Narrowest Stock Wheel?

[Captain Obvious]

What's the narrowest stock wheel Datsun ever used? 72 FSM says 5 inch, but I don't have manuals earlier than that.

Did they ever use anything narrower than 5 inches, or is that the narrowest?

[Arne]

5" was new for '72. Before that they were 4½" wide.

[Captain Obvious]

Thanks Arne. Cool.

Next question... Anyone got a 4.5 inch steel wheel from a 70 or 71 Z available? I need just one for my spare.

[Captain Obvious]

Still hunting for a 4.5 inch wide Z wheel and not making a lot of progress. Thinking that maybe I could open my field of interest a little? Are there wheels from other cars that might work?

For example, what about Roadster wheels? Anybody know the specs? Are they 14 inch? Same lug pattern? 0 offset?

Early 4 1/2 wide Z steel wheels - 40300-E4100

Roadster wheels - 40300-14600 and 40300-14601

[AZ-240z]

I may have a 4 1/2 " wheel, but it would be in my attic above the garage. I'll take a look in the next day or two if you're still looking. Unfortunately, shipping

across the country my be expensive. I have a set of 5" wheels in perfect condition if interested. They would just need a little touch-up paint for show condition.

Dan

[Captain Obvious]

Thanks Dan. I've got feelers out in a bunch of different directions, but at this point, yes... I'm still looking. So if you get the chance to peek up in the garage attic, measure what you have. I've already got a 5" wide, so that won't do anything for me, but 4.5 or even 4.0 would be great.

[Captain Obvious]

So anyone know anything about the Roadster steelies? Through on-line digging and reading, I think I have verified that they are 14" and have the 4x4.5 lug pattern, but what about wheel width and offset? Anyone know?

[bacarl]

You could try sourcing a mini-spare from just about anything with a 4x4.5 bolt pattern. I wouldn't limit myself to Datsun parts. Offset will have less of an impact on a wheel that narrow, and even if it's 10mm off one way or the other it would be acceptable to limp home on.

Bit of searching around found this site that indicates the following models with the 4x4.5 bolt pattern:

Acura - Legend '86-'89

Acura CL 2.3/3.0

Acura TL 2.5

Buick - Special '61-'63

Chevrolet Corvair all 4-bolt

Chevy II all 4-bolt

Datsun/Nissan - most models to '89

Datsun 260Z, 280Z / ZX *, turbo '70-'85

Datsun 240Z * - needs chamfered nuts

Dodge Colt '79-'88 - offset may be wrong

Dodge Colt (early)

Eagle Summit '86-'92

Falcon, Maverick, Granada all 4-bolt

Ford Mustang all '65-'68 4-bolt

Geo Metro '88-'98

Honda Accord '90+ except V6 Accord

Honda Prelude '92-'96

Infinity G20 '91-'94

Infinity M30 '90-'92

MGA, MGB

Mazda - 626, RX7 '83-'87 ????

Mazda 323 '86-'89

Mazda 626 '83-'87

Mazda RX-7 '84-'88

Mitsubishi Gallant '83-'97

Mitsubishi Mirage '88-'92

Nissan 200SX '80-'88 *

Nissan Altima '93-'98

Nova ('61-'70)

Olds - F-85 '61-'63

Plymouth - Arrow, Sapporo '79-'88 * (Sapporo wheels look similar to LE)

SAAB - 900 and 90 to '87 come in 5.5 x 15 or 6 x 15 *

SAAB - 9000 to '87 some will work *

Sprint '85-'87

Suzuki Swift '89-'98

Toyota - most exc. MR2 and P.U. to '89

Triumph TR 1..5

Perhaps a mini-spare could be found for one of these. The more modern Acuras and Nissans would be a good place to start.

Edited June 18, 2014 by bacarl

[Captain Obvious]

Thanks for the info on the space savers, but that's not the real problem here. Let me put the whole story out there...

