FAQ: Mustang wheels spacers + longer wheel studs

Toms-SC

Registered User
So you just completed your Mustang bolt pattern swap and added your Cobra brakes but to your horror your wheels don't clear the massive caliper. A alternative to buying new wheels is wheel spacers and longer wheel studs.

The Set-Up:
Spacer1-full;init:.jpg

Custom off-set hub centric wheel spacers
Moroso Wheel Studs Part # 46180 x 2
Moroso Wheel Studs Part # 46185 x 2

Wheel Spacers:
I suggest proper hub centric wheel spacers, avoid your universal $4 wheel spacers as it can lead to drive line vibrations at speeds. They also look like crap and well, don't fit all that good.

The Wrong Way

NewStuff003-full.jpg


Notice the slop loops for your wheel studs? Your spacer is actually able to move around as it is not centered on the hub or held in place by the wheel stud holes. Wrong way.

The Right Way

NewStuff004-full.jpg


A perfect fit. Nothing else to be said.

Wheel Studs:

At a minimum you must be able to get 5 full threads to engage. If you do not get that amount you must get longer wheel studs. After playing with part numbers I finally got the proper ones (see above). They are a fair bit longer and may require open ended lung nuts. I had my wheel studs machined down to proper size to avoid this.

Spacer2-full;init:.jpg


The proper way to remove and install the studs is with a press. The 'I'm feeling lucky way' is using a hammer.

Good luck
 
Last edited:
Wheel Studs:

At a minimum you must be able to get 5 full threads to engage. If you do not get that amount you must get longer wheel studs. After playing with part numbers I finally got the proper ones (see above). They are a fair bit longer and may require open ended lung nuts. I had my wheel studs machined down to proper size to avoid this.

Spacer2-full;init:.jpg


The proper way to remove and install the studs is with a press. The 'I'm feeling lucky way' is using a hammer.

Good luck
Can you verify that the Moroso studs are the same 12 x 1.50 mm thread (I think that's the stock size) as the stock wheel studs?
 
Which of the two part numbers are the front? I havent started removing the old studs yet? So Tom how thick of a spacer did you use on your wheels? Was there a misprint on your part number? You show 46180 twice and on the one pacakage it is 46185?

Ken
 
Last edited:
Hey Ken

Keep in mind that Tom did the Mustang hub swap at the same time as the Cobra brake upgrade, so he now has 1/2" UNF wheel studs and 4.5" bolt pattern, rather than the M12x1.5 and 4.25" pattern your car has with the OEM T-Bird hubs.


cheers
Ed N.
 
Hey Ken

Keep in mind that Tom did the Mustang hub swap at the same time as the Cobra brake upgrade, so he now has 1/2" UNF wheel studs and 4.5" bolt pattern, rather than the M12x1.5 and 4.25" pattern your car has with the OEM T-Bird hubs.


cheers
Ed N.

Damn Ed you just busted my bubble. Back to square one:( What is the size of the knurled section. Anyone

Ken
 
Last edited:
Not sure, but I can find out when I go to work here in a few minutes. :)

I found ARP studs that are 12MMx1.5 X 3.250 The knurl is .509. If these would fit I can always turn them in a lathe and shorten them to fit. The cost is 60.00 for two sets.:eek: Damn an easy project turning continues to grow into a monster

Ken
 
Hey Ken

Keep in mind that Tom did the Mustang hub swap at the same time as the Cobra brake upgrade, so he now has 1/2" UNF wheel studs and 4.5" bolt pattern, rather than the M12x1.5 and 4.25" pattern your car has with the OEM T-Bird hubs.


cheers
Ed N.
I suspected those were 1/2" studs, which is why I asked. :mad:
 
Looked them up in my Dorman book, for the front lugs, knurl diameter is 13.59mm, 14mm shoulder, OAL of 46.5mm. I dug through my book trying to find some lug studs with that same diameter in whatever thread size, and found nothing longer. :confused:
Hopefully this helps anyway though. (BTW looked it up for a 90 SC, but probably all the same... famous last words... haha!)
edit:
Just double checked the numbers on the various years, only 89/90 had the 13.59mm (Dorman number 610-342.)
91 and up had 610-365 with knurl diameter of 13.41mm, 13.5mm shoulder, 51.5mm OAL. I will see if I can dig up a number for longer studs for the 91 and up if that's what you have.
 
Last edited:
Looked them up in my Dorman book, for the front lugs, knurl diameter is 13.59mm, 14mm shoulder, OAL of 46.5mm. I dug through my book trying to find some lug studs with that same diameter in whatever thread size, and found nothing longer. :confused:
Hopefully this helps anyway though. (BTW looked it up for a 90 SC, but probably all the same... famous last words... haha!)
edit:
Just double checked the numbers on the various years, only 89/90 had the 13.59mm (Dorman number 610-342.)
91 and up had 610-365 with knurl diameter of 13.41mm, 13.5mm shoulder, 51.5mm OAL. I will see if I can dig up a number for longer studs for the 91 and up if that's what you have.


The knurl I found for ARP studs was .509. I hate trying to figure out metric vs standard sizes.

Ken
 
13.59mm = .535 in. for the 89/90
13.41mm = .528 in. for the 91 up.
I did find a 4mm longer stud (not much) in M12 1.50, but the knurl was about .5 mm larger. I can get the part number for you when I get back to work tomorrow if you like. Home drinkin a brew now. :)

Glenn
 
Sorry for the brief amount of details and the part number typo. This write up was done quickly as I had to catch a plane the following hour.

This set up is for the MUSTANG HUB guys only. My spacer is around 10MM. As per front and rear I could not tell you because I did this modification so long ago, sorry :) There are plenty of off the shelf hub centric wheel spacers but due to me living in Canada I could not afford the 3 weeks for them to arrive so I had a set done up. What I was attempting to get at was to avoid the crappy generic spacers.

As per the bolt patten conversion spacer thing your off set goes out the door. I am attempting to keep my front wheels in the wheel well and using one of those converters I would not have been able to do so.
 
Last edited:
I was trying to get some info on the Eibach pro-spacers. Apparently the ones listed for the 89-97 T-birds (inc SC) are 4X108. They do make 5X108 for Volvo (65 mm hub) and Ferrari (67 mm hub). Various thickness; 5, 15, 25 mm (1 inch). They do come with longer lugs but could not find details on lug size, much less knurl.
 
Those look like Mach 1 calipers. I also have them!! Exact same thing as the cobra calpiers except they don't say COBRA.

Jeramie
 
I would go with drilling them out, take it to a machine shop and get the hub holes drilled out for something more common. As we can see by this thread, the M12-1.50 lugs are very limited, as is anything for that knurl size. As is anything for these cars actually! Oddball everywhere we look. Moroso and Dorman have longer studs in various sizes, just have the hubs drilled out.
I had zero luck with lug studs long enough with the same knurl diameter.
 
I would go with drilling them out, take it to a machine shop and get the hub holes drilled out for something more common. As we can see by this thread, the M12-1.50 lugs are very limited, as is anything for that knurl size. As is anything for these cars actually! Oddball everywhere we look. Moroso and Dorman have longer studs in various sizes, just have the hubs drilled out.
I had zero luck with lug studs long enough with the same knurl diameter.


Arp has a stud designed to fit a Lexus IS300. It is .600 longer. The knurl is
.558 vs the stock diameter .515. Using these I can use my lug nuts and wheel locks. Just need to drill out the stock hole and press new ones in.

Ken
 
Back
Top