The go with Scorpion 14" wheels ...

[discopotato03]

Having looked at most options for a Subaru L Series I think the Scorpion 14 inch steel wheels seem to be closest to ideal that I can find info on .

The biggie is the 55mm offset which my factory WSM says is std for an L Series .
None of the aluminum wheels except the rare Subaru ones appear to have the right offset so basically nothing you can do with the others will make the steering geometry right .

So for those that run them tell me what you think of the Scorpion wheels .
From what I can see they fit properly and seem to look the part on an L or MY . The site says $185 ea though I'm not sure if that's a current price .

I also looked into tyre circumference and 195 60 14 works out to be the same as 185 70 13 so in theory no speedo error if you go this way .
I believe Michelin do that size in an MX1+ so all good .

The only thing I don't know is what sort of weight these steel wheels are , most likely more than an alloy wheel but IMO a bit heavier is preferable to wrong off set .

I will be inquiring about five of these in the very near future , cheers A .

Edit - links to some interesting Michelin sizes .

http://www.michelin.com.au/tyre/pattern ... /EnergyXM1
http://www.michelin.com.au/tyre/pattern ... rgyXM1plus

[El_Freddo]

Yeah A, they're a good looking rim on the L's. Dunno about their weight, but if they were a little cheaper I'd probabily go for a set as well.

Cheers

Bennie

[Gannon]

Did you actually contact Performance Superlites and ask about the offset? Im sure ive seen somewhere that they can do different offsets.

[discopotato03]

Well at this stage they look cheaper than Performance Superlites , to be confirmed , and this is important when look for five of them .

Best is they unbolt and are a sellable item if like me you end up parting your car out to recoup costs .

Have a look at the second of the two links I added in the above post this morning , 195 70 14 and 205 70 14 were not profiles I knew existed .

Have to dash atm but will be crunching the numbers through a tyre calculator to see what gearing increases I can get from those two . I lost almost 12% of my upper gearing with the close ratio/carby gears in my AWD L box , 35-3600 revs at 110 .

The 205 is interesting because it puts more rubber on the road always provided I can get the suspension geometry right .

Interesting times , Cheers A .

[Point]

don't you think you're being a little bit too pedantic about offset? I mean, if the factory got it so right, why are you talking about so many other geometry changes in the front end. Like re-boring the knuckle where the strut goes in, and lots more caster etc. Even changing the tyre height will affect the scrub radius (which would be why the Forrie/Outback wheels are different to the Imp/Lib). It may even be worth drawing it up (in CAD?) so you can find out what offset you do actually need.

Don't get me wrong, I've always preferred OEM wheels of the correct offset for my previous FWD cars, but they haven't been that hard to find and they haven't needed the drastic geometry changes that the older subies seem to need.

[rtcb65]

Hey Mate,

At $185 each, you are well on ya way to a crossbred kit which gives you 4 wheel disk brakes and the option of wrx, liberty wheels.

[someguy]

Hey Mate,

At $185 each, you are well on ya way to a crossbred kit which gives you 4 wheel disk brakes and the option of wrx, liberty wheels.

+1 thats what I would do.

Just remember if you have an EA82 and you do put on say 16-17" rex or lib wheels they will drain virtually all the power out the already under powered engine

[Gannon]

Just remember if you have an EA82 and you do put on say 16-17" rex or lib wheels they will drain virtually all the power out the already under powered engine

Why?

When you go up in rim size, you usually go down in profile to keep the original rolling circumference.

Adrian, use this for calculating your tyres. Miata Tire Size Calculator
Its very easy, just click the "metric" button to change it from mph to km/h

[discopotato03]

Point its like this , most wheels are only out by a long way and you obviously don't realise the importance of it being right .
Yes I do realise that changing the strut inclination angle has an effect here but I'm only talking about 1-1.5 degrees and that's if I go that way rather than using adjustable strut tops which do SFA to scrub geometry .
Only two things affect scrub radius and that's strut inclination angle with the strut foot and wheel offset .
Things that move the complete strut in relation to the car for camber or caster changes have NO effects on scrub geometry - at all .
The thing to realise is that incorrect wheel offsets , generally outwards , usually increases the steering effort and definitely affects bump steer . It is of no benefit from a handling perspective and if anything makes the vehicle harder to drive .

From a legal perspective there would be limits to how much you can increase a vehicles track width let alone rim diameter and width . From memory in days of old it was something like one inch in each case meaning 14"/6"/ 1/2 inch per side track increase or one overall . This would mean going from 55mm positive offset to 42.3mm positive offset .
The fact that the wheel protrudes beyond the bodywork is totally illegal in NSW anyway

Brake wise I don't have major issues with my L Series , they could be better but they are hardly inadequate . A lot of the problems could be solved with braided brake lines and a slightly larger bore master cylinder which goes bolt/bleed .

I own one of the original CrossBred kits and don't want to use it , once the wheels and tyres are sorted it will be up for sale .

