measuring for wheels- what am I doing wrong?

[Tuske427]

Hi everyone:

OK, this is what I have:

1967 Firebird
DSE stage 3 kit
stock spindles
Kore 3 C5 brakes (stock hubs at the moment)

The rims I "want" to use are the following:

front: 17x9.5" American Racing 200S

It is available in the following offsets: +19mm, +25mm, +32mm, +38mm.

Here's where I'm at:

A- from searching around it seems I need to use a .25" spacer for these rims to clear the C5 calipers.

B- From making a mock up and measuring all day today it seems the +25mm offset is the most I can go (including spacer measurement) before the wheel sticks out past the body side. Anything less and it hits the upper control arm, not to mention the wheel would be more inboard.

However, this still isn't fitting. With the wheels straight the wheel contacts the steering arm/ tie rod all the way through the suspension travel. (It also hits various points of my outer fender, inner fender and frame rails, too)

My questions are this:

1- Am I measuring incorrectly? Does anyone out there have 17" rims that fit over the steering arms/ tie rods?

2- Considering a different spindle- do the ATS (stock height) spindles move the tie rod location up/ in? reading on their site they mention it's a revised location to reduce bump steer, however, the spindle height itself is also dropped 1". With the two areas revised, what is the new distance from the spindle to the tie rod? Do 17" rims clear these?

3- I see Ride Tech offers their Tru Turn, but they have a 2" drop. With my DSE kit already, I'm concerned this will make my car too low. So I'm thinking this might not be the solution for me.

I really don't want to go larger than 17" wheels if at all possible. Even 18" wheels, from my measurements, would still hit the steering arm/ tie rod.

Again, am I measuring wrong?

I am trying to get as much meat as possible up front and ideally retain full steering and suspension travel. using a skinny rim up front defeats the purpose.

Any help/ suggestions are appreciated.

Thanks!

[Track Junky]

Do you have manual steering? Manual steering arms are longer than the steering arms on a power steering set up for a Camaro. My guess is Firebird should be the same. I'm running Baer Track brakes up front and when I was running 17x9.5 Torque Thrust wheels with a 5.5" back space brake clearance was fine. Your best bet is to talk to Tobin at Kore 3 to confirm.

[Vince@Meanstreets]

ATS AFX spindle moves the steering arm down.

[Tuske427]

cool, thanks, guys. I'll check the steering arm length and go from there. they were from a '68 firebird 400 w/ P/S, but who knows what has happened over the past 40 years.

Did the torq thrusts go over the steering arm/ tie rod, or did the wheel not come back that far?

Noted on the ATS, thanks!

[Track Junky]

Wheel goes over and is half way into the steering arm.

[Tuske427]

OK, cool, thank you. I just went out and measured- if I'm following the info on Possi's page correctly I have the undesirable 6" length arms. grrr...

I see L&H offer a billet short design (T7075 T6 Aluminum) a full inch would go a long way for wheel clearance, as well as steering response.