MadaboutKitcars

That's useful for reference but it's based on the regulations for a fairly recent car.

The rules for older cars differ in some key areas: there's no minimum height requirement for the reflectors on a pre 1985 car, they can legally be almost touching the ground. There's also no minimum separation or minimum height for the reflectors pre 1985, so long as they're no more than 600mm from the edges, less than 1525mm high and symmetrical, you can put them where you like. You also don't need a rear fog light on a pre 1980 car, although it's probably a good idea to have one for those misty autumn morning drives.

The lighting regs look complicated with lots of clauses, sub sections and exceptions, but it's all pretty straightforward if you know the date when your car was registered.

Useful info!

Thanks Towed

Here's my interpretation, with reflectors low and inboard.



Regards, Mick

Great info.
Thanks again Mister Towed and Mick O'Malley

Hello,
Today's progress:
So there wasn't much I could do today in terms of body work. I took my beloved grinder and made some more stainless steel cladding
Plan is that entire boot is covered with steel apart from wheel arches. I think I need one more day to complete that.
I had a whole sheet that came from commercial kitchen refurbishment last year that now comes very handy. I have more plans with stainless steel in the car at later stage, watch this space
I also managed to treat all exposed metal with red oxide paint including bulkhead but took no photo.
I am starting bigger job project on Monday so my updates will reduce a lot.
Some pictures to tell rest of a story.
Have a good weekend
Kuba

Hi. Nothing happened in the garage itself but postman delivered some parts today. My 1 inch lowering block arrived along with indicators and headlight cowls.
You might be happy that I've decided to go with larger wheels too.
I have bought 15" just not sure if they fit yet.
I'm considering to put 15" at the back and 14" at the front. Any reason why I shouldn't do that? I hope you can help me to answer that...
Thanks and till next time.

Hello.
I didn't managed to go to a garage today but at least some parts arrived. I got front spax shocks and springs. Still waiting for ashtray for my dash as well as bradex "jet" fire extinguisher.
Also today I've been speaking with Jason at MWS. Very helpful guy by the way. I confirmed that 52mm spline hub doesn't really work on small triumph running gear as PCD is a little too small. So I've ordered 42mm hubs that can take 14' or 15' wheels (those would be my first brand new items so far)
Take care
Kuba

It's normally the other way round isnt it? Bigger wheels on the front to handle the bigger brakes, with lower profile tyres, for sharper handling, and then smaller wheels on the rear, with bigger tyres to give a softer ride and more of a muscle-car type look. The way you suggest would give it a forward rake, which i believe may handle better, but might look odd. The main reason i'd say is just personal preference... maybe try to borrow some, so you can try it and see what you like the look and feel of?

always big wheels back smaller wheels front

it’s not a front wheel drive max power special

Either way I'd keep them the same size front and rear to avoid the Wacky Races look.

Thank for response to all of you. I understand a point with wacky races look but in the end it would be a 50's race car lookalike of sort.
I will have a go as soon as I get hold of some suitable 14' wheels.
I think my wheel arches will have a final say that as I'm not prepared to cut them out to accommodate larger wheels
Work doesn't allow me to play at the moment so not much to report.
My ashtray and fire extinguisher arrived today as well as my wheel adaptors from MWS (beautiful )
Also I'm contemplating taking off spitfire shell from a chassis to see what else needs doing. That was one thing I really didn't want to do but I think will be worth it in a long run.
I should mention that my mechanical skills as well as knowledge is rather limited
Thanks again for suggestions and till next time.
Kuba

If it's good enough for ACBC, it's good enough for you...



Regards, Mick

This look is an option too !!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nqqZ28m8uCo

Lucky, good one

Mick, I like a look of that Lotus but after all I'm leaning towards same size wheels in the end. I might play with different tyre size.

Love those Carlos Fandango wheels!

There's a young lad lives round the corner from me with the same wheels on his Honda Civic.

fair point. I wasnt thinking massive difference though.. more like 15s on the front with 195/45/15 tyres, and 14s on the rear with 205/60/14 tyres, so it's almost level, or just a slight forward rake still.

how about a cheap alternative to trial it... draw or print them out onto cardboard, and mess around with jackstands to get the height to look like you want from the side?

Thanks for this suggestion however that isn't going to work.
I really need to put it on wheels with entire weight of a car to make up my mind. If I go this route I need to reshape wheel arches so cardboard it's not going to cut it.
On the other note...the only update is that I bought nice woodwrim steering wheel on fleebay sign by Tony Brooks some racing pedigree at last.
Kuba

[INDENT][/INDENT]QUOTE=kon;105999] fair point. I wasnt thinking massive difference though.. more like 15s on the front with 195/45/15 tyres, and 14s on the rear with 205/60/14 tyres, so it's almost level, or just a slight forward rake still.

how about a cheap alternative to trial it... draw or print them out onto cardboard, and mess around with jackstands to get the height to look like you want from the side?[/QUOTE]

There are likely to be issues with fouling and/or usability if you go to big or too wide, while there's a period/visual fit issue with anything very low profile.

