Quote: Originally Posted by InfernalVortex Wow I LIKE that Z28 wing on that firebird... Thanks, I am still on the fence with it. I just put it on last week from a parts car I bought. I needed a wing regardless, and that one was there. I might switch to a 91-92 T/A wing if I do not like it.

Bringing this back from the dead...

Great project, came out real nice.

I'm looking at a killer deal on some CCW classics, 17x11 and 17x12 315/335 combo. With hoosier R6 tires (who needs 315 r comps when you can run 335 r comps) I will make these fit

I have a couple of questions though,
First, I'd like to keep my stock spring location. It looks like you managed to tuck your 335s pretty far in. More so than what most people with the common 315 setup do.
How far from the top of the quarter panel lip "flare" are your wheels tucked inward? It looks like a couple of inches.

If you were to have moved the wheels out some, would you have been able to keep the tire inside of the flare and keep the stock spring?

I guess what I am asking ultimately is how much less backspacing would you need to run to keep the stock spring? Would that still fit inside of the body flare with a 335?

The wheels I am looking at have an 8.75 backspacking, I was thinking with a 1.25 to 1.5" spacer would still tuck the tire and maybe let me keep the stock spring. What do you think?

how far in are the wheels? they are about 1/2" in from the outside of the car. Pics may be a little decieving, they are not in that far. They sit right where a 8" wide zero offset wheel would sit, like the stock "front" gta or iroc 16" wheels.

So yes, i coudl move the wheels out about 1/2, and they would be sitting right where most people have their 315's, which are about flush with the outside of the car, if not out a tad.

i could probably put a stock spring in the car, and it would be sitting right up against the tire,+/-. I aimed for 3/4" of clearance from the tire to the inner fender, anything less and the tires rub a little when the car squats and rolls in/out a turn. At 3/4, no rubbing, at 1/2, there was some rubbing.

my wheels have 8.5" of backspacing, so your rear wheels, with 8.75" would sit in further than mine by 1/4", and with the spacers you listed, they would be well outside the wheels wells.

I dont believe there is a way to put a 12" rim with a 335 under the stock fender and keep the rear springs and still have enoguh clearance. you may be able to use a rear spring setup that utilizes a smaller OD spring adapter to the stock perches?

also, without measuring, im unsure if a 17" wheel with that width will clear the panhard mounts enough to fit at a similar location as mine. I have to do some clearancing there myself, but more for the adjustable panhard mounts. Then again, i hae a 18" wheel, so the small diameter may not clear the panhard.

for that matter, a 17" wheel doesnt really clear the tie rod on the front with more that 5" of BS, so the front wheels will be out a little more, requiring fender trimming. If the fronts are out, might as well let the rear stay out a bit more and flare the fenders or something.

-Phil

oh, btw thatsnk for digging up the thread, i forgot where it was. for one reason or another i though it was in the fab board. No wonder i couldnt fine it the other day.

Thanks for the reply Phil,

I did test fit a front wheel. The front with 7" bs and a 2" spacer left me a little more room to bring it inboard, probably a half inch with some grinding on that lip that protrudes from the strut. Surprisingly, I have more room to the tie rod than I do with the 4th gen ss wheels I have on there now using the same spacer. All that said, yes they might stick out slightly. I'm not too worried about it. Later down the road I can get a new 18" rim for the center and bring it further in. Fortunately, ccw sells them.

I'm kind of bummed thinking that I'll have to do as much as you did to make this look right I too am lowering my rear roll center and I think I can get enough phb clearance but will have to run a shorter phb. Hopefully it doesnt come to that.
How far away from the stock phb (or lowered) mounts are you with your setup? In the pic it looked really close.

I will be undertaking this project soon and will start a new thread.

the panhard is really close, i would have to go measure, but i know i have to clearance the UMI panhard bracket on the passengerside and i had to clearance the jegster bracket for hte axle side. The original mounts themselves are almost, if not already, in the wheels.

but like i said, if the front wheels are out further, maybe just let the rears sit out a little more, it would save you the sheetmetal work, for now at least.

probably not soon, but will be doing similar work to my 92, only looking to run a 11" rear wheel this time, unless i can find a good looking, and not absurdly expensive way to flare the rear fenders a little and sit a 12" wheel in there again. shooting for a 10.5 in the front, maybe an 11 is i can do it, but probably not.

Im thinking I'll try and cut out the bump stop area and clearance the front inner fender area that comes close tire. We'll see how far I can bring them in without having them stick out excessively. I saw where Stephen managed to fit 7" bs 315s by doing this. I would think that if I managed to get that much BS, I would only be sticking out another inch from what stephen managed to get. It seems like it would look pretty good (heres the thread as a reminder http://www.thirdgen.org/techboard/wh...els-315-a.html (11" rear wheels/315 tires/7" backspacing!) ). Hopefully its as simple as I'm figuring, i.e. a 11 inch wide wheel with the same BS as a 12 inch wheel means I'll just stick out an extra inch.

His procedure seems simple enough, I'll just have to get some shock mounted bumpstops or something like that. Any thoughts?

give it a try, see what happens.

I dont know how much clearance he has in the inner wheel wells though, and you seem to be looking to push your car a lot harder than he does, or me for that matter, so i would be concerned about rubbing.

Yes I have a guy at work with a JDM skyline GTR on 275 r comps who thinks it's impossible for an American car to handle well. He's so adamant about it he wants to bet 5 bills that there's no way I can out run him at a local time attack session that he has never done (not sure he has any track time period).
So I figured I would mount up a little extra "insurance" and really put him away. I'm downright giddy about the look I expect to see on his face.

If things look close Ill probably go with a rod ended phb and make sure the phb mounts are braced well.

THose GTR's suck omn a skid pad and road course tests. They are only pulling something like .93 g's. One of the TV shows ran one against a ZR1 Vette and the vette absolutely smokes it at streets of willow. I would pretty much bet my old V6 Camaro with 8" wheels and street tires against one of those on Adams for 5 bills

i saw one up close the other day at a show, i didnt realize how big the car is. Its a freaking boat.