Will these 18x9 wheels fit my 64 cuda??

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Andre68

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Hey FABO!

Got a question before I buy these wheels.

64 barracuda
Stockish suspension
73-76 front disc brake conversion
-73 dart UCA
-73 dart spindles
-Stock LCA
-PST 1.08 Torsion bars
-Addco 1 1/8 sway bar
-73 dart PST front end bushing kit
Drilled and slotted rotors with 5x4.5 bolt pattern

Ford 8.8 rear end, centered diff


I would like to buy the XXR 526 wheels for my cuda. Im going to start with buying the fronts first as im not done building the rear end yet, but I would like to get the front on wheels vs jack stands.

As for quarter panel and fender clearance im not to concerned about it, as I have every intention and plan on cutting the wheel wells and flaring them as required to fit these wider wheels.

My concern is mainly on frame rail rub, and UCA clearance.

I did the best I could to research this subject on the forum and online at other forums. From what I found is people where putting this setup on 67+ with either no issue, or simply requiring spacers.

Im not sure as to how well the early A body wheel fitment specs are to the 67+ A bodies, Then the fact that I did the 73-76 disc brake conversion, also confuses me on the answer.

Do I go with early abody specs? or with 73+ specs? Or are the early A bodies and 67+ wheels specs the same??

So im hoping someone here can shed some light on this subject. I figured it wouldnt hurt to order them, test fit them, and send them right back if it didnt work, or could not be made to work.

Im fine with doing some mods but what I dont want to do is buy tubular control arms, as I saw on some threads where people where using tubular UCA for wheel clearance.

I dont really want to go 17s 16s 15s 14s.

Would really prefer to go 18" all around.

Wheel specs

XXR 526
18x9 +35mm (also have +25mm option) 6.38 backspacing

link to wheels

http://www.nlmotoring.com/XXR-526-Wheels-18x9-Chromium-Black-p/52689142n.htm?CartID=1

Thanks!!
 
It might just slip under there. I'm running 18x8 with a 6.00 B/S on a 65 Dart. I believe you will need to change to a tubular upper arm to make it work.
 
What brake kit are you planning on using? I believe either the Wilwood and/or Dr Diff kits pull the hub surface out a bit. Also what size tire do you plan on running? I'm not sure but doesn't a '63-66 car have smaller wheel tubs than the '67+? I'm not really sure as I haven't dealt with an early A. You'll most likely need tubular control arms. I'd recommend a 245/45/40 on all 4 corners as a start if you don't want to do any cutting or trimming.

For my '68 Dart, with a +30 mm Mustang wheel (about a 10" wide tire and 26" tall) I would hit the frame rails in the rear at full lock and full droop. When will you ever be in that situation, probably never, but I just through in a +5mm spacer on my new wheels to have an effective offset of +27mm just in case. I'm running a 255/40/18 on all 4 corners. There seems to be a decent amount of room in the front. For the rear, I had to get the offset PERFECT! I still don't know if they'll rub as I haven't driven it but we'll see.
 
Yea I kinda don't want to go tubular because I went out of my way to buy this set of 73+ UCAs and they have already been cleaned and painted with new ball joints and bushings.

I went ahead and bought them... I went to visit a buddy of mine today who has been with discount tire and is also a car enthusiast as well.

He said there's honestly no way to tell by just looking online. That different manufactures have different measurements, not crazy drastic, but an American Racing wheel offset and backspace might differ slightly from an XXR or Foose etc...

So he said what you can do is buy them and see how it fits, if theres a problem he said to look into spacers and adapters, high quality ones. With adapters or spacers that these wheels can fit.

Plus I have every intention of cutting and flaring the fronts and rears, the matter of how drastic is how much the wheel sticks out.


Fronts will be Nitto Nt555 245/45/18
 
The brake set up is just the stock set up.

Some brand of drilled and slotted rotors (got on eBay)
And then single piston calipers.
 
