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Slicin' and dicen' tires...

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  • Member since
    November 2005
Slicin' and dicen' tires...
Posted by Anonymous on Friday, April 4, 2003 3:14 PM
I finally tried a technique that I have seen written but had never got around to. Building a Fujimi GT 40 MK I. The tires (tyres) included are the same as in the MK II kit, nice but to wide on the rear. After digging around the parts box and coming up with nothing that would work or look correct I decided I had nothing to lose(?)

I decided that I could remove the center tread from the tire and thus narrow it about 2MM. I thought I could spin the tire on some sort of mandrel and slice into it with a sharp blde. I found a grinding wheel for the Dremel that the tire "just" fit over but I was unable to get the tire to "run true" and thus would not have a clean, true cut. While trying to spin the tire I inadvertantly cranked the Dremel up to high. The tire spun with such force it "grew" and when it slowed and settled back on the mandrel it was running true! Now all I had to do was slice. I marked the edge I wanted to cut with tape and running the Dremel on slow I inserted the blade and let the tool do the work.. Once split, I repeated the process to complete the removal of the 2MM section (which I took out of the dead center to allow for the "crown" moulded in.) A quick run over a piece of 220 and they were ready to re-attach. I used CA glue and a cap from an old CA bottle as a mandrel to align the tire. Once dry a spin sanding on the tread and WOW, it looks a better than I had hoped.I am mounting these on Fujimi Borrani wire from the Ferrari 365 GTB kit (it came with both the Borranis and the Campobelo mags) as the GT40 kit wire are fair at best.
Anyone else had experiance with this and any tips?

RickCool [8D]
  • Member since
    November 2005
Posted by Anonymous on Saturday, April 5, 2003 8:04 AM
All for 2 MM????? WOW!!!! you have more patience then me!!!!!! Nice job!!! they look great!!
  • Member since
    November 2005
Posted by Anonymous on Monday, April 7, 2003 12:26 PM
Impressive results. Thanks for the description. As a note, I had an old screwdriver that had a square end on it intended to attach 'sockets'. I broke off the plastic handle and now I just chock that up into my drill. I find a correct size 'socket' that will fit the tire, and then just attach it to the drill/socket driver. Works great and I have lots of different sockets for various size tires...

M.
  • Member since
    February 2003
  • From: USA
Posted by FITTER on Monday, April 7, 2003 1:27 PM
Hey, Rick: That turned out pretty decent. Those wires are perfect for a GT-40, too!

FITTER
IBTL
  • Member since
    December 2002
  • From: Falun, Sweden
Posted by proosen on Tuesday, April 8, 2003 7:18 AM
I tried this approache a couple of years ago, but my problem was to narrow tires for a countach. It turned out just fine, the only problem is that a nitpicker would complain about the markings on the tire sidewalls stating that they are 285's not 315's that's the correct size for my wheels.

Niclas
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