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Posted: Sat Oct 28, 2006 1:55 pm
by Mike Smith
Real 550 wheels were composite - Alli Rim rivetted to Steel centres
16" Rims were fitted to all 356`s until 56
Make sure you can get a decent quality 16" tyre before doing too much work or spending too much money
Mike at PR
Posted: Sun Oct 29, 2006 6:18 pm
by Sundance4
Sounds good!,there is a rolling chassis with 912 motor and part finished alloy bodywork 550 just down the road from me too![/quote]
any more info ...sounds interesting
Posted: Mon Oct 30, 2006 6:51 am
by Sundance4
It also had a 1720 912 fitted (no carbs or fanshroud) with correct factory exhaust. The ally rear panels and front wings all done, ally doors hung but with a fair amount of ally corrosion around the bare rivets, no hood, screen or electrics. Heavily lowered with satin black '55 rims off my old coupe and polished B drums on type 1 axles but no interior at all not even the steering column... I wonder?
[/quote]
got any pictures?
Posted: Mon Oct 30, 2006 6:54 am
by Sundance4
UUL442 wrote:Real 550 wheels were composite - Alli Rim rivetted to Steel centres
16" Rims were fitted to all 356`s until 56
Make sure you can get a decent quality 16" tyre before doing too much work or spending too much money
Mike at PR
Excellent... thanks Mike........making some progress at last.
Is it a problem getting 16" wheels then.
Posted: Mon Oct 30, 2006 10:12 am
by cubist
I've got prints of the 550 from years ago somewhere... i tracked two 356 16" from ebay.fatherland without too much hassle and only paid £150 for the pair delivered. Might be worth a search?
Posted: Mon Oct 30, 2006 1:14 pm
by Sundance4
cubist wrote:I've got prints of the 550 from years ago somewhere... i tracked two 356 16" from ebay.fatherland without too much hassle and only paid £150 for the pair delivered. Might be worth a search?
what 'prints' do you have?
I would really like detailes of tube wall thickness among other things.
I will post some pictures as soon as I've worked out how
Posted: Mon Oct 30, 2006 6:08 pm
by Schläfer
As Mike says, you couldn't get a decent set of tyres for the 16 inch wheels. The only thing available was the 'Avon Tourists' which is what the Split Bug guy's use which are very skinny (for a 3.25 rim I think).
More recently Avon have brought out a 165HR16 Turbosteel tyre. You can buy them from
www.longstonetyres.co.uk but they are £115 each plus VAT. If they're anything like the Avon CR6ZZ tyres they'll be well worth the money.
Posted: Tue Oct 31, 2006 8:34 am
by Sundance4
Poorboy wrote:As Mike says, you couldn't get a decent set of tyres for the 16 inch wheels. The only thing available was the 'Avon Tourists' which is what the Split Bug guy's use which are very skinny (for a 3.25 rim I think).
More recently Avon have brought out a 165HR16 Turbosteel tyre. You can buy them from
www.longstonetyres.co.uk but they are £115 each plus VAT. If they're anything like the Avon CR6ZZ tyres they'll be well worth the money.
550 s had 16" wheels that were 5" and 5.25" wide.
Are the problems finding tyres related to only narror rims or anything 16" in diameter?
Posted: Tue Oct 31, 2006 9:47 am
by cubist
There are plenty of 16" tyres but very few with the right profile in thinner widths. I've got Turbosteels and they are great but still a little tall for my liking.