I need to ask one dumb question!!! I am currently restoring N-90 rims that I bought from someone on E-Bay. The rims are off of a SS Monte Carlo I am told that the only difference is the lugs that are to be used, is this true?? So far I spent about 16 hours scrubbing, sanding, and polishing the rims and I am only about half done. My fear at this point came when my neighbor asked if the lug pattern was the same for my 1980 Z-28. Not being sure I replied that all Chevy lug patterns should be interchangeable, is this the case???? Please respond because I would really be pissed-off if I spent 16 hours on rims that don’t fit.

they should fit.

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starting to build pro/street 78Z
car needs everything!
Let the fun begin!!!
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They WILL fit, mine on my '81 came from a Monte.

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When I re-worked my N90's (just last month) I found that completely stripping the paint off them was the only way to go. I bought a can of Paint stripper (brush on) and let it work for half an hour before hitting it with the wire brush, then water.

It took me 5 passes to get the OEM paint off the rims.

I polished all of the machined surfaces and painted the slots with Krylon Appliance Paint (after masking off all of the bright surfaces).

I'll be glad to send you a picture of the finished product.

They really look right on the 2-nd gen Camaros!

To answer your neighbors question there are two sizes of chevy 5-lug wheels. What we use on our Camaro's 5 on 4 3/4" That would be the same as the Chevelle's Nova's Monte's and S-10's. The larger cars and 1/2 ton P/U's use a 5 on 5" bolt pattern.

Here's the deal on the N-90 wheels.
The bolt pattern is identical. That is not the problem.

It's the lug nuts that are different.
When they first came out on Camaros, GM didn't think that aluminum was strong enough to use a tapered lug nut, so the shouldered type was chosen.
When the Monte SS began using them, GM apparently had a change of mind, and used the 45 degree taper lug nut instead.

The two wheels are machined differently since they use different style lug nuts.

Furthermore, the Monte lugs are 12mm threads where the Camaro has 7/16 threads.

You cannot interchange the lug nuts between the two cars, nor can you interchange them between the two styles of N-90 wheels.

Although the Camaro 7/16 shouldered nuts are still available. they often sell for as much an 12 bucks (Classic Camaro, a while back) apiece.

Another problem is when you wish to use these wheels with the 1-LE rotor, which has 12mm lugs. You cannot simply replace your Camaro lug nuts with Monte style ones, as you now see that they will not interchange.
Also, the tape weights on the N-90 wheel will come perilously close to the standard GM D-52 caliper inside the wheel.

Since you have Monte wheels and wish to use them on your Camaro, you will have to change over to metric lugs, which means re-drilling your rotor hubs and axle flanges.

The other alternative is to have the wheels re-machined to accept shouldered lug nuts. I took my wheel over to a very competent machine shop, and we figured that there just isn't quite enough material to safely taper the hole on my shouldered-style wheel, since the wheel already has a shoulder recess machined into it. I'm not sure about machining your tapered wheel to accept the shouldered nut, but it may be more possible than the other way around. Remember, the lug nuts on the shouldered-style wheel are a precision fit, as that is what locates the wheel, unlike the tapered kind, which locat on the taper itself.

To the best of my knowledge, there are no metric shouldered GM-style lug nuts available, although I did find s company in China that might.

All is not lost, however. If you have done a nice job on these wheels, they are in demand by Monte enthusiasts, and you should have no trouble selling them for a decent price.

I'm sorry to be the bearer of complex bad news, but I went through this myself, and wound up just parking my N-90s aside for a project someday.

BTW, I sent you an email in case my explanation is too garbled. I'm no genius!

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Aero80

[This message has been edited by aero80 (edited October 14, 2003).]