SLEEK Z

Related to first poster, Enkei sold other designs (specificaly 82's) similar to 92's that can easily be confused in online sale photos. Even sellers often get their model numbers confued when posting ads. Offset on 82's, if distant memory serves me correctly, are not zero offset (I found -15 on one set that I sold last year) like most Enkei 92s are. As regards the mesh design on both orange cars, both were open pore Appliance brand wheels. First was 14x6 with the steeper taper angle on the rim's lip area. 2nd was 14x7 with the distinct, ultra wide lip, with "muscular look". Both are zero offset and proper fit for S30 cars. Top photo from my ZPARTS website that Victor linked to in his post were in fact Enkei 92 imitations as best as I could tell. Myself and fellow parts seller, who consigned the wheels for sale at my site, were both baffled as to what brand or origin they were. They had none of the backside markings typical of Enkei issue, but they may have come from the same factory? btw, those silver mesh 14x6 wheels were ultra light, weighing in at only 11 lbs each ! in contrast, a 14x6 Enkei 92 that I just weighed here weighed in just shy of 12 lbs. 2nd photo that Victor linked to on my site was of what I believe, is a Riken brand. Again, in most online seller ADs a buyer would be hard pressed to tell the difference between that black painted Riken? wheel and and an Enkei 92, but I assure you, there's a significant design detail difference between the two similar designs. I'd post a URL to a larger close up photo of the Riken wheel on my website that would show you the differences in a close up shot, but Mike Gholson has been hassling me about posting any links to my site because he is afraid that members here will be "pulled" away from his site to mine. Anyway, also keep in mind that brands of that era, like Western Wheel, also made mesh designs that can be confused in photos online. Lastly, it might interest some here that Enkei 92s and Rikens, like ones pictured on my site and others, made with distinctly different construction materials and methods, has resulted in them being many pounds lighter than most open pore type of wheels sold in that era. For instance, I just packaged up and shipped two complete sets of wheels in exact same boxes. First set were Western Wheel brand, 14x5.5, open pore, cast aluminum rib design wheels. 2nd set was a set of 15x7 Enkei 92's. You'd think that the 15x7 wheels boxed two to a box would have been heavier than the 14x5.5s, but guess what, boxed up sets of the two per box weighed exactly the same, 33.2 lbs. Wow! Now you can see why Enkeis are sought after by two different groups of buyers. Racers seek these just as avidly to lower their sprung wheel weight as the guys do that are looking to spif up the image of their hot street Zs. Eric Neyerlin - owner of ZPARTS.COM

Not sure how long you've owned a Z car nor how long you have been looking, so you may not know the drill when it comes to Nissan's non published attitudes toward owners of Classic Datsun vehicles over 10 years old, but I am pretty certain that Nissan will never sell the rubber squeege piece by itself to you. I doubt that they even list a part # for it in the final parts fiche, but I have not yet checked. I did check my Z Car Parts Interchange Guide and it is not listed in there either. On the other hand, I suspect you might be able to find something close by looking through catalogs like JC Whitney and special automotive supply catalogs to the general industry.

Gheez, over the years, several times I have looked with disgust at stacks of non dinged stainless steel door strips with decent conditiion rubber squeegee pieces intact, and just tossed them in the metal scrap bin out of annoyance with how difficult it is to store them without damaging them over a period of time. Now I regret it because I am already seeing the increasing amount of demand hitting me for non bent or dinged ones with soft rubber still intact. The good news is that I probably do have a few decent ones still in stock that have decent rubber attached. Not perfect nor like-new, mind you, but way better than average. Biggest worry I have about selling them is how to package and ship them economically so they will not get bent up during transit. Any suggestions? Sleek Z

Gheez, over the years, several times I have looked with disgust at stacks of non dinged stainless steel door strips with decent conditiion rubber squeegee pieces intact, and just tossed them in the metal scrap bin out of annoyance with how difficult it is to store them without damaging them over a period of time. Now I regret it because I am already seeing the increasing amount of demand hitting me for non bent or dinged ones with soft rubber still intact. The good news is that I probably do have a few decent ones still in stock that have decent rubber attached. Not perfect nor like-new, mind you, but way better than average. Biggest worry I have about selling them is how to package and ship them economically so they will not get bent up during transit. Any suggestions? Sleek Z

