What kind of wheels are on the car? The wire wheel axle and the steel wheel
axle are different widths. If someone tried to convert just by changing the
rear hubs they would wind up with a different rear track.
Or aftermarket wheels could have the wrong offset.
I have 175R14s on wire wheels on my 66 B and there seems to be plenty of
clearance. But my car sits a little high in the back (well, higher than in
the front) -- there is a good 2 inches vertical distance between the widest
point of the sidewall and the top of the wheel arch. If the car was
significantly saggier in the rear spring department, this distance would be
reduced considerably, in which case the inner lip of the arch would not be
all that far outboard of the tire, possibly close to the 1/2 to 3/4 inch you
describe.
But there shouldn't really be any sideways deflection at the top of the
tire. I think you want to get the rear wheels off the ground (when you get a
chance), and try moving the axle side to side.
on 3/27/01 5:52 PM, David Councill at dcouncil@imt.net wrote:
> I've run into a strange problem (or so it appears) on my son's 65B
> restoration. The back tires appear to be contacting the sidewalls at times.
>
> The back tires were 175R75-14 tires and the front tires were 165R14s. My
> son swapped them and put the 165s on the rear but the problem still
> continues. I checked and could see no problem with the axle - ubolts are
> intact, leaf springs look okay, rear shocks feel solid. But I notice with
> the 165s, the distance between wheel well and tire is just enough to stick
> my finger in the gap (1/2 to 3/4 inch?) and the gap is slightly narrower
> (by 1/8 to 1/4"?) on the driver side. By comparison, my 72B has
> considerable more clearance, well over an inch to inch and a half or more,
> as do my BGTs.
>
> It appears that the 65B's axle is a little wider. The 65B, I believe,
> should use the banjo style axle. Should this axle be slightly wider than
> the newer type? Are there any markings to determine if the axle is correct
> in the 65B? I haven't had a chance to take a closer inspection yet because
> I'm short a jack stand - one is missing and one set is holding up the 72B
> body shell right now. Any Mark 1 owners out there who could verify this
> tight clearance to tell me if its an anomaly?
>
> David
>
--
Max Heim
'66 MGB GHN3L76149
If you're near Mountain View, CA,
it's the red one with the silver bootlid.
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