.5" spacer on drum hub-HELP!

[Railing68]

I just mocked up the ls1 12" brakes on the workbench to check wheel clearance and it looks like the need for a wheel spacer of at least 3/8" and I will probably use 1/2". I have a couple of concerns- safety, can spacers be used and not stress the studs to failure (I will be using arp 12mm studs) -spacing as far as offset goes to avoid tire rub. Does the factory disc move the wheels outboard around .5"compared to drums?,- caliper float- when the capiler floats does it move inboard or outboard primarily?

With the drum hubs and .5" spacer would the wheel placement be in the same approximate place in the wheelwell as with the factory disc that I currently have on the front?

wheels are 16" V45, and new wheels aren't a legitimate option. Any info or opinions are appreciated. SS

[nancejd]

I'm having the same issue with my setup (LS-1 brakes and V40s). My plan is to machine my own spacer that registers on the hub, so that the studs remain loaded in tension only. I think the stock disc brake setup does move the wheel out, but I don't know if it was a half inch.

I think a half inch spacer is about the max that I would run, beyound that I'd be looking at a bolt on adapter. I don't know that it is necessary to have it register on the hub either, I'm mostly worried about a loose spacer causing an imbalanced condition on the wheel.

[Railing68]

Nancejd, Keep me informed as to how the spacers come out, I would be willing to purchase 2 from you if you made four. I am in the northwest so maybe I will PM you at some pt. Thanks for the reply, SS.

[Rick Dorion]

I thought discs spaced out about 1/4". I went from drums to a C4/13" setup and used a 1/4" spacer due to caliper clearance on my V45 16" rims. I also had to align the car with 1* negative camber to tuck the tire top inside with wheel well sufficiently due to my GW springs which lowered the front a bit.

[Railing68]

Thanks for the reply, I currently have stock discs and the hat seems to protrude outward considerably more than the 4th gen fbody hats(but that would have to be relative to the hub) I haven't verified the difference. I currently have HO lowered springs. If they end up with close to the same amount of offset that would be great.

My concern is the spacer, the studs I have are long enough to work fine, but I presume that the farther the wheel is from the hub the more stress on the studs. I was going to use the c4 setup but I was concerned about the spacer thinking 12" rotor would fit easily. But the 4th gen and c5 calipers are bigger than c4 so hence the need for a larger spacer #%$#*&! SS

[Rick Dorion]

If it were my car, I would put 1/2" studs in.

[Railing68]

I intended to use .5" but all of the ARP and Moroso studs had a large knurl, the rotors are Baer eradispeeds(4th gen replacements) with an aluminum hat, hole is .560, only studs with a knurl that would fit were the 4th gen replacements from ARP 12mm 2.5" length and .509 knurl. I didn't want to drill on the hat either. So I would be required to turn down a portion of the knurl on the .5" studs that protrudes through the hub. 12mm were the best alternative that I could figure, ARP 190k tensile strength. For what thats worth, SS.

[nancejd]

Here is the first spacer I made. It's .365 inches thick, and it registers on the hub and the rim.

[Rick Dorion]

What about planing down the pads to buy some clearance on the caliper? I'm thinking of having that done to see if I can get rid of my 1/4" spacer. I'm not too worried about pad life given 2-3K miles a year.

[nancejd]

I hadn't thought of that, but one of the things I want to do with my car is take it on power tour eventually. So for me, having replacement parts that can be gotten anywhere is a big plus.