As a consequence of fitting doors into the body of the Colander I need to remake the wings/mudguards. The originals were quite crude and had a lot of clearance underneath between arch and wheel. They gave an unusual look that was great for the shape at the time but will not fit or look correct on the restyled body!
The new wings will hopefully closely follow the wheel shape in a more circular pattern leading down to the running boards that may or may not be fitted?
The question is how much clearance to leave between wheel and arch? Too much will look wrong but to little will lead to fouling of tyre and arch? I have an idea of suspension travel so can roughly work out what is required BUT I would be interested to hear from anyone with say a special with cycle wings or similar what clearance they have between tyre and mudguard/wing?

Regards

Steve.

Hi Steve, When we used to design new commercial vehicles we would take the dimension of the total travel of the axle from bump stop to the top of the axle and add one inch for ‘bump’ plus one inch for ‘roll’.

Steve, Forgot to mention that when setting up the rear wings on commercials we would set the wing 2 inches further back from the tyre at the rear to allow for the axle to travel rearwards under loaded condition, you would want to allow for this on a seven also, though not such a large distance would be needed, probably ¾” on the steeply cambered standard springs. If you have ‘flat’ springs this won’t be an issue.

Thanks Ian

That is very useful info.
I have flat rear springs,and intend to "load" up the car a bit to see what sort of movement I get!
At the rear the old wings didnt have a lot of clearance but never touched. I suspect my flattened Ruby springs are a bit hard for a light special, although the ride is not to bad!!

Thanks

Steve

Steve - try this : from hub centre to highest spot on wing = front 18", rear 16 1/4". Then you can say there's something Ulster on the Colandar! Cheers, Bill in Oz

Steve, clearance between top of tyre and underside of wing on my special is 3". Fronts have given no trouble, just as well really since ground clearance at the front is also 3"! Not a trials car, as you gather. Rears have touched, rarely, over a big bump with a heavy passenger.
3.5" clearance at the rear would have been better.
Flat springs, front cord bound.
I suppose the rear axle might move forward a bit on bump.
Holding wings up while you measure for brackets etc. is a bit of a pain. Best suggestion I've seen is to support them on flower pots. Brilliant idea if you have the resources.
Incidentally, you can make rather good flowing wings out of four wheel trailer mudguards.

I have to say you have made me uneasy. Doors, running boards, what will all this weigh? I hope the added luxury is worthwhile!

Regards, Stuart

Hi Stuart

Yes the thought of the weight makes me feel ill!!!
I have been carefully adding wood framing for the doors and "weighing" each piece as I make it by holding it up by hand!! I have a hole saw so perhaps the "Colander" may take on a new meaning!!
The new seats should be marginally lighter, and the seperate stand alone heavy spare wheel carrier is no more as the spare fits into the boot now .
The fabric covering I carefully removed is suprisingly heavy, I have been considering skinning the tub in very thin gauge ally instead? At VSCC Donnington there was an A7 racer built in a similar way to mine but to a much better standard and it was just left in the raw wood state , so perhaps a tin of varnish would save some weight!!

Steve.