I'm looking at some American Eagle 192 series rims for my 74 Scamp and I 'm wondering what these numbers mean. On their website they say;

Backspacing +38 mm

they also say BSM 5 7/16 inches.

This is for a 16 X 7 wheel for a Mustang.

BTW I have an F body 8 1/4 SG 3.21 rear end in this car and I am looking for some rims with the correct back spacing.

Thanks

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Sweet Emotion

There are a couple good articles on various websites for figuring that stuff out. If I remember correctly TireRack.com has a measuring help section and I think the BigBlockDart.com has a good tech article on it as well.

Figuring out what will fit on the rear is easier than the front. A guy I work with has those cool Keystone type wheels on his 2001 Mustang GT. I think they are 17X7. He is looking for some bigger wheels for it. I told him I wanted to buy his take offs when he upgrades!

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Rob

I’m Mater
The Kentucky Poser

Thanks Rob, I did find an article which I have a link to. It explains things very well. I did try to put my buddies 16/7.5 Mustang GT wheels on and the centering hole is indeed too small by a very small amount. I could tell they were going to be slight too wide to the outboard side though. I measured his wheels for the backspacing and the offset. I need to do some plumb bob measurements on the car before I can make any predictions. But on the surface it looks like a 16 X7 wheel might work with 5 7/16 backspacing.

Why do you say the front is harder to measure?

Wow I just noticed you are in Iraq. Good luck over there and thanks for the response. Stay safe.

Here is a good link.

http://www.usacomp.com/Offset.htm

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Sweet Emotion

The fronts are harder because you have to take into account that the wheels are turning side to side as well as up and down. They can come in contact in more places than just the inner or outer fender The article I read talked about taking several measurements with the vehicle at full lock side to side and with the suspension fully compressed as well as fully extended.

My friend's Mustang wheels are actually 17X8 he just confirmed! I'm not so sure puppies like that will fit an A body!

Lou! Where are you Lou?

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Rob

I’m Mater
The Kentucky Poser

Sir, yes sir!

I don't remember the exact centering hole on the Fords, but it's about 1mm smaller than std Mopar.

I lucked out and the rotors I have on my '64 were smaller than spec further out from the rim and I have wheel spacers on. Would be easy to get a brake shop to turn down your rotor hub a little too.

17X8s are all around on "Project V" and fit pretty well. Car is lowered, but not totally slammed. Slight tire rub on rears on hard cornering. Those are 99+ Mustang GT rims, 5.72" backspace. Wheel is almost perfectly centered, but could be moved in 1/8" for best fit.

16X8s on the '64 Dart with same offset, fit great. Note that I have 63-64 Dart fenders on both cars, which I think have a little more room than 63-66 Valiant fenders.

I should also mention that you NEED to use wheel spacers to get these rims to fit. I have ARP long studs on all my hubs to allow tuning of wheel spacer thickness.

Lou

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Home of Slant6-powered fun machines since 1988

Hey Lou,

Thanks. I knew you had the answers. It sounds like textoad should be able to make it work then.

I just told my friend here at work that I definitely want his take-offs when he upgrades. He is planning on upgrading when we get back to Germany from this deployment. I won't have a car to put them on until I move back to the states, but that's okay.

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Rob

I’m Mater
The Kentucky Poser

Well I pulled the wheels and did some measurements. The rear looks like it would accomodate a 16 X 8 with 5 inches or more backspacing. But as you mentioned the front is a problem because of the upper control arm.

Did you use wheel spacers only on the front? How wide were the spacers you ended up using? Approximately.

On the front I measure 4.25 from the mounting surface to the nearest point of the UCA/ball joint. Unless a 16 inch wheel would clear UCA and ball joint I would need a spacer to move it out. Now the wheels I have on there now are 15 X7 from a Cordoba out of a junk yard. The rears rub on the outter well if I don't have enough air in the air shocks. Also these steel wheels have about 4 1/4 backspacing with about 6.3mm plus offset. So I think the best thing to do at this point is to go to a local tire and wheel dealer like Discount Tire and maybe work with them and see if they have a wheel in stock by luck. Or show them my measurements and see what they say. I don't have to buy from them but I might.

I am figuring a 16 X 7 wheel with a 12mm offset would be about perfect with possibly a 1/4 inch spacer on the front.

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Sweet Emotion

I run the 15x7 Cordoba rims on my '65 Dart. I have plently of clearance. I am using 235x60 tires. Anything bigger and I would hit the springs.

How do you have a rim with 5" of backspacing when it is 5" from the springs to the axle flange?

My 64 Dart 8.75" axle has Moser BBP axles (extra 0.4" per side over stock SBP), and discs (extra 0.1" per side). I run a 5/16" wheel spacer and my tires (245/45-16) are 1/4" from the springs. 16X8 rims with 5.72" backspace.

On the front, I am very close to the upper ball joint, but they clear with 0.7" of wheel spacers. Have heard that other wheels will not allow clearance at UBJ, so 17s would be another option. Using stick-on wheel weights too.

Lou

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Home of Slant6-powered fun machines since 1988

Dart270, do you use the exact same 16X8 wheels on the front and rear? Also what type/brand of wheels are they?

Thanks

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Sweet Emotion

They are SSR Integral 16X8s front and rear, 5.72" backspace, 5X4.5" bolt pattern. I believe they are sold under another name for Mustangs, maybe through one of the tuners like Maximum Motorsports or Griggs or something? Got mine from TireRack, but they were closing them out.

Lou

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Home of Slant6-powered fun machines since 1988