Thread: Buick brake drum to wheel clearance question

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Building a 32 HiBoy, on the front I am using late 50's Buick 45 fin brake drums. I want to use American Racings Salt Flat Special 6" x 15" wheels. Before I order the wheels I am trying to make sure there will not be a clearance issue between the drum O.D. and wheel I.D.. On the American Racing Wheel web site there is a "Contact Us" link, I have e-mailed them 4 times in the last two weeks asking them this question. Never a reply! Great service!

Has anyone used this combination drum and shoe?

Thanks

Rather than risk taking someone's word for it I'd suggest you measure. It's going to depend mostly on what offset/backspace you want and what the I.D. of the rim is. You might want to try to find a dealer in your area who has some Salt Flats in stock to measure, or maybe someone on here has a set, you're likely looking at something near 14" or slightly more for I.D. Then you want to measure where on the fins you hit that dimension. A cardboard template with the appropriate sized hole to match the wheel I.D. would work. Drop it over the drum, as the fins taper it will "bottom out" at some point. I'll assume you already have the drums, and you've mounted the Ford (or aftermarket equivalent) hubs that will now be mounted on the outside face of the drum rather than the inside. From there you just measure from the face of the hub to the face of the squared up template. Deduct about 1/4" for a tight fit , or more to suit your comfort range for risk on tolerance shift. That will tell you the max backspace you can tolerate, then order accordingly to suit your best option for face appearance.

Even 15 inch steel wheels are a very tight fit onto Buick drums. Like Bob said, the offset would affect how far the wheel goes over the fins, so if the salt flats are relatively deep on the inside, they might present a problem, being that aluminum wheels should be thicker than steel.

American Racing I am sure has been down this road, too bad you are having problems reaching them. I would keep trying to be sure before you lay out your money and find you have a problem.

You can see in these pictures how tight even steel wheels fit against the fins. Picture one and three are with 15 inch wheels, and number two is with 16 inch wheels.

Don

I've made a template of the profile of the Buick drum and will take it to the NSRA Nationals in 2 weeks to discuss my concern and physically fit it inside a Salt Flat Special wheel.

Just steal your kid brother's Plasticene and lay some strips on the drum, then mount the wheel you want to use. a spray of Pam cooking oil will keep it from sticking to the wheel. Pull the wheel and measure the thickness of the 'cene.
Cheapskate Plastigage!

1,3 are perfect pics. no 2 looks out of place. thats just my opinion. thanks for showing. i have them on the rear of my car on steel wheels ,and they stick out just right.