1973 Vega project Black and Blue

[avewhtboy]

Bling 18x8.5 with 225/35/18 tire

[TOM71VEGA]

That looks nice.
Do you have a picture of the rear, would like to see how wide the rubber looks.

[avewhtboy]

That looks nice.
Do you have a picture of the rear, would like to see how wide the rubber looks.

The rear tires are 265/35/18 they will be in Friday so I will get a picture then to post up.

All 4 wheels are 18x8.5

[avewhtboy]

Got the rear tires in and installed. I am happy with the look. I was concerned about using 18 inch wheels but i don't think they "Overwhelm" the car










I also got a T5 Transmission so that will be the next project most likely.

[76wagon]

Looking good Any issues with the fronts rubbing at all? Mine are the same height and slightly narrower (195-60-15) and I get a bit of rubbing sometimes.

Good choice on the T5, what's it out of? I have a Camaro T5 with a Chevette shifter, works great. Shifter location is perfect and the Chevette has a really short shifter but still looks stock. I would suggest going with a hydraulic throwout bearing if you're running headers, mine ran right into the slave mount on the bellhousing.


Phill

[avewhtboy]

Looking good Any issues with the fronts rubbing at all? Mine are the same height and slightly narrower (195-60-15) and I get a bit of rubbing sometimes.

Good choice on the T5, what's it out of? I have a Camaro T5 with a Chevette shifter, works great. Shifter location is perfect and the Chevette has a really short shifter but still looks stock. I would suggest going with a hydraulic throwout bearing if you're running headers, mine ran right into the slave mount on the bellhousing.


Phill

Hey Phill thanks for the reply, I just put them on and went around my neighborhood. At full lock the right side will hit the back of the fender. The alignment is not
correct and my wheels are setting rearward in the wheelwells so I see adjustable upper and lower control arms in my future.

The T5 is out of 3rd gen Camaro with that outside slave, so thanks for the heads up on the throw out bearing, my car does have hooker headers.

I have been researching threads on here for that sort of information.

[avewhtboy]

Threw the front spoiler I had bought for the Astre on the front of the Vega since I had it sitting in the garage.

[TOM71VEGA]

That turned out real nice.

[avewhtboy]

That turned out real nice.

Thanks Tom. I still would like to get it a little lower but my exhaust is close to dragging the ground now so this may
be about as low as it can go for now. Fortunately with the coil overs I can raise and lower it if need be.

I have not put the coil overs on the back yet because the plan is to replace the rear axle so I will add the rear coil overs then.

[1100kaw2]

Like them wheels.

[avewhtboy]

Like them wheels.

Thanks Darrell, I was really apprehensive about going to an 18 inch wheel but I figured go big or go home HA HA HA. I would like to autocross this car some
so fitting as much tire front and rear with some good brakes is the goal. So far it feels much more stable/safe on the road then when I got it. It was really too
dangerous to be driven on the street. The power brake booster and the Blazer brakes have really increased my confidence in driving the car.

Those skinny front radial tires and bias ply slicks were not the hot setup for twisty Georgia roads and highways. I had the front tires squealing for mercy on one back
road, I wasn't sure they were going to hold onto the road or not. That was enough for me to decide to make it less "drag" oriented and more "street" friendly.

[avewhtboy]

Threw a back spoiler I had laying around on and took it out for a drive. Rain rain and more rain is all we have been having.

[BadBowtie]

The car looks like its settled nicely, must feel great out on the backroads! Do the tires rub in the front/back? When you switched spindles did you remove the steering stops, either on the control arm or spindle?

[avewhtboy]

The car looks like its settled nicely, must feel great out on the backroads! Do the tires rub in the front/back? When you switched spindles did you remove the steering stops, either on the control arm or spindle?

Hey Mr BadBowtie. The dropped front spindles brought it down more than I needed, which was good I was able to adjust the coil overs up more on the threads which means
I can lower the front more later if wanted/needed.

I did not remove any steering stops, yet. I have the hooker 1 3/4 inch headers that go through the fenderwell so until I replace the headers I think the stops will stay.
I don't want to burn up a front tire lol. Of course that means it has the turning radius of a dump truck!

The rear tires fit really well. My axle was not centered left to right or front to back so I made my non adjustable tubular upper and lower control arms adjustable with some
weld in tube ends and some ridetech bushed ends. I have 3 inch spacers in the rear which are probably an inch too wide if I want to lower the rear of the car any more
or put bigger tires on the back. The plan is to put a four wheel drive S10 axle in and remove my ford nine inch. Not positive I want to do that.

The front wheels are also not centered front to back in the wheel wells which causes the tires to hit the back of the fenders at full lock. It's driveable like it is now but
I really need to move the front wheels forward about 3/4 inch to get it centered. I have a 2 inch spacer on the front wheel and could probably get away with a 1 1/2
inch spacer which would allow a little larger front tire.

[avewhtboy]

Out with the fully manual TH350 in with the T5 manual tranmssion with hydraulic clutch.

I am just mocking things up for test fitting before I clean it all up.