Today was a very busy day for the C1

[firstgear]

I had a friend from work come over today, Eddie Williams. I have known Eddie for about 26 years and he has raced everything from Jeeps in hill climbs and the dirt drags to Chevy's at the local drag strip. So I figured it would be good to have him over today (since we both had the day off) and see what progress we could make on the '60.

I got up this morning and decided it would be easier to move the frame around if we had all 4 wheels and tires mounted on the frame. So in the process of getting everything mounted, I looked at the rear end and saw that something just wasn't right.

I had ordered Boyd Coddington Junk Yard Dogs with Goodyear F1 tires on them for my project. I had originially started with Cragar 17" wheels, but after trying to find tires that looked good on the read, I gave up and went with the JYD's 18x8 on the rear and 17x7 on the front. Both were to have a back space of 4". But as I mounted both wheels on the rear, something didn't look right. See if my photos show it well enough...

If you guessed that the backspacing was different between the two you are CORRECT. Looks like they gave me one (left) that had a 4" back space and the other (right) has what I think is about a 5" back space. I have just a little more than 1/4" clearance on the right side to the 4 link bars. Which is exactly what I figured would be the problem (too little clearance) and didn't go with 9" wide wheels.

Here is a photo with all 4 wheels mounted on the frame....

I like the look a lot better than with the Cragars. Of course I could resist at all, since this is the first time I had all 4 wheels on the frame, so before Eddie and I got started I had to drop the body back down one more time to see what it looked like with the new wheels......I really like it.

I set the suspension up with the shocks each at their mid point. After seeing this photo, I think I am going to drop the rear down to the bottom mounting location and in effect drop the rear of the car down 1". I stuck my hand inside the wheel wells and the body where it sticks out past the frame is going to need to be cut back slightly to create a little more clearance, but that shouldn't be a big deal.

Photos sure are foolers, looking that at the shot above, it looks it is ready to be washed and waxed and all set for trim....I happen to know better. But this is a good start and it gives good encouragement to keep driving the project.

So, the odd ball wheel has to go back to Newstalgia Wheel. I should have known right then what kind of day I was going to have....because it went down hill in a hurry once Eddie got here and we started to get things mounted. See the next posting about the issues we had....it wasn't a fun day and we struggled for about 4 hours with two different problems but on the same part, the McLeod Scatter shield.

 

[IH2LOSE]

Car looks REAL sharp with the wheels you picked

 

[firstgear]

Car looks REAL sharp with the wheels you picked

thank you Larry!! You might remember me asking you how many times did you have your body on and off your frame once you got into your project, that has stuck in my mind and I really don't think twice of dropping the body back on to check some things out now.

I like the way the wheels tuck under the fenders now, but it does mean that I need to have the inner fender wells slight cut back even with the frame to give the appropriate amount of clearance. If Myers could have mounted the 4 links inside of the frame, I would have easily been looking at 9" rims and perhaps 10" for the rear. Next project!!

I do have to say that the Myers pieces from their kits has been really painless. Pieces went where they were supposed to go, any suprises that there might be had fair warning in the documentation. Really easy.

Seeing the body sitting on the frame with the wheels makes me want to continue pushing ahead....seems a long ways down the road.....

 

[Tom Bryant]

Great looking wheels. One of my favorites.

 

[Fuelie]

As others have said....those wheels look great.

That car is going to have a nice attitude when it is all done. I can't wait to hear your first impressions after driving it with the new suspension. I really enjoy reading all your updates. Keep all the pics and info coming.

Take care,
Brian

 

[firstgear]

As others have said....those wheels look great.

That car is going to have a nice attitude when it is all done. I can't wait to hear your first impressions after driving it with the new suspension. I really enjoy reading all your updates. Keep all the pics and info coming.

Take care,
Brian

thank you for the words of encouragement.....some days i get a lot done and then it will sit for several days or even a weekend. After seeing it with the wheels on, I am encouraged.

Eddie was looking at it and he mentioned that he through that perhaps my clutch pivot positioning relative to the motor might out of position. I don't know if it is or not.....I will have to see.

but thanks again for the encouragement!!!!