On a small-chassis Triumph based car the maximum tyre diameter you can get away with without moving the front bulkheads back is approximately 25 inches (636mm), and even then you might have to 'realign' the bulkheads with a lump hammer or cut and reweld them to stop the tyres fouling them.

Additionally, wheels wider than 5.5" can foul the suspension so you may need to add a 'stop' to restrict the steering travel, while tyres wider than 175mm can foul the inside of the wheel arches, dependant on the profile, and definitely make the steering too heavy at low speeds.

If you want the tyres to look period, you also need to go with a higher profile aspect ratio. Big wheels wrapped in tiny rubber bands weren't available back in the day and the look of the wheels and tyres makes a big difference to the whole look of the car.

As an example, the 195/45/15 tyres mentioned above have sidewalls a full 2" (50mm) lower than the 175/80/14's I had fitted to my Spyder, so would look very different -



Various different options were tried on Sammio Spyders and I'm guessing that the space available in your arches is similar to those, and the most used sizes were as follows:

165/80/14 - no fouling issues
175/80/14 - bulkhead may need 'adjustment'
175/70/14 - no fouling issues but sidewall can look a little small
155/80/15 - bulkhead may need 'adjustment'
175/70/15 - no issues but limited availability
175/65/15 - no fouling issues

This calculator is quite useful when checking just how big a tyre will actually be -

http://www.circuits.dk/calculator_wheel_tire.htm

Anyway, good luck choosing a wheel and tyre combination that works for you.

Mister Towed once again thank you for comprehensive information. This would be extremely helpful in the coming future.
Good luck and regards
Kuba

Just a quick update. After one of the hardest negotiations on fleebay I managed to secure really nice mgb set of 5 wheels. Result.
Unfortunately I don't think I will find any time in the garage this week.
Till next time
Kuba

And, slowly, the penny drops…

When I searched for original Alpha builds, this was as close as I got.



And now I realise it is the same build.

Kuba – Well that certainly explains your fearless angle grinding.

My apologies, this reply has been long overdue…

I have a vague plan to be back on the road after Easter if I can get some time off work.

So, I’ll definitely arrange a visit to your neck of the woods when the Covid rules allow it.

Glad you enjoyed my build thread, as I definitely proved anyone can build a car.

Although I might also have shown that it could take a LOT longer than you hoped to do.

It looks like you are making great progress.

It is funny how just painting some red oxide on makes such a difference.

I like what you are doing with the boot area.



Adding some alloy panels inside my own boot area is still on my ‘To Do’ list.

And finally…



There are certainly some Pros & Cons with doing this.

Pros:
- It will definitely help you find any more rust.
- It will make fixing any rust easier.
(As you don’t need to worry about welding near the wiring loom!)

Cons:
- You have to disconnect / remove quite a lot of stuff to get the body shell off.
- You lose the ability to start the car and move it (assuming you can still do this now).

For me, I ended up with a seized clutch and an unhappy engine.
(Although, in fairness, my car was in pieces for years. :icon_evil

Having said that, you appear to be getting stuff done quickly.

And, jokes aside, you do have a garage that should make things easier.

Whatever you decide to do, we will be here on the side lines if required.

Good luck, Paul.

Hi Paul, thank you for your kind post.

Yes that was me who chopped Mikey's prototype in half.
Removing spit body shell wasn't a part of a plan but I can see benefits of that as well as downsides.
At present I have so many things removed both from bulkhead and dashboard that it wouldn't make huge difference to remove them all...I think...

I am planning to rebuild and lower front and rear suspension so not heaving body tub would just make those jobs a little bit easier.
However I know that could end up badly for me and this project

Unfortunately nothing to report, work took over completely but hopefully by the end of next week I will find few evenings to work on the car. The only update is that I managed to collect my wire wheels and bought a nice set of spinners.
All the best till next time
Kuba

Hello there,

I thought I'll post a quick update however there is not much to report.
I was finally able to source floor pans for my donor, I was lucky enough to buy full floor L/R but I think I will just weld the one that I already cut out.
Also wire wheels are fitted to the rear. It looks so much better even with wrong tyre profile (wheels came with 165/70)
Unfortunately due to work commitments I cannot squeeze any time in the garage at present so progress is rather slow or minimal.
I also got poly bushes for front and rear suspension from fleebay as bushes on my donor were practically non existing.

Till next time
Kuba

Hi, I thought it's time for a quick update as over a month flown since my last post. Work is busy as hell which takes me away from all the fun in the garage.
However today I have managed to spend few hours working on wheels. I cleaned them, remove any rust and got them ready for paint. Then sun came out so I've grabbed some rattle cans and gave them good two coats of paint. Possibly not to everyone's taste but I love how they look. I need to fit tyres and they good to go. Other then that nothing changed, no progress on a shell or suspension but hopefully by the end of a month I will take few days off to lock myself in my cave.
All the best and till next time

Kuba - Small progress is still progress.

Good luck, Paul.

I really like those wires in gold paint. What's the main colour going to be?