Marcos Maniacs

Hi Don and Marcos Maniacs,
I have been thinking about switching to Panasports for a couple of 
years.  A conversation I had with Dave Methley in England confirmed 
my thought process. (Dave races a 1800 like mine in England and has 
won the championship 4 times) The decision went something like this.  
The car presently has two bolt patterns on the wheels.  The cars has 4 
1/4 inch  pattern on the rear wheels and 3 3/4 inch pattern on the 
front wheels.  The wire wheel adapters got around this problem (and 
the spare wheel problem).  I wasn't real happy with the smaller studs 
in the front (3/8) as they are known to break occassionally under 
stress.  The other parts of the problem are that wire wheels are heavy 
(especially with knockoff adapters) and not as strong as their steel 
or aluminum counterparts.(But they do look GREAT!) In addition, the 
center sections of my wire wheels were showing signs of rust do to 
poor plating.  The original owner noted the problem of poor plating 
back in 1983 when he bought the wheels.  The spokes (stainless steel) 
and the rims look great. I was talking to Dave Methley and he said 
that part of my handling problem was do to the larger diameter 
wheels in the back ( I can't keep the rear end glued to the road when 
using a lot of power.  I can throttle steer like crazy,however ;)Dave 
said that the 1800's with a driver aboard has a  basically a 50/50 
weight distribution.  The 14 inch wheels in the back put more weight 
on the front and less on the back which contributed to my problem.(For 
you guys with a "nose in the air" problem, the 14 inch rear and 13 
inch fronts might work better... who knows?) If I went to 14 inch wire 
wheels in the front I would have more unsprung weight (bad) and a 
higher center of gravity (bad) and more ground clearance (good). If I 
went with 13 inch wheels all around, then the reverse is true.  So I 
decided to go with the 13 inch wheels.  It cost less to convert to ALL 
new Panasports than to buy ALL new Chrome wire wheels (To get rid of 
the rust problem) although price wasn't the issue. So with the 13 inch 
wheels I should get better weight distribution (by replacing the 14 
inch wheels in the back only)less unsprung weight, and a lower center 
of gravity.  The only negative is less ground clearance (1/2 inch due 
to the wheel/tire change) which hasn't been as much of an issue for me 
as for other Marcos drivers.  The Panasport wheels that I am buying 
are 13 X 7 with a 4 1/4 backspace and 4 14 bolt pattern. I am also 
changing to aluminum front hubs (lighter for less unsprung weight and 
the same bigger studs as the rear wheels (7/16) and in the same 
pattern). I am also changing the spring rates on both the front and 
the back on Daves recommendation. The fronts springs are going from 
200 lb to 225 lb and the rears are going to 160 lb. The anti-sway bar 
will remain the same at 7/8 inches. I am also going to new tires with 
a really soft racing compound.  I drive the car less than 5000 miles a 
year and the Yokohama AVS will last a hundred years at their current 
rate of wear.  So rather than wait for the tires to get old, cracked 
and hard, I decided to go with a racing tire (DOT legal) that will 
wear out in less than 10,000 miles which will equate to two years of 
use for me.  These tires are "super grippy" but with a high wear 
component.
I haven't decided what I am going to do with the wire wheels and 
tires.
Best regards,
Mike Denman
1966 Marcos 1800
Chassis # 4079



--- In MarcosManiacs@y..., "mcaqmd" <donlattimer@p...> wrote:
> Mike,
> 
> Car looks great!  Why the switch to Panasports??  Are you going with 
> 13" or 14" or are you keeping the 13" on the front and 14" on the 
> rear?  
> 
> What are you going to do with the wires??
> 
> Don Lattimer
> #3M5759 V6