Looking for wheels

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ktcnn94 said:
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Oh ok I see. Yeah I was looking at the mustang rotor deal as well for the 4.5 not sure what you think of that option. I don't know if I can get the rotor cut around here. I'll check with tony and see what he has. But there are a couple of options for the 4in pattern that I really like. Coys and cragar both still offer them and I have cragars on the front already but they are the 14", you do have a point about the 2 spare thing though, sucks to carry all of that around. Thanks for the input and advice, if you have an opinion on the mustang rotor idea I'd like to hear it, good or bad. Thanks.
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You can still get brand new rotors for the cars that had the 4.5 pattern cheap.
I would see what Tony has and maybe put new calipers and rotors on the factory parts, as I think it would be a lot less hassle for you, and cheaper.
LBP rotors brand new are about 50 a piece and calipers about 25 each.
That's only about 150 for both the 4.5 pattern rotors and both calipers.
 
There is a guy on the WestCoast somewhere who refurbishes the 60's type ET-IIs. Very nice.I seem to remember in BC or Washington.
Narrowing the rear is not that pricey, and if I had a Dart, that is the first thing that I would do,cuz I love those old Ansens and ET-IIs. And I love the deep-dish look. And they came mostly, with zero or close to zero,off-sets. That means backspaces of about 4.5/4.75 on 8 to 8.5 wheels.
If you are into Rallys, Wheel-Vintiques can put the center nearly anywhere. I have two sets of theirs; a pair of 15x8 fronts with a 5on4" and a set of 15x10 rears with5on4.5". Both with custom bs's. I no longer run these.
As to spares? To me they are dead-weight, and I have never carried one. Even if I wanted to, it wouldn't fit in the stock well. The fronts are 25" tall and the rears are nearly 27"s, so to save the TracLoc, I'd have to carry a 27. Hmmmmmmmmmmm. I have had one flat in this car,since 1999;so I will continue to drive without a spare.
To tell you the truth, I haven't had to install a spare onto any of my cars since the 80's; which is the last time I was running junky tires cuz I was soooooo broke.

TB; sorry.
I misread your comment,as to the KHers.
 
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AJ/FormS said:
There is a guy on the WestCoast somewhere who refurbishes the 60's type ET-IIs. Very nice.I seem to remember in BC or Washington.
Narrowing the rear is not that pricey, and if I had a Dart, that is the first thing that I would do,cuz I love those old Ansens and ET-IIs. And I love the deep-dish look. And they came mostly, with zero or close to zero,off-sets. That means backspaces of about 4.5/4.75 on 8 to 8.5 wheels.
If you are into Rallys, Wheel-Vintiques can put the center nearly anywhere. I have two sets of theirs; a pair of 15x8 fronts with a 5on4" and a set of 15x10 rears with5on4.5". Both with custom bs's. I no longer run these.
As to spares? To me they are dead-weight, and I have never carried one. Even if I wanted to, it wouldn't fit in the stock well. The fronts are 25" tall and the rears are nearly 27"s, so to save the TracLoc, I'd have to carry a 27. Hmmmmmmmmmmm. I have had one flat in this car,since 1999;so I will continue to drive without a spare.
To tell you the truth, I haven't had to install a spare onto any of my cars since the 80's; which is the last time I was running junky tires cuz I was soooooo broke.

TB; sorry.
I misread your comment,as to the KHers.
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AJ, thanks for the interest in what I'm doing here, I appreciate you and all the other guys giving me great advice. I'm trying to find someone around here that can narrow my rear, I've got a phone number for one guy but can't reach him. I do have the 8.25 rear I'm not sure if I posted that info or not, but I'm having trouble actually finding shortened axles listed anywhere for these. Whoever narrows it may have some info but I haven't found that guy yet. You know of a source for the shortened 8.25 axles? Unless I narrow I'll be using a 15x8 wheel most likely. Btw KHers, what's that the Kelsey Haynes brakes? Thanks again for your help.
 
TrailBeast said:
You can still get brand new rotors for the cars that had the 4.5 pattern cheap.
I would see what Tony has and maybe put new calipers and rotors on the factory parts, as I think it would be a lot less hassle for you, and cheaper.
LBP rotors brand new are about 50 a piece and calipers about 25 each.
That's only about 150 for both the 4.5 pattern rotors and both calipers.
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Got in touch with tony, he's got everything but control arms right now. Still weighing options at this point though. Thank you again for your help.
 
I think the company Dutchman axles can custom make any axle and perhaps can shorten existing axles maybe give them a shout see what they can do for you!:)
 
QuickDart360 said:
I think the company Dutchman axles can custom make any axle and perhaps can shorten existing axles maybe give them a shout see what they can do for you!:)
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Cool, thanks I'll see if I can get in touch with them.
 
I found the axles on the Dutchman site, moser doesn't show them in their site, I will call them both tomorrow. Hopefully I can find someone to do the housing. I'll also ask about the c-clip eliminator. I'm in southern West Virginia, if anyone knows of someone around this area that does the axle housing please let me know. Thanks.
 
Keep in mind, you can only narrow so far before the springs and bearing housings will want to occupy the same space. And it works best in conjunction with the spring locator kits with offset mounts. Also, it is better to go a little too-narrow, and install long studs.Then, if you have to, you can install spacers, to center the wheels. Not narrow enough can lead to fitment issues on the outboard side. Plus you can pound the inner walls pretty good with a big hammer to "adjust" for minor fitment issues there.

