1967 tempest bench seat sleeper

[lucky13firebird]

been trying to post this for a few days but it won't work from my phone, so i got to a computer.

anyways, I snagged a 1967 Tempest with a running 400 and an st-300 2 speed auto and bop ten bolt. The firebird i normally drive every day has a tiny trunk and even though 3.31 gears in my 12 bolt are awsome, I trully believe anything under a 3.08 would be better for the long family trips i'm always taking. I'll go with 255 front and 275 rear 18" wheels and tires just like my firebird. Probobly will use the same brakes too. For suspension I'll go either hotchkis or umi. I'm not sure yet but it will be a stock style heavy duty suspension. and I will most likely box the frame to make it stiffer. It has a 67 GTO tail panel and taillights so on the outside It'll be a GtO clone, and on the inside ill be restoring the stock bench seat interior to enjoy. I never really was a big fan of the newer interiors in the old cars, just doesn't look right to me... although some come out spectacular. for now I'm keeping the 400, 2 speed, and 10 bolt, and after all the body and suspension is done I'll do a basic 461 stroker, th400 chevelle 12 bolt with 3.08 gears and I'm really thinking of using a turbo.

[instro84]

nice score.

[lucky13firebird]

Got boss 338 black wheels for this and swapping in the front ls brakes off my firebird. It's getting 13" c5 brakes so the 12" camaro brakes are going on the gto clone. The wheels are 17x8 fronts and 18x9.5 backs.

[Nicks67GTO]

Got boss 338 black wheels for this and swapping in the front ls brakes off my firebird. It's getting 13" c5 brakes so the 12" camaro brakes are going on the gto clone. The wheels are 17x8 fronts and 18x9.5 backs.

Unless yorue going to minitub, you might want to limit the back wheel to 9". I havent done it quite yet but everything ive read says 9" is the max for a decent fit on a 67 GTO

[lucky13firebird]

Yeah I've read up on it and read some more... and then some more. You're right, with certain backspacing a 9.5" won't clear and with other backspacing it will and so on. The car needs new quarter skins and some other work so a mini tub isn't entirely out of the picture for me if needed. But with the small offset on these wheels I may just need to mod the wheel housing and quarter... and doing a disc brake conversion in the back to kick out the wheel mounting surface 1/8" per side. And like I said... As needed I'll do the frame and wheel well mod as needed. But hopefully not, since for the next 2 years as a cruiser it'll only be getting a 255 mm tire kn the back, not a 275 like my firebird.


My firebird has a 275 35 18 on a 18x9.5 with 15mm offset rear wheel. I'll throw that on there tonight and see if that clears and give you a definite answer as to whether a 275 mm tire and a 9.5" wheel will fit a stock 67 gto... or if it fits with a different offset and so on , that way I'll kinda help both of us out ;-) and do something productive for once.

[68firebird]

nice, I like those rims!! was thinking of getting them for my bird one of the days I have cash!

[chet]

thats awesome! Even better you towed it home with the bird!

[lucky13firebird]

Well, I test fit my 18x9.5 +15mm wheels off the back of the firebird onto this and it fits with a 275 35 18 tire, the inside is fine. No need to mini tub but the outside is tight, these are nexen n3000 tires and they run a little wider than advertised. Posting some pics and a video so take a look. I'll be going with a 255 35 18 on the back andi the wheels I bought aren't +15mm offset so I'm fine. check out the video and see for yourself, hopefully this is of some help to the A body guys. :-) mostly you Nick, since you haven't tested this yet and i happened to already have another pontiac to test fit a 9.5" wheel off of...

http://youtu.be/saiATlU3lDQ


edit to add-

the boss wheels i bought are -4mm offset on the back. so as you can see they'll clear just fine with 19mm more clearance on the inside than the video shows with the +15mm wheels, the biggest issue is i'm gonna have to cut open the outer wheel well and weld it flat against the quarter... but since i already need quarter skins that won't be a big deal to do.

for future reference i figure a +5 to +10mm offset wheel would be perfect, no minitub needed, but minor mods to outer wheelhousing with a 255mm tire.

[gotyorgoat]

Looks like a tight fit. If you are going with a 9.5" rim, you might as well go with a 275 since it only adds to your problems by about 1/8". (10.8" wide tire on a 10.5" wide wheel) A 255 tire would make the rim the limiting factor. Also if you are pushing it out 3/4" more that what you have shown, you might be in trouble.

Below is mine with an 18X9 with +12mm and a 275/40/18 and it is tight! I had to use a bfh on the inner wheel wells and it really did not help much.

