Well put the 4" drop superbell I beam under it today, speedway said I needed the 3 3/4" dropped steering arms, well its a good thing I didnt cut the stock steering arms off first because the dropped arms would have put the draglink right in the middle of the stock wishbone,. I ended up heating & bending the stock steering arms up 3/4" & now the draglink sits about 1/4" above the wishbone, I have to pull the king pin & lift a spindle to install the tie rod as it is a bottom load, whew, the superbell is about 1 1/2" narrower @ the king pins than stock so the draglink had to be shortened accordingly. I have a cross steer setup so the pitman arm had to move up a few inches also to clear the wishbone, all in all it turned out great, now to take it all back out to paint & install brakes. The rear was lowered 2" by heating the main leaf for mock up, I'm going to find a new reverse eye main spring & then take a couple more out of the stack to make for a total of 4" drop out back, any leads on a reverse eye rear main leaf? Thinking I need to find a skinnier lower profile front tire & a little taller & wider rear, anybody make a radial blackwall thats square like a bias? Back on the ground.......................
Great looking coupe! I had the same steering arm / wishbone problem with my '31. Lengthened the aftermarket arms, but put the stock steering set up back on for now. Try Posies for the reverse eye rear spring...Steve
"Looking great...what engine are you going to run?" Thanks, itl' be sportin the stock running gear until I can find, budget & build all the peices to do a traditional AV8, found a 42 59ab flathead, a 39 trans & complete rear axle all here @ the HAMB, what a great place, makes me feel all warm & fuzzy inside.
Uzek, the coupe is looking real nice. Coker is suppose to make a radial that looks like a bias ply. I've never seen it though. Why not run bias ply's? Keith
Looks great, Orcas ! Some big ones and little ones will do the trick. ***uming you are going for the vintage look, go with bias.
[ QUOTE ] Thinking I need to find a skinnier lower profile front tire & a little taller & wider rear, anybody make a radial blackwall thats square like a bias? [/ QUOTE ] NO RADIAL'S. You will destroy the whole look of the car (which is great by the way) if you put radials on it. A radial will never look like a cross ply end of story.
Great car. Regarding your spring question: There's a spring shop over here in Ballard that should be able to reverse the eyelets, dearch them, etc. for you. I can get their info. if you'd like.
Man, that looks great. We had a curved, reverse eyed '32 rear main leaf made by Benz Spring, downtown Seattle (www.benzspring.com). They did a great job on that so I would guess that they would do a great job on a model A reverse eye spring. I have to agree with those that say that the bias ply's are the way to go to retain the early look that you have so masterfully achieved. Dad has them on his '34 truck. He's kind of a wuss when it comes to this type of stuff and he dosen't seem to have any trouble with them.
Thanks all, I plan on driving the heck outa this thing & really dont like the white knuckle feel of driving on bias ply tires, where I live the roads are windey, narrow & heavily crowned, the bias try & **** you to the low side of the crown, it kinda takes alot of the fun out of driving. Was hoping to find a radial that looks like a bias, checked on cokers website & couldnt find such an animal, still looking...........
Uzek, call Coker. I've never seen them on their website either. And by the way, white knuckling with bias plys is part of the fun. Nothing like the rear tires jumping sideways to catch up with the front ones!
Here you go. "Coker Cl***ic 16" Wide Whitewall & Blackwall Radials" http://www.coker.com/store/customer/home.php?cat=363
ouch those things are spendy, maybe th radials will have to take a back seat for now, well my wife says that gray hair makes me look distinguished , thanks for the leads
Well I put the gl*** in today that oldbeet cut for me, fit like a glove, also painted the wheels, not sure if I like the red yet, figure I gotta stare @ it for a few hundred hours to see if it will grow on me
Looks very nice. Hey coupehead, take notes cu'z Rolf and I are gunna steal your A and chop it just like that.
Man, that's one beautiful Coupe Body!! I run Coker bias ply tires on my AV8 roadster and never had the problems so many folks speak of. Glad to see another AV8 abuilding!! It was warm enough here I could have the side curtains off mine today.......put 50 miles on it before I knew it, what a blast! Good luck and enjoy the build
The one you refer too is gonna stay in the sky, but as to the other A you and Rolf are more than welcome to help me chop!
Uzek A bone looks great. I can't wait for a ride... I have a brand new set of 600-16 / 700-16, blackwall, firestone deuxe champs I wouldn't mind parting with or I'll split them up. I think the 700's are a smidge ambitious and plan to buy a set of 650's for the rear...
Orcas dude, your posts are refreshing. No dancing bears or scenester **** just nice work! I did that car.
You know everybody has been asking that, I wasnt planning on it, maybe after I get all the REALLY important things addressed, I think I hurt the banger today, kind of a bummer due to I'm a lot of $'s away from being ready for the V8 install, anybody got an A or B motor thats a runner in the N.W. to hold me over for a year or so?