What I did was to carefully measure for the maximum size. Then I bought the wheels and tires I wanted to run.(Actually I borrowed the tires from my boss who owned a major tire-shop in the area; and the wheels I had already purchased years earlier). Then I yanked the entire rear end out, moved the springs and dropped the car down over the wheels. I centered them up, allowing for body sway. I plumbed and squared everything, then measured the hub to hub distance. From the measurement I subtracted 1/4 inch per side to allow for error. Finally, I pulled out one tire assembly, and reintroduced the rear end to the still-in-there wheel. I slid the rear over to it, supported the pinion and bolted the wheel on. Then re-centered it. I was looking to make sure it was physically possible to narrow my housing and still be able to secure it on the springs, without bearing housing to spring, clearance issues. In my case it appeared that I would have to pull the springs inboard 1/4 inch per side to make it happen. And I deemed that to be acceptable. So Off my housing and axles went. And on the return; Success! with 1/8 inch spacers..for ....................325/50-15s......on 10" rims with a 4.5 backspace.
 
AJ/FormS said:
Keep in mind, you can only narrow so far before the springs and bearing housings will want to occupy the same space. And it works best in conjunction with the spring locator kits with offset mounts. Also, it is better to go a little too-narrow, and install long studs.Then, if you have to, you can install spacers, to center the wheels. Not narrow enough can lead to fitment issues on the outboard side. Plus you can pound the inner walls pretty good with a big hammer to "adjust" for minor fitment issues there.

What I did was to carefully measure for the maximum size. Then I bought the wheels and tires I wanted to run.(Actually I borrowed the tires from my boss who owned a major tire-shop in the area; and the wheels I had already purchased years earlier). Then I yanked the entire rear end out, moved the springs and dropped the car down over the wheels. I centered them up, allowing for body sway. I plumbed and squared everything, then measured the hub to hub distance. From the measurement I subtracted 1/4 inch per side to allow for error. Finally, I pulled out one tire assembly, and reintroduced the rear end to the still-in-there wheel. I slid the rear over to it, supported the pinion and bolted the wheel on. Then re-centered it. I was looking to make sure it was physically possible to narrow my housing and still be able to secure it on the springs, without bearing housing to spring, clearance issues. In my case it appeared that I would have to pull the springs inboard 1/4 inch per side to make it happen. And I deemed that to be acceptable. So Off my housing and axles went. And on the return; Success! with 1/8 inch spacers..for ....................325/50-15s......on 10" rims with a 4.5 backspace.
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AJ, I understand about the springs and bearing for sure, very good advice. But I'm probably gonna go ahead and do the spring relocation kit so I'll be way clear. I'll update what I hear from moser and Dutchman on the axles and hopefully I'll get on touch with narrowing guy today. I'll definitely take your advice and take many measurements before I send it off. Thanks sir.
 
ktcnn94 said:
Got in touch with tony, he's got everything but control arms right now. Still weighing options at this point though. Thank you again for your help.
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Cool, but also keep in mind the cost of reconditioning a used part vs the cost of a new one.
Rotors for example, could have a bearing that spun in a used one or the cost of reconditioning a used one could be 3/4 of the cost of a new one that has new bearing surfaces, new pad surfaces and new wheel studs.
 
TrailBeast said:
Cool, but also keep in mind the cost of reconditioning a used part vs the cost of a new one.
Rotors for example, could have a bearing that spun in a used one or the cost of reconditioning a used one could be 3/4 of the cost of a new one that has new bearing surfaces, new pad surfaces and new wheel studs.
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Completely agree, thanks for the input, I appreciate you taking time to help me with this. Thank you.
 
ktcnn94 said:
Completely agree, thanks for the input, I appreciate you taking time to help me with this. Thank you.
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You are very welcome.
To be honest I'm not sure I could pass on nicer wheels and wait till the switch to big bolt pattern, but it would be the way to do it.:D
 
QuickDart360 said:
Any word from dutchman axles?:popcorn:
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I didn't get a chance to call them yesterday, was busy at work. The website shows 8.25 alloy axles, $250 for the set. That's with no lugs or hardware of any type. I may call them Monday if I get a chance but I've been doing some measuring today and I may not need to narrow.
 
Done quite a bit of measuring and re-measuring today and I'm pretty positive with the 8.25 rear and what I came up with I can fit a 15x10 with 4-3/4"- 5" backspace under there with no mods at all. But how much room do you guys recommend is safe for each side of the wheel. Thanks
 
ktcnn94 said:
Done quite a bit of measuring and re-measuring today and I'm pretty positive with the 8.25 rear and what I came up with I can fit a 15x10 with 4-3/4"- 5" backspace under there with no mods at all. But how much room do you guys recommend is safe for each side of the wheel. Thanks
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You need at least a 1/2" of clearance to the quarters, the spring side can be a little tighter than that, 3/8" or so with 15" rims because of the taller sidewalls. I have a little less than 3/8" on my car but I also have 18's so there isn't much sidewall flex to deal with. I've never had issues with the tires rubbing on the springs, but I did get some minor rubbing on the inside wall of the wheel tub when cross-axling the car over speed bumps before I added my rear sway bar. No issues now that the body roll is less, but I run a 7/8" rear sway bar to accomplish that. With 18" rims you end up running out room in the wheel tub before the spring clearance becomes an issue though. That's why I say there's no point of doing a 3" spring relocation without a mini-tub, even the 1/2" spring offset I run gets you all the spring clearance you need and the wheel tub is the limiting factor then.
 
Just an update if anyone is following. I mocked up a wheel today using cardboard. I made it 15x11 to make up for the lip on the wheel. I made it with 5" from the inner edge to the mounting surface simulating about 4-1/2 backspace. If I moved it in another 1/2" on the backspace it would fit but would be very tight and that's with no tire sidewall. So I don't think I'll go that route at this point. Looks like it's gonna be a 15x8 wheel or the minitub and spring relocation. I really want the meats under the back and don't want to compromise or skimp out on it, so most likely will be doing the mods. Thanks to all for the help.
 
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