Andrew Bayley Posted February 6, 2001 Share Posted February 6, 2001 While I was working hard at my job (OK, bored out of my mind) I came across a neat idea. I took a picture I had of my Z parked head to head with a 95 Mustank with Cobra R wheels. Hmmm... a little cut and paste in "Paint" and tada... a nice 260Z with custom Cobra wheels. I left a picture of the old rims below for reference. ...enjoy -Andy [This message has been edited by Andrew Bayley (edited February 06, 2001).] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Anonymous Posted February 6, 2001 Share Posted February 6, 2001 Looks good, I like em! Lone Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DavyZ Posted February 6, 2001 Share Posted February 6, 2001 Andrew, that looks pretty tough! What are the wheel and tire size dimensions? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest JAMIE T Posted February 7, 2001 Share Posted February 7, 2001 While I am not Andrew, I do know what size Cobra R wheels are. They are 17x9 front and back, most people use a 245/45/17 tire , I have 275/40/17 on same size wheels(on a stang) not sure how they would fit on a Z Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mikelly Posted February 7, 2001 Share Posted February 7, 2001 These are the exact wheels I'm gonna have inhouse in about a day! They are 17X9 and they sell from American eagle Wheels for $149 each, Model Number 168. They come in painted silver, polished, or chrome. They are also 24 pounds, which isn't a bad weight at all! You can get them From Summit, but you won't find them in the book... You have to ask! I'm glad you posted these Andy, as I was hoping they would look as good as they do! Should look awesome stuffed under my fender flares!!!! Mike ------------------ http://hometown.aol.com/dat74z/myhomepage/auto.html "I will not be a spectator in the sport of life!" mjk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DavyZ Posted February 7, 2001 Share Posted February 7, 2001 Mike Kelly, correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm assuming that these wheels cannot fit within the stock wheel wells? Yes, no? I'm wondering if they are too wide and if they actually require flares or not. Depending on the width and offset of the wheel, then the adapter/spacer becomes all important! David Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mikelly Posted February 7, 2001 Share Posted February 7, 2001 Well I think they would fit due to the 5 7/8 backspacing that they come in. That only leaves 3 inches of rim past the hub, not a lot. I think you could run a 245-40-17 and make it look good. I'm gonna run some 275-40-17s out back and some 245-40-17s up front, and that is why I'll be runng my flares, that and the fact that the rears are already on the car and painted. Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrew Bayley Posted February 8, 2001 Author Share Posted February 8, 2001 What's so difficult about getting these wheels to fit? I just had to make sure I "selected" the right area before I copied the image onto the picture with the old wheels. For reference though, the original picture can be found here. The wheels are 17 x 9 and hold 275/40/17 rubber. A 9 inch wheel will hold these tires nicely. I run the same sive on an 8.5" rim and they too look fine. Anyway, thanks for the compliments. -Andy [This message has been edited by Andrew Bayley (edited February 07, 2001).] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mikelly Posted February 8, 2001 Share Posted February 8, 2001 Well I got my Cobra wheels in tonight and test fitted them to the car, and I screwed myself with 12 inch coil springs. The perches hit the rims without using spacers. So now I'm gonna have to get ahold of some nice billet wheel spacers. I don't know if you guys will have to deal with this or not, but I'll be using the longer wheel studs to clear the spacer, probably about a 1/4 inch spacer is all I will need, but it will be hard to tell until I get the tires in and mounted. Not a huge deal, but you should know that the backspacing is sufficiant in the rear to hang most of the wheel deep inside the wheel well. But these things do look awesome! Mike ------------------ http://hometown.aol.com/dat74z/myhomepage/auto.html "I will not be a spectator in the sport of life!" mjk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BLKMGK Posted February 8, 2001 Share Posted February 8, 2001 Cool! I've been meaning to do this myself but never had the time or a very good source picture. I may try adding a few other wheels to the mix with a copy of the pic - I'll post them if I'm successful! Heh, maybe I'll just color that car red to look liek mine and be happy Mike - are you saying you should've gone with shorter or longer springs? I'm pretty sure shorter and I think SCCA specc'ed out short ones for me - I'll measure later. I'm still pondering Konig's and TSW but the Cobra stuff nearly falls out of trees for me and you've found a darned good price on them. Need to get the brakes sorted out first though (sigh). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pparaska Posted February 8, 2001 Share Posted February 8, 2001 Mike, Ouch. Sorry to hear things didn't work out with the 12" coils. My wheels are 17x9 with 149mm backspace (that's just 1/100" away from your 5-7/8 backspacing). With a 1/2" thick hat on my AZ Z car brakes, I had to use an 8" coil with the stock 240Z isolator and top spring perch, with the coilover tube at the top of the 1.5" sectioned rear strut tube. And it still hits the coilover tube enough to need an 1/8" spacer. Granted, with camber plates and a short top spring perch a long coil would fit. That's why I mocked up the coilover tube height using a piece of exhaust tubing over the strut tube to hold the coilover tube up - I wanted to be sure I had a way to move it once everything was together and weighted down. As it turns out, I can't use the lower 1.5" of the coilover adjustment as the lower perch/nut and the spring interfere with the tire and wheel down that low anyway. ------------------ Pete Paraska - 73 540Z - Marathon Z