14's for the small bolt pattern? '65 Valiant

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beat2Hell

beat2Hell

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I have a '65 Valiant 200, still with its original 13's and Valiant wheel covers. Its a Slant 6-mobile daily driver and I'd like to go to 14 inch rims for better handling and fuel economy, as well as ease of finding tires. I'm pretty sure the pre 67's use a small bolt pattern. 5x4? I'd like to be able to just throw some big ol' early '70s Chrysler product wheels on it, as I have heard finding small bolt pattern 14's can be difficult. So what all is involved in going up to the larger bolt pattern? Am I just changing brake hardware? Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.
 
You could put an ad up in the Parts Wanted forum asking for 14 sbp rims.Lots of guys swapping to LBP that have also done the brake conversion on their pre 73 a-body.It would be easier for you to just find the sbp rims as the brake swap is more expensive.JMO

I beleive Summit also now carries sbp rims from Wheel Vintage
 
beat2Hell said:
I have a '65 Valiant 200, still with its original 13's and Valiant wheel covers. Its a Slant 6-mobile daily driver and I'd like to go to 14 inch rims for better handling and fuel economy, as well as ease of finding tires. I'm pretty sure the pre 67's use a small bolt pattern. 5x4? I'd like to be able to just throw some big ol' early '70s Chrysler product wheels on it, as I have heard finding small bolt pattern 14's can be difficult. So what all is involved in going up to the larger bolt pattern? Am I just changing brake hardware? Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.
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Its a shame your in California. I have Wheels,Tires and caps with sbp!
 
Summit has small bolt pattern 5 spoke Cragar SS wheels. And some small pattern American Racing Wheels, but no vintage wheels. Last I checked.
 
I've got some stock steel wheels that are 14 and 5 on 4 but to be honest, many 14 inch trie sizes are becoming difficult to find. 15 inch wheels with either bolt pattern will be a better route in the long run.
 
13" tires are easy to find as many imports use them
 
Member, Rocker'sduster has a restored set that are beautiful for sale right now caps and all. He is in California.
 
For a stock looking daily driver I'd go 14" small pattern. The ordinary 14x4,5" wheels are not difficult to find, as mentioned earlier in the thread there are a lot of cars being upgraded to bbp and wheels becoming available. On my '65 wagon I use sbp 14x5,5" wheels. They are a little harder to come by as they were mostly installed on the high performance cars like Formula S, GTS, Duster 340's and so on. But they do show up from time to time and there is a set of 5 for sale in the Tire/wheel section right now.
The extra inch on the 5,5 wheels is all to the outside so they pull the wheel more out from under the car. I love the way they give a stock appearance but is a big upgrade from the small and skinny 13" stockers.
The wagon rolls on 195/75-14 tires. They are a good bit taller than stock which helps on highway rpms, fuel economy, comfort and looks.
This dimension is readily avalable, for instance the Cooper Trendsetter SE, a sensibly priced but very nice tire.

I'll include some shots of my wagon so you can see how the wheels look from different angles. I know they should be bodycolor and they will be soon :)
 

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I have a 64 and a 65 with SBP 14" wheels on both. Nicest set is Cragars I got via FABO. I got a set of alum slotted wheels locally for $100. The rears are wider which gives a bad boy look. The convertible came with spoke wheels that look fantastic. Don't know the vintage.

My point is you can get SBP affordably if you are patient. Indeed, with so many people switching to BBP, there may even be a surplus of SBP wheels. If you do go BBP, most change the rear end to BBP so they don't have to carry 2 spares. Sometimes desireable to get a tough rear for drag racing, but not needed for your slant. My thought is that so many people are ditching their 7.25" rear ends, I can get those almost free and have spares for if/when my rear ends fails.

You would get faster acceleration with 13" wheels, but they look a bit dumpy, especially on early A's. As you say, 14" will lower the engine speed for better mileage on the highway and probably a smoother ride. Of course you can get different profile height tires in either so the O.D. of the wheel could be almost the same. Another advantage of 14" wheels is that some disk brake conversions can fit under those.
 
