Spare Tire

[Frank Kuhn]

 I woulg like to replace the phony fiberglass tire, with a real spare tire, but don’t know how to go about. Will the engine cover support what I would have to put on it?

Frank Kuhn

[Alex Cantacuzene]

Hi Frank, I have been thinking about that too for quite a while. I believe it depends on what kit you have and on what base it sits. I have an early kit from FiberFab on a ’71 VW and there is no provision for doing that. FiberFab was talking later on about bringing out kits where the spare could be mounted but in the meantime they are out of business. I asked this question some time ago on a forum but never got a response. I just would like some type of description of the support frame or something of that sort and then I could make one. Oh, well, take care and have fun.

[Brian]

Hi,

BCWs have a spare tire carrier with a real spare tire. The spare

tire can swing out of the way when you want to open the

engine lid on VW models. I would be happy to send you some

close up photos to aid you in your modifications. Send me your

emails.

Cheers,

Brian

[Mark Hendrickson]

I had a VW based CMC/FiberFab kit. Bil collins now owns it (Angelica).The engine cover was probably the same as the ones with the fake tire bump. There was bump for the spare tire molded in to the cover. Depending on the year of manufacture, I think the engine covers were design with a fake bump when the VW’s had the “wide 5” bolt pattern. I think the covers are slightly different for a 4 lug IRS VW wheel.

I had IRS 4 lugs wheels. I used a stock VW wheel as a template and made a circular plate out of 3/8″ thick aluminum. It looked like the letter “O” with a hole in the center the same size as the center hole of the VW wheel.

I then drilled 4 holes, in the 4 lug bolt pattern, in the plate. I tapped 2 of these holes with the correct threads for the VW lug bolts. I used the other two holes to attach the aluminum plate to the underside of the engine cover using two socket head cap screws (allen head) that would act as locating pins for the two wheel holes that were not using the VW lug bolts.

The spare came off by removing the VW lug bolts and the plate stayed on the engine cover.

You could probably make a steel plate out of an old VW brake drum the same way and not have to tap any threads. A decent machine shop could probably cut the drum down to size for a reasonable price.

 

[Guests]

I would like to see the design you are talking about Brian or the pictures. I have a 1980 that I would like to put a real spare on. Oh yeah I luv my MG-TD…

[Author]

Posts