Rob, I hope you understood that I was only meaning to poke some good natured fun at your "wood" part analysis comment. Its understandable that anyone that is new to poking around the insides of a newly acquired "OLD" car may mistake some materials used for good reasons you mention. I see those rubber rollers frequently covered with aged, hard paint overspray from cheap paint jobs or coated in aged crude formed while car sat under a tree in a pasture for several years before again being resurected for use. Now, if you really want to hear a story about "Wood Parts" everywhere, some time ask me about the 33 chevy Pick Up I purchased just after I got out of the Navy in the 70's. This vehicle really was half metal and half rotting oak wood. For instance, all the cab sheet metal was literally attached to a complexly crafted oak wood skeleton made with craftsman techniques that would have required me to become a master wood worker just to restore the thing for the road again. I had a huge kitchen and breakfast room in in a duplex that I then rented in San Jose while going to San Jose State. So huge in fact that I hauled virtually the whole partially disassembled chevy truck cab sections and fenders inside and worked on further disassembly in the evenings after classes trying to carefully salvage as much of the rotten and disentergrating wood skeleton as I could for purposes of trying to recreate these pieces some how later on. Never did finish that project before I sold it, but me and a retired 80 year old mechanic buddy of mine did manage to fire the engine on the first try by pouring gas into the opening of the one barrel carb and using the hand crank to manually hand crank the engine to fire. We were friggin shocked and dismayed when it started on the 2nd crank! Surprised and scared us both nearly to death when it fired after sitting out in a pasture for nearly 10 years prior! The RPMs just kept increasing and we had to think fast as to how to shut the wild thing down before it blew up or threw a rod. Great memories related to "wooden" cars. Sleek Z

A "Wood???????" window guide roller inside a S30 door? Now, that's a "good one". Whoever came up with that one should also show us all a photo or stop smok'in whatever he is smoking while working on his car. I've parted out over 300 S30 bodies and all rollers I have salvaged from the early model doors is made of black rubber and are attached to a spring steel clip support. Still looking for my first "wood" find. btw, it is quite common for the spring steel and roller to cease serving it's function due to loss of it's tensil strength or break in two at a manufaturing crease in the metal and fall down inside the door. Many new Z owners take advantage of the low cost inspection service I offer here in the SF Bay Area in which I look for all the typically hidden damage and aging problems not obvious to a new Z car owner. One of the first areas of the car that I zero in on looking for problems is that of the doors. Broken window roller clips, dovetails, foreward welded seams and deteriorated fuzz rubber frame channels are the most commonly found problems. Sleek Z

I see nothing negative about your comments, just good observation, but somewhat different conclusions to mine. Quite a coincidence that HS-30-H from England should make nearly the same comment as Albrecht did an hour ago over on the Z Club of UK forum earlier today after seeing the underneath photos that I just uploaded this morning. Must be something about Z car experiences in the UK that sets up the alarms mentioned. Because I part out lots of Z in California, I get to observe the condition of a lot of s30 bodies from underneath and after I cut them in two. From my point of view, what matters underneath before building a show (not restoration) or performance car on top is not cosmetics so much as metal and structural integrity. S30 bodies usually look pretty ugly and beat up from underneath, but if the body has no serious body rust nor cancer, but merely lots of banged up rail and pan bottoms, I don't think it matters much to a lot of custom builders, at least in my area of California, whether they go to the expense to pound everything out for cosmetic effect and spiff it up for the camera or not. However, when it comes to "back to original" restoration projects, that's another philosopy and approach all together. SLEEK Z

I am working on getting every one the facts and particulars on the car ASAP. I've got some Nissan engine swap buddies that speak Japanese that also have been inching toward doing their own custom fabricated performance upgrade solution to installing a Nissan VH engine in a Z State side. Armed with all their expertise and interest in the first ever completed swap in Japan, I suspect we will be able to post a lot more info about the car within the next 2 weeks. Please monitor Yuki Komiya's Project Page often and info will appear there when I get to share. SLEEK Z

Hello, All My website, ZPARTS.COM, has been exclusively showcasing that unique Q45 engine swap and custom bodied Z car in Japan for over a year now. See my post in this section titled "Dual Turbo Q45 V8 Swap Completed" to learn more about upcoming new photos and background information from the owner plus a planned interview of him as soon as my Japanese buddies can forward on translated questions to the owner-builder, Yuki Komiya, in Japan. Yuki and i have been working together since November 2002 to showcase his project, but due to his limited Englsh writing skills he has mostly supplied me with updated photos of his project since we first started to work together. Now that his project has been completed, I hope to assemble all the facts, specs and even better photos of his car to share with Z enthusiasts around the world as soon as possible. Note: Yuki now refers to his left hand 240Z in Japan as his "450Z" Any objectiions from you "purists"? Main link to Featured Project Section at ZPARTS.COM is http://www.zparts.com/indexes/featproj_index.html Start at that link to find current links to Yuki's Q45 V8 swap project and others that may be of interest to you all. Temporary direct URL to Preview Photos of Yuki's the Q45 V8 swap progress and completed car at ZPARTS.COM is http://www.zparts.com/showcase/engines/pages/q45v8z-testfit.html ...SLEEK Z

Since the topic here is about custom tail lights swaps to Z cars, some of you might find a huge thread (over 5000 views & nearly 300 replies!) over at HybridZ.org forums that has tons of photos and great ideas for Z customizers. Thread that I started there last year, titled "What Tail lights will work on a 240Z?," is at http://www.hybridz.org/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=11275&highlight= As follow up support to that thread I later created a featured "Custom Tail Lights" section at my ZPARTS.COM website at http://www.zparts.com/showcase/taillight_showcase/index.html that some of you might find interesting as well. Enjoy, SLEEK Z