As I've be saying for a while old cars don't sell for good money no matter what their mechanical spec is . If you asked 10 grand for a high spec L RX Turbo everyone's gonna say piss off pal I can buy a Liberty or an early Rex for that money . So many undercut the car down to a give away state and lose most of they've spent .
But ... sell a properly developed EA82T to bloke A , the AWD L gearbox to bloke B , the R160 LSD to bloke C , the proper spec wheels to bloke E etc etc and bit by bit you get more of what you spent on the complete car back .
Ten people prepared to spent realistic money on upgraded parts or assemblies that fit any std L Series can do so without bankrupting themselves , this is the way not to lose too much with old modified cars .

A .

[steptoe]

reminds me of the birthday card I got one year - "one tick on your licence and you're spare parts for ten people"

[discopotato03]

I have been here before with the Bluebird that was mechanically more DR30 Skyline than anything else . Complete drive line / brakes / suspension from crank pulley bolt to diff oil fill plug . EFI/Twin cam/Garrett BB turbo/intercooled/Autronic/R200 LSD and IRS/correct offset 16 x 7 inch wheels /TRX910 plates because it was a Series 1 TRX and that body was a 910 Series .

I asked 7 for that car when it was not possible to duplicate it properly for double that . No one wanted to pay and said nah we can do all that themselves . Pigs chocolate star fish they could .

The last bits are still to sell and I'm over 6G on the way to 7 having parted it out 5 or 6 yrs ago .
Silly fools passed up a properly built and fully engineered car that would have cost a fraction of what I put into it .

Last I saw that shell it was going down the road on the back of a truck with its crane boom sunk into its turret .
Shame the car had to die but I couldn't afford to give it away , Ellie may end up going the same way because I am not a charity and have to work for my money . The issue is that Ls inc the rarer RX Turbos have low perceived value and people don't want to pay for a well set up one .

A .

[discopotato03]

Anyhow all that aside can we please see some pics of L's fitted with Scorpion Subarus 14 inch steel wheels and talk about what sized tyres people run on them .
I'm not into lifting personally and there is a wide variety of 14 inch tyres in 60/65/70 profiles and useful widths in the 185/195/205mm width area .
The obvious one is the 195 60 14 because it is to all practical purposes the same diameter as the RX Ls 185 70 13 .
I did notice some tyre manufacturers like Falken offering a 205 60 14 but not my favourite Michelin brand unfortunately . They do make the 195 60 in an XM1+ so that may be the go for me .

Cheers A .

[steptoe]

One day people will appreciate the L RX or equivalents for the more money we will want for them. Only just yesterday a fellow introduced himself as Hoppy, a mate of the websites 'owner', wanted a pic of my beast and talked fondly of his RX and how earlier in the nineties no one was prepared to sell theirs. He had to wait until mid noughties until he got one. Same here

[timmo]

http://www.ausubaru.com.au/showthread.php?t=15884

[discopotato03]

That's a real clean car you've got there timmo and those wheels complement it . Can you tell me what sized tyres it has on those scorpions .

Also very interested to know the finer details of that radiator of yours .
Sounds like fabricated tanks welded to a production aluminium core .

Thanks for the pictures , cheers Adrian .

[timmo]

185/65 at the moment. When it needs tyres I think i'll get 195/65. Speedo reads about 5km/h under currently. Radiator has a alloy holden vectra core which is the same length and width as standard L but thicker (can remember extact dimensions, something like mine is 21mm, standard is 15mm). Hand made alloy end tanks with bungs for thermo fan probe and a/c thermal cut off. Its held within the standard frame so fits without modification - but there is not enough clearance for clutch fan so i run the standard thermo and a 10" davies craig, both contolled via the factory setup.

[steptoe]

timmo just hit the 500 club!

The Vectra was 2.2 litre wsn't it? I recall the Astra 1.8 about 99 model had circular tubes in aluminium in the core. Was the Vectra the same?

[discopotato03]

Yes I was kind of wondering about stretching my gearing a tad tyre wise , I must look at 195 65 as well .

I did start looking into Vectra radiators and I think there was a 4 and a 6 cylinder version . I will look into that idea as it would be cheaper than having a one off made , retaining the steel straps as you said makes mounting as per std .
My water pump viscous hub fan sits a long way back from the radiator and in fact is part way out behind its own shroud .

Thanks for the tips cheers Adrian .

[discopotato03]

It looks like these Scorpion wheels are going going if not already gone .
I rang them this afternoon only to hear that they don't have any ATM and may not be making up any more .
One of the staff is interstate presently and I have to wait until their others can contact him to find out if they can run five up for me .
Apparently they don't get much call for them these days so possibly no future for them .

I suggest if anyone wants these wheels to contact Scorpian Subaru ASAP , I'd say unless you get in now there won't be a later and it may already be too late .
A shame since these wheels seem to be the only ones with the correct offset diameter width and stud pattern .

Cheers Adrian .

[Gannon]

Here are Jono's photos i promised him id upload