Davecymru's Build thread

[Sammio Builder]

Hi Dave,

I had the same and I just angle grinded the head of the bolt off, removed it and replaced it with a new one from Rimmer Brothers.

Trev.
http://www.sammiospyder.blogspot.com/

[davecymru]

Cheers for all the advice, the use of a very large hammer and steel rod removed the suspension bolt.

I too had to get replacement drop links from Rimmers but that means that the anti-roll bar is now fitted and it's shininess is embarrassing the rest of the engine bay! (Note: the engine bay restoration is the job for this winter once i've had a bit of fun in the car first)

The front end of the car was 60mm (ish) higher than the back so I removed 60mm from the front springs and the front end is now only ~20mm higher than the back. (measured from the bottom of the bodyshell and not the chassis)

Has everyone else made their perfectly level? As atm it actually looks quite good?

[garyh]

And has lowering floor got you at the right level? I'm only 6' and a bit, so i am thinking i wouldn't need to bother. Also do you have pics of inner wheel arches, how do yo do them.

[lancelot link]

6' and a bit might benefit from lowered floors on the Spyder ....not an issue with the G-46 or 550

[davecymru]

Originally Posted by garyh

And has lowering floor got you at the right level? I'm only 6' and a bit, so i am thinking i wouldn't need to bother. Also do you have pics of inner wheel arches, how do yo do them.

garyh - from what i've seen doing mine, if you go for a REALLY thin seat and tilt it then you "may" get away without lowering the floor. But it'll depend on what seat you go for and how comfortable you can get it.

I'm 6'2" and i've needed drop the floor by 60mm and tilt the seat in order to fit the monstrous great buckets i went for

[davecymru]

I'm now back from holiday and i've noticed that Trev seems to have just caught up with where i am and even overtaken me in places! Which is EXCELENT! as i've got a few questions i can ask him now .

NOTE TO OTHER BUILDERS: if you go for 15"s then unless you go for really low profile tyres, you are more than likely to have to mod the bulkheads! Hopefully as long as the weather holds i should get this done tonight and then i can finally fit the bonnet!

I need to get that done tomorrow/Friday as i have now ordered all of my paint and so i need to finish all of the main fabrication asap!
FYI i've gone for Alfa Romeo Red (modern code 289), or at least as near to it as the paint guys can get with Cellulose.

[garyh]

When possible can we have a side on shot, so i can view the wheels and tyres, just to see what it will look like. Please explain about the problem.
I want to keep a tallish tyre, to keep the retro look.

[davecymru]

More photos coming soon, I'm just hammering on with the fab atm!

One interesting development is that even with the recessed bulkheads my tyres still make contact

I've currently got 165 SR 15's fitted to the wheels i bought and it shouldn't be an issue fitting smaller tyres, but does anyone know what profile SR is? 65? 75?

What tyres are other's with 15's running?

[davecymru]

I haven't got any pics of the finished mods at the moment, but these were taken as i went along:

Passenger side bulkhead cut (please ignore the state of the wiring, i haven't tidied it up after the big re-wire yet!)


Drivers side bulkhead cut:

[garyh]

Does it touch by a lot? What about spacers. GJ must know what to do?

[Mister Towed]

Originally Posted by davecymru

More photos coming soon, I'm just hammering on with the fab atm!

One interesting development is that even with the recessed bulkheads my tyres still make contact

I've currently got 165 SR 15's fitted to the wheels i bought and it shouldn't be an issue fitting smaller tyres, but does anyone know what profile SR is? 65? 75?

What tyres are other's with 15's running?

SR refers to the speed rating, not the size of the tyre. 165 SR 15's are 80 series aspect ratio: that means that the side wall height is 80% of the width of the tyre 165mm x 0.8 = 132mm. You need to multiply that by 2 and add it to the diameter of the wheel to calculate a total wheel and tyre height. Or you could just paste this link into your browser...

http://www.kouki.co.uk/utilities/vis...ize-calculator

It's quite a useful tool for checking how different sized wheels and tyres compare to the standard Herald/Vitesse 155/80/13's.

175/65/15's are a common size and add only 5% to the diameter of the standard tyres so fitment shouldn't be a problem. The bonus is you get much more modern tyres (so you can actually stop!) at half the price of classics. Try this link -

http://www.tyre-shopper.co.uk/ts/search/SizeSearch.aspx

Good luck finding the right combination and let us know what you end up with.

