Getting ready for the arrival...

[Ray W.]

Today I finished up my body buck/dolly by adding a sheet of 1/4" plywood, creating a shelf to store the hood, trunk lid and doors on. This is the dolly sans buck:
dolly.jpg

Here it is with the buck attached. The height should work out well for block sanding, and for applying paint.
bodybuck.jpg

I chose the pin drive option and fox spindles with SVO front brakes because of the wheels I want to put on the car. The wheels only come in 7" or 8" wide (in 17"), and I want to use the 8" wide wheel on both the front and rear if possible. A few months ago I traded off a 2005 Thunderbird, which by chance was shod with 235/50/17's, the optimum width for an 8" rim. When I put new tires on that car I kept one of the original Michelin Pilots, just in case something happened to one of the new Falkens. Today I pulled that tire out of the corner and made use of it. My makeshift "wheel" has the 4 1/2" backspace of the wheel I want to use. Once my front suspension is installed, I can use it to find out if the 8" in wheel will work/look right, or if I'll have to order the 7" wheels for the front. Glad I didn't throw that tire away after trading the car.
woodblocks.jpgcenter.jpgtestfittire1.jpgtestfittire2.jpg

[superjoe]

Great Ray. keep posting more pics. Do you decide the engine and transmission to use? Want to see what you use.

[DaleG]

Great buck you made!

[rmiller64]

Ray, Glad to see you're staying busy getting ready for the delivery. The 2 month wait was long for me but I got the engine, Transmission and rearend done. I may need you to whittle a set of wheels for the Bill Boards sitting in the shop. Word from FFR the 15's are B/O until first of the year

[Ray W.]

Ray, Glad to see you're staying busy getting ready for the delivery. The 2 month wait was long for me but I got the engine, Transmission and rearend done. I may need you to whittle a set of wheels for the Bill Boards sitting in the shop. Word from FFR the 15's are B/O until first of the year

Rick, the anticipation is is taking its toll. My face hurts from smiling so much, and I'm still a little in disbelief that this is really happening. As I'm sure for many others on this forum, this dream becoming a reality has been a long time coming. I'm trying to get all the woodwork finished up so I can put away my woodworking equipment and make room for working on the car. Maybe after I finish building my car I'll start a company and make wood wheels for FF cars. I can call the halibrand replicas Ironwood Specials. The advertisements will have fine print at the bottom-a warning about termites and how they can cause your wheels to become unsafe at any speed.

I thought about going with 15" wheels, but don't like having so few tire choices. I like the halibrand style wheels, but decided I want something different. I had the thought-what if a hot rodder saw a 427 "roadster" sitting on a used car lot in 1972 and bought it, then decided he wanted to change the pin drive to threaded studs so he could run different wheels? If he was a Shelby Mustang fan, he might go with a set of these:
65_crager_rim.jpg

The modern version is a little different, but still has the same look. They also look a lot like the 289 FIA wheels, sans the knock-offs:
cragereliminator.jpg

Mike Forte is building my differential now. My completion date is 12/13, and Stewart has my tentative ship date somewhere between the 15th and the 19th, but I'm sure that's subject to change.

[Ray W.]

Great buck you made!

Thanks Dale!

[Ray W.]

Great Ray. keep posting more pics. Do you decide the engine and transmission to use? Want to see what you use.

Having already purchased the bell housing, I'm committed to the C4 - 4.6 SOHC mod motor combination. I'll be using a low mileage salvage yard engine, which will be the only used part on the car.

(oops - except for the spindles ;-)

[CraigS]

Wow, 235s on the rear? I think you will need a huge spacer to make them look reasonable compared to the fender. You also will be severely traction limited. Is that wheel available in wider widths?

[Gumball]

I love the Flinstone option!!!!

Congrats and enjoy the ride. I just finished about a month ago and I find that I really miss the shop time.

[Ray W.]

Wow, 235s on the rear? I think you will need a huge spacer to make them look reasonable compared to the fender. You also will be severely traction limited. Is that wheel available in wider widths?

