4-bolt to 5-bolt wheel adapters

[spencerforhire]

I guess I can understand macman's reluctance to get away from his OEM wheels. I didn't realize the show classifications were that fussy. Aftermarket(or bigger, nicer OEM) wheels & tires are the first thing I want to put on every vehicle I own. Back in the day, all my Vegas had 13" Aluminum slots, and when I switched to 5-bolt, some form of GM Rally Wheels. I've never been hung up on the "purist" thing; I guess I'm an incurable Hot Rodder.

[beakerztoyz]

From what I've heard they used to make adapters back in the 70's/ 80's too I looked for a long time to try and find a set, what I never really understood is everyone I ever talked to made it out like the 4 to 5 lug adapters would weaken things.. but a 4 to 4 adapter or just a plain spacer wouldnt or would be fine it never made much sense. i think if I was gonna use an adapter to go from the stock to a different 4 bolt pattern I would go to the ford 4 bolt pattern, pretty sure i got a set of front wheel drive 100mm rims that would go over the studs on the car but could never find them in the right backspacing to actually be able to bolt them on tight they just go back too far.... there are a ton of wheels for the old mustang 4 bolt pattern

[spencerforhire]

The major issue with 4 bolt to 5 bolt adapters is that there is no way to arrange the two patterns so there is no interference. So the adapter has to be very thick which creates it's own issues, or the two patterns have to share a hole with one long stud. This of course requires the 4 and 5 bolt patterns to share the boly circle. I guess if you want to put early Dodge Dart 14's on your Vega that might be ok, because that's the only 5x4" vehicle.

[macman]

Well i found a company to nake them and the would be 20 mm thick and be $500. Then i have too buy wheels and tires $$$$$$. If only someone made new 13 in raised white letter tires. Corky wake up!!!!!!!

[Monza Harry]

If some one mad 13" tires! At least wider than required for a bicycle! I bought a set off of a site "New" 13" rubber 205/60R-13 Raised White Letter only 6 1/2 years old then 9 Now and Zero miles by the time I use them they will be out of date! I bought them because they were already getting hard to find and apparently these were clear-outs, They were a great price, and I would have bought them anyway but would have liked to have known, and should have bought a spare ! Harry

[macman]

Do you want to sell them Harry?

[Monza Harry]

Then I wouldn't have any! I am not interested in getting rid of them as I am a good two to three years away from the four wheel big brake disc/five bolt conversion. Harry

[Sunula66]

Just thought I'd chime in briefly,
I'm not a fan of adaptors in particular and have used them in the past for 5 bolt changes such as smaller to larger and vise versa, however, I had recently purchased Billet aluminum wheel adaptors from Performance World, part number #51047D, 6061-T6 Billet Aluminum to convert from 5bolt on 4.50 to 5bolt 4.75 or as a spacer from 5-4.75 to 5-4.75 and this kit came complete with studs and lugnuts.
The reason for this type of config. is because I had 2 new rotors redrilled to the 5 on 4.50 pattern and the 4 stud holes "filled" with stainless weld. This is what I believe is the most simplified and effective way to go and without compromising any of the surrounding material which is needed for "wall" strength. Now I can install rims with the small GM pattern or simply install the adaptors if I can get an off set rim for the larger pattern. In any event, the cost for redrilling and filling the new rotors was minimal and certainly made sense to minimize the labor and I also get to maintain the braking components that are already in use, and not changing steering geometry! Just remember that cost can be lethal when a cheaper route is considered so myself I recommend the redrill method because it maintains "more meat" where it's needed, and strength in a steel rotor in my view is more valuable than risking less meat in an aluminum component....just sayin's all, hope this helps.

[spencerforhire]

I had re-drilled Monza vented rotors on a street driven V8 Vega, and in my opinion, they were still not adequate for serious stopping. I could not "hot lap" the car at the dragstrip without some pretty scary fade after only two back to back stops from less than 100 mph. The S-10 setup is a bunch beefier and is easily upgraded for even better braking.

[hammerdown7]

One thing that you want to do with the Monza rotors is to make sure you are using the correct brake pads. Even though both the non-vented and vented pads will fit the Monza caliper, the vented pad has close to 40% more lining than the non-vented Vega pad.

$T2eC16V,!)!E9s2fB+D7BRYkFoDn0Q~~60_57.jpg

$_57.jpg

[spencerforhire]

Good tip from hammerdown; if you are going to use the OEM rotors/pads/calipers, make sure the parts all match. For general street use, I guess the Monza vented parts are ok, but maybe not for extreme duty. I would suspect that better quality pads would be a big improvement.

[Sunula66]

Great point from both of you "Racing" guys for sure!!!
Yes, I left that part out and it is crucial to use the best pads available as this reduces fade. It is worth the extra cost and besides, you saved money by doing the 5 bolt conversion this way so don't be cheap asses and spend the doh for the extreme duty pads, this is good advice. The pads will eat up the rotors quicker but in my case, I have a standard tranny to help and I won't be on any tracks so this will work for me. The worst cars that I owned for poor braking that were grossly inadequate were the Pontiac Grand Prix's especially the 428 car. Tiny brakes on the 69-72 cars and these cars were 4500 lbs with 14 in. wheels!
So, use good brake components, always!

[jpb04619]

try a factory 350 monza , biggest engine gm put in an h body , smallest brakes lol john b

[marco_1978_spyder]

Thechnically speaking wouldn't a 262 weigh a tiny fraction more than a 350? more meat in the cyl heads and in the cyl walls on the 262. I could be wrong,

[spencerforhire]

Actually, a 262 would probably weigh less than a 350 or even a 305. The cylinder walls and heads are only cast thick enough for their specific application. The longer stroke crank and it's larger counterweights and balancer would be quite a bit heavier than the 262 pieces. 4 bolt main engines, heavier as well. A 400 block might weigh a little more, and an aftermarket Iron Eagle or Dart a whole bunch more.