What do Original 240Z Wheels Look Like?

[Arne]

Do you think it is possible that some of the USA wheel manufacturers were having some of their wheels manufactured ( or part-manufactured ) in Japan, and then finishing / re-packaging them as a 'Made In USA' product? I'm talking about the 1970s here.

It's certainly possible, Alan. Especially for what we would have called the 'export' market. Because the sad truth is that back then very few US-made wheels were of a quality sufficient to meet the standards and testing that was required in pretty much the rest of the civilized world. So if an American wheel company wanted to sell one of their better wheels that might meet standards overseas, they may have needed additional wheels to fill out the line. After all, if Appliance wanted to sell their dish mag (arguably their best product in the day) in the UK, a UK distrbutor may want a more complete line-up before they'd be willing to devote much floor space to them. So an easy way to get a more complete line into that market would be to private label wheels (many Japanese) that already met the standards.

But for us here in the states, we never saw those private-label imports. All we would get would be the cheap US made stuff.

This started changing in the early '80s, partly due to tighter regulation of the aftermarket wheel industry, but primarily due to a So. Cal distributor called Golden Wheel, who started importing Enkei wheels and marketing them as a higher quality premium wheel. (And they were much higher quality than your typical US-made custom wheel.) It didn't take long for all the big US wheel companies to scramble to offer a similar product, in most cases Japanese imports that were re-labeled here in the states.

[montoya_fan01]

Appliance, Western, Shelby, Anson, and Cragar were large companies in the USA that manufactured wheels (including 5-slots sized for 240z's) IN the USA, mostly in CA, which was where the the aftermarket wheel industy was centered for a variety of reasons back in the 70's. There may have been others that I don't know of.

I'll take Alan at his word since I know nothing of Japans wheel production capabilities. However, in the decade of the 70's, the USA (also?) became an aluminum wheel producing powerhouse.

The above mentioned companies had manufacturing plants in Southern CA, and in addition to their own brands, could be contracted to produce private label wheels for retailers such as "Wholesale Distributors" or "WD" which was a large chain of Tire/Wheel/Speed Equipment Stores throughout the West Coast (USA).

[26th-Z]

Huh?! I'll have to get my slots out and have a look.

Thanks, Alan for jumping in on the KS wheels. I didn't want this wheel thing to stay confined to the American shores (much less Southern California) without at least some mention of what was actually available.

I have that R&T issue. I'll have to go have a look.

[26th-Z]

Learn something new every day! A friend of mine said he found some "Z" hub centers that fit on the D cap. Check this out. The catalog indicates that the D center excludes Europe. Do you have Ds or Zs over there, Alan?

40300-E4400 Assy-Road Wheel- 5Jx14

40300-E4600 Assy-Road Wheel- 5-1/2Jx14 (steel) Optional

Oh BTW, where is the background for that KS wheel advertisement?

[HS30-H]

Learn something new every day! A friend of mine said he found some "Z" hub centers that fit on the D cap. Check this out. The catalog indicates that the D center excludes Europe. Do you have Ds or Zs over there, Alan?

The situation is a little confusing when it comes to what Nissan called "Europe", and what it called "Exc. Europe" ( which covered the UK market cars ). Both "D" and "Z" emblems were used. See the page scans attached below for descriptions, applcations and part numbers:

Oh BTW, where is the background for that KS wheel advertisement?

No idea. Could it possibly be the huge gash in the earth caused by the mining of ore to make all the Kobe Seiko wheels? I'm just glad you never asked me about the model and her silver jumpsuit.........

[26th-Z]

No need to ask about the silver jump suit. I just sent her an e-mail and asked her out. I was just thinking the landscape had a California feel to it. The optional wheel lists as E4200 compared to my version E4600. Huh!

[HS30-H]

While I have the book handy, here's a scan of the Japanese domestic parts catalogue page that depicts the 432 Mag, the steel wheel, and the hubcap for the Fairlady Z-L.

Part numbers:

*40300-E4100 arse'Y WHEEL, road

*40315-E4105 arse'Y COVER, road wheel

*40300-E4200 arse'Y WHEEL, ( magnesium )

[HS30-H]

I was just thinking the landscape had a California feel to it.

Ha! There must be a secret subtext there. I'll have to try and dig out a few Japanese wheel advertisements that have cherry blossoms and Samurai warriors on them to even up the balance now.

The optional wheel lists as E4200 compared to my version E4600. Huh!

E42 'Part Type' usually means 432/PZ-specific........

Proves what we keep saying about "looking at the whole family in order to understand each family member".......

Alan T.

[HS30-H]

There is a 5.5"x14" Road Wheel- Aluminium listed in the Parts Catalog as:

40300-N3225 with a drawing of an aluminium wheel, but that drawing shows cars up through 78...

40300-N3225 & 40300-N3226 were listed in the Japanese-market parts catalogues for the later cars.

This wheel was also used on some Export market cars; we first saw them here in the UK on the later RS30 '260Z' model.

Scans from Japanese-market parts catalogues and the tenth edition of Nissan's 'Service Shuho' booklets for the S30-series Z are attached below. The 'Service Shuho' page scan illustrating the hubcaps also shows the rather neat 'Nissan'-branded locking wheel nuts:

[sblake01]

Now that's why I was curious about the "Road wheel-aluminum" that Carl mentioned. The 40300-N3225/26 looks like the same wheel (40300-N3200) used in the US on the 260/280Z. Those are the ones on my car. I'd love to get my hands on a set of those locks.

[HS30-H]

The 40300-N3225/26 looks like the same wheel (40300-N3200) used in the US on the 260/280Z. Those are the ones on my car.

Hi Stephen,

I wonder why the part numbers are different? It would seem that the part numbers I quoted from the Japanese parts list are later ( or at least a higher number ) than your wheels. Is there a detail difference do you think?

The Nissan 'Service Shuho' booklet where I first see these wheels introduced to the Japanese market is dated July 1976, so I'm wondering if they were introduced earlier elsewhere?

I'd love to get my hands on a set of those locks.

I've never even seen a set in the metal. Must be pretty rare I'd guess.

Alan T.

[26th-Z]

I didn't realize this was some sort of mystery wheel. I call these "Iron Cross" wheels. 40300-N3225 and N3227