Clearance question #1: How close can a tire be to leaf springs? Clearance question #2: How close can brake lines / proportioning valve / master cylinder / line lock be to fenderwell headers? see pics below- I've got good clearance on these tires except on the p***enger side near the front of the leaf spring. Maybe half an inch? I can tweek it for a bit more but it seems awful tight. ugh... after re-working this (after this pic was taken) the bottom line is about an inch from the header. The only other option I can see is moving the proportioning valve ***embly down on the frame someplace. I'm not really thrilled with the idea of re-doing all those lines.
I have a little more separation on my Jag 120/SBC header to master cyl. I made a heat shield of thin aluminum stock and bubble insulation(Home Depot type). I have an infared temperature probe unit..and have recored 155 or so MAX..with 140 median at the Master cyl. Yours is ABOVE the header and might heat more from the header heat rising..mine is horizontal to my headers. Make a shield..measure the temps..
PV=NrT if im correct heat from headers with cause the volume in the brake line to in crease . How much idont know. got to figure out the gas constant. This is due to Ideal gas law where p is pressure , v is volume n is for mole of gas, r is for gas constant and t for temp. brake fluid is not a gas but im sue that for fluids as the temp rises the volume increase. Havent learned about fluid dynamics yet. plumb away from headers. move the proportion valve up and to the right and back. problem fixed
If you drive it hard on the street, around corners and thru bumps, 1/2" will likely generate rub marks even though you may not hear rubbing. The brakes concern me, especially considering heat rises. Perhaps a small heat shield is in order, possibly discreetly covered with a modern adhesive foil designed for the purpose. good luck
how come you didnt mount that valve on the frame rail ,out of sight,dont look era on that sweetheart,not that your lookin for a period car, but that valve is an eye catcher.car looks the balls with no caps and whites
Too close for my weak heart. No offense but I think the engine compartment would look a lot neater with the valve relocated to the frame. It's worth the extra effort. You may want to make a simple heat shield for the two brake lines as they p*** by the headers on the way down to the frame if it's tight there.
Tire clearance is probably ok, but keep an eye on it when you get the car on the road. I'd move that brake combination valve thing down and out of sight, and keep the brake lines away from the header as much as possible, and see about mounting the line lock to the firewall.
Looks like there's a bent line coming off the bottom of the propo valve or whatever it is. Find a 90 degree fitting and use that to make the initial turn then bend up a new line headed to the back of the car. That will give you a bit more clearance, even so, make a heat shield. Best of all would be to put the gizmo on the firewall and re-plumb it with new lines. As for tire clearance, a half inch would do it provided you take it easy on the corners so as to avoid rubbing like Shifty says. Better yet, a slightly narrower wheel with less backspace. Or a 1/4" spacer. Pay attention to the inside of the fender well if you bring the wheel/tire combo out away from the spring. You may have to clearance the fender flange a bit. Before I did anything to the wheel spacing etc., I'd drive the car and see if it did rub on the leaf spring. It may not be as bad as you think since the spring is going to bend a bit when the car corners and it may not be enough to let the tire touch the spring. If it does touch you'll find evidence of rubbing on both spring and tire. A frame-off build? Might be as simple as loosening the body bolts and getting the body on center. Body/frame mismatch is common on the Shoebox Fords, usually closer on the drivers side and the popular 8.20 x 15 tires rubbed on that side and didn't rub on the p***enger side. Clearancing the inner fender flange usually cured the rubbing on those cars. A panhard bar could help as well.
That brake line wont work. I had a line next to my duals on my 49. The muffler shop pointed it out, (oldschool car guy) It had about a 1/4" clearance. He said that line needs moved when you get a chance and showed me. I drove the car about 20 miles and rock hard brake pedal! Car cooled down and pedal was normal. I got in and drove it another 20 miles back home and rock hard brake pedal. The brakes werent rock hard where they were good, it made it where I had to stand on the pedal about 4 times harder than normal just to get it to stop. I crawled under pushed the line over about 2 inches and brakes are back to normal.
Thanks for the compliments on the car guys! It's going to be a month or two before the car hits the road. I guess I'll see about mounting the proportioning valve on the frame. I have some work to do the rear springs too. They need new bushings, so maybe I can do that and then see if I can move the spring on the perch a bit for a little more clearance.
yes looks alot better, had a friend who mounted them too close like you had before. his brakes would lock up on him. Awesome car!
My ex mother-in-law sent me a Christmas card with that very image on it one year... I concur, it looks better and having the valve outta sight and away from all that heat is a good thing.
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