right, still doing my retro build.

the driveside crank seems awfully close to the stay when rotating, nothing touchs but there only 2 or 3mm in it.

the bb is a square taper, and the cranks are old m550's

is this ok or do i need different cranks or bb, can i space out the bb (i am thinking not as the axle is likely one piece?)

help with jargon, cheapest route would be good?

had a look at sheldon brown here

http://www.sheldonbrown.com/bbsize.html this says the cranks (m 550) need a length of 122.5, is this axle lenght required? so do i just need to shop around for some cranks which require less lenght? any suggestions?

If it was my bike I'd worry more about tyre clearance and chainsuck rather than the crank
(ed) but, yeh, a longer BB axle might be nice – how long is the current one