Unfortunately, that wheel isn't available in a wider width. According to the specs I've read, the roadster body is 70" wide at the widest point, which should be the rear flares. With the axle width at 59.5, each wheel (because of the 4 1/2" back spacing) will stick out 3 1/2" + 3/4" of tire side wall balloon. That's 8 1/2" total, which added to the axle is 68" That's 1" of clearance on each side. I hope my figures are correct, because I don't like the idea of using wheel spacers. As to traction, my only option is sticky tires. For comparison sake, the 289 FIA rear wheels are only 8.5" wide. That said, my engine should end up around 300 hp, and with the automatic trans eating some of that, I think I'll be okay. I plan to fabricate my own accelerator pedal, so I can create a wide ratio. That means more foot travel, but also greater modulation and control.

[Ray W.]

I love the Flinstone option!!!!

Congrats and enjoy the ride. I just finished about a month ago and I find that I really miss the shop time.

I had a feeling someone would say that. (Flintstone option) I've seen your car. It's amazing. I love the color. Unfortunately, I live on a gravel road, which is making me shy away from darker colors. I'm 95% certain that I'm going with arctic white, because it will still look reasonably clean when I reach the highway.

[Jeff Kleiner]

Actually the body is 72" wide at the rear wheel lips, 67.5" at the front. At 26.6" in height your proposed 235/50-17 is taller than the popular 17" combination of 255/40 (25.0") and 315/35 (25.7"). I have to agree with Craig that a 235 tire may look out of place.

Jeff

[Ray W.]

Actually the body is 72" wide at the rear wheel lips, 67.5" at the front. At 26.6" in height your proposed 235/50-17 is taller than the popular 17" combination of 255/40 (25.0") and 315/35 (25.7"). I have to agree with Craig that a 235 tire may look out of place.

Jeff

I'm not sure where I got the 70" width from. I'll have to put my "flintstone" tire on and see what it looks like. This is more the look I was going for, taking into account the smaller sidewall height of the 17" tire.

1966_Shelby_427_Cobra-07.jpg1966_Shelby_427_Cobra-31.jpg

[Ray W.]

I think I may have this worked out. The FFR Halibrand replica in 17 X 10.5 has a 6.7" backspace. 10.5 - 6.7 = 3.8 Double that is 7.6" 7.6 + 59.5 = 67.1"
The wheel I want to use is 8" with a 4.5" backspace. 8 - 4.5 = 3.5" Double that = 7 + 59.5 = 66.5 That's only a 9/16" inch difference between the two wheels and 9/32" per side. I can live with that. I've been researching tire sizes this morning and found that a 245/45R/17 has a 25.7 height and 9" wide tread, which will help fill that extra space. So, if my flintstone tire will work with no clearance problems on the front, the 245/45 should as well. Whew… Jeff, thank you for pointing out the error in my tire size plans. Your help is appreciated!

[Gumball]

I'm going with 245/50 15 on the rear of my car. They're the Avon CR6ZZ, which seem to be on the large size of that measurement. They are 26.7" diameter, so they will certainly fill the wheel wells a bit more than the current tires 17s.

[Jeff Kleiner]

Here is another visual reference for you Ray. My Mk3 (same body width as Mk4) with 255/40-17 on 9" wheels (5.94" backspace, 24 mm offset) in front and 315/35-17 mounted on 10.5" wheels (6.81" backspace, 27 mm offset)in the rear.



As you work on your wheel and tire planning you may find it helpful to run your specs for backspace and offset through a calculator such as this

http://www.tyresizecalculator.com/wheels/wheel-offset

Cheers,
Jeff

[Ray W.]

Many thanks, Jeff and Chris. Both your cars look great, and both are very different from each other. In spite of going with 17" wheels, I still want sort of a late 60's early 70's look, which means more tire sidewall. Now I'm thinking the 245/45/17 is a good compromise, and it will have just a little bit more traction than the 235 I was thinking of using.