After 5 months of non-stop work, my 66 fastback is almost restored.

After addressing literally hundreds of details just two remain.

I am thinking of puttingon theBorla mufflers - flowmasters are juts too loud for me.

And also - because I want to keep the dual redline tires - I must decided to keep my 14X5 (with the beauty rims) or puttting these tires on a 14X7 steel style wheel - the 65 version which is a one-piece (no beauty trim, but all chrome).

Any thoughts about these two choices?

 

Are you concours or resto? That would weigh heavy on my decision.

 

I think a concours restoration got blown out the Borlas.

 

Fastbackford351 says "I think a concours restoration got blown out the Borlas."

That is some funny stuff.

As far the mufflers go I have flowmasters on mine and inside the car they are imo fine. I would imagine you have better insulation so it would be even quieter in your case. I have never heard Borlas but in my car it sounds like a throaty rumble till about 35 mph then the tire to road and air to winshield noise overtakes the engine sound. I would imagine if someone was standing on the side of the road the exhaust would sound pretty loud as I went by at 60 mph.

I love the redline tire look on stock SS wheels, I guess if I had a 66' I would put the ones with the ring on just because they are correct for that year (especially if I already had them). But if you like the 65' better and have the 600 bucks then why not? I can't think of a reason other than you might feel better mailing the cash to me.

 

Do you think switching 195 tires from a 14x5 to a 14X7 wheel would make much difference in looks or performance?

 

You may get a very slightly larger contact area, but whether that and the look of the all chrome rims are worth the money are entrirely up to you. I do know that the 35's on my Jeep look noticably different on my 8" wheels than others I've seen on 10". Whether that will be the case on the much smaller tires on a Mustang I don't know.

BTW, congrats on finishing your ride. Go enjoy the hell out of that thing!!!

 

It shouldn't look too different, but I don't think you'll notice much performance difference eitherif you stay at 195. Now if you went from 14" to a 15", 16", or 17" then you'd probably feel a bigger performancedifference (especially on turns)even if you stayed with a 195 tire.

You'd also feel more of a difference if you went from 14x5 to 14x7 and went from 195 to 225 or so. The wider rubber would help the back tires grip when you take off from a stop, and could help you find yourself skidding a bit when you hit the brakes hard..