Widening G-Body front track width

[Doober]

I picked up a set of 17x??(9.5-10.5) F-Body/Corvette wheels with tires for fairly cheap recently. I'm not a huge fan of running spacers/adapters, so I'm looking for a fairly inexpensive method of widening the front track width. I've seen some of the circle track racers have used early F-Body and '70ish X-Body lower a-arms, but to my understanding that only moves it out about an inch, where I may need up to 2½" per side. I'm not quite sure I'm ready to pay over $500 for a pair of lower a-arms, so I'm looking for some suggestions anyone may have. Actually doing this whole thing is still quite some time off, I'm just doing the research right now.





TIA

[jackfrost]

you're opening a whole big can of worms there. if you change the length of the arms you're changing the design of the suspension in an unknown way.

the correct way to do it would be to move the mounting points of the stock suspension out, but I don't see how that would be possible w/o a custom front clip.

[Bryce]

i would suggest make your own, do some suspension calculations and determine the usual characteristics. If you have longer lower control arms it gives better supension characteristics. the only thing as a immediate downfall will be your scrub radius. with that much backspace on the wheel.

[ajh112]

I'm one of those dirt track guys and here is a book worth springing 10 bucks for.


http://www.stevehenryracing.com/widesecrets21.htm

[Doober]

i would suggest make your own, do some suspension calculations and determine the usual characteristics. If you have longer lower control arms it gives better supension characteristics. the only thing as a immediate downfall will be your scrub radius. with that much backspace on the wheel.

I've started reading a little on front suspension characteristics. I would probably have to get ahold of an aftermarket shop (i.e. TRZ Motorsports, SC&C, etc.) to see if they could do it, but that brings cost way back up. When this is done I would also like to try to get rid of the bumpsteer G-Bodies seem to be notorious for. I see end links are available to correct this though, so I'm not too concerned about it.

Does anyone have a good source of explanation for suspension design? I see terms like scrub radius, roll center, and center of gravity (that one I understand), but don't fully understand them... yet. I came across this link, but have yet to read it (sitting in a computer lab, going to read it later): http://www.stockcarproducts.com/pstech3.htm

I know there is a bit more than that page... many of the explanations I've found though have been towards the physics extreme and explained every minute detail. I'm not afraid of numbers (math), I just need to know their purpose.

I'm also thinking if I'll be getting longer arms, I will need to get a higher rate spring than what I already have.

If I'm asking questions that have already been asked (did a little searching already and haven't found much in relation to the info I need), please point me in the right direction

[MonzaRacer]

http://www.skulte.com/index.php/cPath/21
http://adaptitusa.com/index.asp?PageAction=Custom&ID=6
http://www.speedace.info/wheels/wheel_adapters.htm
http://www.thunderracing.com/catalog...ories&pcid=215
http://sccaforums.com/forums/thread/339098.aspx

and this is from SCCA forums a fella talks about his using spacers like some I listed. I do knoe the top ones are some of the toughest ones I have ever seen, saw a ZR1 wheel hit by semi, ripped EVERYTHING mutilated, the spacer and 4 of 5 survived intact and the owner got car fixed, replaced one stud and had spacer inspected with zero defects.
Id pass on ridiculous increases as this is going to open larger can of worms unless you really have cash to redesign everything.
Good luck
I intend to use skulte adapters on my Monza.

[Tony_SS]

How about getting a set of wheels with the proper backspacing? Just a thought.

[Bryce]

build it, Have some fun. make some mistakes in ur design and rebuild it. these cars are hobbies. enjoy when u drive the car with the wheels u want that u designed the suspension. and be proud of it when someone asks "whos suspension you got there" "mine!"

every car is a little different with a different goal, a bolt in suspension doesnt neccessarily meet all these objectives. Thats why i built mine, no that hard. I tacked everthing and had someone else TIG weld it. then checked it fot warpage and non.

BUILD IT the way you need/want it

[Doober]

How about getting a set of wheels with the proper backspacing? Just a thought.

Yeah, the F-Body wheels were one of those impulse buys My ultimate goal is to run a set of C6 Z06 wheels, but I don't want to have to run spacers to use them.


I may go with a set of spacers until then though, my sub-$500 options are slim to none outside the spacers I think.

[zbugger]

Call them Adapters and you've got what you want. They bolt on just like a wheel does, and they have studs so you can mount a wheel to them as well. They are plenty strong. As long as you have them torqued correctly you should be fine. I've seen plenty of people running them. Hell, I'm going to be running them with some C5 Corvette wheels on my own car.

[Doober]

I've just been putting it off until I looked into actually widening the track, planning to get some hub-centric ones (won't even look at a set that aren't). Seeing as that will be fairly costly, I'll wait until I really dive into the suspension on the '78.


WTF
You have almost 1.9 MILLION posts???

[MonzaRacer]

Doober, check these out , read the companies abilities, then can be had with hubrings to fit your wheels give them a call.
http://www.skulte.com/index.php/cPath/21

[Apogee]

Doober, check these out , read the companies abilities, then can be had with hubrings to fit your wheels give them a call.
http://www.skulte.com/index.php/cPath/21

Skulte had a big posting on their website a couple of weeks ago saying that they were no longer accepting custom spacer/adapter orders, but it appears to have been taken down.

Per the link above, Skulte now only list one wheel adapter application and it's 2.25", presumably for the 3rd gen F-bodies. I would suggest definitely giving them a call before you assume they can or will make anything for you. That's too bad if they don't as they had a very good reputation for making a good product at a good price.

Tobin
KORE3

[Tony_SS]

http://www.ezaccessory.com/

I'm going with a set of adapters from these guys to run newer 6 lug wheel on my old Silverado. See if they have something for your app.

[novaderrik]

the best way to run Vette wheels o na non Vette chassis would be to graft a Vette suspension onto it. i don't think it would cost too much more to buy a complete Vette subframe than a set of decent adapters would cost. of course, you'd still need to weld the suspension into the car..

[Doober]

Hey thanks for the link Tony :D I saved the link... I'm hoping they make a hub-centric version, doesn't look like they have one listed on the site.

If I was going to graft a 'Vette suspension in, I would just have an entirely new frame built. If that is done though, you would have to consider the room lost under the trunk for the tank (I'll be running a stock tank), along with the cost of buying the rear suspension/differential assembly... it adds up quick. I can buy a stock 8.5" from a B- or A-Body (don't know specific widths) and bolt that in (taking care of the rear hopefully), but I'll likely redesign the front and see if a well known aftermarket company could make some a-arms to correct the track width in the front.