RE: shrinking rear axle
There are different offset hubs which will fit on the GT's, I don't think they are ment for the GT's but they fit. I have some at home and dont know what they are off of but same problem. You should be able to take them both off and compair the distance from the mount hole to the outside edge to see the difference. I have a couple of GT's, a T-3, a B-3 and a Klien sprint car, I suspect the hubs may be from one of those models?