Not to argue. But backspacing will be the same no matter what manufacturer. As far as spacers. Don't use them. Buy wheels that fit your needs.
 
I don't think that much back spacing will work on the rear. I'm running 17 X 9 rims are +24mm with a 5.95 back space but to accommodate this I had to move the springs in. They only had to go about 3/4 over but went with the 4" spring relocation kit. I also pushed the rear end back 3/8 of an inch to get clearance at the front of the wheel well. I'm running 275 40 tires and have about 3/8 clearance in the tightest spot. I have an 8 3/4 with the 4.5 axels upgrade.
On the front I have wildwood disc kit with 17 x 8's with 225 45r 17's
 
Update on wheels:

Got them in today and boy do they look sweet! I dig them so much I'm gonna do what I have to, to get them to fit!

I'm gonna need adapters. Anywhere from 1.5-2", as I test fitted the wheel surprisingly it cleared everything pretty well aside from my sway bar at full lock.... Sorta... I don't have my current steering box installed so it's just the suspension excluding the box.

I measured both unloaded suspension and then loaded (used a jack to simulate load).

Problem #1 the hub area on the wheel is only about 2l deep, the hub on my rotor is about 3" out. So for starters I can't even get the wheel to sit flush with the rotors. Which is okay... Due to this it has allowed me to see how it fits with a 1" adapter. It clears everything but the sway bar.

Know if it where to mount fully on the hub then it I'm fact would hit the uca and maybe the tie rod end or just miss it by a hair. It woul definantly hit the sway bar. Frame rails??? Nope. Stays clear from them really.

Problem #2 I purchased 35 offset from doing my research and thinking I had a some what educated guess. I originally thought 25mm but forum reading showed other wise... Well I was originally right. For a stock style set up, 18x9 with 25mm offset would have been sweet! Good clearance of everything... Although I do believe this set up would still have required maybe a 1" adapter but that the. Would give great clearance from everything.

Problem #3 they want to charge me a $50 something restocking fee to return them and then they just refund my money and I just have to buy the 25mm wheels. May sound cheap but I don't want to spend $50 on a restock when I'm gonna have to buy the 25mm wheels and even then still need an adapter. I figured just spend a little extra and go for adapters.

Problem #4 they will not clear the fender lip for sure... These things stick out a good 2-3" past the body of the car which is fine with me because I had every intention of flaring and cutting the fenders. This will allow me to do a cool 3-4" flare.

Problem #5 the spindle bolt is too long and it hits the xxr center cap, I feel this issue would maybe not be a problem with a wilwood disc brake set up.

Solution???

1.5-2" adapters from billetwheeladapters. Some may cry foul on this thought but I thought of a few things...
1) auto crossers and off road enthusiast use wheel adapters all the time with no problem. Get a good quality set, ARP bolts, blue loctite and maybe a recheck regularly (maybe every oil change or every other) and I believe you will have no problem.
What really sold me is I read mike maier uses 2" adapters on his auto cross car, a mustang yes... But I have seen the way that guy drives his mustang in person, great driver that guy. If it's good enough for him, it's good enough for me.

I thought first, let's cut down the hub on the rotor.... Decided against it due to clearance issues from suspension.

Cut and flare fender and go with 25mm next time for a lesser adapter size.
 
Sorry for and bad grammar and misspellings I'm writing this on my phone and iPhones got that auto correct.
 
Those are nice looking wheels IMO. How much spacer do you need on the back and any rear shots?
 
I haven't mounted the rears yet as I have a lot to do up front with the fender first.

The rears will be the same but 18x10.5 with a 25mm offset to help with clearance issues. Plus they come with I believe a 5" lip which will be awesome.

Chances are I will have to mini tub and relocate springs to frame. An offset shackle kit might do it. Maybe. I will post pics when I'm there
 
I will be cutting the rear quarters and flaring them to give it that look, plus I'm sure like the fronts the wheels will stick out about 2-3"
 
heres some pic. i actually required a 2" adapter after the nittos where installed.
 

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