[lucky13firebird]

yeah, I may have to trade wheels with my bird. these are the perfect offset (+15mm) for the tempest while the bird could really use the 3/4" more room on the inside... that depends on if the c5 brakes i got for the bird will clear the 17" wheel that was intended for the front of the tempest...

only thing is a mesh spoke wheel like that doesn't look right on the tempest while the 5 spoke looks right at home from what i've seen...

and about running out of room on the outside, the wheel well and the quarter have an almost 1" gap between them... so since i need to reskin my quarters I'll fab up the wheel well in a way so the quarter ends up sitting right on the wheel well... and then use an aluminum "C" channel to cover any sharp edges... basically i'm getting rid of that 1" wide flat spot you see right under the quarter lip...

[lucky13firebird]

ordered a set of 275/35/18 tires for the back of this and painted the sucker flat black. also ordered a new 20 gallon fuel tank and got a passenger side headlight bezel. SOON it will be on the road. of course it'll take years to do the bodywork, but hey so be it.

also came up with the theme i'm going with... wild bill hitchkock's "dead mans hand" black aces and eights with a mystery 5th card.

[130fe]

What wheels are those on the firebird? Wonder if they will clear C5 brakes.

[lucky13firebird]

yes, i have C5 brakes on the firebird, check out the firebird thread in my signiture. I have the firebird build posted with all the details and videos of the c5 brake kit install on my youtube channel. the wheels on the bird are 18x8.5 front and 18x9.5 rear. 255mm fronts and 275mm rear tires on the firebird. wheels are "stern" hypermesh, its an offshoot company from ADR wheels... decent wheels, I've had no issues. but they do not sell them anymore...

[Gil]

Very nice Tempest !
Dead man's hand... missing blood drops on the cards made with your wife's nail polish
Gil

[lucky13firebird]

Got my new fuel tank in today and the 275 35 18 tires for the rear. Already got the 235 mm tires for the front so now I just gotta mount them asap.

[lucky13firebird]

Mounted the tires to the wheels myself. Saved some money, scuffed up one wheel. Probably should have practiced on a much cheaper set of wheels first... oh well. Looks much better with the new wheels. But the offset is a little much on the rear, so I think I'll be trading wheels with the firebird in the end.

[Gil]

Looks very good to me !
Those 18' looks like 15"... Tempest seems to be a biiiig car !
You can also roll the rear fender lip ?
Very nice !
Gil

[lucky13firebird]

there's no rolling the lip on a 67 tempest... you'll see when i cut out the quarters out. chevelles might be somewhat different but on a tempest the wheel well sits a whole inch inside the quarter. in essence i can "mini-tub" towards the OUTSIDE to make room for a wider tire without changing the look of my quarter simply by cutting the wheel well and adding a 1" strip of metal and pushing the outside flush with the quarter...

BUT this will not help me keep these wheels, as I am the proud owner of a 69 chevelle 12 bolt. picked it up today. its of course 1" wider than the 65-67 tempest 10 bolt but other than that its a direct swap in for my rear. can't beat the $280 i paid for it ;-) non-posi of course but its a "kd" code meaning its a 273 ratio big ring gear rear end... meaning i'll be purring along at 3,000 rpm at 90 miles an hour across the flatness of nebraska, and tamer 65 miles an hour speeds will see around 2,200 rpm... just perfect for a large car with a giant trunk.

pretty good day today.

[Nicks67GTO]

Just a heads up with a 2.73 gear....if you ever get the itch to put a third pedal in that car, you could allways keep an eye out for an old doug/nash or richmond street 5 speed. They are usually bought fairly reasonable, pretty much bolt in to your 67 with only a little work to the crossmember, no floor work necessary and are designed to work specifically with the numerically lower gears and have a 1:1 5th gear. I run mine with a 2.75 gear in a ford 9" and its perfect.

[lucky13firebird]

Yeah, I was planning on something similar. I never understood the guys who get a steep 373 ratio and then spend thousands on an overdrive trans.... at 150 mph I can only imagine the u joint speeds....

To me a 253 or 273 gear makes more sense with a Ford toploader wide ratio trans... 1st is 2.73 on those wide ratio so it's good takeoff even in a 273 or 308 rear gear... and then the 1-1 final gear purrs along...

And even a rebuilt toploader 4 speed is around 1200 bucks. Pontiac bellhousings are drilled for the Ford trans, you'd need a custom input bearing and a Ford clutch and a hybrid throw out fork.... people dump the clutch on 429 boss motors on those suckers and nothing bad happens.... so you gotta figure they're the best bang for buck trans...