Hub bolt sizes

[Chuckie]

Hi all I fear I'm going to be made look silly very quickly but for sake of a lot more head scratching I'm willing to take the humiliation!

I have a 1992 3b coupe and a little while ago I had some kw varient 1 coilovers fitted.
Now being a 3b the hub bolts are (or so I thought) m12, I even checked the offside front bolts to be absolutely sure before ordering my new suspension.
As I have a mate who owns a garage and does things on the cheap for me I got him to fit them whilst I was a work. Upon collection of the car though he tells me that there's a problem with the hubs.

The offside front hubs have m12 bolts fitted but the near side front hubs have m14's?!
This now means that the x4 m12 type spacer washers that kw supply to go between the back of the hub and the bottom of the suspension leg will not go over the m14 bolts.

So he's told me to get hold of another set of hubs if possible to rectify the problem. So, I did. I took the new hubs to him to fit and left it with him. Upon collection this time he tells me there's still the same problem!!
What the heck is going on with my hubs?!???

I now have x2 sets of near side front hubs with m14 bolts and x2 offside with m12 bolts?!

Am I going mad? Has anyone else had this problem or am I just being a complete div?

I've since been trying to get hold of kw to see whether I can get some m14 spacer washers but their after sales service is about as efficient as a chocolate tea pot.


Please, please, please can anyone shed any light on this as my car has now been off the road for nearly two months while have been trying to sort this.
It is driveable but without the spacer washers I'm unable to get the car tracked.


Thanks all in advance.

[Error404]

The early hub carriers were M12, the later ones M14. No detail on the switchover so you need to check each set individually but around 1992. Who knows why you have a unmatched pair and I think you are just unlucky with the second set you got being the same.
The good news is the hub carriers are not unique to the S2, so you can use them from a 20v or V6 car too and there are millions about.

[Chuckie]

The early hub carriers were M12, the later ones M14. No detail on the switchover so you need to check each set individually but around 1992. Who knows why you have a unmatched pair and I think you are just unlucky with the second set you got being the same.
The good news is the hub carriers are not unique to the S2, so you can use them from a 20v or V6 car too and there are millions about.

Ah well thats good to know. So if i can get hold of an early 20v or v6 carrier then this should sort things out?

[AndyD]

Ah well thats good to know. So if i can get hold of an early 20v or v6 carrier then this should sort things out?

Just make sure if you go for V6 ones that they come from a V6 and not from a smaller engine model as they have a smaller bearing size than the V6 and you S2 hubs won't fit.

[K Simmonds]

Or there's nothing to stop you taking a 12 mm bearing carrier to an engineering workshop and having the holes opened out to 14 mm. I did that with mine it cost about £25 to do a pair and they're now identical to the 14 mm carriers.

If you have a pillar drill you could even do it yourself.

[Chuckie]

Just make sure if you go for V6 ones that they come from a V6 and not from a smaller engine model as they have a smaller bearing size than the V6 and you S2 hubs won't fit.

Thanks Andy i will keep that in mind

[Chuckie]

Or there's nothing to stop you taking a 12 mm bearing carrier to an engineering workshop and having the holes opened out to 14 mm. I did that with mine it cost about £25 to do a pair and they're now identical to the 14 mm carriers.

If you have a pillar drill you could even do it yourself.

Its the m12 size i need though as the spacer washers i have are for those size bolts.

[K Simmonds]

Ahh I see, what size are the hole's in the struts themselves, 14 mm ?

[Chuckie]

Ahh I see, what size are the hole's in the struts themselves, 14 mm ?

Thats a very good point actually I have no idea!
They must be 14mm for the bolts to fit but they're brand new from kw so they're not going to be odd sizes are they?
Thats really confused me now.....

[K Simmonds]

Yeah I reckon the KW bolt holes will be 14 mm so if you got your hubs drilled you wouldn't need the special washers just regular 14 mm ones, but like I said in my PM I may be missing something as I don't have KW's.

[Chuckie]

Well I think I have now got to the bottom of the problem and feel I should post my theory incase anyone else in the future goes through the same headache as I do.

From what I can tell kw have a generic bolt hole size. They may all be something like 16mm to save on cost and enabling them to use the same suspension (or at least the bottom brackets) on a multitude of vehicles.

The spacer washers I previously spoke of are so that the suspension will work on your specific car. I.e. 14mm bore washers for abys and 12mm bore for 3bs. The outside diameter of the washer remains the same on both examples (16mm).

It is indeed my bad luck that has helped me obtain a second bloody pair of hubs with odd sized bolt holes.

However I have since spoken to kw and have managed to get a set of m14 spacer washers.
Not cheap at £10.50 per washer plus £20 postage!
However on reflection, compared to buying another set of hubs I feel it still works out cheaper and and happy enough as it means I can now get the car tracked and driving again.

Thanks again for all your help and suggestions guys.


Dave.

[K Simmonds]

Ahh, what a giant PITA! Glad your got it sorted in the end.