Wheels

JimNolan · 2015-01-14 08:42

James and Guys,
It's been a while since I've been on here. Want to thank James for sending me the pics of my 57 that I'd lost on a previous computer. Also, to let you know that I'm feeling better after the heart attack and I'll be racing my 57 again this year. Only this year I'll be running bias-ply slicks instead of radial street tires. The best time I had two seasons ago was 14.3 sec, so with tires I hope to get into the 13 sec bracket. I'm ordering wheels from Wheel Vintiques this morning with 5 1/8" BS. The tire I've chosen is the Hoosier Quick Time Pro. I've already got a room for the Meltdown Drags and if Larry Nicholson and Allan White will show up at Columbus I'll be there too. There's no use going to Columbus if you don't have someone to run. I just hope it won't be 105 degrees this time. I'll let you know how the Back Spacing goes, it may be of interest to some. The 55 Ford rear shocks are still on the car and still doing good.
Hope this post finds all you guys doing good, I know we lost some along the way. God's speed to all. Jim

Zapato · 2015-01-14 08:59

Jim, good to hear you're on the mend, great to see you back.

Zap-

JPotter57 · 2015-01-14 11:50

I knew you couldn't shake it off, lol. Good luck this season my friend. Are you staying with the big FE or did you put the 390 back in?

JPotter57 · 2015-01-14 11:52

By the way, what size on the tires? I am running Mickey Thompson ET Street 28X11X15 on mine, fit perfect, like they were made for it.

65kcode · 2015-01-14 12:06

Glad to hear your back in the saddle. I'm very interested in the backspacing. How wide of a rim? Are you running stock geometry with the rear suspension?

Kevin

JimNolan · 2015-01-14 13:01

Thanks James and All,
I just ordered the wheels. I luckily dug out of this forum an old thread I had when I installed the 4.75" BS wheels I run now. It showed the tape measurements of my wheel opening without the tire on. At that time it showed that a 5" wheel rested squarely in the middle of my wheel opening. Soooo, I ordered the 15 X 8 5x4.5 Series 62 wheel with 5" BS. I can still get a 10.25" section width tire in it but, I'm settling for the 10" section width Hoosier Quick Time Pro. Reason being that puts my rpm in the @4700 range crossing the line on the top end. And, an added advantage is I might be able to wash the back tire at one time getting my fingers between the tire and fender. lol
I'm sticking with the 410 guys, it's got a few leaks in it that I got to fix. One is the valve cover. All in all it's a good running engine that gets 16mpg on the highway using 87 octane gas. Besides, I want to see 13.?? seconds pushing 4200 pounds thru the quarter mile. My 60 foot times are the same on both engines but the 410 gives me 1 less second and 8mph more on street tires. It's the 2.1 sec. 60' foot time I need help with. I think these tires will do that. As an added precaution I've got a 1350 yoke I'm putting in my Tru-Track and driveshaft. I was running 1310 joint back there.
James, 28 X 11-15 MT Streets, what BS wheel are you using. I talked to the second owner of my car and he told me he put a 1961 or 1962 Equi-Loc rear end out of a galaxie in my car back in the early seventies. I assume I've still got the same rear end. The passenger side tire is closer to the fender than the drivers side. I wonder if the housings are different. Jim

RICH MUISE · 2015-01-14 13:30

Jim...I was missing you, but missed the fact you had a heart attack. Very happy to hear your on the mend...but DO take care of yourself and be thankful you had a warning.
I'm confused on the differential...I thought a few years back you were talking about a 350 (355?) trac-loc you ended up with two of. Was that on the '63? Also was wondering if you still had that extra one....I'm getting close to needing one.

JPotter57 · 2015-01-14 13:44

I just have a 15x7 inch cop car wheel with 4.5 bs. The et street measures differently than slicks. It uses the section width which is about 11 inches instead of tread width, which incidentally is a little more than 9 inches, prob closer to 10. Since I am using the7 inch wheel, the section width is a little bit smaller than 11 inches.it clears nicely on front and back. No mods at all to the stock fender opening.

JimNolan · 2015-01-14 15:06

Rich,
The 57 has the Moser nodular 9" with Tru-Trac and Daytona support. The 63 has the Trac-Loc. But I changed the 3.50 ring and pinion to a 2.75 ring and pinion. And yes I did at one time have an extra Trac-Loc at 3.50 but I sold it. I've got a 3.70 Equi-Loc and a set of discs for it I'll talk to you about. It's just 28 spline though. It's a good rear pig but it's 1961 vintage with 1310 yoke.
James,
A 4.5" BS wouldn't get it for me. And, I've cut on the fenders as much as I'm going to. The funny thing is that when you measure from the spring to the end of the axle they are both the same. It's like the body was put on crooked. I wouldn't discount that after hearing from the guy that worked on the assembly line in 1957.
P. S. James, I read an article on bias ply slicks that said if you kept the tread width the same or less than the wheel width that it wouldn't get wobbly on you at the top end with less air pressure. Don't know, what do you think. Jim

JPotter57 · 2015-01-14 15:24

Thats the ideal option. I may look into some 8s after you get yours.

JimNolan · 2015-01-14 16:10

James,
I read that, figured you'd know more about it. I figured I didn't have enough horsepower to get myself in trouble on the bottom end but if I ended up crashing my car on the top end I'd die of depression if the crash didn't get me. lol

lalessi1 · 2015-01-14 18:18

Jim,

I really would like to know how these wheels work out. I am positive 5" B.S. works on an 8" rim in the back and almost equally positive it won't work on the front. I am assuming you special ordered the wheels?

On another note... FE build details? I am collecting engine parts now...

JimNolan · 2015-01-14 18:48

lalassi 1,
My experience with front back spacing is this, have as little backspacing in front as possible. Back spacing in front is directly proportional to how much acreage you've got to turn around in. I go for a stock 2.75" ---3.25" BS. But then again I won't run over a 6" wheel in front either.
The reason I went with the 5" BS on the 8" wheels I ordered was because I KNOW I can put a 10" section width tire in it. I'm running 4.75" BS wheels now with a 9.75" section width tire.
Special order: Yes they had to be special ordered. The stock 62 series wheel comes with a 4.25" BS and they charge $25 per wheel for custom backspacing. I wanted a stock looking wheel because they won't let me on the track at the Meltdown Drags without 1966 or previous dated style wheels. These cost $286 delivered with a 30-45 day wait. You can't find a 15 X 8 wheel with 5" backspacing that looks stock and will hold a 57 Ford dog dish hub cap. Wheel Vintiques does make a Genie Wheel with 5" backspacing but you can't put a Ford Hub Cap on it. Besides, it's multi lug and I'm sick of those. Hope this helps. Jim

lalessi1 · 2015-01-14 19:34

I appreciate the info. i have 15 x 7 series 62 Vintiques/dog dish all the way around. I wanted 8's but I didn't think the 4.25" back spacing was enough in the rear for tire clearance. I ordered from Summit and was unaware at the time that Wheel Vintiques would do custom offsets.

JimNolan · 2015-01-14 20:52

Quote from: lalessi1 on 2015-01-14 19:34
I appreciate the info. i have 15 x 7 series 62 Vintiques/dog dish all the way around. I wanted 8's but I didn't think the 4.25" back spacing was enough in the rear for tire clearance. I ordered from Summit and was unaware at the time that Wheel Vintiques would do custom offsets.

That's not too bad. A 4.5" BS will pretty well center a 7" wheel. A 4" BS will pretty well center a 6" wheel. At least on my car it will. Jim

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