I did a search on both these questions and although I found some info, nothing was geared towards my questions....so I am shooting this out there. A couple of my friends and I are doing a custom 54 chevy 2 door post. Chop, heads, tails, skirts, shaves, drop....the works. I am almost done with fab and rebuild and almost ready for body and paint but I have ran into 2 major issues and I want to make sure Ive thought this through before I move on. I did a rebuild/drop on my front suspension and steering. I felt the stock suspension was a very tough and tasteful design but just wanted to clean it up, give it some new life and drop it down. I used the Jamco drop kit (4" drop in leafs, 3 in springs), all new tie-rods, idler, stabilizer and all new pins, fatman dropped uprights and steering arms and the ECI disc brake conversion. The car came with chrome reverse rims with Coker bias-ply 235 75R15's (which I am ***uming are either 7 or 8" rims) and I am putting steelies (6in) with the same size Diamondback radial tires on it. Once I got everything done and dropped it down on the old rims and wheels I realized that my tires are going to be into my fenders when I turn. The tires rub after a small amount of turn only in the front arch of the fenders, not in the rear arch. I was expecting a little but nowhere near as much as I have. I havent had a chance to really get underneath and start doing some measuring but I know that when dropping a 54 the wells are naturally going to get closer to the tires. My rims are painted and tires were made for me, so I cant return them. So I have to figure out some other solutions. Buying new rims may be a minor help but if I go much smaller than 6" I am going to be looking at pizza cutters and I am not interested in that solution. Another option is modifying the well arch and raising it up a few inches (which I think I may do anyways)......has anyone ran into this problem before and if so any helpful advice would be appreciated?????? BTW....it looks like Ive got maybe 3/4 to an inch of room left between my tires and my tie-rods so using a different offset isnt going to help me. Thanks in advance for any and all advice or help. Also, anybody ever had any problems getting a hood from another same year car to fit properly??? The only stupid questions are the one's we never ask so I am throwing it out there and thankful for whatever I get. I am planning on getting into the fab work on the wells mid-week. You can see the chop and some other mods Ive done if you check my threads..... THanks again.
Hey Ronnie, With the front springs under full compression how much of the tyre is in contact with the fender arch? Perhaps, if it's just slight you can get away with just rolling the inner flange of the front fenders flush with the back side of the fenders. If the contact with the inner fenders is major a little section work or fender flairs from another vehicle will need to be sectioned and welded in. Your measurement with the tyre & wheel under full compression will tell which way you will have to go. What's the question with the hood? " Beware the irrational however seductive "
Thanks Paint, its more major than that. Im gonna have to modify the fenders for sure but i will use more of how foster did his 54 and just raise em and get the clearance. My problem from there is how far out the tires are period. It would be drivable but i dont think its looks the way it should . The disc brakes may have pushed em out.
I dont know if this is going to help any, but here is my 53 with about 1.5 coils cut off of the front springs. The rest is untouched, stock g78 15 tires.. The tires were damn close and would rub the fenders. Just a reference shot incase you could use it... -Jon
yeah jon, that looks pretty much like mine. Its gotta be just the way the car was made. Hoping that the inch I am going to gain on my rims and the 2-3 inches I am gonna take out of the arch will do the trick. I was hoping there might be something I am overlooking or not thinking of but it sure looks like yours is pretty damn close to were mine are at. Thanks for the visualization.
The Jalopy Journal
