Pizza Cutters

KStromberg

KStromberg

VIII looking for 8s
I picked up a compact spare from the auto yard on the way home from work today. So, now I have two of them. I will now have a full size spare in the trunk. :p I'm picking up a gently used set of Firestones to be mounted on these minis. They will be 205-60-16. Questipn for driller, will they be worth anything in the 1/4 mile? I know you ran aluminums, but those are virtually impossible to find. These are steelies. Either way, I'll have them on the car in time for Car Craft Summer Nats. next week and maybe that'll provoke more people to waste their time looking at my grocery-getter Lincoln. The Cobra intake should make it a little less boring too. :p I'll post up pics when they're mounted. :)
 
One more question. I'd like to make it look a little less ghetto lol. Should I paint the minis? I was thinking of color matching them to the car or spraying them up with chrome paint. Any ideas? It would be nice to match them up with my stock wheels in the back though. My stockers are the dull finish version of the LSC chrome. I've never liked them by the way. :rolleyes:
 
Once again. Thought this was an actual thread about some kick ass pizza cutter. Lol!
 
How much du dey veigh??? :fart

The lighter wheel will effectively be worth 6 to 8 times the weight difference in 'dead weight' of the car. Approximately 100 lbs 'dead weight' equals 10 HP.

I don't know the weight difference of the steel vs. aluminum wheel but steel is 489 lbs/cuft and aluminum is 165 pound per cubic foot! Put another way, the aluminum wheel could be about 1/3rd the weight!!! For the purpose of this discussion, let's assume the steel spare wheel is twice the weight of the aluminum spare wheel.

If I recall correctly, my front wheel combo was around 24 lbs (each). If you say 1/2 that way the wheel (12 lbs) - a steelie would be at least twice that, so say now the combo is 36 lbs. Most 16" street wheel/tire combos will tip the scales between 45 and 50 lbs. Let's keep the math simple and say 46 lbs. So now you have 10 lbs weight savings per wheel for 20 lbs total. That would be equivalent to at least 120 lbs to 160 lbs dead weight or approximately equal to 12 to 16 HP.

So yes, they do make a significant difference.

Be aware they will also change the 'rollout' of your car in the beams at the staging lights. You will need to adjust your staging accordingly. I found I had to just barely turn on the 2nd stage light or I would find myself red lighting.
 
I guess at this point, I really don't know what they are. The one in my trunk looks identical to this one. They had to cross-search Thunderbird spares to find one in their system. Actually I had to tell them. :rolleyes: Anyhow, they brought it up to the counter and the primary vehicle on the tag was a 2002 Mercury Sable. Also listed on the tag was Thunderbird and Taurus? I think. So anyhow, I know the bolt-pattern is the same and the offset is the same, so it's a go. I guess there is a slight chance my spare is aluminum and this one is steel but I seem to recall drilller saying the later Mark VIII spares are steel? Like I said, it looks EXACTLY like mine as far as fitment. Pics to come tomorrow. Thanks for the info driller. That's exciting. Every little bit counts. :D

Thomas, thanks for the linky. ;)
 
A magnet will tell you if they are aluminum or steel.

While I hate to differ with Thomas, I found it difficult to find aluminum spare wheels. If they were indeed "stock", my OEM was not aluminum for some reason. I admit at the time I had no reference what stock spare wheels were and were not aluminum.
 
I could very well be wrong ;) I am just going off of what I have seen. I've parted out about 8 Mark VIII's and they all had aluminum spares?? I guess I assumed they all were, but I know how Ford like to changes things up.

Thomas
 
Well I'm back with a working desktop and a chattering flexplate so I'm here to show some pictures, but the car is parked until the trans is dropped and that is replaced. Sometimes I can't seem to gain any ground. Right when I think I have fixed all of the problems that were created by shoddy work, I run into another. Obviously, upon the trans swap last September, the nuts were not properly torqued or this would have never happened. They loosened up over time, the studs on the converter messed up the holes on the flexplate, and now it chatters because they are no longer round but more than likely egg-shaped.

