In the year of 1959, I owned a 1956 buick stick shift.(column) It had as
stock a 401 cubic inch engine. In fact the engine stock is bigger than all
the chevy gearheads that spend a fortune to beef up their engines to the
max. But the buick was a heavy hunk of iron. The clutch was too soft for
any real performance from the line. So it was a time for a change to that
beast. I changed the clutch pressure plate to ( I believe 1500 lbs). It
was a chore to push that mechanical clutch in and hold that at a traffic
light. They did not use clutch slaves till later. It now held tight when I
released the clutch pedal, no slippage. But it bogged down on the takeoff
from standstill. Now I know why they used that soft clutch. So not having
the money to change the gearing in the rearend, I did the next best thing.
I did not change the size of the rim, I changed the size of the tire. The
once Large and fat tires7.60-15 I changed to a thin 5.50-15. You may not
believe the difference it made. In those days it was common to drag race
from a stop light. There were not as many cars then. But I look back on
those days and events with mixed emotions. In 1959 was about the time you
could order from the factory high performance cars. This car that pulled up
next to me at the light I was stopped at was a 1959 (I believe 350) chevy,
with tri power, 4 on the floor transmission, and a reworked positraction
rear end. (I found this out later) When the light changed we both took off
with tires spinning and smoke streaming from the tires. He had jumped out
in front of me by one half car length, and held it till we hit about 50 mph.
then when I slammed my column shift from 1st gear to 2nd gear it happened,
the second gear split into pieces. I think it was because the weight of the
car was too much for the size of the gear. But the point is the size of the
tires does make a difference. I think if you just change the two rear
tires, that will also change the weight distribution, and you will find you
can traverse the turns more easily.
-----Original Message-----
From: Don Miller <turbospl311@yahoo.com>
To: datsun-roadsters@autox.team.net <datsun-roadsters@autox.team.net>
Date: Tuesday, October 05, 1999 3:13 PM
Subject: Re: Front brake and rotor question?
>NO DRUMS! I thought they were disks. Well on to an
>alternate route!
>
>Don (way too much motor for drums) Miller
>68 Turbo V-6 Roadster
>Must Go Faster Racing
>Meridian, ID
>
>--- John F Sandhoff <sandhoff@compctr.ccs.csus.edu>
>wrote:
>> Don Miller asks:
>> > I have a 68 1600 that I want to convert to 13"
>> wheels.
>>
>> I hope you like DRUM BRAKES, Don.
>> The '65 and earlier cars, the ones with the little
>> wheels you're
>> lusting after, did not have disk brakes! And I don't
>> believe that the
>> little wheels will clear the later-year caliper
>> assemblies...
>>
>> So this is the turbo V-6 that you're converting to
>> drums?
>>
>> -- John
>> John F Sandhoff sandhoff@csus.edu
>> Sacramento, CA
>>
>
>
>=====
>
>
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