Discussion Forum - Northstar Chevelle Club

bowtie · Secretary

New wheels

bowtie · Secretary

I got some info on them from Facebook. Tom R who I know from Team Chevelle (BlueSS454) also is a General Lee fan and has one himself. Looks like these are the American Racing Vector wheels that were also used on the General Lee. One of my boxes is dated in the '70s. Mine aren't black between the spokes, but it might just have to happen now.

Lost in the 60s · President

Nice !! Does that mean the current wheels will be available ? I don't remember what they are and your avatar is too small. Seems like they are similar to a Torque Thrust cast ? I may be interested. Send me some pics if you are planning to sell.

dashboard · 2K+ Club

I really like the ones on the car now.

Derek69SS · Founding Member

Those are good for jumping!

Lost in the 60s · President

Derek69SS wrote:
Those are good for jumping!

bowtie · Secretary

Eventually they will be available, but I don't know how soon. Yes, they are Torque-thrusts (though 2 aren't American Racing if I remember correctly). They are also 70s vintage.

Dave Seitz · Mega Poster

If you do see a set of rims you really like that are discontinued, you can get them made. Foose or any of the custom wheel makers will gladly make a set for you, they can also make a single set just for you and NOBODY else. FYI

bowtie · Secretary

Yeah, gladly is the expensive word. I know of another set that was made for a car. I liked them. To have them made was @ $25K including tooling amd molds. I like these anyway.

Dave Seitz · Mega Poster

Will not be that much, maybe $4000 each

bowtie · Secretary

MOre than I spent on the car and engine (first time through at least) combined.

Lost in the 60s · President

Dave Seitz wrote:
Will not be that much, maybe $4000 each
I'm pretty certain there aren't any $16,000 wheel guys in this crowd.

dashboard · 2K+ Club

Let me see if I understand what’s taking place here. Are you really going to put those on your Chevelle?

bowtie · Secretary

At least once to see how they look. Most likely yes, they will stay. For some reason, I have always been an American Racing Wheels guy, though this was by coincidence. My first real car had Outlaws like Tony's. My next one had something similar with exposed rivets, but they also were a star pattern: http://www.jegs.com/p/American-Racing/American-Racing-AR-23-Wheels/832547/10002/-1

What I have one it right now I kind of lucked into too. We had a 67 Vette that was brought in for wheels and tires. The guy was a lawyer who just bought it. The car had sat in storage for a long time and this was what he had wanted since he could drive. His new wheel and tire choice was (ugh) Cragars and Radial T/As. What we took off were the torqe-thrusts which still had on them old Firestone N70-15 tires on the back and comparable fronts. I actually called him while his car was still in the shop and asked what he wanted done with the take-offs. He didn't have any immediate plans, and I offered to pay part of his bill in exchange for them.

I still like those, but if I want to drop the rear of my car down, I needed something different. When I started looking, I really liked Scott's, but they're long gone. Here's scott's:

I really like these. Retro, but still do-able. I'll get one hung on the car this weekend and take a pic.

-- Edited by bowtie on Wednesday 19th of October 2011 08:26:06 PM

Lost in the 60s · President

Bryan, do the rear wheels have too much outside offset for the tires to tuck in the wheel well ?

Dave Seitz · Mega Poster

Dave Seitz wrote:
Will not be that much, maybe $4000 each

OOPs should be around $4000 a set. Companies do look for unique designs and with the CAD programs out they can design a Billet rims and put a G Code in a few hours to the machine. Then you have a REAL BIG chunk of Aluminum to buy for your rims.

Chris R · 2K+ Club

For years those General Lee style wheels were huge money if you could find a set. I think American Racing made them originally (Vortex or something like think they were called). Throughout the 90s, turning Chargers into General Lees was still a polular thing but the wheels werent being repopped until the early 00s. Good sets were in the thousands. Then they started making them again. That was still years before the remake came out not too long ago.

It looks like those boxes the wheels are sitting on are from an old run before they started making them again (American Racing logo is not quite the same now). Its too bad you didnt find them years ago. You would have had a gold mine on your hands. Although, I dont think the GM bolt pattern is the same as for the Mopar though.

-- Edited by Chris R on Thursday 20th of October 2011 01:34:29 PM

Derek69SS · Founding Member

Mopar are 4-1/2" bolt circle (same as Ford), GM is 4-3/4"

bowtie · Secretary

These are 4-3/4 as measured and verified with my little bolt circle gauge from Moser. Assuming I find more suitable caps, I will off these for a little price recovery.

Mitch-that was my issue with the TT's-they stick out too far to tuck in for me. These should be just fine, I'll verify that when I can get one on.

bowtie · Secretary

Currently 275/60R15:

Vector Wheels:

steel wheel 215/70R14 (about original size):

and for fun-a 315/60R18 Pirelli mounted an a Mallett rim with about 8" backspacing. Note the car is dropped down as low as possible to see how wheelwell is filled:

Yes, it fit, but the tire rubbed the frame and the studs didn't quite touch the rim yet:

also included is a 205/70R14 with the above mentioned tires:

-- Edited by bowtie on Thursday 27th of October 2011 06:15:13 PM

bowtie · Secretary

OK, so I had a pair of tires donated to my cause, plus a loaner slick for comparison too. First, thanks to a friend named Joe who gave them to me. He built a pretty stout gold colored small block 62/63 (?) Nova. Here's an article done on it, though he's since stepped into the 8's and scraped the parachute bracket this past summer. He's already started an ealry nova wagon project which should be pretty nasty too. By the way, his brother runs a 9 second 67 Nova and his dad had bought one of the first

http://www.carcraft.com/featuredvehicles/ccrp_1003_1963_chevrolet_nova/viewall.html

Pics taken at same wheelwell lip height as current wheel/tire configuration. It's tough to gauge width w/o mounting on a rim.

ET Street 28x12.5"

Hoosier 30x10.5 slicks

Old school photoshop: set rim on tire, take picture from 6 feet above directly down:

I'm waiting for a Weld Drag Star rim with a 275/60R15 drag radial to be loaned to me off this car: https://picasaweb.google.com/111657150235143289779/Automania2011#5638260221858517762 so I can see how that fits too.

Lost in the 60s · President

I have 275/60R15's on the '66. It has the wider '70 axle and the tires are mounted on '77 Z28 wheels. Plenty of room on both sides and I'm sure I could fit a 295-315/50 tire in there with the right wheel offset.

bowtie · Secretary

Here's the next evolution of this project. I mounted up one of each and swapped them on. Blackwall is ET Street 28x12.5 (measured at sidewall). Hoosier is 30x10.5 (measured across tread only, @12.5" total width):

and since I wanted to see it as a wrinklewall:

Scott Parkhurst · Super Poster

Bryan-

If you want to add more fuel to this tire fire, I've got a set of 5-spoke Welds to loan ya. They've got Tony's old slicks mounted up and they wouldn't fit under my wagon.

Come and get 'em if you want to check them out under your car. I want to use the slicks, but they won't work with these wheels under my car. We can talk if they're perfect for you.

bowtie · Secretary

Scott, email me a pic of the wheels and backspacing when you get a chance. I like the wheels I have, but they really won't work for what I hope to accomplish.

Lost in the 60s · President

bowtie wrote:
Scott, email me a pic of the wheels and backspacing when you get a chance. I like the wheels I have, but they really won't work for what I hope to accomplish.
Yup, too much outside dish to clear the fender lip.