Yet another five-lug question: redrilling?

[MeltedMonitor]

OK, I have searched and haven't really found the answer to this question.

What if I removed the front hubs from my S13, pounded the four studs out of it, measured carefully and drilled five holes into it, inserted five new studs in and bolted it back on. It would cost about $10 and would take an hour or so.

Anyone considered this? I don't have the hub out right now, so I can't remember if the studs are inserted into normal holes or if the holes have splines in the to match the base of the stud. (If that is the case then I guess this idea is shot)

Anyone have a hub handy to see if this is possible?

Darren

search term: redrilled

[ghostuss]

OK, I have searched and haven't really found the answer to this question.

What if I removed the front hubs from my S13, pounded the four studs out of it, measured carefully and drilled five holes into it, inserted five new studs in and bolted it back on. It would cost about $10 and would take an hour or so.

Anyone considered this? I don't have the hub out right now, so I can't remember if the studs are inserted into normal holes or if the holes have splines in the to match the base of the stud. (If that is the case then I guess this idea is shot)

Anyone have a hub handy to see if this is possible?

Darren

search term: redrilled

is this a cheap alternate way to a 5lug conversion? I dunno man... so far the first lesson I learned after start modifing cars is cheap stuff means you have to pay more in the long run. On ur case, what if you screw up the holes while drilling it? What if the hub cracks due to too many holes? Or ur or ur car's safety on the highway or race track? I say it's not worth it to go this way. Just get some 5 lug hubs from a junkyard or somehthing.

[AKADriver]

This would definitely compromise the integrity of the hub. Don't do it!

[MeltedMonitor]

I hear your warnings and they make sense. But I am going to be foolhardy and try this anyway.

I am going to have a local machine shop do the drilling on the drill press. I ran this idea by my dad (a 25-year automotive engineer) and he didn't have any objections (surprisingly).

I will be drilling four new holes in the hub and using one existing hole. According to my calculations two of the new holes (on either side of the existing hole) will be aproximately 10mm from their nearest unused hole. The other two will be far enough away that there should be absolutely no problems. The REAL question is how well the two "near" holes will hold up to the stresses of driving.

I will then drive a day on the setup and re-inspect to see if there are any signs of fatigue or impending doom. I expect that this will work just fine and will allow anyone with access to a drill press to convert their front hubs to five lug for a few bucks....

I will update you tomorrow with my results.

Darren

[tastyratz]

not a very bad idea if done right. DONT press those other studs out of the holes though. machine them flat so you dont have big ugly unbalanced holes sitting without reason and just making your hub weaker. if you have the studs in them still its very possible that youll be perfectly fine. dont take alot off the surface but just enough to make it all flat. if done right you can almost make it look like the other studs were never there. this is something ive been considering for awhile too. the amount of strength in the hub that could be comprimised is negligable as long as you leave nubs of the old studs and dont leave the holes empty. i would also not consider plugging the holes since the studs are already there. those are already heat treated and in place and fatigued in there nicely, a new plug of dissimilar metal against a rotor that gets hot would deform slightly and theres really no point. lemme know how it goes i think im next in line!

[sciamop]

A machine shop is a good idea. I thought you were going to do it in your backyard -- the slightest miscalculation would have made the hub useless.

If you look at universal 4/5 lug wheels, they have the bolt pattern that you are talking about and they seem to hold up well... Let us know how it works out -- and how much it costs @ the machine shop. The cost of studs on summitracing.com = ~$13 x 4 and courtesyparts nismo studs = $61.40 x 2 :eek: .

Unfortunately, I have a feeling that it won't be as cheap as you originally thought.

Todd

[sykikchimp]

Isnt' one of the hubs (I can't remember front or rear) winged instead of round?

So you'd only have 4 "wings" stickingout to drill into..