[Mister Towed]

PS, I really like the look of the Uniroyal RainExpert directional tyres. In 175/65/15 they're about £53 each fitted. I'm going for 175/80/14's which are a tad cheaper at under £200 for four.

[mulberry]

hi all im running on 15" rims with 195*55 tyres on mgf/tf wheels fit straight on...happy days oh and 205*55 on the back, should help me stay on the road

[davecymru]

Originally Posted by Mister Towed

SR refers to the speed rating, not the size of the tyre. 165 SR 15's are 80 series aspect ratio: that means that the side wall height is 80% of the width of the tyre 165mm x 0.8 = 132mm. You need to multiply that by 2 and add it to the diameter of the wheel to calculate a total wheel and tyre height. Or you could just paste this link into your browser...

http://www.kouki.co.uk/utilities/vis...ize-calculator

It's quite a useful tool for checking how different sized wheels and tyres compare to the standard Herald/Vitesse 155/80/13's.

175/65/15's are a common size and add only 5% to the diameter of the standard tyres so fitment shouldn't be a problem. The bonus is you get much more modern tyres (so you can actually stop!) at half the price of classics. Try this link -

http://www.tyre-shopper.co.uk/ts/search/SizeSearch.aspx

Good luck finding the right combination and let us know what you end up with.

SUPERB reply! Just what i was after, i owe you a pint for this!!
So the 2nd figure is simply the side wall height aspect ratio?

So that works out that atm i have 165/80/15's ?
Which gives a total diameter of: 64.50 cm

If i go to 175/65/15's
Then that gives a diameter of: 60.85
So effectively loosing 2cm of radius, which will sort the fouling problem. Nice!

You mention that you're going for: 175/80/14's which is a diameter of: 63.56, which is only 5mm radius from what i've got atm! You "should" get away with that.

This has cheered me up endlessly now! thanks once again

[garyh]

Can we have some pictures for reference? the suns out in london now, come on get the cameras out. please.

[davecymru]

It's raining like Monsoon season here is Bristol ATM!
If it cheers up tonight i'll get some better pics

[garyh]

I promise when i actually start mine, i will take loads for asking advice/helping others. Was it touching on lock or just touching fullstop.

[Mister Towed]

Originally Posted by davecymru

SUPERB reply! Just what i was after, i owe you a pint for this!!
So the 2nd figure is simply the side wall height aspect ratio?

So that works out that atm i have 165/80/15's ?
Which gives a total diameter of: 64.50 cm

If i go to 175/65/15's
Then that gives a diameter of: 60.85
So effectively loosing 2cm of radius, which will sort the fouling problem. Nice!

You mention that you're going for: 175/80/14's which is a diameter of: 63.56, which is only 5mm radius from what i've got atm! You "should" get away with that.

This has cheered me up endlessly now! thanks once again

No problem but I'll hold you to the offer of a pint.

I've been agonising for ages about tyre sizes as they're crucial to the overall look of the finished car. I'm hoping to get away with the 175/80/14's but I'm going to bolt up my wires with the worn out 165/14's on first and do a lot of measuring before making the final decision. As I haven't got any adaptors yet that'll have to wait for a while.

Anyone found a cheap supplier of splined adaptors?

[Mister Towed]

Originally Posted by mulberry

hi all im running on 15" rims with 195*55 tyres on mgf/tf wheels fit straight on...happy days oh and 205*55 on the back, should help me stay on the road

I looked at MG TF wheels as they're really cheap on ebay, they have the same bolt pattern as the herald/vitesse and the minilite style wouldn't look out of place on a sammio (imho).

Bearing in mind the 195/55/15's are almost exactly the same diameter as the 165/80/13's often fitted to Vitesses I'm not surprised they fit without fouling the front tub, and I'm guessing the extra width isn't causing any fouling on the front or rear suspension either, but don't they look a little small in the Sammio arches with those tyres fitted?

Some pics would be good...

[mulberry]

im looking to reduce the wheel arches down so it hasnt got the 4*4 look, but thats a huge amount of work, or just mybe fit bigger tyres like 195/65/15....