The 88 Trans Am 15" wheels are really cool and appear to be a big brother of the 14 inch indy pacecar wheels. Never mind the fact that they don't fit - - - for now. The rubber that is typically on these wheels is typically 26.1 inches tall by 9.2 inches wide. That size would be perfect to fill up the wheel opening of the back of a 84 Indy pacecar. Painting these wheels to match the 14 inch front wheels would be really cool and would make room for larger brakes.
If you like those, check out the '84 anniversary trans am wheels. White with a blue stripe, if I recall correctly. I have a set of '85's painted charcoal in the recesses with machined faces. They're referred to as salad shooters or 20 slot wheels. I use them for winter and swap over to snowflake wheels in better weather. If you want to get fancy, hawk's third gen parts now offers the GT diamond spoke wheel in 17x9, but again, made for trans ams. Wrong bolt pattern, and wrong center cap application. Oh well, one can dream, right?
Contact Louis @ Centerline in California. http://centerlinewheels.com He can make your wheels with proper bolt pattern and any offset you need. He made mine which are both DOT and SF 15.1 approved. American made too. Some of their many styles with and without exposed centers:
If I understand this correctly, the bolt pattern is different and also the backspacing. The first thing I need to do is fix the bolt spacing so I need to know if there is a wheel bearing Assembly selection that would upgrade my existing 88 bearings - - - some machining required I'm sure. And then? Corvette rotors and calipers that fit inside the 15 inch wheels? I don't know the possible interchanges that some of you have done on this forum,
I will be making shorter lateral bars so the wheel fits inside the fender well.
Yes, that 1984 anniversary Trans Am is what I'm trying to do and to somehow make my car look authentic as if it came this way from the factory. Well - - - and hide the engine.
Nobody has ever put that big a tire under the back of a fiero without putting the engine in the front. This will be a first if I do it. I do this sort of thing so yes I will do it.
Ok, I see now that rim is offered in a 16 inch diameter! How did I miss that? OK, yes, even more room for brakes. The point of this post is that I really don't know what is available or the best way to go about this. I'm looking for ideas but I am married to two things - - -
There are at least 4 designs on the F-body 20 slot wheels. White, concave, convex, and 16". The 16 is only available concave...wheel adapters just might be the easiest route. The offset is going to matter as well, but I have no clue as to what extent... In my opinion, the 16" version is the ugliest (to each their own) as it added dimples and a different finish. As for concave/convex, the Fiero versions appear convex.
I have no idea if this will help you but there is a company that custom makes that wheel. If I remember, they take a 14" donor, cut out the face so you retain the bolt pattern, and make a 3 piece wheel in a larger size and whatever width you need. The wheels do look a little different with the rivets along the edges but they still look nice:
I like the concave wheel almost better than the convex wheel but as far as backspacing my main consideration is that I want the inside of the tire to come very close but clear the stock 88 trailing arms. The rest I will fix by altering the length of the lateral arms.
I have no idea if this will help you but there is a company that custom makes that wheel. If I remember, they take a 14" donor, cut out the face so you retain the bolt pattern, and make a 3 piece wheel in a larger size and whatever width you need. The wheels do look a little different with the rivets along the edges but they still look nice:
My other outrageous plan is to possibly leave the stock 88 rotors and aluminum calipers for less unsprung weight and add an extra pair of rotors and calipers inboard and installed between where my axle shaft bolts to my outlet flange coming from my transmission differential. All four Calipers grouped together and designated as Rear proportioning. Wouldn't that be cool? I think so and in some ways easier than the upgrade conversion I may otherwise have to do. These rotors would be nonvented and simply just a flat piece of laser cut steel although drilled and slotted.
[This message has been edited by bigblockfieropacecar (edited 03-11-2016).]
My other outrageous plan is to install some giant brake shoes from a semi that turn the inside surface of the wheels into a huge brake drum, Lol, ok, just kidding.
just be advised, the formula rims come in two diff offsets, diff front to rear.
Yes. Except that GM did it bass-ackwards. The deeper dish wheels are the ones designed for the front. The rears had a shallower dish (smaller lip.) This was supposedly done for front knuckle clearance. I always wondered why they didn't just put the deeper dish on all four, and call it a day. 16" IROC wheels are the same way. Not that it matters here.
[This message has been edited by Raydar (edited 03-12-2016).]
I know, I always found that funny that the deep ones were on the front. You don't know how many times I had to tell a tire/wheel shop to swap them back after getting new tires put on. Even had a set on my 79 Grand AM. but I had to put the front on back, and the back on front for that car. In the end I had to buy another set of front so I could run all 4 w/ the deep offset.
Yes, your absolutely right but this pace car theme makes it more difficult.
But not impossible. Are you thinking about how any changes of this nature will effect the ride/drive? When it comes to steering and turning, I like my car to feel true.
