got some new wheels, thought id share pics

[3-0-II]

for my 5 lug conversion I used some 4-5 lug adapters with a 2" increase in spacing so i can run newer wheels. I found these 16" Saleen 5 lug 5 spokes on craigslist for $200, with those tires. talk about a steal!

so the front wheel adapters when on with no trouble, but the rears were a bit too long. the outer part of the adapter wouldnt bolt on flush. luckily theres that buffer zone where there isn't any thread so some quality time with Mr. Angle Grinder fixed that right up

and I know none of you read any of that because you want pictures, so here they are

Nose looks a little high doesn't it? The stiffer springs sure are showing. i also tried pushing down on them and they hardly budge. the old ones would go down and pop back up, but these... they kinda twitch just enough to remind you there is suspension and its not all fixed but thats it. no bouncing here

I know some folks running the 452lb springs cut a coil, i may eventually do that too..

they stick out a bit in the front

and are in a bit still in the back

since the front went up with the new springs, theres tons of space up there. looks like theres either no engine or the car is under hard acceleration at all times lol

in the rear, clearane is very, very tight. I definitly am going to need those stiffer fiberglass leafs and have my fenders rolled if i dont want to hear rubbing every time the car is in motion. but on the plus side, the spacers are doing their job. when i had 245s on the rear on 10 holes with no spacers, there were millimeters between the sidewall on the inside and the car. the tires would scrape on the body on the inside and i know eventually they'd blow (i gave those tires away and had been running 205s in the back) now there's a couple inches between the sidewall and the car, so i dont expect any rubbing there

 

[Mstng2]

Nice!

 

[78CobraII]

I love the wheels...I vaguely remember a similar design with 4-lug pattern from back in the day (mid-'80's?).

However such a wide adapter, especially one that goes 4-lug to 5-lug makes me nervous. If its not of forged or billet construction, I would be very careful with my driving.

In any case I would get my 5-lug conversion done ASAP.

 

[COBRAIIW]

Nice wheels, but are those scuff marks on the outside of the rear tires?
If they are, your rear fenderwells might need to be "rolled" out of the way.
An old trick to roll them is to use a baseball bat to bend them, using the tire for leverage.

 

[3-0-II]

sorry to bring it back from the dead, but ive been busy for a while lol. and beleive it or not, those wheels are exactly what you remember from the 80s. a few select saleens got 5 lug conversions from what i understand..

the spacers are billet, otherwise id be too scared to use the things lol. and those arent scuffs from my driving, since this car isnt in running shape at the moment (still mid EFI swap.. sigh lol)

a real 5 lug conversion will be done as soon as i can afford to upgrade the brakes. in all actuality, im debating selling the wheels and adapters to be able to afford to finish the EFI conversion. I've still got the 13" slotted mags in the garage lol, so i can always go abck to those

 

[78CobraII]

3-0-II,

The car looks great with the flat (suede?) black paint and the gloss red stripe. What kind of black is that?

If you have a couple of inches on the inside, you probably don't need quite so much spacer...but since you are doing a 5-lug swap soon, there's not much need to change them.

What are the sizes on the tires? The width of the wheel? If you have a wheel off soon, could you please measure the back spacing?

Thanks.

 

[3-0-II]

the paint is all krylon rattle cans beleive it or not lol. the black is The Krylon Rust Tough Semi Gloss.

the couple inches comes from the spacer i'm willing to bet. it would have been very tight otherwise. The cars at my folks place right now so this is all from memory but...

the wheels are 16", 7" wide in the front and 8" in the back. the rear tires are 235s and the fronts 225s i beleive. dont remember the profiles off the top of my head. ill double check next time i go home, and ill measure for you too. and i wouldnt say the 5 lug conversion will be soon lol. outta cash, in college with no time to go home and tinker much

btw, the front springs are some ebay 425lbers.. does anyone kknow of those things are gonna drop once i start driving it? should i look into those drop spindles i see on ebay? alot of the big brake kits come with em, so when I do that I could probably do it all at once..

 

[78CobraII]

Keep the car dry and covered, and finish college!

No rush on the dimensions...I was just wondering if a spacer would be required to install these wheels if someone already had a 5-lug conversion.

I don't think that the 425 lb springs are out of range for a V8 Mustang II. I've hear of folks running stiffer than that.

The height issue may be due to the spring being too tall though...Fox springs are the same diameter as MII springs, but are taller. I think that your springs would have settled just from having the weight of the engine on them after a couple of months. Driving is not likely to change much at this point. So you may have to cut yours to get the correct ride height. Just take 1/2 coil out at a time from the bottom (top is ground flat and should not be touched), then turn the coil so that the "tail" indexes properly in the lower control arm.

For a 2.3L MII the spring stiffness should be 300 lb/in standard and 350 lb/in Heavy Duty. The MVMA document for the 1976 MII is here: http://www.mustangii.org/tech/mvma/mustang_ii_1976.pdf . Page 28 has the spring specs for the base car (sedan, 2.3L engine, C3 trans).

Eaton Springs has better technical information on available MII springs, but they are not model specific: http://www.eatonsprings.com/MustangIICoilSprings.pdf .

I do recall seeing more specific info in a catalog somewhere dealing with replacement srpings...they even had the stiffness for V6 with AC vs. V8 w/o AC. Anybody else remember seeing such?

 

[3-0-II]

I am fairly certain some kind of spacer would be needed. after all they are still 16" fox wheels, regardless of bolt pattern lol. I remember when had 10 holes... tires rubbing on the inside in the rear, wheels rubbing on A arms in the front. and that was running teh same size tires in the rear and smaller ones in the front
I suppose the rear is less of an issue since you can widen the track a little bit easier with a wider axle.. but spacers are probably neccessary on the front.

one thing i could do next time i go home is check clearance of the front wheels while being turned, since i dont think i ever did that. i need to take the front wheels off anyway to put the brakes back on, which i proabbly should have done a while back, so i can take some better pictures and get a clearer view of clearance issues

as for cutting the coils, i tthought i might have to do that eventualy. but would one of those drop spindles help?

 

[78CobraII]

The drop spindles are actually preferable to cutting coils or using shorter springs. With the drop spindles you keep your suspension travel, and you don't risk creating bump steer. the down side is mostly cost and the question of whether you are getting a good enough quality part. Spindles should be made of forged steel, not cast.

 

[393strokervert]

can you post a link to where you got the spacer/adapters from? just curious as to what they look like. I had a very bad experience last year with using 4-5 lug adapters. just wanting to know if yours are the same ones I used. thanks, joe

 

[3-0-II]

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/4-LU...r_Truck_Parts_Accessories?hash=item56336a14e2

I'm not sure if I found the right link but these are at the very least the type of adapters i used. what problems did you have?

and it sounds like drop spindles are preferable to coil cutting. thanks for the info

 

[Blue coyote]

Inspect those adapters for cracking, especially if you start to detect any vibration! We used a set of those on the Handler, and one developed a crack in the aluminum between the inner edge and one of the lugs, which ended up bashing the bejeejus out of the surfaces between the inner and outer halves. The adapters had less than 500 miles on them, and the car wasn't raced...

 

[3-0-II]

thats intense... the car has no miles on these adapters.. maybe ill go back to stock for a bit while i save up for a better 5 lug conversion