8" wide front wheels on a Nova, advice please

[LS1NOVA]

Id like to run 8's on the front of my 71 Nova and will be ordering wheels soon.
What is your backspacing and your suspension/brake combo?

I will be running sc&c uppers, extra tall upper ball joints, and 12" LS1 brakes.

I was thinking 17x8 with 5.25 backspace. Thats about the max BS with the vintage wheel works wheel.

Thanks for any advice.

[Apogee]

That's a lot of back space, but it will depend on the brakes you're running and your front track width as to whether or not it will fit. If you're using your OE drum hubs or something equivalent to them, the thickness of the LS1 rotor hat is similar to the C5/C6 at .30" IIRC.

Our Nova project has an 8.5" wide wheel with an equivalent backspacing of 5.06" with KORE3 C5/C6 front brakes (of course) which increase the track width .200" per side over the stock drum brakes, but is still .240" narrower than the OE disc setup.

We couldn't push the wheel out any further with the 245/40-18 tire as it gets into the fender, but it should be easier with the narrower wheel. We did weld up our steering stops a very small amount to keep from contacting the frame at the steering box at full lock. Car is lowered ~1.5"-2" with Hotchkis springs and has SC&C uppers and tall BJ like you're planning.

Hope that helps,
Tobin
KORE3

[firstgenguy]

I would have to double check but I think that is what my back spacing is. I have the LS1 brake setup on my 68 camaro with 17 x 8 C5 Vette rims.

[LS1NOVA]

Either of you have pics at ride height.

[novaderrik]

my 71 Nova had 16X8 Trans Am GTA wheels bolted to 12" C4 vette brakes with stock front suspension with stock spindles. i put the "front" wheels on the front and the "rear" wheels on the rear.
i don't know what the backspacing on the "front" GTA wheels is, but i think it is perfectly centered- so either 4" backspacing or 0 offset, depending on how you measure.

[Apogee]

Either of you have pics at ride height.

Sorry, but not yet...still need to get it off the stands and drop the engine back into it.

Tobin
KORE3

[firstgenguy]

If you need larger pics let me know.

[DriverzInc]

We've done 8's with a 5.0" but it gets close to the inner frame rail unless you adjust your steering stops like Tobin mentioned. We've never had a problem with 7's up front with a 235/45/17 if you want to play it safe. We've used 7s with a 4-4.5BS.

[69LT1Nova]

Always good info! VWW is a great choice, I think I've been swayed over to the V45 line. In talking with VWW, they are still kicking the can around on the 18" line - DOH!! If they had the 18s, I'd buy them today.

Also - are you running with the wheel wells, or without?

[LS1NOVA]

Running with wheelwells but clearancing the bottoms for tire clearance. Id run 7's but I just dont want to give up the extra grip.

[69LT1Nova]

From my research, a 245/45/17 8" wide on the front, with the wheelwells works. This is using a 4.5" BS. Anybody have experience using the combo I'm mentioning?

[LS1NOVA]

From my research on a stock height that would work. On a very low car it looks like you need a 5-5 1/2 bs on a 8" wheel to clear the fender lip.

[Jon69RagTop]

With 2" hotchkis springs and 17" x 8" with 4.875" back space, the only slight problem I have is the need to modify at full turn. The fronts of the tires come in contact with the frame, and the inner lip of rim hits the sway bar.

Seems I have to modify the Steering stops.?

Could someone describe the process. I'm guessing these are the nipples on the back side of the control arms which comes in contact with the steering arms that bolted the spindles. If you build this area up with welds I can see how it would limit the turning a bit.

Could anyone clarify this for me?