I might be ordering new tires in a day or two. Has anyon run a 205/65/15 on 240 turbo rims on a 140 before? I know 205/60/15 will fit, but I would like the taller tire to keep the revs down a little on the highway. I do have an overdrive but my motor is built for torque and with the Webbers the fuel economy goes out the window at an indicated 80-85mph.

john

I'm using 195 and 205 (smaller brands) -75/15 tars on both my 122 wagon
and my 164 and they work fine. Don't have any reason to want the flat
squishy ones- they reduce ground clearance. I didn't have to roll the lip
on the 164 but at the lower front of the rear fenders just inside the lip
I had to do about 5 seconds hammer work, invisible from the outside.

No changes at all on the 122, and the tires look quite normal on stock rims
on both cars.
--
George Downs, The "original" Walrus3, Bartlesville, Oklahoma

I knew you'd be all over this one George... :-)

I reckon the difference is the 240 turbo wheels. They stick out closer to the outer edge of the fenders than stock... Looks cool, btu ain't the mosts practical for bigger meats.

-Matt

I see that the IT guys run 225/50/15s on turbo wheels but I do know there is a lot of fender "work" going on.

john

I have 195/65s on 5.5x15 later model 1800 steels. I also have a 5mm spacer on the front wheels too. I don't have any rubbing problems, but i think these wheels have a higher offset maybe than the turbo rims, and then on top of that the turbo rims are .5" wider. SO, i don't think there really would be a problem at all with 205/60s or 195/60s...

AND on the topic of IT guys... Well, I don't think Marc has any fender rubbing, and his fenders aren't flared at all, the lip probably is bent back though. (Bridgetown142) He's running the 225/50/15 setup, but they're on the 10 spoke 7 series rims, and they have a 25mm offset, as opposed to the 20mm offset of the turbo rims...

my compilation of info... lol :-)

Kyle

john

I personally would shy away from the idea... I've got a set of 205/65-15 on turbo wheels for my summer tires, first on my 164, and now on my 145... First I had to roll the lip on both rear fenders... and they'll still scrape if I've got a heavy load. And, if driving over rocks/stumps/curbs and the front wheels are at half lock or more, they hit the inside front on the front fenders pulling the fenders down and out, and taking big chunks out of the outer edge of the treads.

That said though, if you mostly do city/highway driving (I go off road a bit), and you don't carry lots o' heavy stuff, and you don't mind rolling them fender lips, you can get away with it. My next set of tires is gonna be 195/65s though... Hell, for that matter, you can have my tires if you want 'em... only got about 10k on 'em.

-Matt

Thanks for the info. I might just go with 195/65/15 or 205/60/15. I will be putting in lowering springs in a few months (waitting for the right deal to come along.... any used performance springs anyone on the board wana get rid of?). The AVS DB and the Continentle Extreem Contact have caught my eye.

john

If you're fixin' to go with lowering springs, I'd definitely not go wider than 195. Granted, they'll probably be stiffer allowing a bit less suspension travel, but them biggie tires would be less than 1/2 (probably within 1/4") inch from the fender edges at normal ride height I would think...

-Matt

HMMMM..... I think the way might be 195/65/15 for the everyday tire-tyre. However there is some rust back there and it might not be too hard to bend the rear fender lips. :)

john

Whatever's on there sure looks narrow. We should discuss what you have for suspension bits and alignment settings if you feel comfortable doing 85 at length (might be Canadian frost abused roads but 80 mph= scary for me)

My compilation re 73 142GL, stock rear spring with 180K on them, cut front springs

- rear: had one 5.5 '75 164e wheel (20mm offset like turbo rim) with 205/70 15 on it. Got it to fit (barely) one side. Hopeless on the other. "Fortunately" my other '75 wheel was bent, and I ended up with a 5.5 with more inward offset with the same tire on the other side. Front should have been OK with standard or even the 1.5" lowered.
- that was my attempt to 'fix' the gearing (used 195-65-15 on the front).
I now strongly recommend non OD (4.1) or 164 (3.73 or 3.31) rear axles which swap in complete, if you want taller gearing. I'm assuming you have 4.30's if you came factory with OD. Could be worse: in 1968 B18's came with 4.56's in wagons _without_ OD





virtually unrelated:
*- now run 205-55-16 tires on 16 x 6 wheels with 43mm offset

As for the gearing ... I converted this 145 from an automatic to a 4sp+OD. So the rear is whatever came with an Automatic. When I say 85mph I mean an indicated 85. A friend tells me that the car has about a 11% error in the exageration direction. I'm still not sure about what tire size I'm going with. It will be 195/65/15 or 205/60/15. I did just buy a new killer TV so I might have to slide around on the baldinies for a little while. I think if I go with new lowering springs, I'm going to go with the ones from V classics.

john