What should I do? stay narrowed or go back to stock?

[petew]

Right, the I've been getting the oval ready for a dirt autokhana tomorrow. After a few false starts, it's semi ready except for a few things... like bumpstops...

Anyhoo. Trying to figure out what to do next with it. The 2nd owner narrowed the car by 20mm per side and put adjusters in the front beam. So I go and try to put some rally tyres on the front 185/65R15 and it's a disaster.



Now these tyres are tallish, but not that high, or so I thought. Basically even with the adjusters wound all the way UP, there's almost no tyre-guard clearance. AND, the tyres rub on the pan/body at fall lock.

So here are my choices.
1. Persist with narrowed/adjuster beam and weld stops back onto it.
2. Rebuild the stock 63' beam I have and install that.

I'm thinking no.2 coz then I get my ride height back and some extra track. Thoughts?

I'll be throwing these tyres on the back for tomorrow, but I'd like to use them on the front in the future. Am I kidding myself?

[KentT]

185x65-15 should fit under the front just fine with stock front beam and ride height...

[Marc]

Could still be kinda close to the headlight buckets - they may need to be "flattened" a tad (especially if you fit any caster shims).
For street use one should not fit 185 tires on rims narrower than 5½" but it's done all the time for off-roading.

If you're not planning to hang onto the narrowed beam you may want to take some pictures with smaller tires before you pull it off, could make it easier to sell.

[petew]

Right, so I had a weird experience yesterday on the dirt. Super slippery surface, worn 135/60R15's with 34psi in them and the car ran great! Plenty of turn in and almost no understeer. Seriously! I also discovered the adjusters still had a a few degrees in them and wound them all the way up.

What I'm beginning to think is, put the discs/bumpstops on the narrowed beam and don't mess with what's not broken. I ended up using the 185s on the back of the car. They did a great job of getting the power down.

[juki48]

if you put disc brakes of the front it will move the wheels out about 10mm each so you will want that beam.