1970 Charger - 16x10 Fitment?

[gimp]

Hey folks, new here (intro to come).

I'm still building my '81 Camaro for CP, but my brother picked up a 1970 Dodge Charger that we are going to make into a "G-Machine" or not-very-competitive CP car. We are converting the torsion bars to coilovers, and keeping the rear leafs for now. We are not afraid to mini-tub, but plan on keeping the stock fenders (but rolled and cut are okay). We'd like to put 16x10s all the way around under the stock body. I'm sure this would work in the back, but not so sure in the front. If that won't work, what sizes will? If it will work, what offset should the wheels be? We are going with Diamond racing.

If you want to see some bad pictures of the Camaro and it's progress, you can go to the following links:

http://www.paul-przyborski.com/misc/camaro/front_tire_1.jpg
http://www.paul-przyborski.com/misc/camaro/front_tire_2.jpg
http://www.paul-przyborski.com/misc/camaro/rear_tire.jpg
http://www.paul-przyborski.com/misc/camaro/rust.jpg

I'm tacking the cage in on Saturday, so I'll have more pictures then.

[USAZR1]

16" tire selection sucks. You might take that into consideration before ordering any wheels.
Why not 17's?

[gimp]

Because the car is likely to compete (although not all that well) in C-Prepared, which has a 16" limit.

[USAZR1]

If I'm not mistaken (and I very well could be),the widest 16" street tire available is a 255/50/16. That's kinda small for a 10" rim.

[gimp]

You bring up a good point USAZR1

Street tires are a little hard to find. As far as DOT legal there is:

Ecsta 710
265/45R16 92W 8.5 - 10.0 25.2 11.2 on 10.0 4 30/C/A 23.7

Ecsta V70A
265/45R16 92W 8.5 - 10.0 25 10.2 on 9.0 6 50/AA/A 24.8

Victoracer V700
265/45R16 92Z 8.5 - 10.0 25.3 10.4 on 9.0 6 50/AA/A 27.9

Toyo Proxes St
275/60R16 (Says max 9.5 rim)

Car won't see a ton of street miles. Friday night cruises and the occasional autocross.

[MrAngry]

You can easily fit 16x10s in the rear, but up front I would go with a 8.5/9" at the widest. I am running 17x9s and 18x10s in the rear on my 1968 Charger and the combo works just fine. Also if you run 16's forget about putting anytype of big brakes under there - you would have to stick with the 11.75" Mopar conversion from an A or E body.

If you really want the car to handle I would probably go with 17s or 18s all around (although I do understand regulations don't permit them). I run oversized .96 Hemi torsion bars with MagnumForce fully adjustable tublar upper control arms up front as well as a Hotchkis 1 3/8 swaybar. In the rear I have pre-lowered Hemi leaf springs with 1" lowering blocks. You'd be amazed at how well the car goes around a corner with this set-up.

PI just ordered subframe connectors, new edelbrock IAS shocks, torque boxes and a 1" rear swaybar, that with the other mods should really stiffen it up a bit more.

[gimp]

We've got an 8pt cage, subframe connectors (question to follow), front and rear sway bars, coilover conversion for the front, new rear leafs, koni reds, and a poly bushing kit waiting to be installed.

Like I said, we are building the car with class limitation in mind, so we can't go larger than 16s. I'm interested in the 11.75" Mopar brake conversion - do you have any details? (I'm the Camaro owner). Would a 15" wheel be an option with this brake conversion?

Where is the clearance issue on the front? We are running fiberglass front fenders and are building our own inner fenders - not sure if that solves the problem.

Thanks again for all the feedback. I know we are building a strange car - half race car/half pro-tourer, so sorting out the bugs will take some time.

[Bigblue73]

The information you need for the 11.75 swap is available here:
http://www.moparaction.com/Tech/archive/disc-main.html

Also lot at www.arengineering.com (http://www.arengineering.com/) Andy has some other adaptations for the 11.75 swap which include the Wilwood Dynalite calipers or Brembo/Viper calipers.

Have fun!

[Chargeteer68]

This doesn't answer your original question, but:

I have 265/50 R15's in the front, and 295/50 R15's in the rear of my '68 Charger. Just to give you an idea of how big you can go with a stock setup....

[Rolling_Thunder]

16X10 WILL NOT FIT on the front.... 245/60/15 is the limit for a totoally stock fender with very minor rubbing.... 16X10 will fit easily on the rear though... 5" - 5.5" Backspacing is idea... you can also Run a 315 series tire in the stock wheelwell

[Valiant100SM]

...Like I said, we are building the car with class limitation in mind, so we can't go larger than 16s. I'm interested in the 11.75" Mopar brake conversion - do you have any details? (I'm the Camaro owner). Would a 15" wheel be an option with this brake conversion?



I'm curious about the conversion to coilovers up front... did you use the Magnum Force or Reilley Motorsports kit? Did you do this for the rack-n-pinion conversion? T-bars can kind of be a hassle, but there are generally enough sizes out there to let you do what you want, especially if you're not shooting for trophies at the Nats. I know that CP was looking closely at allowing 17's recently, but I'm not sure it got approved for this year. Tubular K's got approved for SM, though.

Rule of thumb max backspace for FACTORY FRONT suspensions is 15" wheels can take 4.5" BS, 16" wheels can take 5" BS, and 17" wheels can take 5.5" BS. All of those can be tweaked a little bit, but those are generally safe numbers. Interference on the 15 & 16" wheels is at the upper ball joint; 17's hit the outer tie rod ends. GMachineDartGT on this board has 5.25" BS on his 16x8's, and I've got 5.72" BS on my 17x8s and MAY be able to sneak up to 6" BS before I hit the OTRE's. A friend of mine in a nearly identical 68 Valiant SM racer has interference problems with the same 5.72" BS, so measure twice... GMachine is running Magnum Force UCA's, and his wheels clear the UBJ fine.

As for the brakes, I've got the 11.75" early Viper caliper kit from AREngineering.com on my Valiant, but I've also got the full factory suspension up front, with the big bolt pattern conversion. Not sure if that's an option for you if you go with the coil overs, as I don't know what spindle they want you to use (or mandate). IF you're able to use one of the A/E-body spindles, you MIGHT be able to use one of ARE's Viper caliper kits. The early kit like mine fits under some 15" wheels, but the later kit (2003+ calipers) won't work without going to 13" rotors AND 17" wheels.

Clair

[Rolling_Thunder]

using all the factory 11.75" stuff - 15" wheels will fit.... Coilover conversion ? RENFORCE the shock mounts... they were not designed to take the load of the front suspension travel... stress cracks will form and cause you alot of proglems down the road....

[Valiant100SM]

That's kind of where I was heading with my question. The Reilly Motor Sports "AlterKtion" (https://www.reillymotorsports.com/store/product.php?productid=16144&cat=255&page=1) mounts the upper coilover on an attached bracket, so that it's essentially a self-contained unit. I'm not sure if additional attachment measures are requred... I can spend $2700 in several more beneficial ways, but it IS nice, and COMPLETE.

Clair

[Drewhelm]

As the comment was made 16 inch tire selection are VERY limited! Good luck finding a tire to fit a 16x10 inch wheel.



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