Wire wheel conversion

Hi All-

Restoring a '74 1275 and want to install wires.
Read all the old posts, and it appears I will need a
"wire wheel" differential housing. Is this correct?
I did a conversion years ago and for some reason
thought I only swapped out axles and hubs in the rear....

Second question....Assuming I need entire housing,
what year donor car can I consider? Is the housing
from a 1500 the same? Can I use an early/mid/late 60's housing?

Thanks much!

Paul

You are correct on both counts- You probably should use a ww axle housing assy but you easily can just swap the axles. You can't do the opposite (disk wheel axles into wire axle housing) but this way works fine.
Some people won't do this since there is not as much spline sticking into the diff but the vast majority of axle breaks occur as the axle snaps off at the interface where the axle enters the diff, not because of the splines stripping out so this is not the real issue. Your track will be about 1/2" wider if you do this but that is the only difference.
All housings from late '64 (semi elliptical) up until the last Midget in '80 ('79??) are effectively the same and will work.
BillM

Hi Bill-

That explains a lot.
The last MG I did is the Midget Ray McCaleb now owns.
It was original with wires, so it had to be a car I owned at least
20 years ago. I THOUGHT I did not swap the housing.....

Anyone else do swap with disk wheel housing? Any problems?

Paul

Hi Mike-

Thanks for the kind words.
Ray's car was a labor of love....nearly 10 years.
I stay in touch with Ray, as does one of my boys who worked on the car with me.
I couldn't be more pleased with how he takes care of that car and the show wins.
I have owned many fine cars, including seven Porsches, yet here I am doing
another Midget. Better to be addicted to drugs, at least there is treatment.....

Anyway, I am including a pic of my latest project. It is an excellent carcass with
32,000 original miles. I had Ray's input before I finalized the deal!
From what I see of your car, it looks like you are doing fine work. Let me know
if I can help. Always willing to share my passion (and ignorance).

Paul

Paul, if you have a on-line rebuild photo album, let me know, I'd like to follow along. If you don't, consider starting one at Picassaweb.google.com. Its free, (you just have to open a free google account first), its simple to work with, and I think its the best presentation of all the web albums I've visited.
Cheers,
Mike

On-line photo album is a good idea.
I have taken about 500 pics during disassembly.
I really wanted to document everything, as car was un-fussed with.
Now all I need to do is be willing to put in a little time and get it done!

Paul

Paul,

I just did a photo album on Picasa, it was really easy.

Y'all have talked me into it.
At last count, I have over 850 pictures taken during disassembly.
My guess is one or two of them might help someone else.
I'll get 'em posted and advise.

Paul

Do you really want/need the KO wheels? If not, you can buy bolt-on wires from someone like Dayton and forego the whole discussion.

Nah....just can't do the bolt-on thing.
A little like wearing a fake rolex,
or sleeping with a blow-up doll,
or....well....you get the idea.

Paul