First, let me start off with: I did get my hands on a 4.5 inch wide Z rim, so if anyone is still looking for me, thanks for the help and I'm calling off the dogs.

Now back to the story... I have a 77 280 with the collapsible accordion spare and the inflator bottle. I don't trust it. I don't know if the bottle has anything in it, and I'm not sure that accordion spare would be all too happy to be woken up from a 40 year long slumber. So, with all that in mind, I started looking into different options instead.

Problem number one... I don't have enough room to use a full sized spare. The spare tub in 77 is too small of a diameter. A full sized tire won't fit down in the small tub. I don't know when exactly they made this change, but I know a 74 will accept a regular tire and wheel combo, and 77 will not. So in either 75 or 76 they reduced the size of the spare tire tub and made it necessary to use the smaller accordioned inflat-o-spare.

So, I went to the junkyard and started looking for mini space saver spares. I found lots of them with the proper lug pattern (like your list above), but the diameter restriction is an issue even with the space saver spares. I took a tape measure with me and bought a 15" space saver with a diameter that should fit.

When I got home I pulled on front and one rear wheel and checked fitment. Fit fine on both front and rear. Offset was wrong, but I didn't really care too much. Like you said, it's temporary only and emergency use. Offset isn't really a big deal. However, as I was test fitting the 15", I realized it had very little air in it and as I filled it properly, it grew in diameter and when done, it wouldn't fit in the tub anymore. Duh. So 15" doesn't work.

Back to the junkyard and picked up a 14" space saver with the correct bolt pattern. It's a 115/70/14 and even when fully inflated, it fits in the 77 tub. But when test fitting to the vehicle it highlighted problem number two... It fits fine on the rear, but in the front, it won't clear the caliper because of the shape of the back side of the wheel. :tapemouth

So, the bottom line is that I'm not sure there exists a space saver spare that will fit in the reduced diameter 77 tub while still having a large enough wheel insides to clear the front caliper.

That brings us to now... I've got this 115/70/14 tire that would work just fine if I moved it to a wheel that would clear the front caliper. The space saver rim is 4" wide and with the very short sidewall on the space saver rubber, I doubt I could stretch it out to a 5" wide Z rim. But I DO think I could get it onto a 4.5 inch Z rim.

My theory is that a 4.5" Z rim with a 115/70/14 space saver spare tire mounted on it will fit the 77 tub AND will be able to be mounted to all four corners. And if that 's not all!! A bonus would also be that the offset would be appropriate.

And that's the whole Alice's Restaurant Massacre as to why I'm looking (was looking) for a 4.5" Z rim.

[Kurbycar32]

Most modern sports cars come with this:

Its a pretty big weight and storage saving technique. With modern tires I have yet to have a situation that left me with a tire that couldn't be revived with a can of fix-a-flat long enough to get me to a tire shop.

Edited June 19, 2014 by Kurbycar32

[zKars]

I have another idea for ya Cappy. One I tested.

I have a 73 and I carry the same collapsable spare that you had in your 77 originally. Got mine from a 83 zx, doesn't matter. Since I too don't trust the "can-o-air" I simply bought a small cig lighter powered tire inflator and carry that.

To make sure this was a "real" solution, I used it to inflate that collapsable spare. Worked just fine. Not all that fast, but it worked. Then I drained the pressure from the spare. It collapsed right back down to original size. Yes, they are re-usable.

One more idea to get something to work. About your 14" space saver spare. Since it fits the front, but not back, you could swap tires if a rear blows out. Put front on back, then spare on front. Remember all of this is for the highly unlikely event of a flat, so a bit of time spent is worth the years of driving with sig. weight savings. I use the extra space around my collapsable spare for critical spare parts, safety gear and nice little inflator.

[siteunseen]

One more idea to get something to work. About your 14" space saver spare. Since it fits the front, but not back, you could swap tires if a rear blows out. Put front on back, then spare on front.

Now that's an obvious solution! Too much A. Guthrie? He's nuts!