65Camino came over and we installed valves in wheels then Armstrong'd the tires onto the wheels and inflated to 35 lbs. It was a hot night and with the garage door opened we had a few visitors who were duly impressed with the job, one neighborhood know-it-all admitted to getting an education tonight. I have to say that these things remind me of what Richard Petty ran on the iconic '70 Superbird.
Cool observation, Ray! Yes, Petty's builders tended to paint body and chassis parts Petty Blue, and wheels/suspension the darker shade of blue, anecdotally around the '69 - '71 period. Looking forward to seeing the wheels on your car.
Balanced them all today and installed all four, finished up around 10:00 pm, ya it still does burnouts, I figured that was the best way to remove the Stickers. Just left it with chrome nuts tonight, still have to torque the nuts to spec tomorrow. Passenger side rear is a finger width from tailpipe yet driver side has plenty of room. Photos will follow.
Your car is like mine. Stock tires make it look like itd fall over in hard cornering.
Are those taller than your stock tires? If so, watch your speed, otherwise the new tires will cost you more than expected. Also, bigger tires = more grip = broken u-joints, axles, ?? Whatever the next weakest link is.
So thanks for all the input everyone, I had to find an hour here hour there to do this project as I've never been busier in my career, this COVID 19 has really caused a lot of work and strain on the private and public sectors.
Anyway it wasn't until I realized the Petty wheel analogy that I thought about the chrome nuts option and I do like it. I only pulled the car out tonight to get a photo or two as Mark had asked for the Petty style pics and it was crazy the reaction I got driving a few blocks for gas then stopping for a couple of pictures. People were hooting and hollering at me, even had one woman walking the dog stop and say "that's a 73 right? Wow I thought, then she told me her dad sold cars for Hamilton Motor Products and had a few as demonstrators back in the day.
It is truly amazing what wheels and tires do to the look of a car. By the way, the tires I took off had DOT year of Manufacturer 2006, 14 years well out of safe operating range. The new ones range from May 2019, Jan.2020 and March 2020, the one from Kelowna was the May 2019.
The rears are about one inch taller than stock and the fronts are almost identical if a tad shorter so the car does have a bit of a rake to it now. I'll get out and test that speedo soon.
Well I still have two more looks to experiment with and will post pics when I get around to them.
-- Edited by 73SC on Saturday 11th of July 2020 12:17:17 AM
The car has a definite rake when driving, its not much but I do notice it. As for ride it seems more surefooted and takes up the bumps better, I'm hesitant to say softer but that's how it feels. Still can do a smoke show which surprised me. Got a neighbourhood guy telling me to be careful because as he says "its a real Heat score now".
Got to thinking about the look then remembered seeing a NASCAR Pace Car done in a similar way, have a look.
1970 Formula 400 Carousel Red on black (std) interior "no drivetrain option" car (same base drivetrain as GTO) 1:411 1970 Firebird Formulas originally sold in Canada
