Island Girl
Well-Known Member
Little Update . . . Long Overdue . . . . And some feedback needed
Still working 6+ days a week, so no time to make any build progress, but I've been steadily getting in new bits for the project.
All my electrical items from Amazon are here and organized, 31 rolls of wire from just looking at my Amazon recent orders . . . countless relays and connectors and terminals . . I could probably do 3 more T's and still have tons left over . . . .
And in spite of trying to anticipate every possible scenario and need, no doubt I'll find there's something(s) I forgot . . . . which I'll blame on old age and senility . . . and maybe the democrats
I also got the MSD timing light with the internal batteries since my battery is under the seat, and my regular light is not multi-spark compatible.
Having gotten all the electrical items from Amazon, I hit up Speedway and got the upgraded headlights I mentioned in another thread, and also the polished stainless steel buckets for them. I know the chrome buckets that came with my kit look nice while in the boxes, but it won't take long in this climate before they turn to rust, so better to go stainless from the start.
Anyway . . . .
I ordered these wheelie bars after searching all the pics and vids of T's with bars I could find . . .(notice I ordered the blue ones) and got the extra set of bolt on mounts.
Santa said I was extra nice this year and threw in a set of real aluminum, Milodon fabricated valve covers with my wheelie bar order. The ones that come on the engine are actually plastic, and while they look pretty nice, they're still plastic fakes of the real thing, which to me, really cheapens the project overall.
Now for some feedback, please . . . . . .
As some previous posts indicate, I need to raise the front end to get some more ground clearance for the lower "chin" of the '34 style grill shell . . . . as is, it just barely clears a 2X4 flat on the ground.
To that end I got a new spring, "eyes down" and a couple spacers, which should get another 1" to 1.5".
From following other "front end raising" threads, the idea of adding material between the perch and spring is the usual go to solution, but that changes the radius rod angle and to my eyes, seems to make the frame look more "disconnected" from the suspension when you add more than half an inch or so.
Alternatively, taller tires would get me added ground clearance plus the inch to inch and a half from the spring and small spacer thickness, . . . . . without changing anything all that significant relative to the suspension.
I currently have 26 X 8R-15's on 7 inch wheels on the front and 33 X 22R-15's on the rear
The narrowest 28" tires are 10 wide and need 8 inch wheels
The narrowest 30" tires are 12 wide and need 10 inch wheels
I'm seriously looking at going to the 30 X 12R-15's with new 10 inch wheels for the front, which would cumulatively give me about 5 to 6 inches of clearance under the grill shell chin. The 10 inch wheels will allow for another inch of backspacing, so it's not adding too much more leverage against the knuckle.
(If it seems I'm being a bit over-protective of the grill shell, to replace a broken one is right at $1000 plus a minimum 3 month lead time.)
Anyway . . . .
Does anyone have any feedback on the pros or cons of running wide front tires/wheels, . . . . . I like the bigs and littles look, but also think 12 wides on the front could have a pretty cool staggered look on a 27 with its curved rear deck.
Thoughts please . . . . .