Anyhow, here's some pics:

Before:
Skinny1.jpg


After:
Skinny2.jpg


Skinny3.jpg

Skinny4.jpg



Considering these are steel, the weight difference between the steelie and aluminum wheel is only a few pounds with the rubber. We weighed it on a cheap bathroom scale, but either way the weight was not much less. The only advantage I have is less tire contact up front now. I did make it to Car Craft this weekend though and may eventually have a hookup on some aluminums. Also, I misspoke about the size. The skinnier tires are 215-60s, not 205.
 
When I did mine, I found one the biggest area to gain weight was with the tires themselves. By going with the M&H Front Runner tires, the weight savings of the aluminum wheels was maintained.

The setup you have should still help out tough, esp. if you were running large aftermarket wheels prior, not to mention you have a real spare tire now ;)

Thomas
 
I was previously running the stock non-LSC rims like you see in my avatar with the 225-60-16 tires. So no, they weren't larger aftermarket wheels at all, but yes I do have a smaller footprint up front. I see the difference at the track being beneficial but somewhat minimal. I see a larger gain in the future if I can get my hands on those alumis once dude digs them out and calls me. The weight difference is quite substantial compared to the steelies. I acquired these from my buddy who had them on a Crown Vic with aluminum minis from a Town Car and I could pick them up with one finger. :p The steelies, not so much. :rolleyes: Less rolling weight is what I am still after here. And yes, I have a REAL full size spare in the trunk now. :p
 
If you are really serious about dropping weight, then you might have to step up to a true set of drag tires... they are insanely light! (but pricey compared to the radials).

Thomas
 
driller said:
So yes, they do make a significant difference.

Be aware they will also change the 'rollout' of your car in the beams at the staging lights. You will need to adjust your staging accordingly. I found I had to just barely turn on the 2nd stage light or I would find myself red lighting.
Click to expand...

Very good/important bit of info here if your serious about bracket racing.

If your lights are slow... stage deeper.
More important than any weight savings IMHO.
 
Just curious, but why not add steel rings that fit between the torque converter studs and the flex plate holes vs. pulling the trans?
 
J said:
Just curious, but why not add steel rings that fit between the torque converter studs and the flex plate holes vs. pulling the trans?
Click to expand...

Wouldn't that be compromising the integrity of the flex plate? They would have to be the right size (outside diameter of the tc studs). Is this something that has been done before? And actually, I need a rear main oil seal which unfortunately gives me enough need to drop it. :rolleyes:
 
Jeopardize the integrity of the already SHOT flex plate? :) If you find the right size spacer for each hole (assuming they're oblonged the same for each) then it would be no different then if the flex plate wasn't damaged. Just needs to fill the gap enough to keep it from moving when tightened.

If the rear main is leaking (sure it's not the oil pan or oil level sensor) then it makes sense. Haven't seen/heard of too many rear mains leaking.
 
J said:
Jeopardize the integrity of the already SHOT flex plate? :) If you find the right size spacer for each hole (assuming they're oblonged the same for each) then it would be no different then if the flex plate wasn't damaged. Just needs to fill the gap enough to keep it from moving when tightened.

If the rear main is leaking (sure it's not the oil pan or oil level sensor) then it makes sense. Haven't seen/heard of too many rear mains leaking.
Click to expand...

I think my rear main seal is leaking.
You can see oil coming out between the engine and transmission.
 
Back to the steel vs aluminum.

I just went through some of my spares. I think the Gen 1 came with steel and the Gen 2 came with aluminum? I'm not sure because my green 94 has alum, and my CE has a steel. They may have been swapped at some point though.

The steel wheel weighs a LOT more than the alum wheel.

Here's a photo, the steel one has the holes in it, the aluminum does not.
 

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