ardea pickup.........THING!

[chugga boom]

more...............

[fay66]

James coming on great but Glutton & Punishment Spring to mind

Brian
8227

[chugga boom]

ARHHHHHHHHHHHH always a problem with a conversion!!!, steering columb goes straight through the inlet manifold!!, think i have a solution for it, going to get the front mounts located first, i've gone this far (a bit too far to turn back) with it so its going in regardless

[DavidLaver]

Lovely job on the transmission tunnel.  Any problems linking the clutch peddle to the box?

You're going to have to come up with a bigger problem than the steering column and inlet manifold needing the same space to get me worried - I've every faith in you - but please don't spoil the surprise as to what the solution is.

I'm trying to remember - have you a "good" engine ready to go in or will that be a project of itself at some point?

David

[rogerelias]

Convert it to left hand drive??

[chugga boom]

nope , lhd is not an option i'm afraid, its a load more work just to make the columb hit the exhaust manifold, after a little thought the 2 parry brains have come up with a solution, i'll post about that though as i do it  , anyway i've been fabricating engine mounts, welding up stress cracks and strengthening the front end

[chugga boom]

now before anyone shouts at me for "not origional" hardly anything about this truck is origional and please please please bear in mind that i own a tyre shop and this is going to advertise my business, they are kind of period late fifties early sixties made by BRM, anyway see what you think

[williamcorke]

Interesting wheels.  It's your car, business, etc. etc.  Run it on what you like... but... they are too small for the wheel arches.  Certainly with those tyres.  The custom / rod look might quite suit the truck, but you gotta get the stance right to make it work.

Great project.  Though the word project seems a bit inadaquate  

[fay66]

Hi James,
Great work as ever, can you dirty the wheels up a bit, as they do look a bit "Bling", a set of minilites would look better I feel.

Brian
8227

[sparehead3]

What is the intended colour for the pickup ?
I was wondering if you were going to put two V4s inline and make a nice V8 ?
But as an advertisment for the business it's hard to beat !

[chugga boom]

Explanation time, the wheels are 15inch with 165 80 15 tyres, they are brand new and need all the bare alloy areas painting yet so hopefully this will make them look a little less bling!!, i have gone for 15 inch for 2 reasons , reason 1 "readilly available " reason 2 as we have changed the cw&p and gearbox i felt it would be over geared with 175 80 16's on it which might i add also rubbed the inner rear wings and top edge of the front wings, also bear in mind that the shell is bare at the moment so its ride height should drop making the wheels sit up in the arches more, i intend to either remove a few leafs or find more suitable rear springs as i think they will be far too stiff for just normal road use again this should drop the rear end to a more suitable ride height but im not aiming for a low rider   , colour will be the mid "airforce blue under the rear wings, i had thought about 2 tone but feel it may look a little odd given how narrow the bodywork is above the moulding on the rear end, well so far so good , thanks for the comments its a far  better reaction than i was expecting   this is what the wheels should look like when painted, this is the 5 stud version mine are 4 stud

[DavidLaver]

Those wheels look lost in the arches, and I expect any that "fit" visually will give zero load capacity in the back and rub on every bump and take away any steering lock at the front...  Doesn't do it for me on any level I'm affraid.  

To be construction as another idea what could you do with painted, maybe banded, steel wheels?  I'm told "the look" used to be a colour different rim from centre.  Those colours could match a two tone job on the body.

As for tyres I'm more fond of the look of tall tyres on, say, a Ferrari Boxer as the "rubber bands" seen on the chavtastic rubbish that struggled on the ice last week.

White walls are another option - or paint in the logo like on a 70s F1 car.

David

[DavidLaver]

We crossed in the post - I can see these solve a bunch of problems rather than causing more - and the "paint" option is already in your head - and two tone has already been considered - and that you're not planning to cart spuds to market in the thing so the spring rate and clearance can be fiddled with to make it work...

I'll print a picture in black and white and ponder !!

David

[DavidLaver]

Another option is to do as Tim Burret does with Aurelia wheels and weld 15in rims onto a centres from wheels with knackered rims.  You've then got control over the offsets.  Maybe weld 16in rims on with the required offset?

What could the other options be...

Reduce the wheel arch size to match the wheel tyre combo?

David

[chugga boom]

david your missing my point about the 16inch wheels and tyres they were too big and im trying to drop the gearing slightly, just checked the rolling radious of the wheels and they are as near as damn it the same as 165-400, if you look at these 2 pics side by side one is with 400mm wheels and the other is with the 15's, like i said it will come down a load when there is weight in it, at the moment its a bare shell with 2 axles so suspension is on maximimum up at the moment , last photo shows on the rear inner arch where the origional tyres fitted rubbed the inner arches, there is conciderably more ofset on the alloy wheels to the outside so gives me more clearance,