Somebody answer his question. It isn't hard to swap to LBP. Just find a LBP A-body and take the rear end off it and the front spindles, upper control arms and brakes. Presto.. LBP. Also, you could have the rear axles and front spindles redrilled for LBP.
 
FYI, the 4" bolt circle was used all the way up to 1973 so finding a set of 14x5" rims should be relatively easy. Unless you have a bunch of money and time and skill to do the LBP conversion mentioned above, my first step would be to just get a set of 14" SBP rims, then start looking for the LBP stuff for a later swap. You could have 14's on there by the weekend!!! Geof
 
In '65 14" wheels were a dealer installed option only. There was the standard 14x4's, I have a couple of those kicking around. Then, there were the Wide 14's (14x5.5).

The ones that came on my dart had a part number: ElectroFuse 14x5.5J 882. The later '67 wheels were ElectorFuse 14x5.5K's and had the little holes in-between the lug holes.

See Pic's below.

These wheels are promised to a friend if I ever decide to sell them.

I did find a page that had some of the the K's on http://www.classicchambered.com/classic/wheels.html
 

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I put 14's cragars onmy 64, bought here on FABO 14x6 front and 14x7 on rear

Moe
0a16da23.jpg
 
Classic Industries has new 5 on 4 bolt pattern 15in steel wheels. They have 15x7, 15x8, and 15x10. I am planing on getting two of the 15x7's for the back of my dart to put some old school M&H slicks on, and get some skinny Cragars for the front.
 
OLDFARTSDART said:
I put 14's cragars onmy 64, bought here on FABO 14x6 front and 14x7 on rear

Moe
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Moe, What is the offset/Backspace on your 14x7 Cragars? My Dart with 7 1/4 rear wouldnt fit the 14x7 cragars I got under the back. Seemed to need about 1/2 inch on each side to clear with 245/60R14's. I ended up putting 4 14x6's on as a result.

I'm setting up an 8 3/4 this month, which is about 1" narrower on each side and hope to be able to slide those larger wheels in.

--Tom
 
Whats up man,
I got the stock 14" steelies (sbp) off my 71 Demon that are just laying around collecting dust. Gimme a shout via email if you wanna work something out.
 
5 on 4 on my 70 sedan. Anyone have any info on late model 5 on 100mm? 100mm is REAL close to 4" and I was wondering about this option as a way to put an affordable set of wheels on my ride. Also, looking for info on a new windshield or at least a used one in good condition. I live in Elizabeth City NC and none of the glass companies can seem to even locate one. Is it because mine is green tint with the blue at the top, and if so is there a non tinted version. Not interested in keeping this vehicle factory correct, I just want to drive it.
 
chewy said:
Moe, What is the offset/Backspace on your 14x7 Cragars? My Dart with 7 1/4 rear wouldnt fit the 14x7 cragars I got under the back. Seemed to need about 1/2 inch on each side to clear with 245/60R14's. I ended up putting 4 14x6's on as a result.

I'm setting up an 8 3/4 this month, which is about 1" narrower on each side and hope to be able to slide those larger wheels in.

--Tom
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On the 14x7 is 4 1/8. Bs. The 14x6 it's 3 1/2
Hope that helps

http://m.summitracing.com/search/Br...r-S-S-Super-Sport-Series/Wheel-Diameter/14-in
 
Thanks, that explains it The ones I have are the older 14x7's with 4 3/4 Backspacing. I'm thinking they will fit when I get the 8 3/4 in, which makes up for that missing 1/2 inch.

Out of curiosity are you running an 8 3/4 rear? If so, about how much distance do you have between the top corner of the tire and the wheel housing?

What size tires do you run?

--Tom
 
I have a set of Cragers that have been mountede once then taken off after several months. I'll also have a pair of 14X6 and 14X7s that will be coming off in the near future
 
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