Anyone out there with 17" wheels on an FC?

[vanwyk4257]

I was speaking with my father yesterday about my project when he mentioned that he has a full set of 17x7 torque thrust II polished wheels with 4" backspacing that he would make me a good deal on. Can anyone give me an idea if these would fit or not? I'd love to see any pictures of FC's with 17's.
My goal with this project is to do a restomod with a stock body & drivetrain, but some minor modern updates including front drop spindles and disc brakes, possibly some suspension upgrades, and the aforementioned 17" wheels.
I know the main interference point on the FC's is the front outer tie rod ends. Any feedback from people running 17's would be much appreciated.

[Vanman]

I would love to see pics also. Mmmmmmmmm!

Try em on and take pics!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I would assume that either the front or rear would need spacers, or both, you can get just about any type of spacer you want on ebay.

[vanwyk4257]

I may see if I can snag a couple of them next week. I won't have time to mess with them this weekend, but I might have time over the memoria day weekend to at least test fit a couple of wheels on the truck and get some pics.
Regarding the spacers, my hope is that going to a 17" wheel diameter may give me enough room to not need spacers to clear the tie rod ends. I guess bolting them on and putting some weight on the truck may be the only way to see if they'll clear.
I really wanted to do a set of 17 inch "bonneville" style wheels, but the price would be significantly more than the TTII's from my father and since I'm trying to do this truck on a reasonable budget I need to cut corners wherever I can without compromising the end product.

[Scott H]

I don't know much about fitting wheels on the FC's but with them being only 7" wide and 4" backspace, I'd think you got a good shot. If you can test fit them then do it. I love those wheels and I think they would look very good.

[vanwyk4257]

That's what I'm hoping. I know there is another member here with 14x7 front and 15x7 rear rallye wheels, which should have a 3.50 or so backspacing. I'm assuming that with 4" backspacing I have a reasonable shot at it. I'll mount them up some time next week or the holiday weekend and report back, hopefully with some pics. Thanks for the input Scott!

[vanwyk4257]

Well, I test fit one of the 17x7 Torque Thrust II's last night and it fit very well front and rear. The backspacing was 4.0". I took pictures on the front and the rear (I just had one rim to test fit), but there was plenty of clearance on the rear, and in the front I was able to turn lock to lock without getting close to rubbing. They also had plenty of clearance at the outer tie rod end.
Unfortunately my father decided now that he's going to use them on a couple of his musclecars on the front so I'm going to have to get some different rims.
My other option is a set of 15" vintage torque thrust rims he has. He only has two fronts, 15x6, but if I can find a set of 15x7's that are a close match I may just do that for now.
I am leaning toward the 17's though, they would really make this thing stand out even more than it already will when it's done. I took lots of pics with both the 15" wheel on the front and the 17" wheel/tire front and rear. I'll post some of them in the next couple evenings.
I think there might even be enough room to tuck in a 17x8 front and rear on this thing with the right size tires, but I'll have to wait until I get it lowered and then check everything again.

[Vanman]

Impaitently waiting for pics. Lol.

[vanwyk4257]

I'll get them up as soon as I can, hopefully tonight. I never really looked at them as I was taking them so I'm kind of interested in seeing how it looks in pictures too. Since my father's wheels aren't going to be available after all I'm going to keep my eyes peeled for a set of wheels. If I don't find any good deals on used ones I'm probably going to just bite the bullet and go with a set of 17x7 American Racing Salt Flat Specials with the gray centers. They're about $1000 for a set, but they would really look incredible on the van once it's done. I'll probably go with 225/45ZR17's if they'll fit all the way around. If the fronts are too tight I'll go with 205/50ZR17's which are the same diameter, then I can have one 15" spare with a 25" tire that will work on all four corners if I need it.

[vanwyk4257]

Here are some pics of the wheels being test fit. It was 90+ degrees so I didn't feel like rolling it back and forth to settle the rear suspension hence the gnarly positive camber.

EDIT: for some reason the pics don't want to post. Since it's late and I don't feel like figuring it out right now here's a link to another post with some pics:
http://www.pro-touring.com/forum/showthread.php?t=68841

[Scott H]

Here you go.

[vanwyk4257]

Thanks Scott!

[Vanman]

Cant see em. And you had to register to see the other forum.

[vanwyk4257]

That's wierd, they showed up when Scott first posted them. I'll just post a link to my photobucket account tonight if I have time.
I may be going a different direction with the van and making it a long-term project though. My wife is suddenly talking about wanting to do a 4-day workweek which would cut into my parts budget for a while. The downside is that it would take me longer to finish the van, the upside is that I will have more time to do things right, like wirewheel the entire underside of the van to remove any surface rust and coat it with POR-15 to prevent more rust.
I'm thinking about going really radical and looking into the feasibility of doing a mid-engine LS motor with a C5 transaxle bolted directly to the engine (automatic most likely) with full C5 rear suspension crossmember, and possibly a custom C5 front suspension setup. If I do that this thing will need to be cut up a bit, but it will get slammed in the weeds with some seriously wide 18" rubber underneath it front and rear. It would likely be a 5-year+ build, but the finished product would be truly unique.

[atwistedgrip]

I've seen modified 16" IROC's on a Rampside before.
I wanted to fit some 17's on my Greenbrier but ended up getting a good deal on S10 wheels instead.
Maybe I'll get a chance to put 17's on my Rampside, but so far I'm thinking about doing 14-15" steelies on it with wide white walls.

[Scott H]

I'll upload them to this site. Vanman can see you them now?

[Vanman]

Thanks Scott.

Yumm.

I think you should leave it white/lavender. Lol. Pause not.