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On to Bigger and some what better things :)

38057 Views 120 Replies 38 Participants Last post by  thunderace31
9
Well I liked my old rims that I had but I decided to try something different out. I got a bug in my ass after I got an extremely good deal on a set of Baer brakes, but they weren't for an Imp of Caprice, so after talking with Baer (the secret society that WILL not give you any information), I decided to sell the kit, which I am hoping it will be gone here rather quickly, after talking with Tobin @ Kore3 about it.

Anyway, I was checking out different wheels didn't know what I wanted, but I did want to do a big brake set, so I found a set of calipers off a 2010 grand sport that had rolled off a truck at freeway speed. I got them for a VERY good price. One has some marks on it from the accident, but oh well, nothing a little touch up can't take care off.

So then I decided I would just go with the Z06 theme on my car, I could get the wheels pretty cheap, yeah I would have to run spacers, but who cares really, if they are designed right, there should be no problems with them. I bought a pair of spacers from Alex @ PCM performance he had laying around from Fred Goeske @ wheeladpaters.com. Anyway I knew these were made right, they are 3 inch adapters, but it would give me leeway if I had to cut them down at all. You will see why here in a second.

So after scouring the C6 forums, I located a set of wheels, chrome, from an 09 Z06, 18X9.5 in the front and 19X12 in the rear. After talking with the gentleman selling them, he wanted to part with the Goodyear supercar tires as well, with 900 miles on them. I got them at a steal.

Anyway I don't have the front mocked up yet as I want to get the brakes done then dink with the wheels and tires and make sure all the measurements are the same.

Here are the brakes. 6 piston front 4 piston rear, I will be using most of Tobin's stuff to complete the installation..

Here is a shot of the front calipers going on, same as the Z06 just in silver instead of red.


Rear tire size



Here is the rear wheel mocked up with the 3 inch spacer, you will see that there is plenty of room from frame to tire, I am going to cut 1/2 inch off the spacer to start, if I don't like how it sits in the fender I will notch the frame and bring it under further. I was pretty afraid as I didn't know if I would like them or not, but I think that they are going to come out pretty good.



Picture is deceiving but there is about 3/4 of inch of space in there.



How it hangs out right now


rear view
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Mike,

My basement holds a set of C6 Z06 painted wheels---all are OE 18 x 9.5 with +40mm offset, as I didn't want to deal with the larger rear rubber fit issues or thicker adapters. Never mounted at this point, will be using 275/45-18 rubber--yes, fairly tall. They're going on when I finally install the next brake setup--340mm rotors all around.

A new wheel has caught my eye--ZR1-style from SLP, also offered with a black finish and machined face. The difference is that the offset on these wheels is not the same as Z06--fronts are 55mm instead of 40mm, not sure about rears.

The nice thing about high-offset wheels is the clearance you get for brakes, but it is a different look.

Enjoy the headlights--I sold mine when I got a set of SStreetLights. Howard Rothstein had an "incident" with his car, and his T84's were wrecked, so he has them now.
Just about every one I've ever bought had poked through a corner of the box--a simple cardboard sleeve over the spindle would have put a stop to it....and it had nothing to do with UPS!
If I could of found the deal that I got on these I would of put on the ZR1's for sure, in fact I would love to if I get tired of these, at least I know after I get these mounted up and fitting perfect ZR's would bolt right on.

Yeah GM's packaging isn't the greatest, that is for sure. But I will tell you that UPS somewhat sucks in delivering my items without some sort of damage to it. I am guessing that I am some sort of oddity in the puzzle or something. But EVERY box that I receive shipped via UPS has holes in it or is smashed in some way shape or form. I don't know. It is what it is. :)

By the way, I got the brake shields the other day, thanks again.
received two things not related to the wheels and tires today via fedex, Gm part numbers 16519237 and 16519238, can you guess what they are ;) Funny they are in the original boxes, just crazy. Simple google search will tell you

t-84's!!!!!
t-84's!!!!!
Now where did you ever get that idea from ;)
I was going to notch the frame anyway, well I am going to narrow it ;)
Not sure what process you are going to use but this is a good place to reference for the frame notch / narrowing. (Very Detailed). I used this when I completed mine ;). You will find you only need a very minimal amount of additional metal for this!

http://www.blackout.nu/


Nice and detailed pics on that page to "reference..
Roger
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Hey Roger,

Thanks for the references, I have had them bookmarked for months now :) Those guys do some AMAZING work for sure. That is the exact process that I am going to use, well not all of it, since they stepped in by the lower control arm mount, you shouldn't need to do that, if you are maintaining the factory control arms, going to the FAB 9 unit is why they did this, but everything else is on point, I guess for a certain case I didn't understand when the notching process was done by others, why they didn't do this method, or even a little modified version on this way, which I am going to do, I have an idea up my sleeve, hopefully I will get started on it shortly.

Thanks again
Any updates?
Getting there man, swamped with life at the moment. Trying to get the time to work on it between working a load of hours and stuff like that, should be done mid May I would hope anyway. Went out and ripped the rest of the brake lines out for the brake install, I have to drop the rearend out yet, that takes all of 45 minutes, but have to get that out to work some surgery :) The plan is and it should come out like there isn't a notch there at all. When looking in you will see the original frame rail. I will elaborate further as I go along.
all work and no play uh? lol, puttin in the wrench time I see, keep us posted bruh, Peace
Always a work in progress, eh, Mike? I'm sure you guy's have seen these threads for the frame cut/notching and tubbing, and wheel widening. The gentleman in the BlackoutSS web page seems to have done quite a bit of extra work to achieve the frame notching. Actually removed body from frame? Didn't quite understand the pics that showed him cutting the inside of the frame. Anyways, I too am undergoing the frame notching process to accomodate 18x12 wheels in rear w/ 335/30/18's. I found a guy here locally who now has the car and is doing the work. He's doing the notching for $800 -1000. It's worth it to me as I have no experience with welding. Will share the pics when I get the car soon. Thanks for sharing you project pics. They have inspired me too...
John

http://www.azsupersport.com/minitub.asp
http://www.ericvaughnmachine.com/
Hey John,

