This seldom happens to me, but a link on Facebork sucked me into clicking on it and I keep thinking about it. Petrolicious article on turbofans.
My first reaction was must have them for my Rabbit. But now, eh, maybe not.
So I wonder, would you, could you rock them? Or are these a little too extreme 80's to pull of on a modest project?
An example:
I'd love some 16's on an xjs. I'm a little odd at times.
I'd rock some large diameter (17") mesh-look turbofans on the Crown Vic. They're just so awesome.
The GT40 wheels were supposed to do that. I recall reading an assessment of "just barely did anything."
84FSP has a set of Ronal Turbos on his rabbit, and they look perfect.
I remember when you couldn't give away Ronal Turbos. I wish I had known how desirable they would eventually be to the water-cooled VW crowd.
ssswitch wrote: I remember when you couldn't give away Ronal Turbos. I wish I had known how desirable they would eventually be to the water-cooled VW crowd.
Given that wheels are the guy equivalent of clothing fashion, you can probably also sell your disco outfits now as well.
In reply to Dr. Hess:
We restored a few Corvette race cars at a shop I worked at that used Corvair engine cooling fans on the front wheels. They got mixed reviews from people I've talked to but they looked impressive.
In reply to Nick (Bo) Comstock:
Yeah, me too.
It seems I'm having trouble finding them for sale. I have seen where folks have diy'd them, and they don't look bad.
Mind you, I highly doubt I will have trouble with overheating brakes. But maybe they would look cool.
Wall-e wrote: In reply to Dr. Hess: We restored a few Corvette race cars at a shop I worked at that used Corvair engine cooling fans on the front wheels. They got mixed reviews from people I've talked to but they looked impressive.
I was going to mention the same thing. I have seen a picture of this setup, but cannot find any on the internet.
They may not do much, but they are really light. All late (centrifugal) fans are made of magnesium.
The turbofans I'm used to usually have GE, Pratt & Whitney, or Rolls Royce attached to them.
IIRC people were bolting Corvair engine fans to the inside of wheels in the 70s/80s?
Probably not a junkyardable solution anymore 
In reply to aircooled:
We did this one. It has American Racing wheels with an aluminum adapter bolted in place of a center cap. The adapter is a large threaded stub that the fan slides on and then a collar threads on to hold it in place. You can unthread it quickly by hand and remove the fan to change tires.
In reply to Wall-e:
That seems like an amazing amount of work to go through, even more so now that an intact Corvair cooling fan is probably worth more than your average C3 eBay big-brake kit.
Wheels with spokes shaped like fan blades do barely anything for downforce but they help a lot with brake cooling...F1 cars still use them, and that's why you see big plumes of brake dust being ejected sideways from the wheels sometimes.
These wheels do sap a tiny bit of power from the car to "run the fans" vs. a straight-spoked wheel, which is like a feathered prop.
I lusted over these a few yearts back
there are "real" turbo fan wheels, like old IMSA and LeMans racers. And there are turbo-style wheels, which probably don't really do much.
I was planning to run genuine BBS turbo fan wheels on my 190E racecar: basically BBS RS wheels with bolt-on fans.
However, I was warned that since "wheel covers" and "center caps" are specifically disallowed by most modern race sanctioning bodies, turbo fans would probably not be allowed.
In reply to LanEvo:
That's too bad since they look great on 80s road racers.
ssswitch wrote: In reply to Wall-e: That seems like an amazing amount of work to go through, even more so now that an intact Corvair cooling fan is probably worth more than your average C3 eBay big-brake kit.
They were done when the car was new in the late 60s. If was fun working on that car seeing how much the tried out to make the car last 24 hours with stock components yet how crudely other elements were hacked together. It looks a better than new as the guy that machined the adapters for us based them on photos the originals but finished them really nicely. He also built that aluminum front spoiler which is a work of art.
No mention of early C4 Vette wheels?
I always kind of liked the Mugen "heat sink" type wheels too:
Zender, OZ Racing, Compomotive, and a number of much scarier copycat manufacturers make some cool turbo wheels as well:
Early 80's Firebird Trans Am "bowling ball" wheels?
on the cheap you can do vette salad shooters with Zender Turbo 2 style stickers...
I would love a set of turbofan wheels on my RX7. Much want.
Yes, totally would rock them.
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