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15in rims for flareless LX


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#1 toryman76

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Posted 27 June 2021 - 09:05 PM

As the title suggests I am wanting to fit a nice set of 15s on my flareless LX. I know these topics have been done to death but I'm hoping someone has been down this path before and doesn't mind offering a bit of advice.

My car is stock rear banjo drums and stock torana disc and calipers on the front. The only modification done is its lowered. I currently have 13x6 widened steel rims with 0 offset fitted with 205/60. I have no issues on the back but occasionally on hard lock over a crest the front just scrubs on the lower front edge of the guard.

I have been doing lots of measuring and I reckon the best I can do is a 15x6 15mm positive offset fitted with a 205/55 tyre on the front. And 15x7 0mm offset fitted with a 205/55 tyre on the rear.

The reading I have done suggests I should be able to get a 15x7 on the front without scrubbing but I just can't see this being possible without a smaller dia tyre which defeats the purpose in my opinion. I am all about trying to "fill" the guards without having to do further mods.

#2 Heath

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Posted 28 June 2021 - 09:35 AM

If you want it to fill the guards, you don't want +15 on the front, and definitely not on a 6" - that'll look rubbish.

 

0 offset all round, definitely at least 7" front and 8" rear (I'd go wider nowadays). 205 on the front, 225 rear, keep the profiles low and make sure you've dialed in ample +ve castor.

 

If you're "all about" filling the guards, then modify the lip. They're a weakness of the LH/LX design and the flared cars and UC's got rid of it for good reason.

Maybe a small strut (perhaps with a turn-buckle to make it adjustable) to push the front of the wheel-arch out a fraction would help you.



#3 76lxhatch

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Posted 28 June 2021 - 11:21 AM

Most people run a 205/50/15 on a Torana, although I agree that taller would look better.

 

Make sure you settle on final wheel alignment before getting too carried away, it has a massive effect on clearance when things are tight. I'd be inclined to make some tweaks as Heath suggested for that last little bit of space, if done right most will never know or see the changes.



#4 toryman76

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Posted 28 June 2021 - 12:10 PM

Thanks for the info. I get what you're saying about filling the guard. I guess in my mind going with more offset and a larger dia tyre would remove the ugly gap between the top of tyre and the guard which to me would "fill" the guard out. The car has had a wheel alignment. I don't know exact spec but it made little difference to my clearances. I did some more measuring and I still can't see how a 7in with 0 offset would sit inside the guard (or inline). I am using a 13x6 15mm offset rim as my reference to what's on the car right now.

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#5 Heath

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Posted 28 June 2021 - 12:38 PM

Lower your car.

 

Yours looks like the wheels are hanging down at full droop and you're ignoring the (dramatic) positive camber that they would have in that position. It doesn't resemble anything.

 

Make sure it has 2 degrees of castor and less than 300mm between the wheel centreline and the top of the wheel opening at the front (the centre of the wheel needs to be above the swage line in the bottom of the door) before even bothering to measure.

 

This is a 0 offset (7" not that it changes where the edge of the tyre sits) 205/60R13 with a bit of lock wound in at ride height.

Attached File  P1060539-2.jpg   106.18K   9 downloads



#6 toryman76

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Posted 28 June 2021 - 01:34 PM

Lower again? It has lowered King springs in it. KHRL12X in the rear. KHFL14X in the front. Car seems to sit pretty level. The gap between tyre to guard front to back looks pretty consistent too. I checked the current distance from centre to guard at the front and both sides measured 337mm.

#7 toryman76

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Posted 28 June 2021 - 01:37 PM

I should mention too that the above photo with just the rim on it is sitting on a block of wood to simulate it being on the ground.

#8 toryman76

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Posted 28 June 2021 - 01:45 PM

And checking the centre of wheel to the swage line it's 45mm below. This would make the car bloody low if I took 45mm out of it.

#9 toryman76

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Posted 30 June 2021 - 09:32 PM

Lower your car.

 

Yours looks like the wheels are hanging down at full droop and you're ignoring the (dramatic) positive camber that they would have in that position. It doesn't resemble anything.

 

Make sure it has 2 degrees of castor and less than 300mm between the wheel centreline and the top of the wheel opening at the front (the centre of the wheel needs to be above the swage line in the bottom of the door) before even bothering to measure.

 

This is a 0 offset (7" not that it changes where the edge of the tyre sits) 205/60R13 with a bit of lock wound in at ride height.

attachicon.gif P1060539-2.jpg

 

Hi Heath. I have been pondering over this for a few days now so excuse my lack of knowledge here, but how will lowering the front end help with camber? Aside from the 2deg castor, what spec camber and toe should I be requesting when getting a new wheel alignment done? If I was to lower it further, am I best doing this by changing springs or changing the stub axles for a drop type?



