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[Guest]

Ok...time for my next line of questioning. I bought a new set of rims and
tires for the car...looking great. I'm concerned about the clearance around
the rears though. I only have about 1/4" clearance between the outside of
the tire and the body right now. This is due mostly to moving from 14" to
15" rims....I needed these for my future move to disc brakes.

In any case...there is a substantial lip around the wheel well that is about
an inch deep. I'm thinking of trimming about half an inch off of it..and
rewelding the inner and outer together if necessary. I have all the body
working tools...but have zero experience (ya think I didn't know what I was
doing before...you ain't seen nothin' yet :-> ). I'm thinking a str8 cut
across the top 2/3 of the well and then bevel it in near the end of each
cut...to make sure I have a good place to put the chrome back on.

Any tips, suggestions, warnings, guffah's?

Thanks,

Scott

[Guest]

Low profile tires? I sure hate to see you hack away at that body...No
matter ¼ inch
isn't much. Raise the rear end? You could, whats the word? Tunnel the
rear?
Box it? What it is that you box the rear inner fender, making it wider,
taller.
Thats a _lot_ of work.
I know, get some skinny brake drums.
:{ )

Dan
Milw

[Nate Nagel]

ssc@remove_me.copelandelectronics.com wrote:

[Eugene Blanchard]

How much clearance do you have between the tire and the inside of the wheel
well? You have 1/4" to the outside lip. If there's lots of clearance on the
inside, you may need a different offset rim, that moves the tire closer to
the inside.

ssc@remove_me.copelandelectronics.com wrote:

[Guest]

Already looked at the low profile tires...the problem is, they're not low
enough and are even wider than what I have (the body panels are designed to
come over the tire by an inch or so normally). I could go with much more
expensive tires and probably get what I want, but right now, I'm just
looking to get her on the road and keep the wife happy at the same time....I
think that's impossible :{ ) . What I'm thinking of doing is cutting the
inner fender right out almost to the body panel...that would give me most of
an inch of clearance and still wouldn't be seen on the outside. The other
advantage to this is that it would get rid of the "rust rim"...there's not
much rust there yet, but that's one area that always seems to rust first.
No lip, no place to hold water.

I'm also looking at raising the rear just a bit. I like the lines the way
they are, but I don't think an inch or so of lift would look too bad.

Most of what I'm looking to do is with the inner fender and not the outside
body panels.

This will all go away once I get the new rear end in another couple
years...but that's $2,500 + the cost of a good divorce lawyer :-{ )

Thanks,

Scott

[Guest]

Nate,

Thanks for LOTS of good information. I'm still digging through it all. The
springs on my car are only about 4 years old...when it was stored it was put
up on blocks to ease the load, so I'm pretty sure they're fine...the stance
looks correct too. I'm thinking at this point that I will cut the inner
rim, see what I get and if I need any more, I'll put a spacer in the springs
to get it up an inch or so. Good articles though...good thing I got the
equipment way back when.

Thanks for the help...and NICE CAR! I saw the pics.

Scott

[Guest]

Already tried that...these are inexpensive Cragar Nomad II's. They don't
come stock in anything but what I have. I do have all kinds of room inside
the well behind the tire....wish I could get the same rim in a different
offset.

Thanks,

Scott