Mustang GT 17 inch rim fitment

R

Right on the Mark

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Now I'm going to start off by saying the mods done to rims are the least evasive as I could get. I am cheap and needed 17 or larger rims to clear the front cobra rotors. I wanted 17's so I could find nice cheap tires. I found a set of 99 GT rims and tires for 100 bucks. Here they are on the car.

Ok I'm going to have to make a disclaimer here because this is my car and I work on it how I please. This write up does not imply that this is the only way to do this or the best way.Just way I did it. That said,on we go.

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The plan was to get the rims on the car for 0 money. No hub change. I didn't want to remove the hubs and redrill pattern. So that left notching rims to fit. I didn't want to dismount the rims and tires to fit on Bridgeport so that meant a drill fixture on rim.
Here is the fixture with .625 dowels and .500 endmill cutter or notcher.On this side you just see the Mk8 Bolt circle (BC) that is what will be transfered to the rims.
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Here is other side you can see the (3) counter sunk .625 holes that are the Mustang BC. These .625 dowels lock the fixture in 100% correct spot for the notching and such.
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First step is to hand reamer the rims to make the holes .6255 so dowels will just slip in. The rims holes are .623 so pins wouldn't go in.
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Next step is clamp fixture on while using the (3) dowels to align it.Then chuck up special endmill I made to notch .500 dia in rims.
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With that done I now needed a larger dia. then normal lugnut to clamp on complete rim surface. I found perfect lugs from a 2000 Lincoln LS.Here is fitment of lugs to rims.
First lugs need to be cut flat. In this pic you see stock lug with nipple I removed that and made them flat.Ford does lugs this way on there trucks.
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Now lug was too big dia and didn't fit into the brow cutout of rim. So need to notch the brows. I made this tool to notch brows.
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Here is area needing to be removed in black.
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Here is the cutter in postion chuck it up in a drill and notch.
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Now here is all on car and also my track won't let you race with snap on hubcaps unless there positivly secured. So I made fixture that will let me drill right down center of the stud and tap that for screw to hold hubcaps on 100%
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Here are the spacers needed to not pull cap in too much with the bolt poking thru.
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I forgot to ad that all 4 rims need hub rings so I whipped up 4. Here they are.
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And thats how I got my rims on for 32 dollars for LS lug nuts.
 
i my self think they would look better if they where chrome, or black. but DAMN, these actually look good on the Mk.
 
95MkViii said:
i my self think they would look better if they where chrome, or black. but DAMN, these actually look good on the Mk.
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I hear you but I got these rims and tires for 100 dollars!! I needed 17's to clear and wanted quality rims that would not break hitting a pot hole. I still have those tires on her right now looking for new used ones right now starting to dry rot crack. Plus I'm cheap!!!! The whole rim tire swap cost me 132 dollars.
 
95MkViii said:
i my self think they would look better if they where chrome, or black. but DAMN, these actually look good on the Mk.
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They do look pretty kick ass. My buddy has those wheels on his 83 mustang and I was amazed how they looked and you don't see that everyday. I've noticed that there aren't very many wheels that won't look good on our Marks. The stock bullet wheels look good too.

Nice job
 
How come you didn't just redrill your hubs?

Don't get me wrong, I love what you did there, but it seems like it may have been easier to just redrill the mark hubs...

You've obviously got the capability. Lol.
 
Those look pretty nice, nice work you put into getting them to fit :)
I think the '97 Cobra wheels would look sharp too.
 
98lincmk7lsc said:
How come you didn't just redrill your hubs?

Don't get me wrong, I love what you did there, but it seems like it may have been easier to just redrill the mark hubs...

You've obviously got the capability. Lol.
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For (1) I would have to pull all 4 hubs off car. Then press out 20 studs.Then mount all 4 to miller then drill 20 holes in STEEL hubs. Then press in 20 studs. Then put 4 hubs back on the car. Plus the main reason I didn't redrill hubs is because you CAN'T. On mark 8 hubs, the flange thickness thins way down between lug studs(half as thick) So they would not be strong enough to hold studs. I checked out all ways before I did this. For me this was easy way. After I made all fixtures and cutters I could do a rim in 15 minutes. Plus I did 6 rims 2 for the drag radials also.
 
Glad to see someone did I what I was thinking of doing to make some of the available Stang rims fit a Mark.
 
I dont see where you added any inserts. If you didnt, I fail to see how this is even close to being safe. Good Luck regardless.

Inserts still have their own issues but just reaming the existing lug-holes is pretty scarey to say the least. But maybe Ive missed something in your illustration of photos.

Brad
 
baggedtaco said:
I dont see where you added any inserts. If you didnt, I fail to see how this is even close to being safe. Good Luck regardless.

Inserts still have their own issues but just reaming the existing lug-holes is pretty scarey to say the least. But maybe Ive missed something in your illustration of photos.

Brad
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I think you need to take time and re read and look at all the pictures. There is NOTHING dangerous here. I have only taken off couple thousands of material but in the right places. There are NO inserts in these rims.
 
Right on the Mark said:
I think you need to take time and re read and look at all the pictures. There is NOTHING dangerous here. I have only taken off couple thousands of material but in the right places. There are NO inserts in these rims.
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Actually what you did is the same procedure when using inserts, only you didnt use any. If you are happy with it then fair enough, its only my opinion based on my own experience and knowlege in wheel manufacturing.

Brad
 
Please look at the pics where you can see the tiny .030 deep notches in the lug holes. You can see that they are no bigger then the 45 chamfer that ford put on the holes. The area where i notched the brow is super tiny also. I made the cutter to clear by .020. I enjoy input. Just makes me wonder if you are afraid to ream the holes .0025 cuz that like thickness of paper.
 
My only question was if you had used an insert and there was no photo. Im glad you are not taking my opinion personal as well.

With your response its clear to me what you did exactly. I still dont feel comfortable with the modification. I really do hope you dont have a problem.

If you were to have some inserts pressed into the lug holes and redrill them for a conical lugnut I would feel alot better for you.

Brad
 
baggedtaco said:
My only question was if you had used an insert and there was no photo. Im glad you are taking my opinion personal as well.

With your response its clear to me what you did exactly. I still dont feel comfortable with the modification. I really do hope you dont have a problem.

If you were to have some inserts pressed into the lug holes and redrill them for a conical lugnut I would feel alot better for you.

Brad
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No need to feel for me. LOL These have been on the car for over 5 years now. If I pressed in inserts there would still be the .030 scarf in hole. This scarf is for the lug to slide thru, no scarf no fit on hub! So only way what you say would work is to drill the holes even bigger removing a much larger amount of meterial to install insert.The scarf are a .500 dia where lug stud is 12mm which is .470. I now have .015 clearance for the stud.
 
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