#10 Heath

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Posted 01 July 2021 - 11:02 AM

Disconnect your swaybar, and remove one spring. Put your phone against it with an angle meter app switched on and move it through the motion from full droop to full bump, from one stop to another. Watch what happens to the camber. Look at the motion curve of the upper and lower arms, and how it affects the stub axle angle.

 

Then read the posts about people drilling the upper arm inner mount holes lower down, and make sense of that. (it's often referred to as a 'Shelby Drop' by the way, it's probably covered on YouTube).

 

In-fact... while you've got the springs out, just do the Shelby drop while you're there as well. This stuff has all been covered hundreds of times on here for good reason. And it's free to do!

 

I don't know what a KHFL14X is, but a normal lowered spring for the front of an LH/LX/UC Torana is a KHFL44, and 95% of people seem to use them or an equivalent. You want to get a pair of those and cut them down a little, though. They certainly are a bit long out of the box.

 

You don't need anything fancy like special drop stubs. You'll still have adequate travel for sporty road driving with a 'Low' spring (eg. KHFL44) cut down so the centreline of the wheel is 300mm or less from the top of the arch (at ride height, not necessarily the same as sitting on a block of wood on one side).

 

You can see in the photo above of my old green car that it isn't extremely low at all, and the centreline of the wheel is certainly above that swage line. Your car must be ready to tackle the Simpson Desert currently... Old Man Emu lift kit vibes. Curious to see a photo.

 

Camber? Probably 1.5 degrees -ve or a bit more at ride height would be the go.

Toe? Ask the guy at the alignment shop, I would say 2mm toe in, maybe less.

 

We're talking about making the car drive nicely on a proper touring road here. If it's just going to sit on the Hume and drive to Queensland and back on repeat, you're not going to take advantage of any of these recommendations.



#11 toryman76

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Posted 01 July 2021 - 06:36 PM

Interesting reading. Thanks heath. Still got so much to learn even though I spent 16yrs building the damn thing. The khfl-14 are what kings list as the lowered spring for a v8. Khfl-44 is what kings list as the lowered spring for a 6cyl. So what you're saying is putting a 6cyl spring in a v8 car will drop the front that little bit further presumably because of a lighter spring rate? I don't have any decent side on photos but it's definitely not ready for the simpson desert! I actually found a not so nice speed hump last weekend and just scraped on the exhaust flange at the front... Was not impressed. End of the day I'm not after a modern sports car in handling. I just want it to look nice with a decent set of rims.

#12 Heath

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Posted 22 July 2021 - 10:43 AM

Apologies... forgot to come back and look at this.

 

What's the latest on this little project?

 

Sorry, you are right about the KHFL-14 (I couldn't find the KHFL-14X that you mentioned). There may be minimal difference between them. Measure the wire thickness and I'll let you know, or call King Springs and find out the difference. My guess is that you'd be okay with either, but they need to be cut a bit to look nice.

 

You won't get modern sports car handling by adding a bit of camber gain on bump, but you'll make it a bit less shit than they are standard. That's what we're all about here, right?



#13 toryman76

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Posted 23 July 2021 - 11:56 AM

I've been doing some more reading to try and learn about the different front end designs. I never bothered to take notice when I built the car... My front end is non rts. Which now I know doesn't give you all that favourable front geometry. Unless I stumble across a bargain for uc uppers I think I will have to stick with what I have as I don't feel like robbing a bank!😝

Dunno why my springs have an "X" at the end of the part number.

I really need to get it out for a proper photo shoot! This is the best side on I could find.

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#14 claysummers

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Posted 23 July 2021 - 06:21 PM

Those rims would look good in gloss black

early Holden nut

#15 toryman76

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Posted 23 July 2021 - 06:47 PM

Yeah the 13 stockies are definitely not my wheel of choice but its all I've got at the moment. I did paint one black as a trial before getting them done in white and yeah it wasn't for me. Think I took some photos but it was a few years back now.

#16 toryman76

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Posted 24 August 2021 - 04:19 PM

