Footer Posted May 13, 2018 Report Posted May 13, 2018 I’m thinking of upgrading RQB3771 to the Turner discs. Although I believe the car may have originally come with wire wheels (photos on Bob’s registry), it now has Magnum 500s. From what I have read, it seems there are no absolutes when it comes to the Avanti, but are the chances good these wheels will fit with the conversion? Thanks for the input, I’ve learned a lot from reading all the posts. Mike
Gunslinger Posted May 13, 2018 Report Posted May 13, 2018 It's difficult to say whether you'll have clearance issues with Magnum 500 wheels. My '70 has them and when the car was upgraded with Turner Brakes two of the rims had clearance issues and two didn't. There seems to be about 3/8" difference in center offset between the two pairs. The rims must have come from two different production batches when shipped to Avanti Motors and since all cleared the stock disc brakes there was no reason for anyone at Avanti Motors to check offset or even consider a difference in offset as long as they were the same 15"x6" part number. In my case I simply keep the rims that clear the calipers on the front and the others on the rear. In any case, the high spot on the calipers could be ground down if necessary. I talked to Jim Turner about it once and he knew there had been cases where his brakes caused clearance issues on some cars and not others. He said that explained the reason why.
Footer Posted May 14, 2018 Author Report Posted May 14, 2018 Guess I would be lucky to get two that fit, even luckier if all four did. Wouldn’t be good to tie someone’s hoist up while I scrambled to find some wheels that did fit, though. I’ll give Jim Turner another call, I agree, brakes are important. Thanks.
Jim78 Posted May 14, 2018 Report Posted May 14, 2018 FWIW, I installed the Turner brakes on my '78 with Magnum 500 wheels. No issues.
Footer Posted May 14, 2018 Author Report Posted May 14, 2018 Are the new brakes a noticeable improvement? Thanks for the response.
Gunslinger Posted May 14, 2018 Report Posted May 14, 2018 The Turner conversion is better...more swept area on the rotors as the pads are much bigger. I don't know the current costs of the Turner kit but when I did it the costs were comparable to replacing the stock system with stock parts. The original brake system is very good...I don't mean to disparage it. The Turner system is easier to maintain with more easily sourced replacement parts and works at least as good.
Footer Posted May 15, 2018 Author Report Posted May 15, 2018 After I got the car I repacked the wheel bearings. Tried to get the spacers back on the calipers where they were, but sometimes they have an annoying squeal. Sometimes backing up will end the noise. Maybe I’ve gotten spoiled with new car brakes and have forgotten cars from the “good old days”, but these don’t seem to impress me. Sounds like a good upgrade, thanks.
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now