped at least 4 times. I've even fitted a different sump (Canton T diamond-baffled) re-using the same gasket. The sneaky trick with these is to RTV them to the underside of the block, not the sump.

*these gaskets are for non-lipped valve covers, not the pressed-tin variety. I dare say they are available for both.

Don't forget Gasgacinch, when you do want to reuse gaskets it just peals off, fantastic stuff.

http://www.kingfisherkustoms.co.uk/prod ... ductId=294

[James Baxter]

Salmson got this wrong on their cars, in period. Present day owners change their cars over!

I'm asking myself why Cobras always have lockwire when other makes of car dont.

As a simple demonstration place the cap from an aerosol inside a roll of masking tape. Move the cap (do not rotate) clockwise round the inside of the roll and the tape roll will move clockwise as well. This represents the Rudge hub.
Now move the tape roll as above and the cap will rotate anti-clockwise this represents the internal taper or Elan design.
Remember on a Rudge nut the weight is taken at the top of the nut and with an internal nut at the bottom.
Thanks to Colin Champman for the simple demonstration.

The tighter, newer and cleaner the parts, the least likely they are to undo, as there must be relative movement on the pegs. That said, even tiny amounts allow the epicyclic principle!!! . Also the gentler the application, the least likely they are to undo.