Quote: Thanks Pete, I just bought a set of 14 x 32s on rims to see if they would fit but it was hard to tell without relocating the springs.
How much cutting & tucking was needed to fit those big tires in? Springs in the chassis rails? how much tubbing?
Cheers, Kevin
Hi Kevin,
On my car the following was done: inside part of inner wheelwheel housing (closest to frame rail) was heated with an acetylene torch and lower portion of it (i.e., closest to trunk floor) hammered flush with rear frame rail. I know, not state of the art nor pretty but low-buck and served the purpose. Other cars of that time period would usually have inner a.k.a. "mini" wheel tubs installed. It is accomplished as follows: the wheelwell housing would be split in two using an air chisel and/or drilling out the stock spot welds that hold both halves together, trim a few inches of trunk floor pan material up to the rear frame rail, move inner part of wheelwell housing up against it, clamp it in place, measure how much you need to fill in the gap which is now there between the two sections of the original wheelwell housing.
Back to my car: front spring hangers were not mounted in lower part of rear subframe as is usually done, but inside of it, i.e., the opposite of where the stock front spring hanger is located (i.e., outside of frame rail). In the back, offset rear spring shackles where installed.
Due to the larger circumferance of the slick, you will need to elongate the wheelwell opening, mostly in front. If you look closely at the Duane's Sunoco Challenger above, you'll see where they heated the outer wheelwell opening in the quarter panel (just ahead of the tire) and folded it over and hammered it flat gainst the stock wheelwell housing. Again, not pretty but lowbuck and functional. Doing it correctly would require cutting a section of the quarter panel (where the wheelwell opening is located) removing it, cutting a section out for the necessary clearance just ahead of the piece you removed and filling the gap with a piece of sheet metal to fill in the gap and the associated bodywork and paint necessary to complete the job.
