 |
| As you can see the backspacing is pretty deep. |
There are several factors that have to taken into consideration when trying to fit non original wheels. First of all there is the wheel lug pattern, in this case they are identical at 5 on 5 spacing. The second is the diameter of the rim. Generally you can usually fit a larger wheel than stock. I replaced the original 14 inch. wheels on my '70 Mustang with 15 inch Ford Ranger wheels. In the case of my Mark VII my plan was to change to a 15 inch wheel that accepts a more conventional and easier to source tire size. Not to mention much. much, cheaper. Since I had an old 15 inch Riviera wheel lying around I tried it on front position. It cleared the brake drum and didn't seem to have any interference with the tie rod ends. The backspacing on this wheel was 3 3/4 inches. I think that this wheel came off of a '77 Riviera. This was disc brake equipped vehicle and I believe that the backspacing is greater with disc brake wheels.
When I was looking for replacement wheels I thought that wheels from a drum brake equipped car would be a better fit. As I posted last week, I figured that a wheel that could fit over the finned Buick drums would fit easily over the Mark's rather large brake drums. I should have measured the Mark wheels before I bought those Wildcat wheels. When I arrived in Cotati I measured the backspacing on the Buick wheels.
The backspacing of the Wildcat wheels was only 3 inches. I decided that the wheels would probably work okay, especially since they were only going to be used temporarily. I didn't anticipate any problems using them on the front wheels. There was a lot of space surrounding the wheel and it doesn't seem that there were any problems.
Obviously things were going to be much tighter in the rear, especially with those tight fitting spats. As I was fitting the wheels I discovered that there was some conflict in between the sidewall and the bottom front edge of the wheel opening. This was while I had the car jacked up. I trimmed off the small triangle of metal and when level there was plenty of clearance. That little bit I trimmed off won't effect the fit of the fender skirt. You won't even be able to see it with the skirt in place.
 |
| The tires are spaced out almost an inch from stock. When the body was jacked up there was a bit of conflict with the sidewall |
What will affect the clearance is the wider track of the wheels. The tire rubs against the inside of the skirt. So I won't be able to run the skirts with these wheels. I wonder if the cut away skirts used on the Mark VIII would clear the tires. Or maybe some "Coombs style" radiused cutaway skirt might be employed.
 |
| It didn't take much to restore some clearance. |
 |
| I think that Ronnie Adams just ran without skirts when he won the 1956 Rally de Monte Carlo |
 |
| Coombs style open wheel arch. I might try this if I find an extra pair of skirts. |
So what is the final result?
I have a set of tires with good amount of tread left. The tread is almost twice as wide as with the original style tire. The track has been widened by around an inch and a half. The car sits about an inch and a half lower due to the smaller diameter of the tire and wheel. It seems to me as though this could only have a positive effect on the handling.
I really don't have any impression of the way it would of handled when new. What I was looking for was a set of tires that I could use while I was trying to get the car up and running. That's what I've got.
 |
| Modern radials are much better than old bias ply tires. |
 |
| I've always hated the way those tall side wall, pie crust tires look. |
 |
| I put the skirt on just for the photo. I have always had a preference for whitewalls. |
No comments:
Post a Comment