Another suspension question

[mtuck]

I am getting really close to order the rims for my car. I have a 67' Camaro with Hotchkis spring on the back. The question I have is can i swap out the spring shakles on the bottom for the springs. This would move the shocks further in and make room for bigger wheels. Is this a simple way to do this or am I just wasting my time

Thanks
matthew

[trapin]

You're talking about "offset shackles"...right? Like the kind DS&E sells? Yes you can do that...but you will need a new gas tank that is narrower because these will make your spring perches interfere with the stock tank.



http://www.detroitspeed.com/OffsetShackles10.html

[zuess4u]

I am getting really close to order the rims for my car. I have a 67' Camaro with Hotchkis spring on the back. The question I have is can i swap out the spring shakles on the bottom for the springs. This would move the shocks further in and make room for bigger wheels. Is this a simple way to do this or am I just wasting my time

Thanks
matthew

Matt with the right offset wheel, you should have no problems fitting a 275/40 or 45/17 under there, as much time and effort it takes to use the offset shackels, I would really take a look to see how much you can really gain with the right offset. There is a wheel and tire fitment page on this site that will help you.

Im not sure how much more of a tire you can get under there with the shackel, keep in mind as well, if you make the rear leaf springs mounting locations narrower or even with the front, it WILL effect handling characteristics, Ideally, you want the rear of the leaf spring mounting points wider then the front mounting points. Just a little more info.

[68BNUT]

Are you talking about trying to move your shock mounts to the inside of your leafs? if so yes you can do this they sell a kit somewere??

[zuess4u]

Are you talking about trying to move your shock mounts to the inside of your leafs? if so yes you can do this they sell a kit somewere??

LOL...dammm my bad, he was speaking about shocks...

[Sue]

What is this kit you speak of? something to consider when moving the shocks in is that you'll need a stiffer shock for the same effect.

I'm running into this problem right now. Although i've had my car for quite some time, i just got around to swapping out my rear shocks. Well i found that one of them, not only was dented really bad, but was also bent in the middle (making the shock into an arc). Not thinking too much of this i went to put in the new shock and found i can't. it doesn't fit - i'd have to bend it to make it fit.
So taking a closer look i found that the shock mount plates are different and the mounting position is moved.

Are DSE lower shock plates in the orginial postition?
I heard you might be able to swap shock plates, left to right -right to left, and move the shock in bound. Does this work?

[68BNUT]

Thats how mine are done now.. It does throw off the alignment at the top though. But I dont have the original top shock mounts anyways.

[mtuck]

Thats how mine are done now.. It does throw off the alignment at the top though. But I dont have the original top shock mounts anyways.

This is what I was talking about. I want to switch the shock plates around. 68BNUT, by doing this how big of a rim and tire could you fit up under the car? Do you have a picture of the car I could see? How is your ride, did it affect it at all?

Thanks
Matthew

[Steve Chryssos]

I was running a set of 17"x10" steel rally wheels from Wheel Vintiques. Shocks no fit. But that wheel was the exception. Almost all 17" ad up wheels should clear the shocks without a problem.

If you must relocate the shocks, then DSE's kit is the only way to go. I adapted a Competition Engineering upper shock crossmember along with custom lower shock plates and custom QA1 shocks. But that was long before DSE was even in business. The CE unit can be made to work, but it creates clearance issues with the tailpipes and other problems. The crossmembber would even kiss the cover on my 12 bolt in extreme bump.

So I guess the point is: Don't even worry about it until you have your wheels and tires mounted. And if shock clearance becomes an issue, go with the DSE kit.

[mtuck]

Steve,

Thanks for the response. But now you leave me with my next question. I know it has been answered a million times, but what size rim can I run the back. Is a 17x8 the widest I can put on it? If so what size tire would you run?

Thanks again
Matthew

[trapin]

Matthew...you should be able to fit a 17x9.5 rim with no issues and with the shocks in their original locations. That is what I have on my car ('68) and what was recommended to me by Mark Mutert. He ran those on his '68 with minimal rubbing only under hard load.

[mtuck]

Matthew...you should be able to fit a 17x9.5 rim with no issues and with the shocks in their original locations. That is what I have on my car ('68) and what was recommended to me by Mark Mutert. He ran those on his '68 with minimal rubbing only under hard load.

Tony,
One last question is, what backspacing did you use. I was told I needed 4 3/4". Is this correct or can I go bigger?

Thanks
Matthew

[Steve Chryssos]

I HATE answering this question because I just end up confusing people more. And, it's been answered a million times but I see a lot of new faces around so here is the loooonnng answer:

It depends on what rims you are getting and how you are building your car.
Wheels:
With a source that does custom backspacing ($$$$), go wider because you can tweak things with .250" backspace increments. With off the shelf rims (.5" b.s. increments) it's possible that you can only run a 9" wheel because you are limited on one side. Very few axle housings are truly centered. But in most cases a 9.5" wheel is the hot ticket for bolt on installs. And remember that advertised rim width EXCLUDES the bead!!! So a 9.5" wheel is really 10.5" overall when you add in the inner and outer beads. (See RIM WIDTH at bottom) 10.5" is the number used when measuring. To confuse you even further, backspacing measurements are absolute. That means that backspacing INCLUDES the rear bead (i.e. measured from the wheel mounting pad to the edge of the rim)
Body:
If your car is not yet painted, do yourself a huge favor and roll the stock wheel arch lips. If you are trying to stuff a wheel, you'll be sorry later by neglecting this step now. With rolled lips, a 9.5" wheel is a piece of cake and you can start thinking about a 10" wheel with 5.5 back.

"Stick"-ing your ride:
-Start by picking a desirable wheel and take note of the available sizes. You might be in love with a particular wheel style, but if the sizes don't work, then move on.
-Roll the lips--if you want to go big. If you refuse to roll the lips, a 9" wheel might be in your future.
-With a plumb bob hanging from the wheelwell arch, measure the "hole" at various positions. You should come up with a number in the 11" plus range overall. Measure both sides. They will most likely vary. Obviously, go by the smaller measurements. Then compare the measurements with availability.
-Subtract .5" per side for tire clearance.
-Subtract another inch to achieve "advertised" rim width (A 9" wheel is 10" overall)
If you are comfortable with a 10" overall width, then you will order a 9" wheel--not 10". If you accidentally order a 10" wheel they will arrive 11" overall including the bead.

RIM WIDTH: Take a rim and lay it flat on the floor. You will find that from the ground to the upper most edge is about 1" larger than advertised. A 9" wheel is really 10" overall. And overall is what you are really trying to fit.

Obviously this post might get moved to the W &T section