How to run Ford wheels on a Chevy wheel pattern

Why would you want to do such a thing? Is more than likely the first question that you can think of. The reason is, most hot rodders like to think out of the box and will take the best of different car parts and put hem into their latest creation. Anyone who has ever removed the front end off an old Pinto or Mustang from the 70' and installed it in a 30 or 40's car has come up against this problem. After mounting the front end on to the chassis and setting up the upper and lower A-arms, mounting the spindles and springs, things start to get a little weird. They know take a set of Ford Granada disc rotors and mount pre-82 Camaro calipers which will more than provide sufficient stopping power for their 3000 pound hotrod. If they used a Ford nine inch out back for a rear end, there is no problem. But hot rodders being what they are, want to try something different. So, the Chevy 10 or 12 bolt rear goes in along with the TH350 or 400 transmission and 350 engine that they got from that donor Monte Carlo or Nova. Their short sightedness shows up when they go to put a set of (4)wheels on the car and find out that the bolt patterns (and back spacings) won't allow the wheels to go on the car. Sure, you could put the Ford wheels on the front and the Chevy wheels on the back and they would work. Until, someone tried installing the spare tire out of the trunk on the front Ford of axle. Hopefully, we're going to be able to show you one or two ways to remedy that problem.

As you observed in the picture the bolt circle is projected through the centerline of the holes or studs. On the five bolt circle, the spacing is measured from the centerline of the top bolt to the base of the arc of the bolt circle at the bottom. Another way to estimate that distance is by taking the distance between the centerline of a bolt hole across to the back side of the hole.

The center bore of a wheel is the machined opening in the wheel that centers the wheel properly on the hub of a vehicle. This hole is machined to exactly match the hub or spindle so the wheels are precisely positioned as the lug hardware is torqued down. Keeping the wheel precisely centered on the hub when it is mounted will minimize the chance of a vibration. Some wheels are vehicle/model specific and will come from the factory with a bore machined to match that vehicle. Some wheels are designed to fit multiple vehicle models and will use a centering ring system to reduce the bore size to match the hubs of different vehicles. These rings keep the wheel precisely positioned as the lug hardware is torqued down.  

Zero Offset

Positive

The hub mounting surface is toward the front or wheel side of the wheel. Positive offset wheels are generally found  

Negative