Yeah I have read up on alot. I didn't fully understand what the blackout guys were doing, but if you get under the car and peer up at the frame rail you will see, it isn't a complete rectangular shaped box, it is more like a trapezoid, the bottom of it is the thinnest portion, up in the front area, I am thinking about going out and dropping the rear out of my car tonight, if I do I will take some pics of what I am talking about, you will see what I mean. I honestly don't think that they frame needs to be dropped down to do it, as long as you have a plasma cutter, but I am working on that one ;) Even if I don't have one I will figure it out as I don't have the time to drop the frame down, let alone the patience :)
Funny you mentioned plasma cutter. That's the tool my guy was talking about using to achieve mirror plate cuts for both sides. This cost me a little extra because as he had to hire out for it to be done. Just got the car back today and paid $1200 for the work, including the tubbing and painting. Was more than I wanted to pay, but it did save me a ton of energy, was done locally, pretty fast turn-around, plus I'm happy with the finished piece. Now just have save up for the wheel widening and tires. This is an expensive mod for me, but it's something i've been wanting to do for awhile now. Just glad it's not a daily driver.
Plasma cutter on loan from a friend should arrive in the morning. I am going to drop the gas tank and lines as I want to clean up under it anyway and get it out of the way for the cutting that will commence tomorrow sometime, that is if the cutter gets here at a good time. :) I will post up how it comes out. Probably take a couple of days, I have to go get more gas for the welder as well.
7
Notch is done on one side, I will start and finish the other side shortly. Here are some cell phone pics so you get an idea, they will fit now ;) The notch isn't complete, but this is progress, I reused the old outer piece, welded in 3/16 steel behind it to stiffen it up a bit, also widened the lower portion of the frame where it get stupid thin after notching, Once I get it all closed up, you won't be able to tell that it has one, that is the way I wanted it. Nursing this aching ass shoulder is killing me :)

Here are some pics. They are with my cell phone and probably aren't the greatest.


You can see where I added metal here






Looks like there is plenty of room in there now, oh by the way notch is 1.3 inches total.


This gives you an idea of what it is going to look like, there is no rearend in the car it is just sitting on the crate and the jack stand.






More to come I will take more pics along the way of the other side as I am doing it.
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looks good altho that rust makes me cringe :D

I have a handler 175 that is bitchin, well worth the moulah
Yeah I love that welder, best 600 bucks I ever spent, about 4 or 5 years ago now.

The rust isn't that bad, just flakey stuff it makes it look worse than it really is.
what bigger things u want bigger u get 30's bruh!! jk lol


The project is coming out real nice bro,I'm going to be jealous when its done and driving lol




Maybe I should notch my own frame,I cut steal for a living and use grinders/saw and all type of steel cutters and a friend of mine is a welder too hmm?
Yeah 30's not in this life time LOL

Yeah it is actually really easy to do, plasma cutter makes it go oh so much smoother. I went the extra step that only a handful have gone and widen the lower portion of the rail that gets awful thin after notching. I didn't like the idea as I kept thinking about if I got hit hard in the rearend it would jamb the rear bumper in the ground and give a ramp for the vehicle that hit me to go over top the car, not that I want anything to happen like that, but it made sense to me to do it this way. You can combat this with a thick plate, which I did double duty, widened the lower portion and added 3/16 plate behind the original steel that I sunk into the rail.
Yeah 30's not in this life time LOL

Yeah it is actually really easy to do, plasma cutter makes it go oh so much smoother. I went the extra step that only a handful have gone and widen the lower portion of the rail that gets awful thin after notching. I didn't like the idea as I kept thinking about if I got hit hard in the rearend it would jamb the rear bumper in the ground and give a ramp for the vehicle that hit me to go over top the car, not that I want anything to happen like that, but it made sense to me to do it this way. You can combat this with a thick plate, which I did double duty, widened the lower portion and added 3/16 plate behind the original steel that I sunk into the rail.
Well this is something on my mind now lol i have all the tools available since I work construction on our U.S. Military bases.Thanks for some of your input and pics and info.

The bad is the wheels I want in 24's are going to be 24x11 to get the 5'' lip,also a 275/25 tire would be way to stretched to its limit and look real stupid with the rim hanging out the tire :(.

How much would I need to cut for a 24x10 wheel with a 4.5 backspace? it has a nice 5.5'' lip, is the wheel to out or to in for our b-bodies rear fenders?
Very nice work. It looks like there's not much clearance at the top between tire and frame. What size tire and wheel you runnin? They're lookin real nice back there. I'll bet they're going to add even more solid feel when driving also. How long did it take you to cut that one side? Did you use the plasma cutter or cut-off wheel? I wish I could of done mine myself. I'm jealous.
John
Well this is something on my mind now lol i have all the tools available since I work construction on our U.S. Military bases.Thanks for some of your input and pics and info.

The bad is the wheels I want in 24's are going to be 24x11 to get the 5'' lip,also a 275/25 tire would be way to stretched to its limit and look real stupid with the rim hanging out the tire :(.

How much would I need to cut for a 24x10 wheel with a 4.5 backspace? it has a nice 5.5'' lip, is the wheel to out or to in for our b-bodies rear fenders?

To out it would hit the fender not the frame, unless you narrowing the rearend, FYI a 10 inch rim should fit with out trouble
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