Whats the biggest Rim / tire combo that will fit under a stock (unrolled ) wheel well ?? I've got 275/60/15's on Buick 15x7 Mags, 4 7/8" Backspacing. I've also got 15x8's with 5 1/8" BS - can I go to a 295 ?? 315 ?? Can we fit a 10" wheel under there ?? what BS is optimal ?? Gary, Doug, Randy, Shane, and all other FAST 68/69 guys - what are you running ?? Lets talk STOCK rear / wheelwells and possibly slightly modified too Thanks - I've had people ask me, and all I have tried is what I've posted above, so lets all ADD to this thread and make it a source for future lookup !!! Thanks....
Allen, Don't think I can help you to much as my setup is a bastard. I have 8.5" wheels with a 3.375" backspace. See I told you, a bastard. To make this work I had my rearend narrowed. It was all done years ago by Mosier. They where cutting off my housing ends anyway to set up the c-clip elim. and to square up the housing, so they told me I could make it any length I wanted and they would make the axels fit. So I thought I would make a deeper dish wheel to give the illusion of a wider tire. The lip on my wheel well is cut also. I currently run a 28x10.5 slick which has an 11.5" section. With this tire I have about 1" of clearence on each side. In the past I've run a 29.5x10.5 slick with a 12.5" section. This tire is really tight and only has about a .5" on each side and is really close on the front edge. Good luck
Allan, my set-up is more work. First, my lip is rolled. Next the frame rails were boxed about 2'' in closer to the frame. I basically copied Painekiller's set-up. Then i made mini-tubs from full sized ones to finish it off. The frame work was a B*&^ch to do. I have an 11'' tire on Draglite Rims that are 10'' wide & i believe 5.5'' backspace. Doug's rims have backspacing that will allow us to go to 12'' of rubber back there. Can't find that sized rim anymore. My section is 12.65 with about .75 to 1'' of clearance on each side. A backhalved or narrowed rear is the way i would go next time. I have to find the wide slick with a narrow section width, so my choices are limited. Randy
Thanks guys.....no one has tried stuffing big meats under unmolested metal ?? and on a stock 10 or 12 bolt ??
Allan, everyone i know with a 68 or 69 with the stock set-up can get 9or 9.5'' back there. I'm sure if you run an early 12bolt, you may get .5'' extra clearance or so on each side. Randy
Just have your wife get you a sawzall for Christmas :laugh: :laugh: All kidding aside, I hung some plumbobs off the frame and the wheelwell lip and then measured everything up using a straight edge. With that info and the tire section of a Jegs cataloge I knew exactly what to order.
I have 30x9 MT slicks, and pretty sure my wheels have a 4 5/8 backspace 8.5 wide. Wheel lips are rolled, stock frame and 12 bolt rear. Has gone 10.70s with a 1.49 60'. I think a 4" backspace with a 1/4" spacer would work better, my tires are real close to the outer lip. Jeff
Tires sizes Mine has a 29.5 x 9 x 15 Mickey Thoompson slick on it with Weld Draglights. The wheel wells are not modified at all on this car either. I am not exactly sure what the backspacing is on them, i bought them about 7 years ago.
I had a set of 29.5x9s, they are quite a bit smaller then the 30x9s. They would easily fit on a unmodified wheel well. If I remember correctly, you will need a 4.5 backspace. Jeff
backspacing Jeff I checked them and they do have a 4.5 backspacing and they fit in there perfect with no problems.
couple more questions Denny, Thanks for checking the measurements. Any chance you can post a couple of pics with your wheel setup when you have a chance ? It sounds like this is what I need to go to 29.5 x 9 x 15 MT on 8" rim unless we can squeeze in more without the sawzall for now. Jeff, I have never rolled the wheel lips before. Is this a big deal to do ? I'm missing something in regards to wheel spacers following your statement below. If you add a 1/4 wheel spacer doesn't that push the wheel out further to the wheel well molding so you effectively end up with a 3.75 BS ? "I have 30x9 MT slicks, and pretty sure my wheels have a 4 5/8 backspace 8.5 wide. Wheel lips are rolled, stock frame and 12 bolt rear. Has gone 10.70s with a 1.49 60'. I think a 4" backspace with a 1/4" spacer would work better, my tires are real close to the outer lip." Jeff Thanks Greg
Greg, I had forgot to mension that would be if you were running a 8" wide wheel. I think the only wheels that come 8.5" are Centerlines. Denny has a proven wheel and tires combo I would look no further. Rolling wheel lips could get quite involved and should be done before the body work is done. I used a hammer and dolly, it will ripple the quarter slightly. I actually had to clearance mine even a little more after I painted the car. If you look real close down the side of the car you can see a slight wave. I dont have a way to post a picture right now. If you do a search, type in "track friday" you can see how close my tires are in that picture. Jeff
pictures Greg I will get over there and take some pictures either tonight or tomorrow and post them once i do. Thanks
Tires! On my 68 I used 12.50 x 30" M/T ET Streets on 8" Weld wheels with the stock frame and slight modifications to lip. Can't remember for sure the back spacing, but they were very close to the frame. Actually I used a grinder to smooth the frame so if the tires rubbed they would not be cut. Later I moved the frame in and went to 13.50 x 30" M/T's on 10" wheels with 7" back spacing and stock width 12 rear. It went 1.40's with stock type suspension. JIm N.
thanks for the pics Going to poke around this site to look at a few 68 & 69 with those rims to see how I like the look so I can let Santa know. If I remember correctly member Todd Borland runs those rims too. Thanks again Denny, Greg
Very nice car Denny. What kind of combo are you putting together for it? When are we going to see it going down the track?
Soon Shayne I bought the car turn key from a very good friend of mine (he is the one that i sold it to orginally). The car has run a best of 10.78 But he made a gear change and consistantly runs 10.90's. I am hoping to have it out this sunday at Thompson for some Test and tune before winter. If not, then it will be ready in the spring.
