Wheelset help please
 

Hey guys (and gals) I've got a old roadie conversion, it's a late 70's early 80's Raleigh frame, it has 27" wheels. I wanna get a new wheelset and flip flop hub, tires, tubes, I'm wondering if some some knows of a good 27" set and also what all does it take to change to a more modern typical wheel size? Thanks.

get a 700c wheelset and get new tires. get (at least) formula hubs. it'll all make your life easier in the long run. end of story

sheldon / harris can help <click>

I've checked out sheldon's page before, I'm within riding distance of Harris Cyclery. Maybe next weekend I'll just ride out there and tell them to hook me up, it might end up costing more then ordering online and do'in the work my self but maybe it's worth it to support harris/sheldon. I'm a broke college student so I was really hoping to do this whole thing for under $200. Cheap is very important to me and since this is for my commuter bike (already have a bunch of money invested in my other bike) I can't justify spending a lot of money on this, especially since it's functional right now as a freewheel singlespeed...

just buy the rear fixed from harris/sheldon, you should be able to find cheap/free 27" front wheels easily

greatdealsonbikes.com
mavic cxp-22, formula hubs, $155 shipped.
you won't find better wheels for cheaper anywhere.

It says 120mm spacing. Can I make this work with approx. 127mm rear dropout spacing?

yes, just push the rear stays in, you may have to bend the dropouts to line up though

One consideration when switching to 700c is your brake calipers may not fit right (if you run a brake, which is all around a good idea). Sometimes the pads can be lowered to fit a 700c wheel, sometimes not. If you are going to harris, mention this to them and if your current brake caliper won't work, you can get another one for pretty cheap.

Or just toss some spacers on the axle. The solid axle that came with my Formulas was more than long enough to be spaced to 126mm.

I'd rather respace and redish than deal with cold setting the rear triangle and bending the crap out of the dropouts.