Ok, starting to look at wheels and tyres.
Thinking of getting two rims for the rear made up 16x6 wide 5 on 2 of my wheels
Tyre will be 195 55 16,,,,, hopefully
My pan is origional 58 splitcase going down one spline
Anyone tried something like this?
Offset???
The 165's tyres on it ATM are only about a inch away from the plates, will I need a more positive offset?
Thanks

to go away from the plates, you want less offset, say you have +30 now, going further out 10mm would be +10, a 0offset will be in the middle of the width, so say your spring plate is 100mm from the drum face, you would want a 0 to +20ish so it doesnt interfer, allows for a minimu gap of 15mm or so, was rushed response, will explain better later if nobody else clears it up

Heh heh... how about "With offset or ET... the higher the number, the further in the rim sits.... the lower the number, the further out the rim sits."

Standard for Beetle rims I think is something like ET 34. 16x7 ET23 is a common Porsche rim, and when bolted to a beetle gives that fattened look on the rear.

Ok,,,,,,, mmmmm.
So to go bigger in the rear, with lower profile 195 or 205 x 16 tyres.
Would 7 inch rims be better for guard clearance?

Better than what... 6 inch rims ??? If that's what you're asking then nope - 7 inch rims are wider than 6 inch, for the same given offset will have less clearance to the guards.

Changing the offset (ET) affects how far in or out the wheel sits in the guard, but the width is still a massive factor.

Say with 5" ET34 rims you have 25mm clearance inner and outer... assuming the tyre wall bulge stays the same, with 6" ET34 you'll have only 12mm and 7" ET 34 you'll have zero clearance.

BUT

If you go to say 6" ET23 you'll bring the wheel out more, and so would have 17mm clearance on the inner and 7mm on the outer, while 7" ET 23 would give 5mm clearance on the inner and would foul by 5mm on the outer.

In short, to be really sure if a combo will work you need to get some accurate measurements, or borrow some existing wheels and try them.