Watanabe Price Opinions

[kyteler]

Alan,

I'm just guessing here as the only thing I've ever raced around a track was a motorcycle and even then it was only a Open-Day of sorts to try and bring more people into the club (fun though and I kicked some arse).

But perhaps if you were to have an identical or at least very similar size up front as in the rear then you'd experience less traction loss due to the extra drive that the wide rears create being counteracted by the extra grip or bite that the wide fronts would create, it makes sense in my head today, it probably won't tomorrow and when it comes down to it, I really don't know, it was just a thought.

I've also attached an image of my bike, just because I can and I love it this is before my accident the year before last. Since then she's been sitting in the shed partly dismantled since she got a bit mutilated. I'll get her back eventually.

[HS30-H]

Hi Michael,

Nice bike! While I was living in Japan I used to ride around on a CBR 400RR, which was in similar colours to yours.

Lots of my old mates have 'converted' to big bikes over the last few years. I'm not brave enough I'm afraid, and I don't like getting wet either.

As far as your thoughts about my handling / tyre issues on the ZG go, I think one problem is that I have far too much front-end grip as it is. Its a lot more complicated than just tyres, but they are a major factor in my ill-ease with its hadling at the moment. Even on the street its very squirrely, and there seems to be no progression between grip and no grip.

This year the Bilstein set-up goes on, with a lower spring rate and revised front-end geometry. I'm hoping that this will help to make it work more progressively, but in any case the ZG really ought to start taking a back seat on the track activity front. I am building the 432R replica to be a track-day fun car, and its better to preserve the ZG for more sedate activities. However, there's no way the 432R replica will be finished this year. There's still much too much to be done.

Cheers,

Alan T.

[kyteler]

440kms, 5hours and $180NZD's on and I have my set of Watanabe's

They're not the "ideal" offset, they are more suited to a modern car however, with the use of some 2-3mm spacers for the front they should fit well enough.

I've attached a pic, unfortunately my other brother has the digital camera so these pics are using my cellphone.

[v12horse]

Congradulation's Kytyler! That is awesome. The wheels may not have the offset that you desired, but if the other three wheels look as nice as that one, they will look great on your c110. They look like they still have the original Watanabe gunmetal finish on them. It is hard to come by nice original Wat's. That is an awesome find. I cann't wait to see them on your car. One of these days I hope to get a set for my baby:love: .

Take care,

Ben

[Alfadog]

Cool, they'll look great on your car - personally I think they'd look better without flares - not sure what you think though.

Very nice wheels! Don't quite know how you scored such a great deal! Quite lucky indeed.

[kyteler]

OK, fine...

I'll let you in on my secret.

The guy thought they were Mini-lites. :devious:

I looked at the image he had on his auction, my eyes lit up, I saw where the emblem should be and there was a slight fuzziness in the photo. So I asked him whether they had a logo on them with 3 birds in a circle.

He replied with yes, I never noticed that before, you're right what looks like three birds with a line underneath them inside a circle.

You know the rest of the story, he still knows no better and that is my deception, I feel a little bad about it but more than that, it makes me think how many other auctions I've missed that were Watanabes and labeled "mini-lites" or "super-lites" So lately I've been double checking all auctions.

Who knows I may even come across another set and if they're better or worse then the set I have now, I'll sell them to someone on here SO WE ALL BENEFIT! well..... two people.

I've attached a pic of them hanging off the studs while the rear's still on the jack, they'll have a decent set of tyres on them and be properly on the car tomorrow all going well.

[Alfadog]

Looks good! Although your other wheels have a veyr nice dish there... your car is very straight, and that paint job looks great. Never really noticed before... but guh that rear "Skyline" thing... egghh. You're missing the side little chrome strips that run along just under the door, though. Do you know this? Looks fine without them, though. The GT-R had black ones that went from the bottom of the door to the bottom of the car, FWIW.

[kyteler]

The paint looks good in pictures, it's not so good in reality.

The car looks straight in pictures, it's got a fair bit of surface crap rust that need to be cleaned up.

Yes, that 'Skyline' signwriting is a ugly pile of dog excrement. The PO put it on cause he got sick of people asking if it was a Mazda.

It'll go when she gets resprayed in gloss black. Which isnt for a while.

And yeah I know it's missing those panels... they, as with the same things on the HQ Premiers are heathens for trapping water and rust starting so they wont be back.

[Alfadog]

Indeed. I'm going to take mine off when I get the rust down there fixed up, and they won't be going back on. I think I will have the bottom part painted black, 1 because there wont be a problem with trying to match the colour, and 2 because it will look like the GT-R is supposed to. Makes perfect sense. The only problem with that is the black bits on the bottom tend to make hte car look like it's sitting higher than it really is. Hmm...

[kyteler]

Get it done in removable-vinyl, try it out for a while, if you don't like it, rip it off. Saves a re-paint if you end up hating it.