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Trust me man, Ive wasted more money in this hobby trying to get stuff to fit. I always find some smoking deal, only to get it home and find it doesnt quite fit. Once you start grinding one part, then something else has to get modified, and then the next. By the time you are done its a total abomination.
Theres a reason why I refer to my car as the Frankenvette....
I had ordered a pair of calipers from Autozone. When they came, one was a Delco Morraine, and the other lacked a manufacturer name and significantly smaller. Try visiting some auto parts stores for replacement calipers - maybe there's a generic that's listed for your Vette that will clear your wheel. YMMV. Nice wheels btw
Personally, I'm sticking to Delco and ended up upgrading mine with O-ring seal kits....
That seems like the kind of thing I need to explore, smaller brake calipers.
The VB products C5 brake upgrade won't work because they come with bigger rotors unless I can use that caliper with my smaller original rotors.
I have seen that style wheel on tons of Corvettes. I also plan on getting some for my car. I wonder what makes yours unique...
I have found it very difficult to find quality vintage 15x8.5 slot wheels with a 5 on 4.75 bolt pattern that are the perfect offset of 3.5 to 3.75 that will clear the brakes.
I know they were made, I tried to settle on some uni-lugs but the washer and shouldered nut system is not quality, IMHO.
Last edited by Mr. Orange; 01-29-2016 at 11:02 PM.
I have found it very difficult to find quality vintage 15x8.5 slot wheels with a 5 on 4.75 bolt pattern that are the perfect offset of 3.5 to 3.75 that will clear the brakes.
I know they are made, I tried to settle on some uni-lugs but the washer and shouldered nut system is not quality, IMHO.
Look up US Mags wheel company and their Indy U101 wheels. They come in 15x8, 15x9, and 15x10 with 3.5-4.5" backspacing for chevy bolt pattern. I plan to use the 15x10s all around on mine.
Others, please, the thread is about modifying the car to accept a real vintage wheel. Not about spending 5 minutes on the internet ordering new wheels.
I only run real 70's vintage wheels. Does anyone out there want real 70's speed equipment on their real 70's Hot Rod besides me?
Thank you though.
Maximum wheel clearance will be had with the FNSL6 caliper. Forged Narrow Super Lite 6 but these will only be on complete 13" and larger Big Brake kits. Not on oe rotors. They will not fit 15" wheels however.
Application will be 65-82 cars. And will retain the stock parking brake.
Complete four wheel kits can be had from about $2700. C3 KITS
Maximum wheel clearance will be had with the FNSL6 caliper. Forged Narrow Super Lite 6 but these will only be on complete 13" and larger Big Brake kits. Not on oe rotors. They will not fit 15" wheels however.
Application will be 65-82 cars. And will retain the stock parking brake.
Complete four wheel kits can be had from about $2700. C3 KITS
It has to fit my 15 inch wheels or we are in the new wheel boat again.
Orange, had the same problem when fitting Camaro alum wheels. As I recall, there was a problem on just one end of the car. I ground the spokes on two wheels slightly to clear.
After my wheels were stolen, and I have spent years looking, and just found the perfect slot mags for my flared 69, they don't clear the brakes....
What are my options to try and make them work?
Grind caliper down 1/4 Inch?
Have wheels turned on a lathe?
After-market brake calipers?
Corvette Gods Please help....
I have one inch spacers on all four corners to allow oversize rims (18 x 8 and 20 x 10). Sounds like you could get by with 1/2 inch ones. Once they are on only you will know they are there and your rims will not hit your calipers..
I had some hub-centric 3/16 custom spacers made that with the proper lug nuts did not require anything else. I had to find/measure the specs of the hubs on the wheels I used.
The wheel hitting the caliper has nothing to do with offset! It's to do with the shape of the face of the wheel and the fact the brake caliper is so tall, it is a common problem with wheels on our cars (that's why the original cragar's wouldn't fit and why the original Torq Thrust ended up having a "notch" cut out of the spokes to clear).
Put a ruler across the mounting edge of the wheel, see how much clearance you have against the slotted area of the wheel (you may have none as they may curve back below the mounting flange, which would be ok back in the day of drum brakes, not so good for Corvettes)
Once you have that measurement you will have an idea how much room you need to make to clear the caliper.
I would think the 4 piston wilwood's would give you enough room (they are a very small caliper), but that's an expensive fix.
You could speak to a wheel repair place and see if they could machine the slot area to increase clearance
The cheapest would be a spacer to push the wheel out more, but that will move the edge of the wheel further away from the wheel arch lip. You would have to do longer studs to make up for the spacer width.
You could go with Aerospace brakes.. The calipers that come with the AEROSPACE kit do not stick out like the factory calipers and all wheels will clear them..
The wheel hitting the caliper has nothing to do with offset! It's to do with the shape of the face of the wheel and the fact the brake caliper is so tall, it is a common problem with wheels on our cars (that's why the original cragar's wouldn't fit and why the original Torq Thrust ended up having a "notch" cut out of the spokes to clear).
Put a ruler across the mounting edge of the wheel, see how much clearance you have against the slotted area of the wheel (you may have none as they may curve back below the mounting flange, which would be ok back in the day of drum brakes, not so good for Corvettes)
Once you have that measurement you will have an idea how much room you need to make to clear the caliper.
I would think the 4 piston wilwood's would give you enough room (they are a very small caliper), but that's an expensive fix.
You could speak to a wheel repair place and see if they could machine the slot area to increase clearance
The cheapest would be a spacer to push the wheel out more, but that will move the edge of the wheel further away from the wheel arch lip. You would have to do longer studs to make up for the spacer width.
Nick
Thanks Nick,
I am currently looking into the Wilwood calipers for the oem rotors that Steve from JB's Corvettes showed me at his shop yesterday.
There are a few different calipers to choose from so I might call them and ask which ones offer most clearance.
You could go with Aerospace brakes.. The calipers that come with the AEROSPACE kit do not stick out like the factory calipers and all wheels will clear them..
I didn't know about Aerospace, Thanks, I will check it out.
01-29-2016, 07:41 AM
Also, a nice looking "Gas Monkey's" corvette under "news" menu. Nice find. Thanks.
