I just picked up a used Strange 12 bolt for a smoking deal, and am about to put it in my car while it's down. But; as it sits, the 12 bolt has the 1/2" studs that look to be 3+ inches long. What I want to do is replace them with a stock length 12x1.5 stud as the wheels I'm going to be using for the track don't require a longer stud (Centerline Telstar, uses acorn lugnuts and stock length is supposedly fine).

What I can't find after much searching is overall, how long is a stock wheel stud for the LT1 4th gen F-Body?? Second, the Strange Engineering website says that the axle hubs are drilled/tapped for both the 1/2" AND M12 studs. So......after checking ARP's website for screw in studs and finding nothing, what recommendation do you guys have for that?

 

Honestly, my advice to you would be to leave the studs as they are. I wanted to go with the 3" studs in 1/2" but it was going to cost more than I wanted to spend to get my rear drilled and tapped for 1/2" studs so I opted to go with ARP's 12mm 1.5" studs.

IMO you are better off leaving the 1/2" studs in unless you really want to change them out. Is it really that big of a deal that they are longer than you happen to need? NHRA requires the long studs. I am hoping to get by with my 12mm 1.5's. I realize that this post isn't aswering your question, but I just don't want to see you do something that I personally think you might regret. Other than that, I don't know about downgrading your studs. Sorry.

 

NHRA Doesn't require longer wheel studs. It requires a certain amount of the threads (equal to the diameter of the stud I believe) to be engaged by the lugnut, which is driven by the design of the wheel itself. As such, from everything I've seen the stock length wheel stud with a closed end acorn lugnut is sufficient when used with the centerline Telstar wheel.

I want to swap them out because I have absolutely no want to have extra long wheel studs poking out of my wheels through open ended lugnuts. It may seem trite, but I hate how that looks and refuse to kill the looks of the car because of something like that. I don't care about spending a little money to get what I want on there, that's not going to bother me as the axles are already drilled tapped for the M12x1.5 lugnuts as well as the 1/2" ones that are already installed.

All I need to do is find the right set of wheel studs to put into the axle, which I'm not having much luck with right now.

 

A stock knurled 12mm wheel stud is 2" long. That includes:

knurl = 0.32"
threads = 1.34"
unthreaded end = 0.34"

The Strange axles are drilled for both 12mm and 1/2-20. Mine came from Strange with 12mm 2.0" long studs. I eventually removed them, and screwed 1/2" 3.0" long studs into the other set of holes.

Ask Strange where they get their 12mm screw-in studs.

 

Perfect information. Given the proposed power I'm going to be running and the fact that i'm going to hit it hard, I'm inclined to stick with the 1/2" studs on the rear, but in a shorter length.

Injuneer, off the top of your head, would you happen to have an idea of how long the wheel studs can be without looking ridiculous on your typical street wheel?? I don't want a bunch of unnecessary length in there, which I think the installed 3" will be.

 

I have 3" 1/2-20 studs in the back. With the Weld wheels, the end of the stud is just slightly past the end of the Weld lug nut. Keeps track techies happy.

For street wheels, I have the AFS ZR1 replicas in 17x11". With the 3" studs, to keep them from sticking wayyyyy out of the lugs, I found a set of Excalibur "duplex" acorn lugs. They are about 1.5" long. But the closed end was still bottoming out before they seated to the wheel. So I drilled the closed end of the lug, and threaded it from the open end with a 1/2-20 tap. Now the studs just barely stick out the ends of the "duplex" lugs. With the real deep center of the 17x11 wheels, it doesn't look to bad.

The advantage of having the 1/2" studs is that you can get the "duplex" acorns. In the front, I still have 12mm studs, but they are the 2.67" long ones that just barely meet NHRA tech, and then on top of that they have more than 1/2" of unthreaded length, which looks absolutely ridiculous on the front wheels. I just took the standard closed-end acorns that came with the AFS wheels and drilled and tapped them. I'm looking for 12mm "duplex" lugs, or I'm going to cut lot of the unthreaded end off the studs I have now.

Let me see if I can find the pictures.

 

Found them:

Street:
http://www.injuneer.com/images/photo...s/DCP02502.jpg
http://www.injuneer.com/images/photo...s/Backlugs.jpg

Track:
http://www.injuneer.com/images/photo...s/DCP02503.jpg
http://www.injuneer.com/images/photo...s/DCP02504.jpg

 

Thanks for the shots. I shouldn't have to get such long wheel studs based on the wheels I'm going to be running. Shouldn't being the operative word.

I am definitely going to stick with the 1/2" studs in the rear, just gotta find some that are a little closer to the stock length. Time to give strange a call.

Thanks again Injuneer.

 

If you use 1/2" screw-in studs, you should be able to find them in 2" and 3" lengths. Its the 12mm's that are hard to find.

 

Wouldn't happen to have a manufacturer or link to 2 inch 1/2" screw in studs would you???

 

Strange will sell you the metric studs. They are 2" long. I had to replace mine numerous times.

Steve

 

Strange shows 1/2" studs in 2" and 3" lengths in their catalog.

 

Huh.....I didn't see it on line. I'm just going to call them on Monday and see if I can't get some. Thanks for the help everyone.

 

Page 15, A1025 and A1026

 

Thank you sir, I was looking in the wrong place in the catalog.