King Cobra Build in Oregon

IICrew · May 11, 2022

Someone did the tail light conversion already too.

Wait.. 235/60/14 on the front? I rub with 205/60/14 on the front. Granted I cut 1/3 coil from the v6 front springs. Still I cannot see a 235 fitting and not rubbing. I can drive fine but entering aprons/driveways while turning causes me to rub. I cannot turn full lock in reverse on flat ground without rubbing. I rolled the fenders a bit, removed the liner and smashed the pinch weld and still rub. In the 80's I tried putting 215/60/13 on the front of my first II and they rubbed when driving. It was stock up front.

14's are readily available as of last year.

I love those wheels. They were on the Handler's. Will go great with the yellow you have

79PaceKar · May 11, 2022

I too was wondering why the difference between front and rear, but the car was a driver and seems the tires don't rub anywhere. I am interested how the fronts will fit when I get the engine installed and put the fenders on. Tires have lots of tread. I also have a set of 15's but they are a lot bigger and have a much deeper backspace. Have seen these on other ii's and they look good. Still finding stuff on the 75 I need. Lower door seals are in really good shape and the black rubber thingie covering wires and such between the door and body are in very good shape.

IICrew · May 11, 2022

I don't think you should have the wider tire up front. Our cars are nose heavy to begin with. Adding better traction up front vs the rear will induce overstear. Back in the day if the customer had bias ply tires and bought two new radials we were not allowed to install them up front. The improved traction of the radial could induce overstear. Same principle here.

Better to have some understear then to have your ass end suddenly facing your previous direction of travel.

I would probably plan on using the 235/60 on the rear and getting new fronts. I just don't think they will fit up front unless you have the Monroe Handler front fenders or similar modifications to the fenders. Is the front end of the coupe sitting higher than stock?

My rear wheels are 4.5" backspacing and 245/60/15 were too big. I am now running 235/60/15 on rear. I smashed the lip in some and still rub on sharp dips or when having more then 2 adults in the car. Depending on backspacing the 235 should fit but you will need to roll the quarter.

I was running 225/60/14 on the rear and they looked good but I was fighting a vibration and bought new rear wheels. So I went to 15's. They fit fine.

79PaceKar · May 12, 2022

Thanks for the information. did not know about the over steer problem.

LILCBRA · May 12, 2022

IICrew said:
I don't think you should have the wider tire up front. Our cars are nose heavy to begin with. Adding better traction up front vs the rear will induce overstear. Back in the day if the customer had bias ply tires and bought two new radials we were not allowed to install them up front. The improved traction of the radial could induce overstear. Same principle here.

Better to have some understear then to have your ass end suddenly facing your previous direction of travel.

I would probably plan on using the 235/60 on the rear and getting new fronts. I just don't think they will fit up front unless you have the Monroe Handler front fenders or similar modifications to the fenders. Is the front end of the coupe sitting higher than stock?

My rear wheels are 4.5" backspacing and 245/60/15 were too big. I am now running 235/60/15 on rear. I smashed the lip in some and still rub on sharp dips or when having more then 2 adults in the car. Depending on backspacing the 235 should fit but you will need to roll the quarter.

I was running 225/60/14 on the rear and they looked good but I was fighting a vibration and bought new rear wheels. So I went to 15's. They fit fine.

What is the width of your rear wheels? I have 15x8 wheels, 4-1/2" backspacing with 265/50-15 tires and only have a slight rub with someone in the back seat when I hit a bump/dip at speed. I don't think I'm rubbing on the lip as there's no damage to the tire but I couldn't rule it out since it happens so infrequently. Again, I'm no help on the fronts since I run a 4 inch wide wheel with 0 offset and 165/80-15s. Those required pounding the body seam and removal of the splash guards, but I've had no problems with them otherwise. These are old pics from when I first installed them in 2010 for reference:

IICrew · May 12, 2022

Here I am wondering how you fit the 265's. It has to be them being 50 series. I double checked mine. I run 225/60/15 rears and 215/60/14 front. Rears wheels are 15x8 4.5 backspacing. They rub on sharp dips or riding with an adult in the back seat. Before installing carpet I picked up 2 bags of bedding and 2 bags of feed for the chickens and rubbed with my wife and me in the car going over dips.

