Aaron, I didn't consider tire deflections in my analysis. I knew what size tires I wanted and figured there wasn't much I could do about changing sidewall stiffness without changing the look.

I got a pleasant surprise email today saying that my wheels had arrived a week earlier than expected! It was a real pain in the derriere to get a Motegi rep to confirm that the front wheels I wanted would have enough clearance depth-wise behind the spokes for the brake calipers. The 7" wide and 48 mm offset front wheels didn't appear as though there would be much room left. In the end it took three weeks of badgering countless people before someone finally said the best they could do was assure me they would fit, however there would still be a no-return policy given the "special-order" nature of the wheels. This, after giving them a scale drawing of my front and rear suspensions complete with every dimension you could imagine. The level of ineptitude is mind-boggling sometimes.

I can happily report that my worrying was for nothing... I ran home with the bare rims to check out the fitment before potentially wasting money mounting the tires... and the fronts cleared everything just fine:





I loaded up the tires and wheels and headed out to the tire shop for mounting those bad-boy rubber shoes...



And getting them balanced...



And finally made my way home to stick them in the fender wells. I'm very happy with the look despite the fact that I have to use my imagination to envision the fiberglass changes that are forthcoming:



Here's the rear quarter view from before, except this time there are wheels attached to those tires!

[This message has been edited by Bloozberry (edited 03-05-2013).]

Well, it's been a while since I updated the thread because I've been busy restoring a customer's '46 Willys Jeep. That's finally out the door and now I can concentrate on the Blooze Own.

I created a pattern for the cuts needed to the 2" X 3" rectangular stock to form the cradle side rails. It starts out as a 1103 mm long tube and ends up being 977 mm long after it's been notched and formed into shape.



I measured twice then marked up one of the tubes in preparation for cutting, then used a die grinder with a cut-off wheel to make the first slice.



The die grinder was just waaay to slow for me so I used an angle grinder to make the largest part of the cuts...



...then used the die grinder with the thinner wheel to make the finish cuts. I was pleasantly surprised at how accurately I could slice out the pie sections with the angle grinder.



Here's one cradle side rail with all five notches. I also bevelled each cut edge to make a vee to increase the surface area of the tube where the welds would be.



I used a crowbar and an adjustable bubble level to bend each section to the correct angle then tack welded the notch in preparation for final welding.



I prefer not to grind the welds flush after they're completed since the extra material adds strength to the area.



Here's the final product: One new modified cradle side rail awaiting it's identical twin (BTW, it's laying on it's side in this picture).



(edited to correct length of tubing required)

[This message has been edited by Bloozberry (edited 04-06-2013).]