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11GTCS
11GTCS HalfDork
3/11/21 6:25 p.m.

On a truck I don’t hate white letters.   With those wheels and on that car, blackwalls.   The correct answer would be a thin red stripe but that’s me and it’s not already on those tires.   I really like that wheel BTW. 

Woody (Forum Supportum)
Woody (Forum Supportum) MegaDork
3/11/21 9:09 p.m.

Raised white letters out please.

wearymicrobe
wearymicrobe PowerDork
3/12/21 7:42 a.m.

Who ever said rag jooint you were right. Looked 100% good bur as soon as I started poking around it you could see it start to distort and it was jsut starting to hir. So I did the honerable thinga and put bits of hard rubber on the nubs and glued them in plaece to stop it from movimg and wrapped it in tape to hold then in place. 

So noe its tight as a drum, ordered a new performace one from top flight and its on its way over the next couple days. Still need to find a top coloum bearing which was missing a ball bearing somehow and them pull the colou, to fix the turn signal houseing which is cracked. 

Gunchsta
Gunchsta HalfDork
3/12/21 7:51 a.m.

My vote is white letters in. 

John Welsh
John Welsh Mod Squad
3/12/21 8:19 a.m.

From the perspective of resale, I think white letters shown will accentuate that the tires are old and generally of low quality (street tire not performance tire.). Can you still even buy BFG T/As with white letters? 

Black will make the tires ambiguous in photos. 

wearymicrobe
wearymicrobe PowerDork
3/12/21 7:53 p.m.

Mam this thing is just not gelling with me. I cannot figure out how to drive it. The suspension is somehow very stiff but the car wallows around a corner like nothing you have ever seen. It makes huge noise and gets up to speed but not as fast as you would think with as much power. To really get it to turn I need to really saw at the wheel. I cannot tell if its the tires being old or that they are radial and all the parts are setup for bias ply. At least its safe it will stop instantly and it will overpower its tires with about 10% less pressure on the pedal then you would think. Clutch releases way up high as well and has what feels like a 4 inch of bit/travel where you can modulate it but it feels like you are burning it up while you do that. 

 

Drive it like a hooligan and it responds but you simply cannot dump the clutch at every light with how it wants to step out. I think I need to check alignment again, tire pressure and maybe fatten up the fuel in the midrange and see how it goes. Could just be all the cobwebs being knocked out of it after not driving for 20 years. Tires are not that old so maybe pressure. 

AngryCorvair (Forum Supporter)
AngryCorvair (Forum Supporter) MegaDork
3/12/21 8:03 p.m.

What are the tire sizes? And if they're more than 5-6 years old they're probably worse than you think.

drainoil
drainoil Dork
3/12/21 8:10 p.m.

Classic piece of Americana love it.

BoxheadTim (Forum Supporter)
BoxheadTim (Forum Supporter) MegaDork
3/12/21 8:14 p.m.
John Welsh said:

From the perspective of resale, I think white letters shown will accentuate that the tires are old and generally of low quality (street tire not performance tire.). Can you still even buy BFG T/As with white letters? 

You can. I've got a set on the Maxton, albeit with the white lettering on the inside. 

wearymicrobe
wearymicrobe PowerDork
3/13/21 4:40 p.m.

Had Simon give it a quick drive and we adjusted the clutch. I also dropped 4 PSI out of the tires. Having a blast with it now. going to richen up the carb just a tiny tiny bit for more midrange fuel. 

To drive it you have to carry way more RPM then I thought you would and you have to push it hard. It cannot be just floated along like my thunderbird. I also adjusted the brakes and that helped a ton, still pulls ever so slightly to the right but I cleaned and lubed all the auto adjusters so it should fix itself pretty quickly. 

I canceled my order on the wheels because i cannot find a good tire to use in a 15 inch size. I may have to step up as high as a 17 to really get a good selection of decent tires. I thought I could live with the 15 inch selction but decided that that was stupid and not paint myself into a corner with 

 

Also I am a total idiot and the wheels on it are 14's. going project blind also the rears wheel is a 8 inch while the front is a 7 which is way off from what I checked for stock fitment. Need to dig around and see what I can find that I like in those sizes. If I have to spend more then 95$ a wheel I am going to pickup something better or dig through Craiglist for something like a modern weld. Also the smooth chrome wheels are kind of growing on me. I could find a cool hubcap as well in a 14 that looked vintage that could be cool as well. 

Woody (Forum Supportum)
Woody (Forum Supportum) MegaDork
3/13/21 5:01 p.m.

I was given a red Hot Wheels '64 Vette in the GRM New Year's game this year. I would be happy to send it your way if you would like it. 
 

