70 Pontiac Tempest/Vette wheels?

[bart007]

I am used to doing things by trial and error, but in this case I would like to figure through the hard stuff w/out wasting a bunch of money. I am planning on a set of Late model Vette wheels for my Pontiac Tempest post car. The rears are 19X10 and the frts are 18x8.5. Two questions for those in the know, what will I need to do to my car to allow them to work? What would be a good tire size combo? I see several Chevelles sporting these type of wheels so I know its doable, but have'nt run accross any threads expalining the process.
Thanks in advance, Art

[Apogee]

What brakes are you planning on running? Different hub kits have different offsets resulting in different track widths that will need to be taken into consideration when sizing wheel adapters for your car.

My brother and I just went through this process on a 73/74 Nova and there is going to be a certain amount of trial and error involved. We too are using C6 5-spoke wheels in the same sizes and things are going to depend on how low your car sits, how much up travel you have, and what you've done to the body or plan to do. Certainly a mini-tub in the rear removes most of the accuracy required to make sure things don't hit. Rolled lips? Those help too. Similarly up front, removing the internal fenderwells gains a lot of space as well if you're really low, or at least replacing some of the hex head bolts with button heads is a good idea IMO.

Keeping in mind that a 73/74 Nova is not very much like a Tempest, you will still need to plan on running wheel adapters front and rear to make up for the high-offset wheels, 56mm up front and 79mm in back. The nice part is that you can position your wheels exactly where you want them so long as you take your time up front to figure it all out. We're running KORE3 front hubs (same offset as the OE Chevy drum hubs) with 1/2-20 wheel studs and we converted the rear to 1/2-20 as well. We then used lengths of 1/2-20 all-thread and nuts to mock up the tires and wheels and check all of the clearances. This allowed us install the actual rubber and cycle the front suspension and steering lock to lock and tweak it until it sat where we wanted it to be. Same thing in the rear but without the added complexity caused by the steering.

Hope that helps,
Tobin
KORE3

[bart007]

Thanks for the response, I have not quite decided on the brake situation yet. I like the idea of using the C5 components on the frt and the blazer conversion for the rear. I suppose I should get the brakes done before deciding on spacers. I am a budget builder with a fair amount of shade tree fab. skills. The info. on this site is incredible and I am sure to borrow plenty of ideas.

Thanks again, Art