Second New Wheel

Got the other front wheel and tire mounted at Pep Boys today and with that installed on the car, The Chief came down off the jacks. I then took the two wheels and tires what had been on the front with spacers, and put them on the back. No spacers needed there, but won't be able to "rotate" the tires. As far as I'm concerned, that's not really a problem. And I can keep a spare with a spacer in the trunk for use on either front or rear.

Putting the rear tires on was a problem, just like it was on the '58 Cad. The tires don't want to go up in the wheel wells past the drums, but once the sidewall clears the drum, everything fits. Even the skirts fit with the new tires but I found that I may actually prefer the skirts off instead.

Here are some pictures...

First New Wheel

It's Sunday and my favorite tire shop is closed, but I wanted to get at least one new wheel and tire mounted up. So I decided to try my luck at Pep Boys on Lankershim. Honestly, I think it was a very decent experience. While I've always felt that the boys at my usual shop are the only ones I'd trust with odd wheels like a '70s Eldorado, I figured these are very standard truck wheels, so there should be no problem. They were friendly, had no problem doing a mount and balance as a walk-in, and did a nice job of washing up the blue protectant... unlike my old regular shop. They charged me around $20 which is a bit higher than my usual place but not by much. And the wait seemed a bit longish, but was still reasonable since it was fairly busy. I was home in about an hour. Overall no complaints. They asked if I wanted the clip-on or stick-on weights before doing the balance, which was nice. I like the clip-on ones. I noticed there were weights on both the inner and outer wheel lip, so it would appear they did a thorough balance.

I got the wheel mounted on the car and the cover on without issue. The new Cragar lug nuts seem *much* better than the ones I had gotten earlier (at Pep Boys). Wheel cover fits nice and snug and with it in place it doesn't look like I have truck wheels on a car. Except for the fact that these wheels are black where the factory wheels were argent, I think it looks very stock.

No spacers needed! Looks like plenty of clearance. 

A bit ugly without a cover, but nice powdercoat black protection.

The cover fits perfectly.

Interesting difference in stance.
The passenger side wheel has a spacer, but
still doesn't come out as far to the fender. 

Wheel Find!

Hey! I found a wheel that works! This is a Cragar 3975750 - Cragar Black Soft 8 397 Series Wheel. Scarebird says their kit requires 1972-85 GM 1/2 ton truck or equivalent rims, usually 15 x 7". I've been trying to reconstruct how I found this wheel and I think I found it at Discount Tire by searching on a "1985 CHEVROLET K-BLAZER 235/75R15 2WD". Once I had a part with specs, I went over to Jegs and looked it up.

They will accept the stock deluxe wheel covers but NOT the poverty hubcaps that I don't have. It's OK, I think if I didn't have the deluxe covers I'd get something in chrome and call it good.

I've ordered a second wheel so I'll have two for the front. I'll try using the other two previously mounted tires on the back. Maybe eventually I'll get 4 + spare as a full set.

Meanwhile I've started putting the steering rack cradle back together. I need a big wrought washer for one bolt on the left side. I had to use spacers to take up the slop of shifting the cradle to the right. Just by eye, the cradle looks much closer to level now. I think I'll be happier.

2 Tires

Got the first two tires mounted today.Took them over to my favorite tire shop, Western Tire in Burbank.I'm not going to put them on the car yet. I ordered a set of steering arms from Eckler to see if I can increase my turning radius a bit. We'll see if they fit. [They do not!]

Don't (Re)Tread On Me

The new Diamondback Classic tires arrived tonight via UPS. The driver was not at all impressed that I accepted delivery in my boxer shorts but he didn't complain either. Might have to get at least two of them mounted up this weekend.

Where the Rubber Meets the Road

I called Diamondback Classics today and placed my order for 4 new tires for the Chief. 215/75R15 with 2-5/8" wide white walls. I will mount them on my '76 Buick OEM steel wheels which I modified to fit and which will work with my hub caps that I want to keep. $214 * 4 + $117 to ship = $973.00. Well, I had to buy something with part of my tax return. :-)

I also talked (via email) with the folks at Dakota Digital today. It turns out to be exactly what I thought.

"While you can eliminate both Overdrive and 2^nd gears through double tapping, you cannot merge Park and Neutral."

As I explained to DD, one of the brainwaves from last night was to disconnect the sensor and move it forward a bit to where a theoretical "Park" might be if my transmission had one. I could set that, then reconnect the sensor linkage and go through the rest of the positions. With the sensor connected, the sensor will never be able to hit "Park" but that doesn't matter, as I have no Park and I don't want it ever to be displayed. I DO want the safety switch to let me start only in Neutral through. And I also want the backup lights to come on at the right time. Dakota Digital thought that might just do it.

"Fooling it into a false Park position could make it work for programming."

So next chance I get (hopefully this Saturday) I will give this a try. I hope it works out as I like the setup. I need to figure out where I am going to mount the indicator too. I don't want to cut any holes.