1974 XS/TX650 rebuild

[IntheGroove]

My '67 MGB would not look right without wire wheels...

[Frank S]

My '67 MGB would not look right without wire wheels...

Admittedly there were exceptions, just like the old Kreger 5 spoke mag wheels on a select few cars they looked good on others they just looked ridiculous.
I saw an Excalibur kit car that almost looked good with the 26" rims but 22s with a little more sidewall would have looked a lot better. 19" wire spokes and white walls may have made it pop.
A lot depends on the body lines of the car. When it comes to bikes I've seen 1 or 2 with a 16" solid disk rear really set the bikes above the bar, however both sported 21 or 23" fronts on spokes. 18s in the rear and 19s in front for heavy cruisers possibly a 21.

[th62]

Just watch who you get your spokes from. The thread on the spokes I bought is longer than stock spokes, so when trued there is about 3mm of thread visible between nipple and hub. Probably wouldn't bother most, but I'm not most! If you blow up the picture you'll see what I mean, the dull grey ones are stock. Not happy, I complained to the seller, GeoffsXS , he now says he wont deal with me and sent me a number of abusive texts and emails. Not that I need him, there are a plethora of XS accessory shops around.

[IntheGroove]

You are correct that that is unacceptable. I will not do business with GeoffsXF if I ever need spokes...

[th62]

Spokes arrived from Heidens this afternoon, so laced up the rear wheel. What a difference, no exposed thread on any spokes.

[th62]

Some progress shots. Looks much better with spoked wheels. I've taken the carbs off as one diaphragm has been holed, so, I'm tossing up between VM round slides or fixing the BS38 carbs. Not real keen on vacuum carbs, so leaning toward the VM round slides. Damned expensive though at $600. It's come a long way from such a humble beginning.

[asterix]

Changing the diaphragm on the carb that you already have put time and effort is the way to go. The money saved will surely be used for completing the project. Spoked wheels are definitively the way to go. Nice job !

[th62]

I've since discovered that JBM are not shipping to Australia at the moment. That leaves buying an OEM slide and diaphragm.. The cost for them is more than a round slide, so, I think I'll be going for a round slide kit. The kit cost more than a single round slide, but comes with a number of jets and manifolds. All I'll get if I wait until JBM are shipping again is two 47 year old carbs of a terrible design.

[th62]

have some VM round slides coming next week. I've read the cable interferes with the petcock, standard fare is to tilt the carbs inwards at the top to fix the problem, but, that's a bit too rough for my liking, so to circumvent the problem I made up these two 20mm spacers. Hopefully, these should move the carbs back enough so the cables clear the petcocks.

[asterix]

Ah, always a problem but to a problem, there is a solution. It is to us to find it!