Early A body front end

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Broke Farmer

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So, need some help from those that have “been there done that”
Car is 1964 Dart. What big bolt pattern tires and 15 inch wheels for up front with disc brakes? Don’t want to trim fenders. Car is really solid. Using later year Mopar disc brake kit.
I have approx. 9 months to get this ready for my sons Prom next year.
thanks In advance.
1F298642-3517-479F-BC4A-DDF86C869B06.jpeg
 
Broke Farmer said:
So, need some help from those that have “been there done that”
Car is 1964 Dart. What big bolt pattern tires and 15 inch wheels for up front with disc brakes? Don’t want to trim fenders. Car is really solid. Using later year Mopar disc brake kit.
I have approx. 9 months to get this ready for my sons Prom next year.
thanks In advance. View attachment 1715940803
Click to expand...

Hey howdy...

Trying to determine what the question is....??? Adding a disc kit and wondering about tire clearance?

Cheers.
 
Thanks! Yes, in process of a big bolt pattern disc brake kit and new front suspension and was wondering about tire and rim sizes
 
Cars of that vintage were not as dimensionally precise as those of today. A wheel/tire combo that will clear on one car may not on another.

Just for example, I have 15x7 Cragars and 225/60/15 radials on my 63 Valiant conv. and my 65 Barracuda. The Valiant rears have the same clearance on both sides; the Barracuda has maybe half to three-quarters of an inch more clearance between the tire and the inner fender on one side than on the other. The Barracuda fronts clear completely; the left front tire of the Valiant just barely kissed the lower left front fender opening with the steering cranked full left. Required very minor trimming there (you'd never notice if I didn't point it out to you).

Wheel backspacing will make a difference, too. I actually have more clearance at the rear of my Barracuda with 15x7 wheels than I did with 14x6's. Same tire width both cases. Difference was the greater back spacing of the seven inch wheels. Also, I have run 235's on 14x5.5 inch Rallys on my Barracuda and they cleared, same with the 14x6 slot mags I ran for a while, but they would not have cleared with the 14x6 inch Cragars - not just the extra half inch width, but also the backspacing. Not sure 235's would fit with the 15 inch Cragars on my Barracuda, but probably would on the Valiant.

I believe the large bolt pattern brakes will widen the front track a bit, although that has been disputed. If so, that will make a difference, too.

All this to say you can get in the ball park with what has worked for others, but ultimately you will just have to try it on your car and see.
 
Broke Farmer said:
So, need some help from those that have “been there done that”
Car is 1964 Dart. What big bolt pattern tires and 15 inch wheels for up front with disc brakes? Don’t want to trim fenders. Car is really solid. Using later year Mopar disc brake kit.
I have approx. 9 months to get this ready for my sons Prom next year.
thanks In advance. View attachment 1715940803
Click to expand...
I have 15 x6 5x4.5 mopar rally's up front and 15x7 in the back
 
I was mostly looking at fender clearance on this early A body.

I will be shortening an 8 3/4 housing and will get rears to fit with a spring relocation into the frame rail.

the front fenders just seemed a bit tight at the front so I was curious what people were running tire diameter wise on a stock fender. I am leaving K gram in factory position and using aftermarket upper and lower control arms.
Thanks for all the input!!
 
Broke Farmer said:
I was mostly looking at fender clearance on this early A body.

I will be shortening an 8 3/4 housing and will get rears to fit with a spring relocation into the frame rail.

the front fenders just seemed a bit tight at the front so I was curious what people were running tire diameter wise on a stock fender. I am leaving K gram in factory position and using aftermarket upper and lower control arms.
Thanks for all the input!!
Click to expand...
I have 235 60 15 on the back and 215 60 15 on the front with no mods. The back wheels i use a 3/4 spacer to make it a 3 3/4 of set. The wheels are factory made at 4/ 1/2 off set which rubs the leaf spring!
 
Broke Farmer said:
So, need some help from those that have “been there done that”
Car is 1964 Dart. What big bolt pattern tires and 15 inch wheels for up front with disc brakes? Don’t want to trim fenders. Car is really solid. Using later year Mopar disc brake kit.
I have approx. 9 months to get this ready for my sons Prom next year.
thanks In advance. View attachment 1715940803
Click to expand...
Forgot to add too, the upper lowers and spindals from 73 to 76 duster will bolt right on to your car. You only need to use lower ball joint from same year.
 
Broke Farmer said:
I was mostly looking at fender clearance on this early A body.

I will be shortening an 8 3/4 housing and will get rears to fit with a spring relocation into the frame rail.

the front fenders just seemed a bit tight at the front so I was curious what people were running tire diameter wise on a stock fender. I am leaving K gram in factory position and using aftermarket upper and lower control arms.
Thanks for all the input!!
Click to expand...

I would advise you not to move the springs into the frame rail unless you are planing to move the inner wheel tubs in the same amount. If you use Dr. Diffs 1/2" spring relocation kit, that will make the springs in line with the inner wheel well.
It will be a lot less work, time and money.
Just my 2 cents....
 
A set of 15x6 rims and 205/60 tires work beautifully within that fender, using the factory '73 - '76 A-Body disk brake conversion.
 
I'm running 15x7 rims with 245/60-15 on the rear, and 15x6 with 215/65-15 on the front on my 66 Valiant. No clearance issues at all.
 
As 65 Cuda 340 mentioned, the later BBP disk brakes move the wheel mounting face out board about a half inch per side. Because of this wheel backspacing becomes more critical. As many others noted there are still many wheel types and tire sizes that will clear.
 
Be careful with the advice. One poster hit the nail on the head backspacing is key. I installed SSBC disc brakes which are reproductions of the factory four piston calipers and use the original smaller ball joints But you need OEM 10 inch front brake knuckles. With 7 inch wide US mags slotted discs which I believe are 3.75 inch backspacing and any tire larger than 195/60 R 15’s the front of the wheel with catch the lower roll on the fender. The disks make it worse because it pushes the wheel out another half inch.
 
7" slotted mags from the '70s have a 3.5" back space. They never fitted our cars correctly. They were made for Mustangs and were just drilled for the 4" bolt pattern.
 
Hmmm. All interesting stuff for me to consider. I have already installed the 4.5 disc brakes from later years with the larger ball joints.
When I build my 69 big block car I fretted over tie and wheel combos more than the mechanicals. Ha
 
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