MadaboutKitcars

Yep... KISS

I have been spending lots of time in the garage recently and have now sorted the exhaust and dome some surgery on the body to get it looking more symmetrical and almost got it to the point where it is ready to be bonded on. Copied a few tricks from others and have introduced a couple of my own ideas. Keep meaning to take some photos but haven't had the chance.

Final 'check' before fitting the body permanently into position is the rear wheel arches. Car is currently sitting on 13" donor wheels and the wheel arch gap is too big. But I am planning to copy Trevor (earlier of this parish, who collected his kit at the same time as me and finished some time ago!) and fit 14" wheels. Think he fitted 165/70/14 and don't recall he had any problems with the tyres touching on full lock. Looking at some 14" Minilights on Ebay which have the correct PCD and are available in a variety of offsets.

Do 14" wheels make sense to any of you guys out there?

Thanks

Chris

Yes they certainly make the car look better if you check out my thread and others you will see the difference the 14 inch rims make although i still had to alter the rear arches to a symmetrical curve and am in no doubt the front arches will require further surgery but overall to me the 14 inch looks better than the standard 13 inch rims but at the end of the day it's down to what you like the look of.

Look forward to see some pics.

And that tyre size is fine, don't whatever you do fit 185/70 R14s there too big and you will end up buying a new set of tyres at 165/70 R14....ask me how I know :-(

Mac

I have the 185 70 14 fitted and that must be why i was unable to fit a floor mounted pedal box like you have mac, but they do look good.

Tony I have (until tomorrow) a set of 185/70 14's and they do just clear the master cylinders but its just too close for comfort, and bear in mind I moved my bulkhead back!

Mac

cbjroms This may be of interest to you http://tire-size-conversion.com/ for tyre size etc, there's also a speedo re calculator.

175/80/14's fit mine fine front and rear.



I did move the front bulkhead back 20mm and bash them in with a lump hammer though. 175/70/14's should be a good fit but don't quite fill the arches like the 80 profiles do though. You can clearly see the difference in looks between mine (when it was on 70 profiles) and Phil and Barry's cars on 80's in this picture -

Good comparison photo Mrt it's only in the flesh that you can see how they look, are all three cars on 14 inch rims, the green sammio looks to be on larger rims but it may be the angle deception of the photo?

All on 14's but I believe Phil's (green) Spyder is on 5.5" wide while mine is on 4.5" wide while all are on 175's. Not sure about wheel width on Barry's blue one. The main differences on that pic are the tyre aspect ratios, 70's on mine and 80's on the other two, and suspension settings, mine was lowered much more than either of the others at the time.

I'm usually a fan of Autobahn Scraping suspension but it was this picture that prompted me make the change to higher profile tyres and less slammed springs as I felt the other two cars just looked better than mine at that ride height.

Here's another shot from a different angle which also captures the difference -

yes towed right... green car 5.5 72 spock blue 4.5 60

I had 165/80/15 on my Spyder and while they did look _cool_ they were (i have to admit) a bit too big!

I always said i'd go for 14" on the next build and i've gone for 175/70/14 for the Miglia and so far they cause a _lot_ less problems!!

So if I go for the 165/70/14 tyres then I just need to make sure that the wheels have the correct (ie 95.25mm PCD).

What difference does the wheel thickness make? Not sure whether to go for 5.5 of 6. This must have an impact on the wheel's ability to clear the bulkhead?

Thanks

Chris

Grateful for all the answers above and I am now able to add some photos which summarise my progress to date.

First shows the shorter, Sammio outriggers and bracket to support the exhaust system.



Rear lip after major surgery and with slots for the seatbelt buckles.



I have bonded some webs into the top of the shell so that I can bolt these through the frame when the body is in situ. Including a couple at the back which will be bolted through the outriggers.



Side and front webs.



Not a very clear shot but trying to show the major hump surgery that I decided needed to be done.

CJ - Good to see some photos.

Was the major hump surgery to align them with the seats?

Good luck, Paul.

Hi Paul,

Considered hump surgery to align with seats but could not work-out a solution that would have looked correct. Probably why Gary put them where they are in the first place!

But a straight line across the front of the 2 humps was nowhere near perpendicular and the cockpit edge in way of the humps was very rough. So I thought that I would 'kill 2 birds....' but it involved quite alot of work.

Other problem is that the passenger hump is somewhat shorter the the one on the driver's side. So that still needs attention.

Chris

Have just fitted my brand new 14" alloys and put the body in-situ.







Now to decide whether I need to adjust the wheel arch to decrease the gap between tyre and arch.

Looking at other cars I think that it would look better if I did some surgery!

Chris

Chris – Nice wheels.

I’ve got a similar set, but in 13”, that came with my donor.

At some point I think I will have to adjust all four of my wheel arches too.

Good luck, Paul.

Thanks Paul,

The wheels do look nice but I have decided to do some wheel arch modifications.

So 10 minutes with the grinder and the familiar cut & shut work starts again. This is the near side positioned today and will now do the offside before getting everything glassed into place.



Chris

That's done the trick.

-

[/QUOTE]

Mr T.You never told us you competed in the highland games?

Wonderful!

Yes, should've mentioned it really but I always find it handy to keep a caber in the car. You just never know when you're going to need one...

instead of a jack...

Chris - How much of a gap did you leave between the tyre and the wheel arch?

Cheers, Paul.