Jimmy Oakes upset the purists with this one, he converted his '79 Porsche 911 SC from the factory 5x130 to 5x114.3. Before anyone loses their mind in the comments, hear us out on this one.
Jimmy explained his reasoning perfectly, "We love 5x114 because it's way easier to find cool wheels in 5x114, right? Like 5x130, obviously, there's a lot of cool wheels, but you're limited to such a small market of wheels that you're going to end up just looking like every other Porsche guy, right?"
He's not wrong... because the Porsche tax is real. 5x130 wheels can easily run $10k+, and half the time they're in what he calls "Boomer spec". A little harsh, but we get the point.
The technical side of this conversion is interesting. Many will know that the hub setup on air cooled 911s is old school. The rotor actually bolts behind the hub rather than slipping over it like we're used to seeing on modern cars.
Jimmy's new 5x114.3 pattern overlaps with the original 5x130 holes. So they had to weld up the original holes completely, then start fresh. "Fill and drill. That's what we're talking about," as he put it.
The process, while technical, is relatively straight froward :
- Pull out the old studs (which just pressed out after 45 years... who knew?)
- Weld the original holes closed
- Machine everything flat and square
- Create a template for the new bolt pattern (in this case, 5x114.3)
- Drill in the new holes and press in M12 studs (replacing the original M14s)
Speaking of the studs, the move from M14 to M12 is actually huge. A lot of aftermarket wheels are designed around M12 studs, so this opened up even more options.
Jimmy's bolt pattern conversion is just one mod on an even crazier build - he's cramming a Maserati V8 (designed by Ferrari) paired to a 996 transmission. So yeah, subtlety was already out the window anyway.
Between the engineering challenge, the "screw it, let's try it" attitude, and wondering what wheels Oakes ends up choosing - we're going to keep close eyes on this build.
What do you think? Brilliant mod or automotive sacrilege? Let us know... and check out the build here:
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