Front tires do not fit within the wheel wells-need help.

[mjhcobra]

Unfortunately I calculated the front wheel offsets wrong and my front tires stick out past my fenders by about 1.5". I have 15 x 7 Vintage pin drives with 245/60 x 15 tires. Bob at Vintage says he can get me new front wheels with an additional 1.25" offset, but I still will need to a little more clearance. I am using the standard Mustang II front end. Any ideas on how to narrow up the front suspension to get the tires inside the wheel wells?

[1985 CCX]

That is a beefy front. Maybe drop a size?

[RACERAL]

What are the rest of the EM gang doing.

[Bob Lacey]

Hi Martin
I should have mentioned when we spoke = our shorter upper and lower control arms for Mustang 2 see link
Upper A arms tubular SHORT ( pair ) : Vintage Wheels, Hot Rod and Muscle car
Bob

[LMH]

Hurricane bodies were/are molded from an original car and therefore, the track width needs to be correct for tire to fit on the body. The early cars Hurricane produced, mine was one of them, had a 58" track width on the 56" wide body. What Hurricane did was had us owners at the time, send our lower A-arms back to be shorted 1". The top was adjustable and the excess could be adjusted to fit. Might be something you could do as well.
Larry

[mjhcobra]

As far as the other EM owners, not much response these days. EM has been quiet for some time now even though their website is still up. Shortening the A arms sounds possible as I have the stock pressed steel factory arms. My concern is if it changes any of the geometry for the steering of the car. I assume the alignment methods are the same and I will need to buy coil overs now. Also, my sway bar will also go away from what I have read since there is no place to connect it to on the new arms. It would be great to hear from someone that has done this modification.

[my427cobra]

Speedway Motors (and many street rod suppliers) offer 5/8" shorter (per side) upper and lower a-arms with all the coil over and swaybar attachment options.

Those coupled with your revised offset wheels will allow you to tailor the tire size and spacer needs to suit.

I used the Speedway arms. coil overs, a front (MGB) sway bar and 205 front tires for my street version 427. All works just fine.

[Tom Wells]

mjhcobra,

Must admit - a bit puzzled.

I have an E-M; built in 2002 so it's the style before the present one.

I used 17x9 front rims with the tubular a-arms and they fit fine. It's been too long to recall but I went to the garage and measured the front track wheel. The backspace from the inner lip of the rim to the mounting surface is 5-1/2" Here's an image to help:


Not sure why you are having a problem but with the stock lower (single) arm maybe the wheel would hit the strut rod that stabilizes it.

A picture of your setup might help.

Tom

[mjhcobra]

Here are a few pics of my tire issue-getting new front wheels with an additional 1.25" offset will help, but not completely.

[Tom Wells]

mjhcobra,

I see!

It looks like I overlooked the obvious as usual: the pin drive adapters add considerably to the offset of the wheel. It almost looks as if they might well add more than an inch! Mine are bolt-on so they have less offset than yours because of that.

Be a little careful about getting more backspace - it would be good to make sure the upper a-arm and the strut rod that goes from the lower arm clear when the change is made - don't forget the tire gets closer to the lower a-arm when the wheel is turned all the way. I had to use spacers in the rack to limit its travel to prevent interference.

Perhaps a photo looking from the bottom straight up would be more informative.

Tom

PS: Your shop looks entirely too clean - that could be part of the problem LOL

[LMH]

Mine is Mustang II in design but has tubular A-arms. Made it much easier to shorten.
Brake kits, depending on what brand, can add a lot to track width. When I ordered mine from Wilwood, I had to make sure I got a zero offset setup for the front. Could your brakes be adding to the track?
Larry

[mjhcobra]

The pin drive adapter is about 3/8". Turning the wheel all the way to one side, there is plenty of room for the sway bar. Any thoughts on tubular arms and coil overs. They make a 5/8" and a 1" narrower set up, but I am a little concerned about the upper arm and the shock tower. As for the shop, you saw the only clean corner in it.

[mjhcobra]

Larry,
I am using a modified brake assembly that uses the mustang II spindle with a bracket that adapts a GM caliper. This was a great idea 20 years ago. I do not believe that this is pushing the wheel out though.

Did you get to the Gregory Car show today? Quite a crowd.

[mjhcobra]

Tom,

Here are a few pics of the suspension from underneath and the pin drive adapter from the rear wheel (same as front).

[LMH]

Originally Posted by mjhcobra

Larry,
I am using a modified brake assembly that uses the mustang II spindle with a bracket that adapts a GM caliper. This was a great idea 20 years ago. I do not believe that this is pushing the wheel out though.

Did you get to the Gregory Car show today? Quite a crowd.

I didn't make it there today. My dad was having an outpatient procedure and I needed to be there to take him and pick him up. My brother was there though with his FFR Daytona.
Larry

[mjhcobra]

I stopped and talked with one of the guys at the show about my tire issue and asked him if it was your brother's Daytona. You had told me about it when you let me borrow your tires some time back. Quite the car. Mine has been on the road a few times but I need to resolve this tire problem and then get it painted. Soon enough.

[Tom Wells]

mjhcobra,

Nice thin pin drive adapter.

Can't make out from the picture how close the strut rod or the end of the upper a-arm is to the rim.

Mine are 17" wheels so the upper a-arm isn't an issue.

You could probably measure how far in the wheel rim could go and maybe borrow one to try?

If you won at poker last night maybe this would help: Wheelrite - Wheel & Tire Simulator by Percy's High Performance, Percy's Performance, PCY-01201

Seems like you could also make one out of some scrap material. The most important part of that would be the rim; the tires will probably(?) clear.

BTW, is that a split in the upper ball joint boot? Or just a mark that the camera picked up?

Tom

[mjhcobra]

Very cool tool for wheel offsets, I have not seen that before. There is about 3" between the tire and the strut so I am good here. And yes, the boot is split because it was installed in 1993. This has been a long project with lots of breaks for kid reasons. I even have a freeze plug leaking it has been so long. I am using 78 Granada rotors, but the inboard side of the rotor is about a 1/4" from the lower control arm so I doubt the rotor/brake set up is the issue. I reviewed the EM manual again it says to use a 15x7 wheel with 3 7/8" back spacing and a 235/60 15 tire. I currently have a 15x7 wheel with 3" back spacing, a 245/60 15 tire and a 3/8" pin drive plate. This could be the majority of my issue.
I could get new wheels with the correct back spacing to start and then consider shorter A arms or a tire size drop.

[Rick Parker]

I began this journey several years ago, by adding the Granada rotors, and the knock off adapters and wheels. With the Mustang II front suspension the wheel obviously set outside the wheel wells regardless of the body being used, making mine worse is that it is a 289 Body with slight (1.5") flares. I had an entire new front clip with entirely different pieces. The end result is good but using Mustang II spindles there is no way to get the scrub radius to an acceptable point.



[IMG][/IMG]

[mjhcobra]

Rick you mentioned the Granada rotors. Are there other rotors that are not as wide or rotor/spindle combos that would be narrower? Bob at Vintage has suggested taking some of the depth out with the wheel offset and using the narrower A arms. I am thinking this is going to be the option to follow, but I have not heard any comments yet about the shorter A arms.
If I do go the shorter A arm route, I believe the coil overs offer adjustments to the fender height/wheel clearance and the coil springs do not.