For the second time in as many weeks, the list talks me out of a
project. Unlike the aborted attempt to rebuild a wire wheel, though,
I don't feel bad for abandoning the plan to roll the fender lip --
I'm glad to have an excuse not to mess with bodywork any more than I
need to; and I really don't want to mess up the not-terrible body and
paint...
So, my initial thoughts were:
1. Roll fender lip
2. Install panhard rod.
The fender lip won't get much clearance, might screw up the lines,
paint, etc; so it's a non-starter (at least for me, at least at this
point).
Thinking about it, the panhard rod kits for MGBs anchor to the
chassis on the left side, and to the right side of the axle. Because
it's a panhard rod, not a watts linkage (and we don't have room for a
watts linkage in an MGB with a standard fuel tank, and the center
portion of the axle isn't really designed to absorb cornering forces)
it allows/requires some side-to-side movement. And because it's set
up the direction it is -- and again, there's really no other way,
packaging-wise -- it will induce exactly the kind of movement I'm
trying to avoid. In left-hand turns, or when the suspension
compresses, the axle will move toward the left side of the car. So
it would seem like the panhard rod is a non-starter, at least to fix
this specific problem. (Does this make sense, or am I overestimating
the amount of movement in the panhard rod?)
So the suggestions from the list so far seem to basically boil down
to two things:
1. A number of suggestions which might work for people with bolt-on
wheels (find wheels with different offset, get somebody to trim your
wheels on a lathe, switch to a wire-wheel axle and bolt-on hubs for
reduced axle width) but not so much for me, since I've got wires; and
2. Variations on brute force (baseball bats etc; cut-and-weld front
spring perches...) which I am somewhat reluctant to do.
I want to maintain a dual-purpose car, used as a daily driver but
occasionally in autocross (currently FSP) and very occasionally for
track days. And, ahem, without throwing great whopping piles of
money at it, as in the hypothetical SM-2 car above...
What other possibilities am I missing? Moving the spring pads on the
axle housing? (seems like a bad idea, inducing strange driveshaft
angles, but I'm trying to think of possibilities) Other axle-locating
devices?
Any ideas appreciated.
Matt
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