I ran the 245/60 for a few miles. Literally just a few miles. I damaged the quarter panel and ripped off a few tread chunks with just me and the wife. The tires hit at about 8 o clock position of the wheel well looking at the drivers side. I think that would be alleviated going to a 50 series. That would not fix rubbing the lip at the top of the wheel well which is where the 225 rub as well.

I have the original rear springs with new kyb shocks. It sits a little lower then some cars in pics but I am not sure if it's tire sizes or springs when looking at said pics.

225/60/15 Rear 215/60/14 Front

245/60/15

LILCBRA · May 13, 2022

IICrew said:
Here I am wondering how you fit the 265's. It has to be them being 50 series. I double checked mine. I run 225/60/15 rears and 215/60/14 front. Rears wheels are 15x8 4.5 backspacing. They rub on sharp dips or riding with an adult in the back seat. Before installing carpet I picked up 2 bags of bedding and 2 bags of feed for the chickens and rubbed with my wife and me in the car going over dips.

I ran the 245/60 for a few miles. Literally just a few miles. I damaged the quarter panel and ripped off a few tread chunks with just me and the wife. The tires hit at about 8 o clock position of the wheel well looking at the drivers side. I think that would be alleviated going to a 50 series. That would not fix rubbing the lip at the top of the wheel well which is where the 225 rub as well.

I have the original rear springs with new kyb shocks. It sits a little lower then some cars in pics but I am not sure if it's tire sizes or springs when looking at said pics.

225/60/15 Rear 215/60/14 Front

Yeah, I also think my car sits a tad higher than yours in the rear, that would definitely help. And I've only had children/young adults in the back, most all of my full sized adult friends won't ride in the back - they had enough of that in high school in the late 80s.

7991LXnSHO · May 13, 2022

LILCBRA said:
Yeah, I also think my car sits a tad higher than yours in the rear, that would definitely help. And I've only had children/young adults in the back, most all of my full sized adult friends won't ride in the back - they had enough of that in high school in the late 80s.

Some of your friends from the late 80’s need naproxen and Tylenol to get in and out of the back of a Mustang. The cars are closer to the ground and there’s less room between the seat and door frame than there used to be.

LILCBRA · May 13, 2022

7991LXnSHO said:
Some of your friends from the late 80’s need naproxen and Tylenol to get in and out of the back of a Mustang. The cars are closer to the ground and there’s less room between the seat and door frame than there used to be.

Boy you ain't 'in....

Seriously though, I have a hard enough time getting in and out of it now with my f'ed up foot in addition to not being in my teens anymore. Now if someone wanted me to ride in the back??? Hard pass.

IICrew · May 13, 2022

I always drive because I am a terrible back seat driver. Getting into those back seats is not gonna happen much less me being able to keep my mouth shut.

About a month ago I did have my vertically challenged wife ride in the back seat when my 6'1 son needed a ride home. It was a short trip but I had to be careful of dips. It rubbed a few times. BTW do not even think about bringing that up around her. It's another sore subject like being short. Saying it's the car and not you was not received as well as hoped that day.

Naproxen and Tylenol? Hell we moved on to prescription drugs after pretzeling yourself into those so called seats. Muscle relaxers and anti inflammatory meds are now required before and after attempting such a gymnastic feat.

79PaceKar · May 13, 2022

WOW. Lots of good information. Thanks Muchly. I will check the rims for size. I did install a new set of air shocks, so I can lift the back a bit if needed. the rims and tires the car came with worked just fine, 205.60 15 on rear, 195.50 14 on front. Will check the size on the newer rims. Shipped kids off to AZ so that's not a problem...........Kinda strange every time they come up to visit we are out of town....