[tastyratz]

to be honest its not really something thats that bad. what you need to do is find someone to go in on it with you or a few people who wanna do their cars as well. the biggest cost on a machine shop is programming and setup time. if you can get someone to do it with you and split the cost it wouldnt be that bad an ideal. id recommend getting everything prepped before you go too. sand and clean up all the rust and crap everywhere and fully get everything ready. probabbly wouldnt be a bad idea to try and press the good stud out, then saw off the other studs leaving only a little nub they have to clean up. there are things you can do yourself to be ready. they are going to have to probabbly ream and tap that hole that other stud came out of anyways for the new stud so...

[TheTimanator]

Isnt' one of the hubs (I can't remember front or rear) winged instead of round?

So you'd only have 4 "wings" stickingout to drill into..
yup, It's doesn't sound like the greatest idea. I mean consider what would happen if the hub broke. Your car could be seriously messed up, not to mention your own safety. But if your willing to risk it......

[orion::S14]

I have a friend who's done this on a couple cars, and had no ill effects, even with tracks days and lots of HARD street driving.

He used a hand drill...used a new 5-lug rotor, lined it up on the old 4-lug hub, and drilled the new holes. They were as close to dead on as you could imagine, but he did redo one of the hubs b/c it was alittle off...I had a spare S13 front hub that he was able to use for it.

There is an issue of the "ribs" on the back of the hub, but if you grind them flat where the new stud pokes through, you'll be OK.

When we were looking at this as a viable alternative to S14 SE hubs, we found a post on Freshalloy where "Slide Squad Mark" said he did this to his S13 and it never failed, 4+ years of abuse IIRC.

So, food for thought...

I'd use this method before I did another "regular" 5-lug conversion on an S13...I did it right on my daily driver S13, but that's much more involved, and time consuming.

- Brian

[AKADriver]

Isnt' one of the hubs (I can't remember front or rear) winged instead of round?

So you'd only have 4 "wings" stickingout to drill into..

It's the rear, I'm pretty sure. But rear hubs are easy.

I dunno... the hubs in our cars are pretty strong, but I've heard of so many hub and bearing failures in track cars (not 240SXs, admittedly) that anything that could weaken the hub scares me a little.

[MeltedMonitor]

I am now totally convinced that this will work. I just woke up and am ready to go down and start disassembly of the suspension.... more soon....

[tastyratz]

im game and ive got a spare set of hubs to mess with and i think im gonna go for the gold myself also. document everything as you go and maybe people will realize its not so bad. this is a much easier and viable alternative to the 5 lug conversion everyone thinks HAS to be done the way it is.

[Flybert]

A guy on FA has done it. Look it up. There are some pics as well.

[kazuo]

People redrill rotors but I have never heard of people re-drilling hubs... I'd take that shit to a machine shop :P But I don't see why you can't do the same shit people do to drill their rotors (lay one on top of the other & start drilling)

And I'm sure the guy on FA that did it was Russ... :P

[INeedNewTires]

hell yes! im soooo glad i read this thread i was fixin to go buy some S14 hubs but screw that now. Im gonna do it myself with a drill press and the 5 lug rotors i dont see why it wouldnt work just as good.

When and if anyone else does it throw up some pics, if i can get a camera ill do it but its doubtful

[iyceman]

Best of luck, although I sure as hell wouldn't risk it.

[JackDrift]

I don't know of ANY machine shop that would do that, I once tried to get a set of rear axles from a 69' Camaro re-drilled and the guy at the shop started flipping out on me , telling me I was going to crash and kill someone on the freeway if I did it.

Oh yea I got all of my 5 lug change over for FREE

thanks to my Sponsor

Mitsubishi & Nissan recycling in Fresno :hsdance:

[tastyratz]

how goes the battle? did ya do it?

[WilloW]

Insndrvr on FreshAlloy did it to his S13 hubs (front only as far as I can tell), here's a link to his photos 5 lugs S13 hubs redrilled (http://plaza.ufl.edu/maeleone/5lug/).

