Our 79 Monte Carlo- Pro Touring Project

[Canon_Mutant]

How much butchering did you have to do up front to get 275s to fit? That is my other struggle is being 245 limited. The 245s I want to use will only be 1" narrower at the tread but 1" is 1". Since it's a show quality 442, I hate to butcher it but would like to know what would be required? Thanks a bunch!

 

[Canon_Mutant]

Is this ^ getting into racing trade secrets or something? I now remember I asked this before and it got ignored then too . . .

Since I don't plan on trying to dominate the GTV pro-touring circuit when I am done with this mod . . . just make it handle respectfully, I will likely be fine with a 245 front 275 rear setup but I certainly wouldn't mind 275s on all 4 corners.

 

[oldsmobile joe]

How much butchering did you have to do up front to get 275s to fit? That is my other struggle is being 245 limited. The 245s I want to use will only be 1" narrower at the tread but 1" is 1". Since it's a show quality 442, I hate to butcher it but would like to know what would be required? Thanks a bunch!

i don't know what car you have, but i was able to

fit 275/40/17 wheel/tire combo on my 79 cutlass. it was necessary use wheel spacers to adjust for fitment.

 

[Canon_Mutant]

Thanks a bunch! Are the spacers more to accommodate the wider wheels?

Nice car BTW . . .

 

[oldsmobile joe]

Thanks a bunch! Are the spacers more to accommodate the wider wheels?

Nice car BTW . . .

thank you. i have this fixation of factory rims. i like their style, durability and somewhat ease of finding a duplicate if damaged. i ran across these trans am ws6 rims a while back and replaced my 17" and 18" corvette rims with these. i put a lot of miles on this car and got tired of not being able to rotate the vette rims do to there different sizes. these size tires are not cheap. when i found these, i knew i would be able to fit these rims in the wheel wells and still be able to rotate them. i know, who care about something like that, well i do. another of my fixations. i used bolt on wheel spacers similar to the ones in the pic to get the fitment right. i know i could order rims to fit but that would cost more money than the spacers.

but i should note, this rim and tire package will slightly rub at rear of wheel well liner when steering wheel is fully turned even though i have an iroc steering gear installed.

 

[Canon_Mutant]

I've got a 1-1.5" drop going on my 442. Though I agree you are better off going the same on all 4 corners, I am getting some custom wheels made for it with a 17 front, 18 rear stagger [if the IRS ever sends us our damn money - sorry editorial comment]. By using my bare 15x7 SSIII that have a 4" BS, I know in back, 18x9.5 with a 5.25BS will place that 275 exactly in the center of the wheel well. I suspect up front a 17x9.5" wheel might require a bit less BS, maybe 4.5 would be more appropriate for a 275 but I was concerned perhaps fender well surgery might be required too? And, I'd want to see what that does to the front - rear tracking period? Since UMI has already done this, I was hopeful they would just chime in . . .

 

[UMI Sales]

We have some new American Racing headers in 1-7/8". The plan is to spin the GM to 8000 rpm.

 

[UMI Sales]

I've got a 1-1.5" drop going on my 442. Though I agree you are better off going the same on all 4 corners, I am getting some custom wheels made for it with a 17 front, 18 rear stagger [if the IRS ever sends us our damn money - sorry editorial comment]. By using my bare 15x7 SSIII that have a 4" BS, I know in back, 18x9.5 with a 5.25BS will place that 275 exactly in the center of the wheel well. I suspect up front a 17x9.5" wheel might require a bit less BS, maybe 4.5 would be more appropriate for a 275 but I was concerned perhaps fender well surgery might be required too? And, I'd want to see what that does to the front - rear tracking period? Since UMI has already done this, I was hopeful they would just chime in . . .

We tend to mix and match wheel spacers to fine tune track widths. All of our wheels tend to start higher numerically so we can add spacer accordingly. If you choose a back space number too low, you can end up not having enough spacers to remove...

 

[UMI Sales]

Is this ^ getting into racing trade secrets or something? I now remember I asked this before and it got ignored then too . . .

Since I don't plan on trying to dominate the GTV pro-touring circuit when I am done with this mod . . . just make it handle respectfully, I will likely be fine with a 245 front 275 rear setup but I certainly wouldn't mind 275s on all 4 corners.

Just saw this. No trade secrets and wasn't ignoring. The only thing we did was remove the inner fenders... But not sure if they had to be. As suspension manufacturers we want people to see the a-arms. Plus now we're working on installing 315's.

 

[UMI Sales]

Here's some fun stuff.

315/35-18 rears for auto-x. Don't know any wheel details yet. Still calculating.

-- Ramey