Project pparaska@home.com Pete's V8 Datsun 240Z Pages Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mikelly Posted February 8, 2001 Share Posted February 8, 2001 Well they should have been shorter, but I'm not ov3erly concerned. I'll use some wheel spacers to compensate for the offset. Pete, using the camber plates in the rear, I should have compensated for the aditional travel and will have to raise the spring perch about 1.5-2 inches which will probably give me clearance over the rim at the rear, but who knows what will happen when I have wheels mounted. We'll see, but regardless I can make the wheels work and they are a work of art. I'm glad I went this route... these wheels look awesome! For the money (I'm sworn to secrecy on the price) you can't beat them. For $149 each, they are a steal to anyone! Mike ------------------ http://hometown.aol.com/dat74z/myhomepage/auto.html "I will not be a spectator in the sport of life!" mjk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pparaska Posted February 8, 2001 Share Posted February 8, 2001 Mike, I hope I didn't come across as slamming you - I wasn't. I was just giveing some food for thought on how all this stuff interacts when you are stuffing big tires and wheels under there. Those wheels are sweet and the price, even at $149 each is not bad at all. ------------------ Pete Paraska - 73 540Z - Marathon Z Project pparaska@home.com Pete's V8 Datsun 240Z Pages Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mikelly Posted February 8, 2001 Share Posted February 8, 2001 Pete, no offense taken (Shame on you for thinking I would be) and I think I can fix the problem in one of two ways. I just ordered tires from Tire Rack and should have them by Monday. I'll mount them up and we'll see what kind of fitment issues there are if any. I'll let you guys know what I come up with, but bottom line is that even though GC recomends a 12inch spring, I should have gone with an 8 inch unit for ground clearance. That extra 4 inches of rise would have placed the spring perch above the tire and wheel! Mike ------------------ http://hometown.aol.com/dat74z/myhomepage/auto.html "I will not be a spectator in the sport of life!" mjk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Rick Johnson Posted February 8, 2001 Share Posted February 8, 2001 Mike, check the closed height numbers for the 8" spring. They may coil bind before you use all of your travel, espesially if you are using a soft rate spring. With 150# front springs and struts shortened 1 5/8", my 10" long Eibach springs coil binded before I had used my full travel. Swithcing to a 165# spring that is 12 in long fixed this problem. In the rear I had a custom spring wound which allows me to use the stock Z size spring (about 3.9" mean dia. )and raise the perch above the rear tire. I am shooting for 190 # rate in the rear. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pparaska Posted February 9, 2001 Share Posted February 9, 2001 Ditto. You'll see that much less than 250 lb/in on the 8" coil and you'll probably bind. But Mike, can you use a longer coil since you're using camber plates? How about using a really short spring perch as well? Anybody know how to figure dynamic compression of a coil spring if you know the weight on the spring? I mean, I know how to calculate how much the spring will compress from free length to ride height if I know the corner weight, but how do you calculate how much the spring will compress past that if you hit a bump and are going around a corner. In other words, how do you figure the compression from all the rest of the dynamic and cornering loads? [This message has been edited by pparaska (edited February 08, 2001).] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mikelly Posted February 9, 2001 Share Posted February 9, 2001 Here is the gameplan. When GC sent the springs I thought I was getting 8inch springs because of the conversation I had on the phone with them. When I called them back to get the top perches, I asked why they sent me the longer springs and they said the same reason...Coil binding. However, I can reduce the diameter of the seat ring, and raise it as well. I didn't take in account the camber plates, which I measure at giving me a full 2 inches (Maybe GC camber plates give less room) of additional travel. So I'm gonna grind off the welds on the rears and raise the ring 1st, tack it back in place, and then re-weld it. That should give me the clearance of the rim and then some, but then I'll have to see how the 275-40s I just ordered will affect the clearance! At that point I might be forced to reduce the flange on the outboard side of the weld-on perch. I should be OK, And I agree with what GC did. The longer spring would give a much more tunable ride. Mike ------------------ http://hometown.aol.com/dat74z/myhomepage/auto.html "I will not be a spectator in the sport of life!" mjk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest scca Posted February 9, 2001 Share Posted February 9, 2001 Mike.. what i do is weld a 1/2" wide by 1/8" thick piece of flat bar shaped into a "C" to retain the sleeve in these cases. i leave the open part of the "C" facing the rim. that way the extra little 1/4" is available.. and i dont use the GC rings normally as they are about 3/8" wide.. MIke Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeromio Posted February 9, 2001 Share Posted February 9, 2001 I think http://racesearch.com has a selection of wheel spacers - pretty inexpensive too. As to the perch for the collar, I'm using the piece of the strut that I cut out when I sectioned (sliced to open up so it will fit back over the strut, then welded on). I would imagine a piece of exhaust tubing or pipe would work just as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pparaska Posted February 10, 2001 Share Posted February 10, 2001 Jason, thanks! I knew the answer you gave (the in-depth engineering answer for suspension dynamics) but was hoping racers used some sort of rule of thumb with less inputs and calculation. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.