Ruiny

I just got my 17" firehawk wheels in from SLP.
The rear fits fine but the front hits the outer tie rod end.
Can you mount the tierod from the top down or does it have to be bottom up?
My car is a 86 transam with a rear diff from a 94 firebird.
Thanks

91formulaSS

The rears fit only because your rear is 2" longer per axle than a stock 3rd gen rear. You need a 2" wheel adapter for the front wheels to fit. Try http://www.skulte.com/adapters.html

Ruiny

Thanks for the info
SLP told me that if I put the 94 diff in the wheels would fit.
Any other places anyone would recomend getting these spacers?

ops32

Putting 4th gen wheels on 3rd gen cars requires adaptors. The offsets are totally different, as you've found out! Like 91formula said, the rears fit due to the 4th gen rear being on your car. Another place for adaptors is Hawks (see link at top of page).
ops32

GarageToys

iTrader: (6)

You can also try eBay. I bought a set off eBay for $165/set of 4- shipped. There are 2 or 3 guys on there that custom make them. If you contact them, you might get them to sell you a pair instead of 4. If you have to buy a set, you can probably sell the 2 spares to someone else who has a 4th gen rearend & only needs 2.

91formulaSS

Hey Firebird 383,
I'm the guy who bout your 17" WS6 wheels. How come you went with the 16" wheels? The 17's look killer on my formula.

GarageToys

iTrader: (6)

I'd love to see a picture with the WS6's on it. Those were great wheels. I kinda fell into these (they were taking up space at my brother-in-law's house. I bought the wheels/tires and adapters for about 1/2 of what you paid for the WS6 wheels alone)

91formulaSS

I'll see if I can steal someones digital camera.

89FormulaRoth

iTrader: (1)

Ruiny, did your wheels come with spacers? If not, or you need thicker ones, try the spacers at this link: http://www.mrgasket.com/ProductsList...1&selection=28 They're on page 4. I had the exact same problem with my Firehawk wheels. I used thicker spacers and I also ground the outer bottom portion of my tie rods slightly to get just enough clearance. Part of my problem I had was that I had Perfect Circle tie rods instead of the GM ones. The Perfect Circle tie rods have a larger diameter. I'm a little bit of a perfectionist, so I ended up making my own spacers and that's a possibility for you too if you have some shop skills. Hope that helps.

Joez88Camaro

This really is the best application for those spacers.


Ruiny, either get the already listed ones from skulte for our specs or use our sponsor hawks that has an ad right on the top. You can search for the info too on this site on why adapters should be necessary when putting 4thgen wheels on a thirdgen.
Including things like a-arm, tierod, and bumpstop clearance that can cause a nice variety of issues. The adapters are necessary, as you can see based on the fact that Mr. Gasket doesn't make 2'' spacers, but a few companies make 2'' adapters.

89FormulaRoth

iTrader: (1)

Oops, my mistake. I was under the impression that you had the original Firehawk wheels. You guys must of thought I was totally clueless. Yeah, the Mr. Gasket spacers definitely wounldn't work.

Joez88Camaro

lol, yeah it sounded like that originally when you said that you had to modify the tie rods and I figured you probably went through a lot of crap then.

Ruiny

Thanks for the replies I was away on holidays for the last week with no computer to check up with.
I ordered the Suluke adaptors.
But now am a little scared due to some other posts of people having their adaptors fail.
Is this a real possiblility?
What can I do to ensure that they don't break.
Thanks again

91formulaSS

I have had the Skulte adapters on for almost 6 months, drove from Mass. to N. Carolina, probably put 10 thousand miles on with no problems what so ever. Andris Skulte races his car with the adapters on, with no problems. Just make sure you follow the directions and torque them properly. Don’t use an impact gun, it can stretch your studs due to excessive torque.

91formulaSS

Can you elaborate, or link a thread, on how these adapters "fail"?

GarageToys

iTrader: (6)

LilHurmy03 recently had one fail. There are 2 threads about it and in both threads he has been asked what happened & hasn't yet responded. Here is one of the threads:

https://www.thirdgen.org/techbb2/sho...hreadid=257012

Ruiny

I think that is the same one I was thinking about.
So am I to understand that they don't normally fail at all and I don't need to worry?
Also how tight should I torque the adaptors and then the wheels?
Thanks

91formulaSS

Bet you thought I forgot.

Ruiny

thanks for the pick