After doing some measuring on the 66

[ga66mopar]

After doing some measuring on the 66 belvedere last night looks like the most I can narrow the rear end without mini tubbing is about 1 inch. Seems like a lot of trouble to narrow the rear end buy new axles and move the springs in just to install 15x8.5 torq thrust on the rear. But I think it would look better with wider wheels and tires on the rear.

 

[YY1]

I'd try a good, modern "sticky" tire beofre I went to all that trouble and expense.

Modern tire technology has come along way since the narrow wheelwells of these cars was the handicap it once was.

 

[Cranky]

I was going to mini tub mine too and may still do that since I already have a narrowed rear from another car....and can do it myself if it needs to be shorter. One good thing about having a set of aftermarket axles already is that they come with splines that are 3 times as long as a stock axle does and can be cut shorter if needed.

 

[john.thompson068]

I mini tubbed my 66 Satellite and it looks completely stock inside the trunk. Only problem is I still have tire rub. The solution will be to move the wheel tubs in another two inches so that it is flush with the inside of the frame rail rather than the outside. This is because the tires rub the top of the inside of the wheel well when the suspension articulates up. This causes the tire to actually move inward as the tire raises up within the wheel well as the suspension compresses on that side.

Now I can run a 29 by 12.5" (10.5W) tire on a 15X10 wheel. I purchased wheels with the minimum backspace because I prefer the deep dish look on wide back tires. I had the rear end narrowed accordingly. I suppose having shorter axles and narrower rear end also increases the strength as well.

From outside, the car looks like it should have come factory with tires that wide. In fact, they still appear a little skinny and if you really wanted a wide tire look for your car, you would have to re-frame the car back there and run a 15x12 and 15.5" (12.5W) tire to make it look bigger than stock. However, I prefer the look of cars with the smaller tires like mine. Especially since large tires are not really necessary. Drag cars run 6.30s on 10.5W's and road race cars stick to the track like glue with similar size tires.