Spare wheel

[Inky]

Can anybody tell me which wheels fit a Portafold i.e. Mini etc.

[demondriverdave]

Hi Inky,

Yes Mini wheels will fit, note they do not have the 3 nipples sticking out which hold the hub cap on.

Dave.

[Admin]

Check out the Questions and Answers page where I've got a small amount of info on what I've managed to find out about the wheels:

http://www.portafold.co.uk/q_and_a.html

[Gordon McLaren]

I posted a message in General Discussion a while back under hubcaps. If you have Mini wheels or can get rims marked 21A2744 next to the stud holes, these can take a hubcap 88G337, available at http://www.minispares.com or eBay, they can also take the wheeltrim 21A2743, these are usually available ok on eBay.

Cheers Gordon

P.S. This is the type fitted to mine, see the members gallery.

[txfsealord]

Hi Inky,

I was looking today at the 2nd Portafold brochure on this site, which I haven't viewed before (I have an Ansfold) & I noticed it specified 5.20-12 tyres. This has to mean the use of Hillman Imp wheels, as they were the only 12" rims for this stud pcd (pitch circle diameter) available at that time. The picture in the brochure shows a Vauxhall Cresta towing a Porty fitted with 12" wheels.

It's interesting, as Imp wheels have a very big offset (displacement outwards). When they're fitted to an Austin A35/A40 to lower the gearing from those cars' original 13" rims, they stick out as if they have 1" spacers behind them. Now, on our vans I've noticed there's very little clearance, on the Rubery Owen axles, between the tyres of Mini wheels & the ends of the radius arms. If they were originally using the Imp rim with its huge offset, that might well explain this.

Also, the towball height often looks low compared to the 'modern average', both Portys & Ansfolds tending to adopt a nose-up attitude when hitched to a car. Add this to the large amount of room in the wheelarches, certainly more than needed for 10" rims, it all points to the 12" Imp rim as original fit in my opinion.

There is the issue of available suspension travel though, before we all rush off to eBay for Imp wheels. Bigger wheels mean the usual settling of the ride height on Port/Ans, due to the axle mounts distorting the fibreglas floor, spring-settlement etc., must be corrected otherwise the bigger tyres wear through the arches when running.

One last point: later Minis had 12" wheels which would also fit our studs. These had even less offset than the standard Mini rim as these cars all had disc brakes which protruded further than the earlier drums. I don't know if these rims would fit without fouling anything. I think it unlikely.

Steve Lord

[txfsealord]

Hi all, a friend of mine bought an Ansfold last Friday. This is the first time I've seen the original Rubery Owen wheels, the ones with the 3 "nipples" to locate the hubcaps. My own Ansfold has Mini wheels on & I assumed, incorrectly, they were the same.

Well, they aren't. The Rubery Owen has a bigger offset, moving the wheel rim outwards about 1" more than the Mini. Also, the hubcap location is slightly smaller in diameter so although the RO caps can be persuaded onto Mini rims, they are very tight, & foul the raised part of the rim midway between each locating bump, there being no nipples on Mini rims.

This will not be news to those of you who already have the correct wheels. I now know what Petman, Demondriverdave & others meant regarding hubcap nipples! May I apologise for writing rubbish here in the past about wheels, I'm still learning!

Steve Lord

[anorakite]

For ref. Mini trim rings will fit the Rubery Owen wheels ok, if one fancies a bit of 60's bling!!!!