And thus, I am banging my head on the wall...

[skywalker]

Okay, I get my disc brakes on, all four wheels, the rears are a swap from a late model ford (Crown vic to be exact, as odd as that is) and the front is a nice wilwood kit. Put the kit together, saftewired everything and all is well except for this OOOONE problem. The brakes are about 0.25 inches to big for my 14" rims!

I'm looking at either a) banging ont he calipers until they don't scrube anymore, and that sounds like it might not work b) getting a grinder out to grind ont he caliper until it doesn't scrub anymore or c) not driving the car which i already have gone a monthw ithout until august when i can afford new rims and tires. Any suggestions?

 

[Snail50]

don't "modify" (as in: hammer & grinder) those nice Wilwoods to fit your 14" rims. I'd look for a cheap pair of larger rims to hold you over until you can get the right ones.

 

[dodgestang]

Just wait till you find out that when you go to buy wheels you will need fronts with a different off-set than the rears because of the wilwood track change...you will be right back at that wall

It will all work out for you though and then you will have the cool factor of 4 wheel disc

 

[skywalker]

Well, the offset is fine. I can actually get the wheels onto the car, they just scrub the caliper at these 2 points. Simple fact is I have other things that need my financial attention, so I can't even get 2 front wheels right now - and I have a new GF who is begging me to take her for a spin in the "nice" car. The interior is ripped out at the moment pending my getting the headliner in and then putting the new carpet in and the seats back in.

On the other hand I had to replace the brakes, they were shot, it was to the point that I couldn't stop the car, the wheel cylinders were all gone, the drums all had huge grooves in them.

 

[Route666]

Get the wheel machined?

 

[skywalker]

Sounds like a plan there route, just not sure about the reliability of the wheel afterwards. The caliper is only contacting at 2 very small points, so I'm tempted to just grind those points ( and they are like little points...) so that they don't scrube and get some caliper paint to cover it up.

 

[allcarfan]

I have some 17" bullets with cobra center caps...and the correct size adapters to fit your application....

and im in GA.

Let me know dude...PM ME though.

 

[6t6stang]

I had to do that on my 66.
I used a dremel to take off a little of the rim

 

[68rustang]

can you post pics of what is hitting?

 

[skywalker]

can you post pics of what is hitting?

i would except for my camera being MIA. Basically it's 2 small (1" long, about 1/8" wide each) sections of each caliper are just rubbing against the rim.

 

[skywalker]

I had to do that on my 66.
I used a dremel to take off a little of the rim

I could do that except it would mean dremeling around the entire rim as it is a cosntant rubbing and it would screw the balance of the wheel up. Dremeling the caliper (the LAST thing I want to do) would be alot easier and safer (exploding rim anyone?) especially since I've not yet changed the tires on these rims so I don't have a CLUE how thick the metal is.

 

[1320stang]

How about putting some 15" steel rims and tire on? Or some steel 14"s? Hard to see what you have in the tiny pic and no description of your wheels in your sig

 

[skywalker]

The wheels in the pic are 14" cragars (or so a mustang shop told me they're cragars...i don't really know that for sure.)

The problem isn't so much putting new rims on, as get the money for new rims and tires.

 

[Hack]

I have a question that's pretty closely related. The local junkyards don't have wheels filed by their size, bolt pattern and offset. Does anyone know what models and years of cars I should look at if I need a cheap set of steel wheels - say 15, 16 or 17 inch that match the classic Mustang 5 bolt pattern? If they matched the proper offset too, that would be even better.

 

[skywalker]

don't know years or whatever but I know that the bolt pattern is 5x4.5", so...take a tape measure?

I believe most ford passenger vehicles used this pattern until recently.

 

[Hack]

don't know years or whatever but I know that the bolt pattern is 5x4.5", so...take a tape measure?

I believe most ford passenger vehicles used this pattern until recently.

Thanks. Do you know what cars might have a larger steel wheel? I would like to buy 17" if I can find one or there is such a thing. Also, any with the correct backspacing?

edit: ok I found this site with wheel info. 16 or 17 inch is pretty rare and only on quite new cars. Probably a 97 or newer Mustang would be the only possible source, but unlikely that I would find 17 inch steel wheels. The thing is, every inch larger diameter only buys 1/2 inch of clearance. I'm in the process of installing home made upper ball joint shims with a 2" UCA drop, so I'm worried about clearance. Well, hopefully I'll get along far enough to find out tomorrow.

http://www.discountedwheelwarehouse.com/Ford___Vehicle_Bolt_Pattern_Reference.cfm

And Skywalker, you're right. If I'm going to buy wheels, I can wander through a junkyard measuring stuff. Then I don't have to buy tires right away if I'm lucky.

 

[1320stang]

Well, do you have a spare 14" steel wheel? I'm wondering if it will clear the calipers.

I've gone to a salvage yard and bought a steel wheel with a good tire on it for $15. It would get you by until you can get the new wheels. I have a full set of 14x6 and 15x7 steel wheels, but I'm in OK and that doesn't do you any good.

 

[skywalker]

If I could gank some newer mustang rims it'd be kewl...

I'm going to put off using the grinder until saturday, I have other things to do to the car until then (like put the interior back together.) The significant other gets back saturday night so I'm hoping to have it back on the road by then so I can take her out in style sunday instead of in the POS "i need good gas mileage for my 1 hr comute" car.

 

[mustang70]

If it's just a couple of small areas a little grinding won't hurt the calipers. Just don't go nuts.

 

[skywalker]

I know it won't hurt them, I just hate to do even that kind of minor surgery to such nice hardware. I've gotten pretty good with the dremel lately, so it should be painless.