Jim - While you are researching this - look for some sticky tires - not just the biggest that will fit. Most of our outfits won't go enough miles in a year to not just put some "cheater slicks" or drag radials on there.

I put some Goodyear "F-1" sticky's on my old Z-28 (2002/LS-1 motor) and it quit spinning and started hauling a$$. When they'd had enough (20,000 miles on my daily driver) I went back to the regular street tires and it was pretty boring......lots of smoke - but no go. 

 
 Steve Metzger       Tucson, Arizona

I don't know what else you have stock under your car for rear end, tranny etc, but going wider, stickier etc, you are apt to break other things if you don't have those areas beefed up already. When I put my motor in my 55 I snapped a u joint and splayed the yoke apart. I had a 9 inch ready to go in so that was the initiating factor to get it in there.

55 Vicky & customline

58 Rack Dump, 55 F350 yard truck, 57 F100

59 & 61 P 400's, 58 F100 custom cab, 69 F100, 79 F150, 82 F600 ramp truck, 90 mustang conv 7 up, 94 Mustang, Should I continue?

Jim, 225/70/15s will hold more than you think. I'm running 225/70/16s on the back of my Tbird and they do a very good job holding my car under a strong acceleration with good traction. If I hammer it from a dead stop position yes it would smoke them really good taking off but how often are you gonna do that!! This bird was putting out 400+ HP. I'm still gonna run these tires on the street. At the drag strip I'll change to something with alittle more grip. However I do have a posi under it which helps with the traction and I assume you do as well.

-Gary Burnette-

Ya, I do have posi there, 1957 9" rear with 370 ratio. Ted also suggested that I have two sets of meats for the rear, one set for street and the other for the strip or for when I am just messing with the pony cars! With a little tweaking, Ted did get 331 hp out of the old motor. Now it is time to start stealing goodies off of it for the new alum head engine. Stuff like timing chain cover (aluminum), intake (aluminum), MSD ignition, etc. I'm not counting chickens yet but Ted says that we should see upwards of 400hp out of this new powerplant. As you can imagine, I can hardly wait to make a run down to his shop and chronicle the dyno pulls!

Jim (site owner)
'56 Club Sedan - Ted Eaton built 429 hp '292/318, '54 Sunliner - stock '302

Great Post. Im a newbe here. Thanks to everyone for the experienced input. trial and error can get expensive.

I have a 1956 customline and I like wide tires on the back. Sort of 1970 thing, just like the way it looks. Currently have 245/60/15s on 6.5" rims with 4" back space. (On the back)

After weeks of looking, researching, measuring, going to the dump and picking out old tires and trying them on. I believe 255/60/15 on 7.5" to 8" rims with 4.75" to 5" backspace will fit. (right side of the car has more space on the inside and left side has more space on the outside) Sounds wierd, but not totaly uncommon on old cars. Currently having a Explorer 8.8 (3.73 Limited Slip) being shortened and will reline to remedy that. Panhard bar a must. Biggest problem is finding the right rim. Special order rims with those specs lots of money. Any Ideas would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks again for all the great info on this site

1956 Customline

Some years ago Wheelsmith built me a set of 7" rims with 5" backspace, on stock 55 centers, so I could use ford dog dish hubcaps. They weren't free, but a lot less money than alloys. And sneaky, which appealed to me. I don't know about the full size cars, but centering the body on the frame wasn't that tough on my Tbird, and was necessary to fit 235/50 15's on the back, with 7 inch rims, 4.5 backspacing (all that was available on those wheels).



It's thewheelsmith.net, I think, the .com is bicycle wheels.

miker
55 bird, 32 cabrio F code
Kent, WA
Tucson, AZ

Miker,

Good Idea on the wheels. As far as centering the body, How did you go about that? Im from Wisconsin so just about ready to park it for winter, this would be a good time for the project.

Thanks Mike1956

1956 Customline

I guess I really should have said "centered the body on the rear axle". My car has a triangulated 4 bar coil over, and it was centered on the frame, at least prior to a final 4 way alignment.



We put the car on my buddy's 4 post lift, and loosened all the body bolts. 14 or 16 as I recall. We spent a lot of time looking for interference, pinched lines, etc. but since most is frame mounted, nothing was a problem. The fuel line is an exception, as the tank is body mounted.my fuel line routing had enough give in the bends to work.



Using a lot of odd 2x4's we picked the body just off the frame with two jacks under the doors, and one on the rear center. More 2x4's under one sill, and a bottle jack sideways to the frame, and the body easily slid 3/16", all I needed. The bolts still cleared the holes and went back in, but it was just barely in the trunk and rear.



We had some furniture moving pads (as seen on TV) to let the jacks slide,and went very slow and watched everything on any visible movement. I'd rather rounded up 4 other friends and just lifted, but that wasn't possible that weekend.



As an aside, Summit sells a roller tool for fender lips, and cheap knockoffs are available. We used one of those on the front on buddy's 56 scrub, and it worked so slick we couldn't believe it. More clearance, and no shaved rubber if it rubs.

miker
55 bird, 32 cabrio F code
Kent, WA
Tucson, AZ

I have a Panhard bar to keep axle in line when using the 235's, but car is '59 not '56.



I now turned my spring leave's long sides to forward if that gonna reduce the twisting.

And I try go with nylon bushings, cause you cannot hear the noises over rear locker and loud pipes.

Those hard bushings can help to reduce the rear axle side movements also.



Traction bars and other stuff dont work or dont fit with lowered rear and the air shocks.


Hyvinkää, FI

Interesting how this old thread gets resurected just as I am finalising the race tire setup for my T Bird.

I end up using a 14 wheel to fit a 7" wide M & H slick. Wanted a 15 inch wheel but the desired M & H tire is not currently availiable.

Wheel is 7" wide with a 4 9/16 backspace and the remaining 3 7/16 on the front side.Remember a 7" wide rim is still 8" wide on the O.D. measurements.

Gets me the 28" tall tire that I wanted and no body hacking necessary.Heres a link to the gumshoes.

http://www.mandhdragtires.com/racing-tires-drag-slicks/800-850-14-vintage-drag-slick.html

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