Mr_Asa
Mr_Asa UltraDork
3/13/21 6:01 p.m.
wearymicrobe said:

Decided on these. They are direct bolt on. Tire code dates are 2014 so that is good enoguh for me for a cruiser. 

 

So white letters in or out. That is the question when I mount them 

 

 

 

 

White letters out all day, e'ry day

CJ (FS)
CJ (FS) HalfDork
3/13/21 7:23 p.m.

11GTCS
11GTCS HalfDork
3/14/21 9:19 a.m.

In reply to CJ (FS) :

Yasss red stripes!

wearymicrobe
wearymicrobe PowerDork
3/14/21 9:09 p.m.

berkeley it we are going 70s style. Got a set of vintage cragars in a 15 and fit a 255/70/15 rear tire in the car. Ordering 215/75/15 for the front. 
 

cut some of the rear suspension off to clear a 15x8 in the rear and got a 15x6 for the front in the set. 
 

think I have a buyer for the smooth wheels and going this direction. Definitely painting the stinger on the hood in black. 
 

of course after all this work the brakes now lock up funny and pull to the left and I found a bunch of exhaust leaks to fix. 

wearymicrobe
wearymicrobe PowerDork
3/14/21 9:17 p.m.

AngryCorvair (Forum Supporter)
AngryCorvair (Forum Supporter) MegaDork
3/14/21 10:07 p.m.
wearymicrobe said:

Perfect!

wearymicrobe
wearymicrobe PowerDork
3/14/21 10:44 p.m.

Gave up ordered disk brakes for front and rear. 900$ all in with a fuel master cylinder delivered. Zero offset. 
 

also found a device that lets me use the msd digital out for the mechanical tach. 150$ Fillets is stupid expensive but still cheaper then a 650$ new distributor. 

Chesterfield
Chesterfield Reader
3/14/21 11:08 p.m.

That wheel and tire combination really fits the radiused wheel well beautifully, and it definitely reminds me of the cars I saw growing up in 70s and 80s. 

Gunchsta
Gunchsta HalfDork
3/15/21 7:55 a.m.

Oh man, the Cragars are a good choice. I like it! 

Dusterbd13-michael (Forum Supporter)
Dusterbd13-michael (Forum Supporter) MegaDork
3/15/21 8:32 a.m.
wearymicrobe said:

You just made me get tires for the 15s to go back on the duster. 

Those cragars look soooo righteous. 

Apexcarver
Apexcarver UltimaDork
3/15/21 9:10 a.m.
wearymicrobe said:

Mam this thing is just not gelling with me. I cannot figure out how to drive it. The suspension is somehow very stiff but the car wallows around a corner like nothing you have ever seen. It makes huge noise and gets up to speed but not as fast as you would think with as much power. To really get it to turn I need to really saw at the wheel. I cannot tell if its the tires being old or that they are radial and all the parts are setup for bias ply. At least its safe it will stop instantly and it will overpower its tires with about 10% less pressure on the pedal then you would think. Clutch releases way up high as well and has what feels like a 4 inch of bit/travel where you can modulate it but it feels like you are burning it up while you do that. 

 

Drive it like a hooligan and it responds but you simply cannot dump the clutch at every light with how it wants to step out. I think I need to check alignment again, tire pressure and maybe fatten up the fuel in the midrange and see how it goes. Could just be all the cobwebs being knocked out of it after not driving for 20 years. Tires are not that old so maybe pressure. 

What are the shocks?

Wally (Forum Supporter)
Wally (Forum Supporter) MegaDork
3/15/21 9:51 a.m.

In reply to wearymicrobe :

I'm so happy, I hadn't thought of Cragers but that's the right choice. 

spitfirebill
spitfirebill MegaDork
3/15/21 9:53 a.m.
stuart in mn said:

I didn't notice before but I see now the rear wheel wells have been radiused - you'll need to come up with a tire/wheel combo that's big enough to fill them out.

I wondered why the tires looked so small in the wheel well.  

wearymicrobe
wearymicrobe PowerDork
3/18/21 10:24 p.m.

So been driving it a lot more. Its fun, lots of fun. Put some 215/70.15s on in the front and now it does not have as much rake. Speedometer reads dead on as well now. I did replace the rag joints, the upper steering column bearing and I made a 3D printed lower block so its all super nice and tight now. Imagine that now it drives nice. Alignment is so far off its not funny but it goes down the road straight and its not like I am autocrossing it. Will get it down next weekend after the disk brakes get done.  

 

I have opened up the exhaust a bit and got the tuning 100% correct. Disk brakes will be here on Thursday which is good. Napa will have my disk/drum master cylinder here a few days after that. 

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