Wheel clearence.

[Nelsen Motorsports]

My 54 has an issue where the rear wheels hit the rear fenders, the axles need to be narrowed an ince in each side. I love the stock look of the rear fender. Got any solutions? BTW my rear wheels are only Ansen 14x7 and the rear is a Chrsler 8 3/4 from a Belvedere, backspacing isn't a problem, though if I narrow the rear then the front will be wider than the rear.


Alex Nelsen, 15 year old Studebaker nut.
1954 Champion Coupe
Lizella, GA

[sweetolbob]

The easiest route as you are aware is to get a couple of wheels with the proper back spacing. If the track width with the front bothers you get four.

Narrowing the axle takes a bit of work to get right as you need to not only need to cut the axle tube and reweld. You will also need to either buy new axle shafts or if you are lucky, cut down your own and have them resplined.

The best approach is to find another chrysler/ford axle of the correct width and swap.

I took three inches out of each side of a Caprice 8 3/4 to fit my 54. The secret is to be sure that the tubes are welded dead square when you make the modification.

Bob

,

[sbca96]

I posted on this on another thread, I took my rear fenders off and
put them on the ground with wood underneath at the front and back of
the wheel opening and bowed the fender at those points just a bit, if
you go too much it wont fit the car. This gave me another 1/2 or so
without effecting the look of the car. I had the stock Dana 44 with
14 x 7 and 60 series tires.

Tom

'63 Avanti, zinc plated drilled & slotted 03 Mustang Cobra 13" front disc/98 GT rear brakes, 03 Cobra 17" wheels, GM alt, 97 Z28 leather seats, soon: TKO 5-spd, Ported heads w/SST full flow valves, 'R3' 276 cam, Edelbrock AFB Carb, GM HEI distributor, 8.8mm plug wires