my fellow firebird people:
i must admit i am a novice when it comes to the rebuilding of my car and i made an error with the purchase of my rims and tires and i need help correcting it. i now have on the rear 17*9.5 rims with a 5 inch back space with Kumho ECSTA SPT ttires with a 275-40-17 tire. the problem is i got the tires on back out of the drive way and the chasis locked into the tire, causing minor fender issues in the inner wall. what can i do to get the clearence i need? it looks like the multi leaf springs are original and and the shocks are 3-4 years old but sat with one flat rear tire for a year. anything i can do to not raise the rear end or is it going to have to be the case. any help guys would be great. thanks.

This would be the cheap and easy quick fix: http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ADJU...QcategoryZ33585QQitemZ180094007879QQrdZ1

They have shock extensions too.

Just for now you could do an emergency shackle.. That would lift it so you could at least move it around?.. Shackles are cheap, quick and easy..


LOL... what he said...

We were typing at the same time. Notice the exact same thinking.... Even the same words..cheap..quick...easy.... Cool!

do you all think this is the best solution....or just a quick fiz?

It's the quick fix. It may be the only fix for those wheels though. Usually you replace the springs to get more wheel clearance. But you only get enough clearance for stock wheels. Some will bend their quarter lips up. To me, this isn't an option.

IMO, using a baseball bat to roll the outer lip is for strip cars only. Wont even do it to my beater.
Hate shackle's too. Looks like a hill jack worked on it.

So you a few options.
Add a leaf to each spring. Any truck shop that make builds them can do it.
New springs.
Diff whls/tires.

The tires and wheels should fit proper for stance and fit. Cranking the suspension geometry detracts from the stance I believe you initially were looking for.

Was this sort of the look you were angling torwards?

http://www.highperformancepontiac.com/features/0204hpp_1968_pontiac_firebird/

http://www.highperformancepontiac.com/features/0204hpp_1968_pontiac_firebird/photo_02.html

"This handling superiority is thanks to a bunch of well-chosen components that work in concert to reach a specific goal. Beginning with the rolling stock, we find 17x8 Fikse wheels wrapped in 225-45ZR17 Yokohama tires up front and 17x9 Fikses sporting 285-40ZR17 Yokos out back. When you consider that the stock Bird came with F70 bias-plys on 14-inch rims in 1968, you can imagine how much lateral stick would be improved with these low-profile steamrollers. But Grafton was not about to stop with the wheel tire package in his quest for better cornering.

Proper spring rates are a must to provide a balance between all out stick and roadability. Grafton found that balance by removing the factory coil springs and mounting a HAL coil-over system that includes the shocks and coil springs rated at 450 lb. in a single unit up front. In the rear, a set of Landrum mono-leaf springs rated at 175 lbs. was installed. A 1-inch Herb Adams VSE front stabilizer bar with spherical ends was bolted in to reduce body roll and Competition Engineering Slide-A-Link traction bars were mounted in the rear to help put the power to the pavement. The Slide-A-Link system allows the bars to be lengthened or shortened to preload the chassis for a straight launch. HAL shocks are found in the rear as well and all are 12-way adjustable. Polyurethane bushings replace rubber at all attachment points and the chassis is tied together with owner-fabricated subframe connectors. Grafton said that he had installed a rear stabilizer bar but felt little difference in the handling, so he removed it. He also stated that the C-E traction bars add solid forward spring-eye bushings, which aid handling".

I see Jim Butler ported the heads and ended up with 91% exhaust to intake ratio! At least they stayed with a single pattern cam!

Here's what I am running on my 68 Convertible. I could get about .5 in more backspacing in the rears, but for my car, this appears to be the max I can go, and not cut the tires. When I re-do the paint, I'll roll the fenders, this can be done without cracking the paint, but takes time and patience, Eastwood sells a nice tool for this. If the fenders are rolled properly, you can't tell without getting into the wheel well. Each one of these cars is slightly different, they weren't perfect from the factory, and after 40 years haven't gotten any straighter. Go with a new set of leaf springs, put the 5 leaf vice the original 4 leafs, will give you a bit of added height, and when they settle they will sit close to stock ride height. You could also order a set of leafs that will give you a 1 in. height increase in the rear. Feel free to PM me, I'm sure you can get this worked out.

Fronts:17x8 4.75b/s Torque Thrust II
235/45/17 BFG G-Force

Rears:17x9.5 5.5b/s Torque Thrust II
255/45/17 BFG G-Force

so no baseball bats to the panels eh? lol