[Dream240]

Damn I can't believe this idea ever occured to me!! I've already drilled 3 sets of 30mm rotors myself and custom fit the holes for my s14 4-lug. It's really not that hard. As far as doing the hubs, seems like it would be really easy. Just time consuming and VERY accurate. Otherwise you'll ruin the hubs. Damn, now I want to start looking for some 5-lug rims!! Whooo haaa!!!

Just one thought, don't know if anyone's realized this, but the 5-lug holes on 30mm brake are slightly larger than the 4-lug holes. I measured the 4-lug holes @ .4850 in. and the 5-lug holes @.5000 in. It's only .0150 of an inch but I made me have to use my dremmel on the rotor holes to widen them a little to fit on my hubs. So this makes me wonder, will the holes ALL match up correctly for the studs? Well I guess so, cause you'll have one 4-lug stud (smaller) and four 5-lug studs (larger) and 5-lug rotors will fit over the 4-lug stud no problem. So yeah it's okay....cool. I can't wait!! I love doing my own work!!!

[Var]

i'd take that guy's advice up on top of this post and leave the old studs in the holes. It just seems like it would be safer. Machine the old studs down and leave em in the hub as filler metal for reinforcement.

[uiuc240]

Insndrvr on FreshAlloy did it to his S13 hubs (front only as far as I can tell), here's a link to his photos 5 lugs S13 hubs redrilled (http://plaza.ufl.edu/maeleone/5lug/).

Did anyone actually LOOK at those pictures?!?!? :wtf: :smash:

The first one looks fine (from the front), but the others show the baaaad part. In order to fit the stud, he had to CUT THROUGH ONE OF THE CASTINGS!! Not only is this bad for the structural integrity of the hub, it's obviously going to cause the hub to be imbalanced. This may not cause immediate problems, but I guarantee the lifespan of this hub has been severly compromised. This is stupid :hammer: Don't do it. Either buy the hubs that work or buy wheels that are 4 lug and let it go. 4 lugs are lighter anyway...and therefore fast4r. :rolleyes: HAHA!

Eric

[WilloW]

Did anyone actually LOOK at those pictures?!?!? :wtf: :smash:

The first one looks fine (from the front), but the others show the baaaad part. In order to fit the stud, he had to CUT THROUGH ONE OF THE CASTINGS!! Not only is this bad for the structural integrity of the hub, it's obviously going to cause the hub to be imbalanced. This may not cause immediate problems, but I guarantee the lifespan of this hub has been severly compromised. This is stupid :hammer: Don't do it. Either buy the hubs that work or buy wheels that are 4 lug and let it go. 4 lugs are lighter anyway...and therefore fast4r. :rolleyes: HAHA!

Eric
No one ever look at the damn pics! I'm not disagreeing with what you're saying about the integrity of the hubs after being shaved like that. I'm looking at a pair of S14 front hubs (5 lugs) infront of me right now, and they don't have the ridges that was shaved off on the S13 hub in the pictures. This make me think that it might be fine, but then Nissan engineer must have designed the S13 hubs with those ridges there for a reason. Good luck to those that going to attempt this and post your results.
http://plaza.ufl.edu/maeleone/5lug/5lug1.jpg
http://plaza.ufl.edu/maeleone/5lug/5lug2.jpg
http://plaza.ufl.edu/maeleone/5lug/5lug3.jpg
http://plaza.ufl.edu/maeleone/5lug/5lug4.jpg
http://plaza.ufl.edu/maeleone/5lug/5lug5.jpg

[WilloW]

Anyone redrilled their 4 lugs hubs yet?

[tastyratz]

ya know i never even considered balancing. i dont think i want to do this now just based on that, i dont want to have some high speed wheel shake or anything like that. either way i finally found some 4 lug wheels to meet my needs anyways so i dont care anymore :-P

[Irukandji]

BACK FROM THE DEAD:

How did this "conversion" go?

[bustav13t]

yes something i would like to know too!