Need a little help figuring something out

[SSLance]

Lance-Torque thrust II's are available 9.5" wide with a 5.5 backspace on the 17's and 5.75 bs on 18's. Should be workable unless they hit the tie rods? Can use spacer but would like to avoid due to scrub and bearing stress. Was initially looking at 17x9 Soft 8's with a 5" bs until I saw they weigh 40 pounds each. Too much unsprung mass and even with C5 brakes would make things more difficult.

Haven't looked into wheels quite as much as I'd like. Would like to avoid custom or high end due to price and likelihood of damage.

You will have more trouble on the back than on the front with a 5.5" BS, I run a 1/8" spacer with my 5" BS wheels and can barely fit my finger between the frame rail and the rim in the back. A frame notch would make more room back there, but that causes a whole nuther host of issues. On the front as long as you don't mind a reduced turning circle, they might be okay. Some inner fender clearancing may be needed but again, it's a race car so that's okay. The GTA wheels in a 16x8 are a good size for a cheap factory light wheel, but they aren't quite as wide and good sticky street tires in a 16 are very hard to come by. It might make more sense to pick up a nicer couple of sets of rims to ease on the tire budget down the road. Some people have the CCX BMW wheels re-hooped as an option you might consider as well.

[BanditDarble]

You will have more trouble on the back than on the front with a 5.5" BS, I run a 1/8" spacer with my 5" BS wheels and can barely fit my finger between the frame rail and the rim in the back. A frame notch would make more room back there, but that causes a whole nuther host of issues. On the front as long as you don't mind a reduced turning circle, they might be okay. Some inner fender clearancing may be needed but again, it's a race car so that's okay. The GTA wheels in a 16x8 are a good size for a cheap factory light wheel, but they aren't quite as wide and good sticky street tires in a 16 are very hard to come by. It might make more sense to pick up a nicer couple of sets of rims to ease on the tire budget down the road. Some people have the CCX BMW wheels re-hooped as an option you might consider as well.

Thanks for the info Lance.

Notching the rear shouldn't be a big deal as the body will be off the frame and I will be able to add some reinforcement. Plus the cage will stiffen things up as well. Another option would be swapping in a 71-72 A body rear which is 2.5 inches wider while also giving me a stronger axle. Points for that however and the wider axle would likely make suspension tuning more difficult as the rear would have more bite.

I came across the BMW wheels thing the other day and it might be something to look into. Stock the offsets are way off of course, but if a guy could pick some used/take offs cheap enough rehooping might be an option. Unfortunately for us none of the later Camaro or Vette wheels work on a G body while the guys racing BMW's have piles of 16 and 17 inch used wheels available for cheap. Oh well, it is what it is.

The GTA wheels won't clear the C5 brakes so they would be a no go.

It's all the little things... heh