For all you "younger then thou" spridget drivers wanting larger then
stock wheels, do I have the answer for you!
My son and his buddy are putting together "the Beast" it is a 71 Midget
with fiberglass flares and lowered by about 3". Yes, 3 inches lower
giving it just enough room for the exhaust pipe.
The car came with 20 year old slicks so they are no good for the street.
My son dug out his old VW mag wheels, 16 inch jobs with electric tape
wrapped around the rims for tires, you know what I mean and if your
under 25, you want them for your own car (but only YOU know why)
These 16" wheels bolted up to the Midget stock lug pattern. The wheels
are offset and from a front wheel drive VW GTI. so far, they do not rub
while turning the wheel, the car is not drivable yet but with the
flares, big rims, and super low profile tires, it looks sharp. Now if it
works?
This is similar to what the Mini owners do. They replace their 10" rims
with Sprite 13" rims and low profile tires. The rim fills up the wheel
hole and looks darn good (IMHO of course)
On another note, I finally resolved the rattling shifter problem common
to most pre 75 spridgets. It has nothing to do with the anti rattle
plunger.
A PVC shim under the shifter hold down thing makes for nice snug
shifting and no more rattles. After all, a drive to the midwest in a
Sprite with a rattling shifter would drive me nuts! I took the lid off a
plastic icecream container, cut out the center, drilled 3 holes for the
bolts and put it under the metal retainer.
What a difference! It may not last forever but Icecream lids are free
with ever 1/2 gallon of icecream. Or if your colestoral is like mine,
make that frozen yogurt ;)
--
Frank Clarici
Toms River, NJ
60 Bugeye Sprite (my car)
67 Sprite (wife's car)
59 Austin A40 Farina w/AC (daughters car)
71 MG Midget racer (working on it)
http://www.exit109.com/~spritenut/
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