Flaring rear arches

[MarkB]

Made a bit of a C**k up today and a little peed off. Tub has been back on the chassis for a few years now and in between work, being side tracked and largely waiting on parts thought things were coming together, only been seven years so far. Anyway having trouble with wheel clearance so decided to trim some of the lip off. I repaired this on both sides years ago along with a new wing, which has never fitted properly and been the cause of alignment problems. This area is double skinned where it meets with the inner wing. I new I had to be careful but went to near the outer edge of the wing so now the edge needs welding up the car is in a lock up with no power and been using a generator to run power tools but not up to running a welder.

Tub now needs removing and bringing back home, turning upside down so I can do the job properly. With the driveshafts i am using along with the old style Dunlops and 185 70 tyres the track is wider than standard and even if I trim the return in the wheel arch the wheels may still rub. The car is going to be low and I don't want to use narrower tyres and wheels.

Now thinking of subtly flaring the arches, not sure how yet what are you thoughts?

[ahebron]

Sorry to hear about your C##K up but we all make them.
Have pou thought about changing the offset of your wheels or replacing them with different offset wheels.
MGF for instance or staying with 13 inch 1300 TC ones might fit.

Adrian

[Clive]

Which driveshafts are you using? Long ones from a late spit/gt6?
If so save an inch by using shorter ones. Or indeed wheels with more inset, dolomite ones may work, or mgf spare wheels are 14inch with more inset too.

[MarkB]

Hi,thanks for your thoughts.

I did think about changing the wheels which are Old Dunlop LP923 5.5 x13 plain steels which I have had for years and like. I thought these would fit with a little trimming of the arches but to be honest in retrospect wish i hadn't attempted it and gone for ones with less offset. I ran these on a Mk3 Spit for years with no issues but I did have clearance issues when I tried them on my Mk2 GT6.

I am using Kingston Sports Cars Sliding spline driveshafts with a de-cambered rear spring.

Now I have butchered a perfectly restored inner arch and new wing, it needs repairing so i will have to remove the tub and sort that out. If after trimming and restyling the inner arch they still don't fit then I will go for a new set of wheels, probably Revolutions.

I know I am making a lot of work for myself but feel compelled to do this, strange I know. I think it must stem back to the late sixties early seventies when as a boy, would very occasionally go to Brands with my dad, I remember the Anglia's with the deep wide steel wheels up in the Arches, and sitting very low. Not practical, but the look I am after. Don't know if I will flare the arches still not decided.

Thanks

[MrSpeedy]

This is how I finished my rear arches to allow 8" wheels to fit

[Mark Hammond]

5999 wrote:

This is how I finished my rear arches to allow 8" wheels to fit

More to the point, how did you get the front wheels to fit so you could steer it?

Mark

[MrSpeedy]

Lol.

They rub on full lock, but I don't ever use full lock, so as not to strain the trunnions  ;)

Other than that, there's no real clearance issues on the front and they're 7"

I have, on a previous car, 'persuaded' the front footwell/lower bulkhead with a rubber mallet to increase clearance

[MarkB]

Managed to get the tub back off the chassis and Home from the lock up to tackle the rear wheel arch clearance issues and attempt to correct the Sh** repro rear wing swage line. This rear wing has caused me so many problems and should have cut it off and binned years ago but as it cost around £150 at the time I have been reluctant to do so. So I have trimmed the lip off the arch and welded it to the inner arch Thats as thin as i can go so hopefully enough to get he wheels under. Moved the swage line down about five mm, so should now line up with the swage in the drivers door. Seen lots of restored cars with the same problem but I couldn't live with it. One step forward and two back. Bought some very short AVO shocks to go with the modified rear suspension but still have a few issues to sort.