I saw some 17" american racing torque thrust rims with tires for sale. Will they work well on my 68 bird? I know I need to know the tire size, but I guess the first question is will the rim size work on the a bird? Is there a tire that would work with these rims. I will update the post with tire size soon.

You need to check for the proper bolt pattern and backspacing for it to work.

The bolt pattern for our cars is 5 x 4.75 and backspacing would be 4 to 4.5 inches depending on rim width.

I've seen the Torq thrusts on our cars, 16" and up, they look good.

The tire size for these rims are 245/45/17 does this work??? on a stock FB

Depends on the width and backspacing.

I think it was a 9" rim the guy said if that makes sense. the back spacing was 4" maybe

If those are correct they wouldn't fit in the front or rear.

If I like the torq thrust rims what size should I be looking for? What back spacing, tire size ect. This is a stock car outside of the engine trans.

If you go to tirerack.com, you can see what size tires are interchangeable for the stock tires, and probably for the stock rims (I only did it for tires). Hope this helps.

Oops, I forgot, I used the GTO rims (I assumed that they were the same, I'm not sure though)

Discs or drums on front and rear? Stock height?

Yes everything is stock Drums around

Then I would wait until you're ready to run discs at least on the front. The discs change the required backspace to optimize the tire position in the wheel well. And I don't recommend changing the rim size without updating the brakes because:

A. Larger diameter rims look stupid with little tiny drums.
B. The added mass of the larger diameter (and I would presume width) is going to require added stopping power.

At the minimum put on some 12" dual piston caliper front discs.

I have 17in. TT IIs on my 68 Convertible. I will try and post some pictures. I will also check to see the backspacing I have. Can't remember off the top of my head. I did alot of research and measuring when I did this. I would recommend you build a gauge to measure the room you have in the rear to ensure you have the correct clearance. What I found when I did that is that I had almost 1/2 in more room on one side than the other, so you need to measure both sides. I have the info on building the guage, just requires a flat piece of aluminum stock, and threaded rod/nut. Pretty easy. The setup I am using would need to be special ordered because it is not a stock set up. The guy I bought from orders this configuration in quantity since he rebuilds many Gen 1s. It'll be tonight/tomorrow before I can get more info. Do you have an email address I can send the picts to incase I can't get them uploaded?

I sent you CRommel, a PM. Thanks for the help

Zippy,

Here's what I've got. I'm running 69 front Disc Brakes, and 2nd Gen Rear disc brakes on a 70's Nova rear end (same dimensionally as 1st Gen FB rear end). Car is lowered 1 in. all the way around, with stock fender wells. I have a slight rub in the driver's side rear if I have passengers in the back and I hit a bump. This is minimal and I plan to fix by rolling the fender's slightly this winter.

The Wheels you are looking at I don't believe will fit on your setup. I bought my wheels form Newstalgia Wheel in 2006 for $1080 including a wheel installation kit, and insurance. The rears were more expensive since they are a "custom" size.

Front set up: 17X8 (4.75BS) TTIIs w/ 235/45/17 BFG g-Force Sports
Rear set up: 17X9.5 TTIIs (5.5BS) w/ 255/45/17 BFG g-Force Sports