Wheel size question

[Retirement Toy]

I ordered a MK IV and have a 94 8.8 rear end. Will the 10.5" Halibrand Wheels fit or should I go with the 9'. Also what size tires will work.

[2FAST4U]

A Ford 9" is overkill. If you're going with a straight axle, go with a standard 8.8 with TrackLoc and disc brakes and the 3-link from FFR. The 94 rear is too wide. See if you can trade it or sell it and get one from an 87-93 Mustang. Convert to 5 lug and disk brakes.

[Retirement Toy]

I am trying to keep the 94, 8.8 rear end. Got a good deal on it. Any idea of which wheel sizes will fit on this combination.

[Gordon Levy]

The 9" front and 10.5" rear will fit fine.

[skullandbones]

I'm using a 95 Cobra diff. But I'm not concerned about maxing out the rear wheels so I got some Cobra R wheels 9 inch front and back. I am going to go over size on the rear and a little undersize on front. It should be about 8.5 inches of rubber on the ground in the front and about 10 inches in the rear (easily within the wheels capacity). I have talked with several tire "experts" and they all said it was doable. You will need to convert the rearend if you want to go the vintage wheel look and max out the rubber width on the back. I don't think the conversion is too outrageous. On my next iteration of the roadster, I will probably convert and do the 3 link at that time. BTW, I have seen a couple of roadsters with the narrow rearend (87-93) and Halibrand wheels that still rubbed. Those were reports from the owners to me so I have to take their word on it. They were MkI models.
Mine is a MkIII with 4 link. The wheel thing has been the most uncertain part of my build with the wider rearend. Good luck, WEK.

[Retirement Toy]

Thanks for the input. Wheel and tire sizing is confusing. Maybe I will just go 9" on all 4 corners. Good luck on yours.

[Retirement Toy]

Any reccomendatios on tire sizes?

[Gordon Levy]

255/40/17 front 315/35/17 rear

[Retirement Toy]

Very cool, thanks.

[Gumball]

To get the 10.5s to fit on the '94 and up rear end, you'll need to swap the axles for the shorter versions from the earlier 8.8. The later housing is the same width as the earlier one, it's just the axles that are a bit wider on the later ones due to the ABS pick-ups. This also requires flipping the brake calipers to the leading side, too.

[Retirement Toy]

So the brackets for the calipers don't need to be replaced? Just a matter of replacing the axles and moving the calipers??

[Norm B]

If you use the shorter axles you will need to replace the brackets. Forum vendors sell the kit for this mod and it's cheaper than what I paid sourcing the parts myself. Live and learn!
Factory Five recommends the calipers be switched to opposite side front. This gives more room for coil overs and makes parking brake cable installation easier. I wasn't using coil overs (yet) and wanted to keep the anti moan brackets so I left mine in the stock position. This also allowed me to use the brake hoses from the 1994 set up. The manual says 275 40 17 are max width without the shorter axles but I defer to those with more experience on that subject.
Originally planned on 15 inch wheels and set up brakes for that. Found out too late that the selection of tires for that wheel is very limited. Lots of inter connected decisions go into building one of these.
Good Luck
Norm

[Jeff Kleiner]

Retirement Toy,
See my response to your other similar thread. Short answer; to bring it to the proper Fox width you'll need to change axles AND caliper brackets.

Jeff