MK1 rear bubble arches

[360phil]

We have fibre glass bubble arches fitted allround on our Mk1 rallycar. We have just fitted a wide atlas, and are struggling with tyre clearance.

Are the steel bubble arches slightly wider, or does anyone do wider fibre glass arches?

[Marigold]

Ok - so what do you mean by 'wide' atlas? A std Capri atlas adapted to an escort (52" back to back I think) or a proper 'WIDE' Atlas that can be wider.

A capri width atlas axle should fit ok depending on the offset and width of the wheels you are using.

Each manufacturer may have slight variences in the width of their bubbles but you can also get 'wide' bubbles (zakspeed arche kit?) But generally a std bubble kit should give enough clearence. You may have to clean up the moulds a bit depending on how well they are moulded.

[Retromotorsport]

The Zakspeed arches arnt any wider, they just look it and where made to comply with the ' entire wheel should be covered to wheel hub center line' rule, hence the the wider width at the lower parts, same as the Gp2 Zak arches

GRP arches are a copy of the steel ones..
theres no gain in going wide axle if your wheels stay in the same position, using a different offset to get them back under the arches, going wider with wider arches and then usind a wider axle to push them out has a gain, but using wider wheels to fit under wider arches is better gain

[360phil]

Thanks for the replies.
I was wondering whether the arches we had fitted weren't as wide as the works Escort ones, but knowing they're are all the same size has put my mind at rest.
The axle is an early fully floating one, with the single bearing (52"), which we've fitted to replace our baby atllas.
The wheels I've been running at the back have a wider offset than the front ones, so changing them over has almost sorted the problem.
Embarrasingly, we're having an issue because the last time we replaced the nearside rear arch, we accidently fitted an offside one, so it doesn't give as much clearance, as it should, but we can get round it by shaving a little bit off.
I know we should just replace it with a proper one, and we will do ...... when it gets damaged, which will happen sooner or later. Or maybe we'll do it when we haven't got such a long list of jobs to get done on the car between events!!
Thanks again,
Phil