It was a wise man who said: “Why kill it? – When you can overkill it.” With the absence of rally for the time being. I wanted to focus the team and get us thinking about something else. James and I had several discussions regarding what class I was going to run this year. I want to focus on getting more seat time in the Neon, so it’s going to be front wheel drive. “Snow tires?” I asked James with little excitement. Imagining the long plow into every corner followed by delicate (albeit useless) struggle to get the car pointed again. “Studded snows?” “Better – but you’ll be up against the Jackson’s.” James replied. The Jackson’s (who organize the event) have more seat time on that lake then I have in any car I’ve ever driven. I’m not saying it can’t be done, but I have a lovely collection of 2nd place Ice Racing trophies. “Screw tires?” A sudden flashback of ramming 100 sheetmetal screws into a Bridgstone RE-92 made my eyes roll back into my head. “Well – If we’re going to do it. It has to be done right.” Washers, lock-nuts, sizes, patterns, and tires danced in our heads.
The final combination came down to a set of old Yokohama slicks, 1/4X20 1″ bolts, washers, and Andrew came up with the suggestion for nylon lock-nuts. No need to get the Lok-tite out. A diagonal 3 pattern was chosen to utilize the blocks already in the tire. The 4th row of bolts would sit off-set in a straight line around the outside edge of the tire.
When the hardware arrived we quickly got down to drilling, threading, and tightening each bolt into the tires.
Christine threads bolts while James goes “berserker” drilling into each tire.
A few hours at a time. We took three days, about 12 hours of total time, to build them. 672 holes, bolts, lock-nuts. 1344 washers. 5 bloody knuckles. 3 Band-Aids. We hand tightened and checked every bolt along the way. The stud sticks up about 1/2″ with 1/4″ of exposed bolt at the end. Not too short. Not too tall.
Mounting will happen on Thursday. With the last week of bitter cold, we could be on the lake with them this weekend! They are reporting 9″ of good solid ice, growing each day. Please stay tuned for more pictures, video, and reports as we race this season.
Do you run tubes in them or is the seal on each bolt enough to make them hold pressure?
No tubes!
Washers on both sides help – locknuts hold them tight.
Coated the inside with industrial rubber cement after all the bolts were in. No leaks – we also filled each tire with a bottle of Slime. We’ve run 3 events with no problems.
http://www.slime.com
– Kris