65 Tempest mini-tub

[Colin Frolick]

I just got this finished and thought I'd share a few pictures. The rear wheel wells are about 2" wider now, and the frame has been narrowed about an inch. A 295/35-18 fits easily, though I'm planning to use a 285/40-17 because I don't really want 18s on the car. I'm pretty pleased with how it came out - my first attempt at much metal work or welding.

The shot of the 'complete' car is from about 5 years ago. I'm hoping to drive it again by the fall... I sure miss it.

[ProTouring442]

Very Nice! Did you narrow the frame any? Any pics of this?

[AndyB]

That looks great, thanks for sharing the pics. I am going to be attempting the same thing soon so it's nice to have something to look at for reference.

[Roger Poirier]

Nice work. :twothumbs

My bet is he didn't need to shorten up the rear end. I could also be full of it. Just my guess.

R.P.

[Colin Frolick]

thanks for the compliments. here is a picture of the frame. it's been sectioned and the outer rail squeezed in where it passes over the axle. HTH did this work. the new 9" rear end is the same width as the original (~54"). now i'll have to get the wheel spacing right.

[ProTouring442]

Very nice! I really like the HTH truck arms, but I want the exhaust to exit at the back of the car. What are your plans for exhaust?

Should be one nice ride, keep the pics coming!

[teamplex65]

I like seeing other Tempests on here. I can relate with the pics. Good luck and let me know if you have any questions as putting them back together sometimes is difficult to remember what goes where.

[Bill Howell]

Very cool, I have some pictures that look similar to those. Gotta love the fat tire look under those early a-bodies. Let me know if I can help with off set measurements.

[gearbanger]

I have a 67 GTO that I am trying to shoehorn a 295/45/18 under. I am trying to avoid minitubbing right now. I have the tire mocked up under the car. The inner wheelhouse is about 1/2" toward the tire from the frame. I know with wheelhouse mods I could easily get a 305/45/18 between the lip and the frame (which is what I really wanted anyway). It looks like about 6" backspace and fine tune it with a thin spacer if needed. I want to get enough BS on the wheel so that later I can enlarge the tubs and switch to a 305 on the 18x10 wheels.

Man these big 295's look cool though compared to my old 255/60/15's :drool:

[Colin Frolick]

PT442 - for the exhaust, it'll have to exit in front of the rear wheels, and i'll try to make it as 'quiet' as i can in th little space

teamplex65 - your car is super clean. i do like seeing a nice tempest star at a wedding.

Bill Howell - man i just got the PHR mag with your car on the cover, congratulations!! i'm actually looking at it right now. i'd been looking on prodigy's website at the buildup, that actually helped with some of this work i just did. i really like your wheels.

gearbanger - 64-65 has even smaller wheelwells. you can barely fit a 275, or a 10" slick without skyjacking it up. before i had 215/70-15s... that spun alot

[gearbanger]

I am running into trouble on my exhaust too. I want it out the back as well. I was thinking about running it in the frame. Has anyone ever seen anything like that done? I know some of the older vette's did it. I was thinking if I boxed it all up and sealed all the holes it might work pretty good. You could come out of the mufflers and into the frame and use the "humps" in the frame to get it past the axle, then come back out into that channel that runs between the frame and quarter panel.

[Bill Howell]

Thanks, Frank and the boyz do a hell of a job, and Frank is so good to share his wealth of knowledge thru his site. Like I mentioned before, if I can help with backspacing issues, be sure to let me know, either here or pm. My car retains the factory rear setup, though narrowed rearend, hence we moved the mounts on the rearend inward. However, I can still get some exact measurements for you when you get ready to order wheels. I love the Forgelines too, not only nice product, but killer service from the company too. We had issues with the front wheels, just weeks before SEMA, and they really came thru and made everything happen. (The issues were my fault btw, not theirs.) The great thing about 3 piece wheels is you can change the offset by changing the inter and outer hoops. Cheaper than buying new wheels. Let me know if I can help in any way.