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Maximum rubber......girl gets some new shoes

B

buening

Active Member
As you've probably seen in other posts, I copied what Grabber70Mach has on his car and decided to go with the 17x8 front and 17x10.5 anthracite bullitt wheels from American Muscle. Tires are Sumitomo HTR Z 245/45/17 fronts and 315/35/17 rears. As with all of my threads, you can guarantee it'll be heavy on pics! Below are the pics of the wheels, same as the ones posted in another thread here.

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and the poor worn out 14" Cragar SS rims with 205/70 Radial T/As

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and here is the tiny 205 original rear tires next to the fatty 315. Now we're talkin!

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Below are some pics of how the car is now, although it is very dirty since I'm just now getting it out of hibernation. Still gotta finish painting those darn rocker panels! The drivers side is finished, never made it to get the passenger done

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and now for the install pics. I decided to pull the spindles and brakes and pretty them up a bit. I had a leaking brake hose, which trashed the paint all of that stuff. With larger wheels, it'd look like crap if I didn't give them a facelift. Still has rust on the rotors, but that'll disappear soon. I used POR15 high temp paint on the calipers and portions of the rotor and wheel spacer. The color is similar to the anthracite, so I won't have a bright polished wheel spacer sticking out like a sore thumb (if I hadn't painted it). I didn't go too crazy because I have plans to upgrade to the front and rear Cobra brakes, so this will do for now!

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and a few pics of the front wheels installed. Probably could have gotten away with 3/4" spacers instead of 1".

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Enough with the boring fronts, everybody knows 8" wide wheels fit there. Lets squeeze 10lbs of crap into a 5lb bag :) I started out putting some washers on the wheel studs (thanks for the tip Grabber!) and then installed the wheels. BTW, that is the same POR15 high temp paint on those rear drums and they have probably 30,000 miles on them. Totally impressed with that stuff!

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And here is a pic of the quarter lip clearance. The second I put a string clamped to the lip and a nut on the other end. You can tell the wheels would just barely rub the lip once lowered, so I'll plan on rolling the lips. It'll tuck in nicely after a good rolling. The quarter lip is kind of jacked up thanks to a poor PO repair, hopefully I can roll it without screwing it up more

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With 3/8" worth of washers, this is my clearance between the rear of the leaf spring and the tire. Pretty tight! What does everyone think, should I space it out a bit more? I don't have the tall sidewalls like those 14" ones I had, so I'm not sure what kind of sidewall deflection I'd see.

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a little more clearance at the front of the leaf

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no problem with the inner wheelwell clearance at the rear....

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but the typical clearance issue in the front lower part of the inner wheelwell

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nothing a BFH couldn't cure!!!

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Here is a pic of the remaining wheel stud after the 3/8" of washers

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Crap, gonna need new studs! Couldn't even get a single thread to catch on the nuts to hold the rim in place while I checked clearances.

So I have two dilemmas. Does everyone think the wheel is spaced out far enough from the leaf springs? I don't want to keep pushing it further out and have quarter lip issues. The other issue is the wheel stud length. I measured the exposed thread length from the face of the axle and got 1". I looked into the NPD catalog and it mentions 1 9/16" wheel studs for rear drums on my car. Looking into the Summit catalog, it seems all of the wheel studs they sell are 3" long. I have acorn type lug nuts that are not open ended, so what does everyone typically do? Do you cut the studs down to length, or do you think it won't be an issue? I'll have more pics of the installed wheels once I figure out what wheel studs and spacers to order for the rear.
 
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"tarafied1" said:
that is going to be a huge improvement! (not that it looks bad before)
Click to expand...

Thanks! Its been long overdue, but having a child delayed that purchase LOL
 
Your Welcome, glad that I could be of some help to you with the info I gave you. FYI I talked to Mike at Maier racing and am running the front bushings he sells in his leaf springs, can't remember what they are made of though.
I also have their Panhard rod set-up that I have to finish installing. I'm using ARP studs they are the 3" one's with open ended Bulge Acorn nuts (make sure you use this style if it is what your rims require), you can cut the studs off if you desire to run the closed end lug nuts.
 
Oh and work picked one helluva great time to go nuts. I have my 40hrs in early Wednesday. Its great being salaried :( With that I'll say that the rims are all installed but haven't had time to get it out in the sun and give it a good wash before snapping some pics.
 
Finally got some time to wash the car, snap some pics, and take the first ride of the year. There is definitely rubbing on the passenger side at the front lower inner wheelhouse. It is closer for some reason on the passenger side than the drivers side, with less than 1/4" clearance. Ironically, I test fitted and did everything on the drivers side. Oh well, I may cut some spot welds and do a bit of clearancing sheetmetal work in that area. I took some corners pretty hard and the drivers side didn't rub at all. Below is a couple pics of the car in the driveway. The sun wasn't shining and it was kind of cold, so they aren't the best pics in the world. For some reason the pictures make the tire widths smaller than in real life, probably the angles of the pictures. Notice the closed end lug nuts on the rears? :roll

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That looks badda$$ with the new tires!

Do you have any plans of tracking the car with those wheels? I'd bet in a hard corner you'd shred the inner wall against the springs.
 
Thanks fellas. Nope, no tracking plans as of yet. If I ever decide to track the car, she will get a 3-link or a triangulated 4-link to eliminate the leaf springs. She'd also get a mini-tub and those 3/8" rear spacers would be removed. Hell, the car still has a worn out front suspension that needs done as well. So many wishes, so little time now :( I'm taking baby steps with this car in getting it finished. The paint job is a 50footer to boot.
 
:) That looks really good, enjoy it I never get tired of sitting in the shop looking at mine. Maybe oneday I'll actually get mine to be able to drive again.

Sent from my DROIDX using Tapatalk
 
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