Toecutter

Just a suggestion on something different in regards to wheel suggestions. Some might think these wheels don't look good and I must admit at first glance they look strange but I think they have got a cool 70's feel and they come in 16x8 and 16x10 for the rear. The only thing to do is find out offset options on them. But what do you guys think of them. Try and picture them with a dish, perhaps black centres and polished dish? I reckon you could buy these cheap cheap and have that ZG look!!!! hmmm, this post should prolly be in the wheels section!? I'm talking about the wheel on the right.

G'day NZeder, Those pics are great, very informative, as they say worth a thousand words. I've often read posts about the question of using a fairly standard width rim say 8 inch for the rear and just getting a huge neg offset or large adapters for them as this thread hints at. I remember seeing a pic on either hybridz or classicz of this sort of thing done. I really should of copied the photo but anyway it looked wrong, looking at the rear veiw of the car the rims/tyres certainly were pumped out to fill the guards but seeing the tyres were only about 215 or 225's they looked like sticks propping up the car. 9.5 wide at rear is definatley what I would go for, and 245 rear tyres is a nice size. Oh and hows your car going anyway mate? Any plans to visit us in the near future?

Hi blue leaf, As far as that ZG flared look goes and rim/tyre combo's I racked my brain with pros and cons with rim/tyre sizes and cost for some time on this one. For me the first decision to be made was offset which was easy because I really like the way www.sr240z.com looked. `Watanabe R-Type 16x9 w/ -13 offset (Front) `Watanabe R-Type 16x9.5 w/ -19 offset (Rear) oh and this set up clears the stock suspension the combo above works but I also found that a lot of cars in Japan used a 16x8.5 at the front with -9 offset. However I soon found that 16" tyres can be a little limited so I decided to go to 17" seeing the tyre selection is plentiful and cheap in that size. Also whilst at the wheel shop I found that the price difference for the actual rims was only $45 per rim more going from 16 to 17 so that sealed the deal. Once I decided on 17's I had to decide on wether to use 8.5" wide for the front or 9" wide fronts seeing I was dubious about fitting the front tyres I wanted (225x45) whilst using 17x9's, I wanted to keep rolling diameter same front and back to keep it looking "right" when looked at from the side. The reason this was on my mind was I knew I wanted that old school "stretched" tyre look and I was a liitle worried that 9.0" wide might be a bit too wide to fit the 225x45 for the front, especially since tyre wall was reduced going from 16 to 17. This prooved a very important desicion because at 17x8.5 I had to go through 3 different tyres in 225x45 before the tyre shop managed to fit one, tyre stretch was the problem so 17x9 would have made things really difficult if I had of got them. I also tried 235x45 tyres at front, I actually took the wheels home with fitted tyres and the look really pissed me off. The wheels sat too high at the front with no stretch and that lower profile look was taken away with the higher wall height whilst I knew the rears looked great at 255x40 with the 17x9.5. I took the fonts back and managed to find a set of 225x45 that fit. It gets very tricky because I think the look of the whole car depends on how those tyres sit. So the final desicion was 3 peice ROH wheels in, front 17x8.5, -9 offset with 225x45 tyres - rolling diameter 634.3mm rear 17x9.5, -19 offset with 255x40 tyres - rolling diameter 635.8mm [/b] I would'nt go any narrower if your going to fit the flares because the dish gives it half the look and if you go to narrow rims at the rear you will need to go to an offset like -30mm or so to fill in the guards, Theres too much potential for things to start looking wierd, better off sticking to a proven. If your concerned about price I keep telling friends to look into the new superlights by PERFORMANCE that are currently available in 16x8 for front and I believe coming out in 16x10 for the rear some time this year. Just add a small spacer at front to pump them out about 5-10 mm. You can get these wheels for about $225 ea. I'm trying to get my brother to buy a 240 and if I succeed I'll get this SUPERLIGHT set up for him I reckon it will look awsome. Cheers Sulio

I used a 76 2+2 dash and put it in my 74 2 seater, no problems. I beleive there might be a difference in the rear lights, perhaps the panel. I'm pretty sure the 2+2 rear end is a tad wider, please correct me if I'm wrong fellas!? Another note on interchangable parts in general from other Datsuns for the 240, (not meaning to hijack your post just thought it might help), but I recall reading there are a number of knobs, door handles etc that Datsun used across a few more common models to keep production costs down. Once again maybe one of the other guys here might know a little more about this since I read this info on the net quite some time ago. Sulio I'll post details if I can find the original post.

