Body: Wheels.

There are two things we need to talk about with wheels, style of wheel and size of wheel. Lets start with style of wheel.

The vintage Japanese car does not respond well to giant wheels with rubber band tires that seem so common on the modern car. Small and wide wheels with tall sidewalls are the correct. Lets start by looking at what is one of the most iconic wheels in all of automotive history, the 8 spoke Banana wheel.

8 wide, round spokes. Called a banana wheel because the spokes....

.....Look like bananas. This is a British Minilite. Most fast, nimble British sports care ran on 13 and 14 inch Minilights. This wheel has been copied many, many times.

These are 15" Panasports. Another very popular Datsun racing wheel. Usually in a 15x7. Their light, and incredibly strong, but not quiet there yet.

What would Japanese enthusiasts have available? RS Watanabe. The Watanabe wheel has been in production since the early 60's and are custom made, so you could get them as wide and in what ever low offset you needed. Want a 15x12 rear wheel for your Skyline? Sure. Want a 16x8 front wheel for your Datsun? Of course. The low offset and wide wheel made the Watanabe sand out from the other banana wheels.

There are other good vintage style wheels though.

The Hayashi is available in a staggered setup. 15x8 in the front and 15x9 in the rear.

Maybe a modern wheel like the Grid? Comes in a wide low offset, and all kinds of colors.

So what about Size?

Our factory wheel would have been a 14x5.5 with a 185/70R14 tire.

Depending on whether or not we use the rivet on flares, our ideal wheel width is 8", maybe a 9" wheel in the rear.

But what about diameter? I've always felt that going more than a +2 is too much, so that means the biggest wheel is a 16". Problem though. No good tire options in a 16" size. 15" isn't much better. So, do we go to 17" and get better tires for less? Does a 17" Banana wheel look good on a Z?

I worry the 17" is a little too big, making the car look like a Hot Wheels toy.

So that's where we're at. We haven't decided on wheels, but we have a long way to go. Most likely we will do one of two sizes/styles.

15x8 Black Banana Wheels with a 225/50R15 tire
or
17x8 front 17x9 Rear Black Banana wheel with 225/45 Front and 245/40R17 Rear.