6.5" backspacing on a 10" wheel on the front of a second gen?

[yody]

I am contemplaitng putting 19x10's on the front of my 71 firebird. Currently i have 19x8.5's with 4.75" backspacing. I want to have pretty much similar spacing of the wheel as a 8" wheel with 4.5" backspacing. My rims have a 2" lip on the front that i would like to keep since my rears are only a 3" lip. To get the correct numbers i would have to have 6.5" backspacing with a .7" spacer. My question is, is this way too much? the hothckis camaro has 5.5 on a 9.5" wheel. I am not afraid of not having the turning radius that i have now, but it looks like it won't be all that bad. I could go with a 9.5" wheel with 6.5" backspacing, but for reasons it would be like $400 more for the set. I would be going with a 275 on the front compared to the current 255.

[SHANE 73Z]

Hey yody,

Popular opinion on nastyz28 puts 5.5" backspacing as the max before collisions with the swaybar and the frame rail(towards the firewall) occur.

You could always limit the steering circle, but then you have to decide when is enough.

Shane

[yody]

just to correct my post, i meant a 7.2" backspacing with a .7" spacer to get 6.5" backspacing, so i would have 1" less clearance than the 5.5"

[jeffandre]

You'll have to come over when I get my wheels, say about 2 weeks from now? You will be able to see 7" bs minus at least 1/4" for the spacer. I may get another 1/4" spacer from Summit until I get my front rotors/hats. I'll let you know when I have them mounted. It will be tight, but my VB arms are a bit narrower than the stock arms where the wheel comes close. I think the only things in my way are the sway bar and the steering, which can be adjusted.

[yody]

yeah, thats what it looked like, John still seems to think you won't be able to get away with it? i talked to him again today.

[jeffandre]

I should be fine, I will just need to get a different swaybar and modify my steering stops a bit. I had the 17x9.5's on there with whatever the stock bs minus 1.25" and it was cool. The 19's will give me more clearance from the steering arm and UBJ. I will measure the 17x9.5 bs again when I get home in the morning as a doublecheck. Your wheels worked with 5.5 bs and I measured 1.5" to the control arms and frame and it looked like it would be fine. I'll call John again this week to see what he is worried about and see if I maybe I am missing something.