Bob, did you see the strange inset on the rotor where the venting is on these?
-Keith
The inset on the edge I believe would be "material removal" for the sake of balancing out the machined casting.
I have observed weights inserted or welded on various "old school" rotors... again, presumably for balancing.
Now discussing the three older rotors I have on hand, two believed as original, factory installed on my car and a third donor (has CENTURY cast into the inside) which I purchased last year from a member of VMF, do not have this machining for balance. Instead, the ones thought to be original, have balance weights welded on. The one with CENTURY cast into the rotor, has no such weights and no such machining. From an engineering standpoint, I cannot see a way to "balance" a hub by itself very easily... however, after a hub would be pressed onto a rotor, I can easily see how the assembly could be balanced.
IMHO, THIS MAY BE WHY WE SEE ONLY ROTOR/HUB ASSEMBLIES available these days. Not just for the inherent defects of "runout problems" like we have been discussing, but also because the two would likely have been FINAL MACHINED for runout AND balanced "as an assembly" (at the factory or manufacturer).
My intentions were to replicate the factory look as best I can with these "Chinitas". Fortunately only one of the "Chinitas" I have obtained has this machining.
As far as the "balancing" issue goes, I will simply leave the rotor with the "groove" cut into it, in play at this time. I'm thinking the hub, by itself, will not contribute too much for any "balance" issue since it is so close to the center of centrifugal force. I will do the machining on both hubs (as previously discussed in this thread) & recheck the assembled hub & rotor for runout and if it is within factory service tolerances (.002"), leave them alone.
Since my local O'Reilley's manager said these were the last two in the country, I suppose having one a bit less than par will be as good as I can get at this time.
On another thought,
Keith, do either of yours do have these machined out areas?
I'm pondering asking if Corporate O-Wowey (my name for OReilley's) if they can make another bulk order of these...maybe trade one in for one without the cut-outs....or just cave in with the idea that Keith & I simply just "got lucky" getting the last two pair available.