351c 2v power upgrades

[Mister 4x4]

I originally went with some 295/50R15 Cooper Cobras on 'off-the-shelf' 15x10 Cragars, which had 4 1/4" backspacing.  They stuck out of the wheel wells about a half inch, which looked cool but was just enough to 'buzz' the openings when the suspension would cycle deep.



Rather than rolling the openings or cutting down axles, I contacted Summit Racing and asked for a new set of 15x10s with a custom back spacing of 5 1/2", which cost the same and only took about a week for Cragar to make-up and send to the house.

These top 2 pics were the originals, showing the 'sticking out' factor:





Here are the same shots with the new rims mounted up on the same tires:





It killed a bit of the deep dish look, which bummed me out, but between the new back spacing and 1" extended shackles, no more rubbing at all.  Still plenty of space inside between the rear frame rails and leaf springs, too. (I don't have pics of those things, however)

Before:



After:



BTW - the fronts are 245/60R15s on 15x8s with 4 1/4" back spacing - no issues up front whatsoever.

Hope this helps!

[Mustangmike]

Hi Eric,

Summit is really good.  I can't believe the turnaround time  on the custom wheels. Summit must have priority status with Cragar!  I am using a 15x8 wheel with a 5 inch backspace and the tire comes pretty close to the leaf spring on my 66 Fairlane with P275/60/15 tires.  The cross section on my tire is 10.8 inches compared to yours which is about 11.6 inches.

FYI - your pictures did not post.  Maybe you can repost them, I would like to see the wheels.

Thank you,

Mike

[Mister 4x4]

Ah - I snagged them from 7173Mustangs.com out of my attachments section.  I'll fix them.

[Mustangmike]

Eric,

Much cleaner look with the tires tucked inside the wheel well.  It was a good choice to increase the backspacing even if you had to sacrifice some of the deep dish. 

The car looks real good!

Mike

[Mister 4x4]

Thanks Man!  I'm diggin' the Fairlane, too.  Lots of awesome work going into it - can't wait to see it all back together! 

[Mustangmike]

Thanks Eric...I am glad you like the Fairlane.  It's a neat car and you don't see to many of them around at the car shows, at least here in CT.

[Steven Harris]

Thanks Eric.

I love the look.