1967 Family Patrol Project

[RiverPatrol]

33's are pretty tall for stock springs even in good condition. You'd be better off with a 2" lift if you want to run 33's. 31's would fit under flat springs okay.

Tires, springs and fuel injection? I think one of the kids will have to wait a little longer for college.

[faux40]

I'm not planning on running 33s -- It's just that I had a set and wanted to see what they looked like.

While getting tires on our other car, we set some tires next to the Patrol to see how it looked... Pretty good to me, but I think a bit larger would be nice. I don't remember the size exactly, but it was a metric size that was close to what is on there now. I like the off-road look (as opposed to the street tires it has now). When I get ready to pull the trigger, I'll do more comparisons.

I'm using the 60p search to figure out what leaf spring options are out there... Any ideas?

John

[moore_rb]

Oh boy.... I smell an order to Alcan coming soon...

Regarding tires:

You need to pick out your wheels first - are you thinking of fitting new tires to the existing brown rims? They are 15's, right?

Or are you thinking about going with different wheels as well?

sizing out tires and wheels at the same time is never easy because you are dealing with a bunch of variables:

1) Wheel diameter
2) Wheel backspacing
3) wheel front spacing
4) tire cross sectional width
5) tire diameter
6) steering radius


and all of these have to fit within the physical dimensions of the fender, the spring travel, etc

With the actual dimensions of the wheels you plan to use (diameter, total width, backspacing, front spacing) we can probably help you pick the tallest tire size that won't rub the rear fenders.

OR with the target tire diameter you want to go with, and the wheel diameter you want to use (15 or 16) we can probably match up a common tire size with the necessary wheel spacings to make it fit.

[moore_rb]

Here is some more info I have collected, taken from pics and my own notebook entries about tire measurements -

Here is a shot of my red Patrol when I first got it (the rear springs looked exactly as flat as yours):



These tires are 235/55-15's (28 inches diameter) on 15x7 wheels with 4 inch backspacing, and 3 inch frontspacing (aka 1 inch negative offset)

You can see that they would also rub the rear fenders when the suspension was compressed, but I think this tire size would work out ok with a wheel that had one more inch of negative offset and one less inch of width (AKA: a 15x6, with 4 inch backspacing, and 2 inch front spacing) - coincidentally, I think this the actual dimension of factory Patrol 15 inch split wheels - the gurus will correct me if I am wrong about that.

If you want taller, then a 255/85-15 is about 31 inches tall, and MIGHT be able to clear your fenders on this same size 15x6 wheel with 4 inch/2 inch offset... but it will be close- the rears might still rub a little bit.

Now, if you did go to +2 inch springs, then compared to your existing flat springs, you are going to get +3 inches of lift compared to what you have now, so you could easily clear a 31 inch tire, and could probably even clear a slightly wider 31 inch tire like a 265/75-15 (which is also 31 inches tall, but is wider than a 255/85-15)

Like I said- spec-ing out tires and wheels is (for me) one of the MOST AGGRAVATING things to work out on a project, because it is a large investment, and if the tires and wheels don't fit, then you risk fender damage, and for me personally, if they don't look right, then that bugs me (the OCD King) just as bad...


Also - GREAT IDEA putting the hardtop back on before busting out the tape measure-

[moore_rb]

Also- meant to add:

5 leaves is normal for Patrol rear spring- Your 67's springs might have aftermarket add-a-leaves (which are a relatively inexpensive option for adding lift).

[faux40]

Guess what showed up at the front door? A fuel injection kit, that's what!

Jay opens up the box-o-goodies!


The enclosure, the controller kit and the simulator kit


The simulator kit -- parts on display!


The controller kit parts on display!


Lots of little pieces to put together! I love this stuff! I think that we're off to the races!

John

[faux40]

We just got back from the gas station with our second filled the tank...

Just thought you'd want to know...
183 miles / 15.24 gallons = 12.01 mpg

Well, it's better than the 9mpg I was expecting!

John

[faux40]

Just a quick update -- Jay and I did a little work on the fuel injection system. We're putting the stimulator board together first. This weekend we'll start on the main computer.

[jwgreen]

Faux,

I'm getting a little worried about you!! It's been awhile and you haven't posted any progress. Is that fuel injection kit kicking your butt? Or did you get yourself all tangled up in the wires and cant reach the computer???

[faux40]

I wish it were as simple as just being tangled up in wires! Progress has slowed to a crawl, but we've been driving the Patrol a bunch -- nearly up to 300-miles! Hopefully the kids and I can get back to our little fuel injection computer... If I only had more time! (work kind of snuck up on me!)

John