Updating this post. I went ahead and bought some wheels, as I decided it was time to just dive in and give something a go. I purchased a set of Rev Classics as I love the 5-spoke look. Fronts are 15x7 with +15mm ET. Rears are 15x7 with 0mm ET. So far I have just put 2 tyres on the front to check clearances. I went with 205/55 because I figured if they didn't fit I could put them on the rear and go for a 195/55. Here is where I ran into a bit of trouble. The front lip was catching. Had a good chat with Heath and he gave me some great advice. I started with playing around with more shims on the rear bolt of the upper control arms for positive caster. Without measuring angles exactly, I got both sides sitting with just a tiny bit of negative camber. I wanted to do this to see what I could achieve in tyre clearance. So, this is where things get interesting. I managed to get about 10mm clearance on driver side. All good yeah. Well passenger side started off looking OK with 5mm clearance, but the more I drove back and forth the worse it got... This got me thinking. When I would be driving, every time the passenger side wheel would drop out, the spring would make a loud "clunk" noise, something which I could feel through the steering wheel. Something that I thought was just one of those nuisance things. I stopped and started to think, what's going on here. So I measured the 'ride height' of each side and sure enough the passenger side was about 7mm higher than the driver side. So is it possible that if the spring is not seated properly that it could be clunking back and forth effectively "rocking" in the housing? I pulled the passenger side apart today and found witness marks of the spring rubbing in the top as well as the bottom. Looking closer, I don't think the spring seats properly in the top and the bottom. I grabbed the old original springs and they were a much larger internal diameter. I've read of other guys having similar problems, but what is the fix for this? I am confident the spring was located in the pocket of the lower control arm properly, as I checked this around 12 months ago when I replaced wheel bearings etc.

 

 

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#17 Heath

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Posted 25 August 2021 - 11:34 AM

Your car looks bloody immaculate by the way. You've done a really nice job.

 

But 1" lower all round (at least) is a necessity.

 

When I'm putting Torana front ends together, I always look up through the shock hole and make sure the springs seat properly at the top. My front springs the other day were really tight around that spigot and it took a bit of shuffling to get them good. If they don't seat properly, the car will sit high and they will rub on shit which scratches them and makes annoying noises.

 

Oh yeah and when I cut springs to length I generally make the driver's side one a fraction longer so it's closer to level with a driver only.



#18 claysummers

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Posted 25 August 2021 - 12:28 PM

Many cars the factory would instal an extra spacer on the driver side front for the same reason.

early Holden nut

#19 76lxhatch

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Posted 25 August 2021 - 01:34 PM

Often aftermarket springs have thicker wire diameter (necessary to gain the additional spring rate) which can make them a poor fit too. As long as they are actually seated they usually find a reasonable position and move less over time, at the expense of some paint wear.

 

Heath you're too young, it has to handle and be comfortable not just sit on the ground...!



#20 toryman76

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Posted 25 August 2021 - 04:53 PM

Well that's the thing. I don't believe it is possible for this side to seat properly. If I rotate the spring to have the bottom line up with the pocket it makes the top "stiff" on the upper fingers. Yes they are all inside the spring but I don't believe the spring sits flat on the roof. I believe this is the issue. I can rotate the spring to find a nicer fit for the top but then the bottom is no where near the pocket... *cue heath to tell me to cut them again! 😂😂😂

#21 toryman76

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Posted 25 August 2021 - 05:52 PM

Your car looks bloody immaculate by the way. You've done a really nice job.


Thanks heath. I've done lots of things more than once to get it to this state but that's the joy of it!

#22 neglectedtorana

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Posted 25 August 2021 - 06:30 PM

In the 5th photo down that looks up at the spring tower I think the tab/tang or whatever it is called on the right sits too far to the right of the picture which could be making it difficult for the spring to locate.

 

Also in the top right there is a mark where the spring has been touching but it doesn't touch all the way round so maybe it is being held of by those tabs

 

I adjusted mine so my spring sat easier at the top, can't remember if I used a shifter or somehow got a punch up there, I could be wrong but it might be worth a try

Good luck

 

Cheers, Tom



#23 Heath

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Posted 26 August 2021 - 12:56 PM

If you can bend the tabs in, great, but that might be virtually impossible to do.

Otherwise, get the die grinder out and open up the I.D. of the top of your spring if you need to - a bit of grinding in that area won't hurt how it functions. You want to get it seating nicely at the top.

 

Oh and then cut the (other end of) the spring, yes. I said that already a few times but a bit of rhythm on that point might help.  :spoton:



#24 toryman76

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Posted 26 August 2021 - 07:28 PM

Thanks for the advice guys. I spent an hour this arvo giving the inside top of the spring a bit of work with the die grinder. What I found was the area where the spring finishes was very sqaure edged and seemed to foul on the pressed radius of the upper housing, which seemed to 'cock' the spring to one side not allowing it to sit central in the housing. I put a nice radius on it, plus gave it a bit of work all around. I also tweaked the fingers with a big shifter, but not too much. It definitely sits much nicer than before. Looking at the photo I took, I think it might still need a bit more but its getting close. I will take another look with fresh eyes over the w/e.

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#25 neglectedtorana

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Posted 27 August 2021 - 07:15 PM

Good progress, hope it sits better when you bolt it all together.

I think I adjusted the tabs on mine with a punch and tried bending with vice grips






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