OK here's the deal, I am upgrading to 17" 03' Mach 1 rims to accomodate the new 13" Cobra Disc Brake system I am getting from Mustang Steve and I am wondering what I should do for the rear setup, I'd like to see some pictures of yours if available.

I'm curious how it looks with drums still out back vs. a smaller disc and non'matching caliper or same size disc and non matching caliper or preferably a totally matching set. My old 14" SSW's show nothing behind them so I'm afraid the front will look great and the rear like butt.

Any thoughts, advice and/or pictures highly welcomed and appreciated.

Thanks,
Pak

 

Awesome Pak! Those wheels will look fantastic. I don't have the 17"s on mine yet, but here are my thoughts on the subject anyway.

For a nice driver, there's nothing wrong with discs on the front, drums on the rear, even with big 17"s on there. For a money-is-no-object super custom/show car, you gotta have discs. That being the case, front and rear calipers rarely "match" in size or design/look, even when they come that way from the factory.

While you're at this, another concern might be that you're running latemodel offset, and may need adapters. If that's the case, are you gonna be ok with how far the brakes are from the face of the wheel? This particular issue doesn't bother me at all, but I've heard other people who don't like it a bit.

Keep me posted.

 

Hey Blake, thanks for the reply. Yeah, I am not too concerned with the funtion of rear drums, this is what Mustang Steve reccomends. I am more concerned with how stark it will look back there with all that empty space comapred to the front.

As far as off set, I do not think this is the case with Steve's kit, I was honestly content with my old 14" rims but I got in on an incredible group buy and I have to go with 17" rims to make them fit. Are you familliar with his kit? It is actually designed to replace the stock drums directly with a bolt on adapter. If you have stock discs you have to get all the drum stuff somwhere just to make it fit. (the second reason I am going this way instead of a more typical 11" unit) Becasue of this I have been led to believe that the backspace is not a concern on the front at all, you would have to order a rim that fit a 94'-04' Mustang anyway if you had exisiting 17" rims that fit your stock offset already. At least that is how I took it. The backs I heard fit close to stock anyway and might only need a small spacer.

 

I'm somewhat familiar with it, but I don't know it back-to-front. I do have to say that I personally enjoyed meeting/dealing with Mustang Steve on my clutch cable/power brake stuff.

You should only need a small spacer for the back, especially on a 69, but I'm not aware if the 13" discs move the actual hub face out or not. I'm sure the 17's are necessary for diameter reasons, but I dunno about offset. I would take Steve's advice on that. He's been quite helpful on his board, if you can fight through the goofball software, lol.

 

Well, it looks like I have a slight change of plans after all. I found something I like even better than the 03' mach 1 rims, a true Magnum 500 replica in a 17" size. This will look much better I think.

.....
.............17" Magnum 500..........................................17" 03 Mach 1...........

[edit: pic's placed side by side for comparison]

http://electronic-pr.com/pr/new_wv_026.html

Granted a little less of that nice 13: disc and caliper will show, but alot less of the rear drum will show too and the look will be far more classic with just a modern update to it.

 

yea, the mag 500's look much better than the mach 1's

 

I posted awhile back about 17 in Billet Magnums. They are definatly the way to go.Order them with the right offset and no spacers are required. Check them out: www.1969boss429.com

 

Oh yeah, I forgot about that, knew I saw them somewhere though. Looks great on the car.

So tell me, what are you running for brakes both front and rear, same width rim front and rear? Also what offset did you order and what size tires are you running?

Details man, give me the details and save me some homework.

 

Very cool. Those wheels look great too, and it's just a bonus to not have to mess with the adapters/spacers. So when is this thing gonna be on the road again?

 

17 x 8 front 4.5" backspace ,17 x 9.5 rear 5.5 backspace. For the brakes I used Baer components,work with them for a package that will work with your suspension setup since its different then a Boss 429