7991LXnSHO · May 13, 2022

IICrew said:
Naproxen and Tylenol? Hell we moved on to prescription drugs after pretzeling yourself into those so called seats. Muscle relaxers and anti inflammatory meds are now required before and after attempting such a gymnastic feat.

Oh, good. I thought I was just being a whimp after the last time I crawled in to work under the dash.

79PaceKar · May 16, 2022

Speedway Lower Control Arm update: Just looked at my checking account.....don't look to often as I keep hoping to have more money then I do. Anyway, I found a credit from Speedway Mtrs covering the $60 I spent getting the ball joint to fit. Just wanted to let everyone know about this. It shows they listen to their customers and did the right thing. I will certainly make additional purchases as needed. I saw their shop/museum on an episode of Road Kill. Looks like somewhere I would like to visit.

79PaceKar · May 21, 2022

I opened my new MSD distributor and found a note saying I needed to send my FORD distributor back for a new cam shaft gear if I am going to install the Ford distributor into a Ford 302????? Spent 90 minutes this morning listening to some bad music while on hold with "Tech support". I was asked what type of cam I had. Said it was a stock 1978 302. I need to know if it is a fat tapped or or hydrophilic cam. How do i tell; do I need to pull the cam to find out?

2Blue2 · May 21, 2022

79PaceKar said:
what type of cam I had.

79PaceKar said:
if it is a fat tapped or or hydrophilic cam.

Dont forget holy roller!

Would venture a guess that stock 78 is a Hydrowhateveryousaid...

IICrew · May 21, 2022

No clue what a hydrophilic cam is. If it's stock it's a flat tappet. Ford started using the roller cams in 85 if my memory serves correctly.

You can pull a valve cover and measure the pushrod length. Then look up specs. Roller engines use a shorter push rod.

7991LXnSHO · May 21, 2022

79PaceKar said:
I opened my new MSD distributor and found a note saying I needed to send my FORD distributor back for a new cam shaft gear if I am going to install the Ford distributor into a Ford 302????? Spent 90 minutes this morning listening to some bad music while on hold with "Tech support". I was asked what type of cam I had. Said it was a stock 1978 302. I need to know if it is a fat tapped or or hydrophilic cam. How do i tell; do I need to pull the cam to find out?

I forgot to hit post hours ago!

Ford small block engine - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

85-01 5.0 blocks were designed for a steel cam that uses a hydraulic, roller tip lifters. The factory roller blocks have a spider thing in the valley to hold the lifters the right direction. The roller blocks also have taller lifter bores for the roller lifters.

62-84 302/5.0 blocks used a cast iron Flat tappet (lifter) camshaft with hydraulic lifters.

Ford small block engine - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

Does that answer your question? An early block could have aftermarket roller lifters with tie bars installed. Or it could have a solid, flat bottom lifter camshaft. Neither are likely unless you know it was a high-po build.

79PaceKar · May 23, 2022

Prior owner said it is a hydraulic lift but said nothing about it being a flat tappet or not. If I just change it to a brass gear will that work with either type cam?

7991LXnSHO · May 23, 2022

79PaceKar said:
Prior owner said it is a hydraulic lift but said nothing about it being a flat tappet or not. If I just change it to a brass gear will that work with either type cam?

Can you find block numbers, or know what it is out of?

What Does My Vehicle Vin Number Tell Me?

Every car's Vehicle Identification Number (VIN) is unique. The VIN is a 17-character combination of letters and numbers that represent information about the vehicle, including make, year and manufacturer.

itstillruns.com

Where is my 302 casting numbers - Ford Truck Enthusiasts Forums

1980 - 1986 Bullnose F100, F150 & Larger F-Series Trucks - Where is my 302 casting numbers - Where can I find the casting number on my engine? It's a 1982 f100 with a 302.

www.ford-trucks.com

79PaceKar · May 23, 2022

I will go check it.

King Cobra Build in Oregon

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I wish I didn't have all of these balls in the air

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wanna catch the space herp

I wish I didn't have all of these balls in the air

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wanna catch the space herp

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will be trying this sex one when I can find it

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wanna catch the space herp

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