Thanks Lambs. Ash has got a pair of them. I hope to see a finished set of three when I get back from holidays. We discussed making copies of the original steel ones in plastic but I was still curious about their background. I really like the look of them. Will post some pics as soon as they're done. Thanks for the history, and additional info. Cheers Sulio

I'm thinking of getting some fairladyZ badges for my car. Which cars were badged with this badge? From memory I thought that only cars in Japan had the fairladyZ badge on it. Did they call all Z's in Japan fairladys? Cheers Sulio

Going back some time I saw a 260 2 seater painted in that multi colour paint. Personally I thought it looked bad. I believe the guy was having trouble selling it.

Just curious. Over the years I've heard wheel offsets for Z being stated anywhere from -15 to +15. Most commonly I've read 0mm mentioned. I'm not all that concerned as I believe with a 7" wide rim you could fit anything from a -15 to +15 offset on a Z. What do the superlights come as when ordered for a Z because they seem to fit nicely, i think it might be 0. I personally like going slightly negative to fill those guards a little. Sulio

Mr Camo, Ash has got a set of steel fairladyZ badges he bought on e-bay from Japan quite some time ago. Before I left on holidays we discussed getting them made up in plastic. I beleive he's trying to make a set at the moment. If they look the part then I can get them chromed at a couple of places that make grills and instrumentation for cars etc but one step at a time. I'm back from holidays in 5 days so I'll update you with progress then. Ash did tell me if they come up ok he'll be making them to order so fingers crossed. I'm sure I've seen the coach bolt idea done before just can't recall where. Thats a nice look too, leave the rubbers on and just take the overiders off. My front bumper is in 50/50 condition and thats one of the reasons I've left the over riders on for now. I like your idea of the DATSUN on the flat spot of the rear fin. I assume you would'nt include a DATSUN badge on the hatch but instead on the flat spot!? Is there enough room on that flat spot for both the DATSUN badge and the 240Z badge? Cheers Sulio

Yer I believe the photos of it are in the Polls section under a thread regarding black bonnets. http://www.viczcar.com/v-web/bulletin/bb/viewtopic.php?t=148&start=15

Wow, Cool Gav. How much they usually go for? Sulio

This is a link to a site with a cool looking Z in Japan doing donuts. Clicking on the link below will take you to the site and the vid should automatically load. I wanted to save it to our site but not sure how to do that. If anybody here can do that it might be a good idea because I'm not sure how long it will be available for veiwing on the site below! hint hint Gav http://www.rockyauto.co.jp/ Sulio

Well, congratulations Warren. Sounds like your going to have the best of both worlds. Looking forward to seeing both the new car and the S30 once painted. I bought some fish oil in a spray can the other day. After applying it to some of my undercarriage I coulod see how it would keep the rust away, that stuff forms quite a layer and sticks well too. Cheers Sulio

Well, congratulations Warren. Sounds like your going to have the best of both worlds. Looking forward to seeing both the new car and the S30 once painted. I bought some fish oil in a spray can the other day. After applying it to some of my undercarriage I coulod see how it would keep the rust away, that stuff forms quite a layer and sticks well too. Cheers Sulio

Yer I understand. Heres a pic anyhow of the 16" panasports I think. I still think they're a great period rim that still look quite tough. Also, for about $1500 you could prolly get some nice custom 3 peice 16" ROH wheels made up.

I'm on annual leave for two weeks. Drop the front bar off at my place and I'll take it round for a quote for it to be recoed with holes filled and rechromed for that "blade" look.

Ben, I deal with a lot of platers through work and I've been quoted about $220 per bar for reco. Yes you would have to supply your own bars for reconditioning. If your interested give me a call and I'll get a firm quote and time for work to be done for. Cheers Sulio

Hi Warren, Thanks for the comps. I have liked the naked front look for ages and if I did'nt have the flares I'd actually prefer the stock valance as I think it suits the car quite well although Nigel has shown us that a front spoiler can look great minus the other bits. Looking at your pics you've really got stuck into it. How far from finishing the car are you? I assume you've decided to go the full respray. Sulio