Was fitting a new crank to an older P7 for my neighbour last night, managed after much swearing to remove the old square taper crank and then was fitting a budget FSA XT11 type chainset, its got a 68mm shell and the bumf said 2 spacers on the drive side as usual for external bearings on 68mm shell, but chainline is not right and no matter how much fiddling of stop srcews the front mech does go out far enough to get up onto the big ring. I am going to have to put the 2 spacers on the left and try again but any idea why this would be?

Seems new chainsets are designed with a wider chainline, probably for clearance with today's wider tyres. You'll get the opposite happen when you fit a new mech to an old set-up, having trouble getting granny.
A new mech should sort it.

FFS… I have been doing this bike up with him for a while, its a nice bike but he has had to spend about £150 on it already, I cant tell him now the mech isnt suitable, we tried to do it on the cheap with just a new chain on the old cassette and chainset but a thread was already mangeled for a pedal and the chain skipped on the cassette so needed a new cassette too. Frame isnt that old 1993 and runs a 2.2 comti in it OK.

I will have to play with the spacers first, there is an enormous clearance to the chainstay making what you say ring true..

I would have ignored the advice & set it by eye anyway.
If it sits on the same line as the old one it shouldn't need a new mech, just a bit of a fettle.

And £150 to resurrect a 1993 bike isn't that bad if you get another 10yrs out of the thing. He could have bought a supermarket special that would be shagged in a years time & ride like a dog.

yup your right takisawa, a fettle it is, I know the cost is good for what he is getting and I did a lot of searching to get the right bits at the right price, but have tried to do it on a budget for him, I dont really want to say OH the new stuff isnt compatible with the old stuff makes me look a nana. 🙂

What I wont like doing is adding the 2 spacers on the wrong side, thats going to push the arms off centre, I wonder if it has enough adjustment on the tube through the middle to just run 1 spacer either side…