Not to my knowledge or I would have bought those. Went a little farther into this than expected but I got tired of searching. I'll make sure to let you all know how it all buttons up.
65 Barracuda Disc Brake Conversion Help Needed
- Thread starter 68HAVOK
- Start date
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Dr. Diff sells upper ball joint adapters vs. swapping upper control arms.
Mopar Reproduction Disc Brake Knuckles for A/B/E Bodies
Mopar Reproduction Disc Brake Knuckles for A/B/E Bodies
Need some help FABO
Can't get this right with the set up, tires rub bad on passenger side. Had the guy helping me out send me some pics. What could be the problem? Anyone else use drop spindles? What size tires you running? These are 205 70r14.
Can't get this right with the set up, tires rub bad on passenger side. Had the guy helping me out send me some pics. What could be the problem? Anyone else use drop spindles? What size tires you running? These are 205 70r14.
chryslerfat
Well-Known Member
Looks like that setup has you set out too far. You will now need offset rims to clear the fender.
Hardly any suspension travel either.
More back spacing or what would be good to go looking for?
chryslerfat
Well-Known Member
More back spacing not sure but by the pictures I would say at least 2 inches.
I have a buddy that is sending me some stock spindles for a disc brake car. I'm going to try those and see if the drop spindles are just making it too low. I only bought them to make all the stuff work together.
I see a number of issues here.
First, you need some kind of upper bumpstop that actually contacts your UCA's. The UCA should not go metal-to-metal on the frame under any circumstances. Next, your wheels need more backspacing. Stock 73+ spindles will not solve this issue, all of the drop spindles out there are based on '73+ disk spindles so the wheels will be in the same place. I checked the wilwood kit you have and it doesn't add any additional track width, but just going from drum to disk spindles adds over 3/8" to the track on each side. You'll have to add at least that much to the backspace to get those wheels to fit. Finally, you lowered the car a bunch. Those tires are 205/70/14's? That's a 25.4" tall tire, which is pretty tall for an early A. It doesn't look like you've got enough clearance when you turn the tires, which means you might need a shorter tire even after you fix the other issues. Early A's are not my specialty so I'm not sure what you can run for tire height without modifications, but it looks like you're pretty darn close to it. The additional backspacing would help.
Finally, drop spindles on a torsion bar front suspension are a waste of money. If you use larger torsion bars you don't need as much available suspension travel, so you can lower the car with the torsion bar adjusters. The larger the torsion bar, the less travel you need, the lower you can go. With the 1.12" torsion bars I run I can set my car as low as it would be with 2" drop spindles using stock spindles. This has the added benefit of less bump steer and a lower roll center compared to what you get with drop spindles, so, better suspension geometry. I see you have Bilstein RCD's and Hellwig sway bars, so, I'm guessing you want the car to handle well? If that's the case, you want larger torsion bars anyway.
First, you need some kind of upper bumpstop that actually contacts your UCA's. The UCA should not go metal-to-metal on the frame under any circumstances. Next, your wheels need more backspacing. Stock 73+ spindles will not solve this issue, all of the drop spindles out there are based on '73+ disk spindles so the wheels will be in the same place. I checked the wilwood kit you have and it doesn't add any additional track width, but just going from drum to disk spindles adds over 3/8" to the track on each side. You'll have to add at least that much to the backspace to get those wheels to fit. Finally, you lowered the car a bunch. Those tires are 205/70/14's? That's a 25.4" tall tire, which is pretty tall for an early A. It doesn't look like you've got enough clearance when you turn the tires, which means you might need a shorter tire even after you fix the other issues. Early A's are not my specialty so I'm not sure what you can run for tire height without modifications, but it looks like you're pretty darn close to it. The additional backspacing would help.
Finally, drop spindles on a torsion bar front suspension are a waste of money. If you use larger torsion bars you don't need as much available suspension travel, so you can lower the car with the torsion bar adjusters. The larger the torsion bar, the less travel you need, the lower you can go. With the 1.12" torsion bars I run I can set my car as low as it would be with 2" drop spindles using stock spindles. This has the added benefit of less bump steer and a lower roll center compared to what you get with drop spindles, so, better suspension geometry. I see you have Bilstein RCD's and Hellwig sway bars, so, I'm guessing you want the car to handle well? If that's the case, you want larger torsion bars anyway.
Found out that the wheels actually have to be a 14x7" and have 4" of backspacing. Its the only one American Racing makes in the small bolt pattern. Would it make any difference if I went to a 14x6" wheel like a Rallye wheel with 4" of backspace? Thoughts? There are not many choices for wheels and unless I had some custom wheels made for the small bolt pattern (not happening) I don't know what else I could do to resolve this.
vntned
Well-Known Member
The problem is your overall tire diameter. The 25" tall tires just don't clear a severely lowered EarlyA. I'd go for a 24"-24.5" tire. A pair of 215/60R14s would be about right.
On my dart I've ran a 225/50R15, (24"OD), on a 15x8 with 4.5" BS. And I've also ran a pair of 205/45R17s, (24.3" OD), on a 17x7 with 4.25" BS. I recently tried a 225/40R17, (25" OD), on the same 17x7 wheel, and it doesn't quite clear.
On my dart I've ran a 225/50R15, (24"OD), on a 15x8 with 4.5" BS. And I've also ran a pair of 205/45R17s, (24.3" OD), on a 17x7 with 4.25" BS. I recently tried a 225/40R17, (25" OD), on the same 17x7 wheel, and it doesn't quite clear.
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vntned
Well-Known Member
I would think so. It might be worth your time to go get a used 215/60R14 tire and try it out before you get a pair of new ones. Around here a used tire mounted and balanced goes for around $30. Cheap insurance.
chryslerfat
Well-Known Member
The 60 will be a wider tire also.
Seems very close to me. Wouldn't that only be a little over 1/2" on each side of the tire? With it touching the fender like in the picture I would think I'd need more clearance but with the drop spindles off it might just work fine. Standard spindles go on today so we shall see. I'll post pictures. Thanks for all the help guys.
From a turning perspective I think the shorter tire would be plenty, you don't actually need that much clearance on turning. But, I don't think wider would help at all unless you changed rims. Losing the drop spindles won't pull the tires in closer to the frame, other than the "axle" location/height they're the same as the 73+ spindles. Raising the ride height would help some, but you'd still be hanging the wheels all the way out to the fenders.
What about going smaller in width and sticking with a 14" wheel? Let's say I did Cragar SS and did the 14x6" up front with 3.5" of backspacing. Wouldn't that suck it in just as much as going to a 15x7 with 4.25"?
Then do the 215/60 r14
Trying to look at all routes as custom wheels take 4 to 6 weeks.
Then do the 215/60 r14
Trying to look at all routes as custom wheels take 4 to 6 weeks.
Actually a 14x6 with a 3.5" backspace is a zero offset rim, so, the centerline of that rim is a 1/4" further out than a 14x7 with a 4.25" backspace (+6 offset). Not only that, but a 14x6" is actually the measured rim width for a 205 so you wouldn't likely gain much, if any, clearance from putting the tire on a narrower rim. So more than likely you'd lose fender clearance compared to a 14x7 with a 4.25" backspace because of the change in offset and little to no change in section width.
So with the new spindles on now we have more issues. These spindles are off a 74 dart. Being told we would need spacers to make these work. The brake caliper brackets don't sit flat against the spindle.
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