I installed Year One’s reproduction 17†by 8†Rally 2 wheels, with 4.5†back-spacing on the front of my ’67 Firebird. On the wheels, I installed 245-45 tires and they rub when I hit bumps (side note: I put the 17†by 9†with 275-40’s on the back and they work great). The rubbing is on the out-board part of the fender well. The suspension is completely stock. I think the wheels need to go inboard a little bit (maybe an inch or so), but unfortunately these wheels aren’t available with additional back-spacing. These wheels look awesome and really help bring the car into the 21st century. I just need to get rid of the rubbing without spending too much money.
I am going to add negative camber to the wheels and that should bring the tops inboard a bit. If my calculations are correct, increasing negative camber by 1.5° will move the outer edge of the top of the tire inboard by about 0.34†(and it would move the outer edge of the bottom of the tire outboard the same amount). A 2° change would shift things by about 0.45â€. Seems like these values are a bit on the high side for camber, but auto-crossers use this value quite a bit and I’m not too concerned about tire wear (I just want the car driveable with the least amount of hassle and expense).
I also plan to raise the front end by an inch or so, giving me a bit more suspension travel prior to rubbing on the wheel sells. To raise the front, I will use aluminum spring spacers inserted between the bottom of the spring and the A-arm. The spacer manufacturers state that you get 2 times the lift for a given spacer thickness (a 1/2" spacer gets you 1†lift). Can anybody confirm this one?
Any other comments on my plans would be greatly appreciated.
Another couple of things to consider. I should have mentioned that I swapped the factory drum brakes for a set of disc brakes off of a ’74 Ventura. Everything worked fine and I assume it all fits properly (no obvious issues). I tried to research the internet and find out if the rotors from the Ventura were dimensionally identical to those that would have originally come on my car. I realize the ’67 would have come with the 2-piece rotor/hub rather than the one piece with integral hub. I’m trying to figure out if the mounting face for the wheel is in the same place. In other words, would using a rotor from a ’67 Firebird locate the wheel (relative to the center of the vehicle) in a different location than using the rotor from a ’74 Ventura?
On another note, has anybody ever machined the wheel mounting surface of a rotor with integral hub? This area looks to be pretty think on the rotor, so I was considering machining it slightly to bring the wheels in a little bit. But this is a bit riskier than changing camber or adding a spring spacer. If you have any experience or comments about this, it would be appreciated.
