Anyone know the above specifically for 15" Panasport wheels on a '72 240Z? I've looked at Owner's manual, Factory & Haynes Shop Manuals and "How to Restore Your Datsun Z-Car" book and finding no mention.

In advance, thanks for the help.

Best,
Chris

I always do 80 ft-lbs.

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Justin
1986 Z31 NA 2+0

The Datsun Engine, Chassis and Body Service Manual for the 1972 240Z specifies tightening the stock (14" steel) wheels "in a criss-cross fashion to 8.0 to 9.0 kg-m (58 to 65 ft-lb)". (Search under tire rotation).

I would suspect aftermarket wheels might have their own torque specs, so I wouldn't completely trust Datsun literature for the correct answer. Have you searched for factory recommended specs in the Panasport literature? You might not want to apply the same pressure to a magnesium or aluminum wheel that you would to a steel wheel.

Over-torquing lug nuts can stretch the wheel lugs (bolts) and make them unsafe, or crush and crack lightweight porous metal wheels.
Under-torquing them can have even worse consequences.

Frank T

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1970 240Z

DatsunParts.com has this to say about torquing Panasports on Roadsters and Fairladys:

* * * * * * * * * * ** * * *

"Partnumber: 1656
Datsun Roadster 14 by 6 Custom Wheels

Panasport wheels for use on the street or for racing. 14 by 6. Great looking with the correct off-set. Comes with the Panasport silver cap not pictured.

Set of 4 Order by PART# 1656A
A lug nut kit is supplied when the set of 4 is purchased.

Recommended tire sizes. 185/60/14, 195/60/14. Remember, the wider you go the more sidewall collapse occurs given the width of the rim and subsequent loss of performance.

>>>>>>NOTE:Do not torque wheels above 60 lbs. Do not use a air gun to torque wheels on".

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

The advert goes on to offer Panasports for 240Zs, but fails to address torque specifications for those wheels. You can read the whole page here:

http://www.datsunparts.com/Wheels


So, I would torque them to less than 60 ft/lbs.

Frank T

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1970 240Z

In my line of profession, they sell a kit, called torque sticks that can be used with air guns and each one is different and you have a chart for each car. I still don't use them. BTW, I think the lowest one is 80 ftlbs. I have used the air gun on thousands of tires and never had an issue. I follow a star pattern, in "3" STEPS. Snug, Tight, and Torqued by feel. Keep in mind, this is after some years of experience, and understanding torque values, and being a master of the air gun. NOW.....I do use a torque sick on specialty vehicles.....just because I feel the need. My 240z being one. I'm somewhere's around 90 ftlbs, I'll have to double check. 60 ftlbs seems to low to me........besides, have you ever broke a Z stud? All thow that said, I always look at vehicle specs, or the aftermarket specs first, and judge my decision on that.

After 5 or 6 phone calls to wheel manufacturers, I finally reached a knowledgable guy who said it all depended on stud size. He recommended going 5 lbs. over the factory recommended torque for steel wheels, driving 50 miles, and then re torqing.

According to my haynes book, "roadwheel trque should be 60 ft. lbs." Søøøøøøø, I would torque them to 65 ft. pounds, drive 5 miles, and then retorque them.

Irv Rich

50*

Sorry, that should be : "drive fifty (50) miles and then retorque."
Irv

Here is some recent content for this discussion. First, the back story: last week I went in to Discount Tire to get my tires balanced - this is where I bought the wheels and tires. I requested a torque setting of 65 ft. lbs. per my FSM. They indicated their shop spec was 85 ft. lbs. and would have to stay with that. I told them I would later back them off to my spec. and signed a release to that effect. Later I contacted DT corp. thru their website and explained the dilemma. My local store mgr. got back to me and I furnished them with specs from XenonS30, including the '78 280Z spec of 72 ft. lbs for OE alloys + a link to XenonS30. Here is the final contact from the store mgr.:

"Hi Mr. Arnett, I finally got a response from our technical guru at corporate. There is some variance in the torque value between "steel wheels with conical-seat lugs" and the "OE aluminum wheels with mag shank lugs". To further complicate things, your vehicle has "aftermarket aluminum wheels with conical-seat lugs". He said the best practice is to go by your owners manual's highest value and round-up to the nearest 5-value. In this case it would be 72 ft/lbs rounded up to 75 ft/lbs. He says that there is no need for concern torquing the lugs at 85 as it is well within the plastic range for the studs. I had to look that up!

Plastic Range: The stress range in which a material will not fail when subjected to the action of a force, but will not recover completely so that a permanent deformation results when the force is removed.

Although he's confident that the studs wouldn't be damaged at 85 ft/lbs, he feels better about torquing them at 75 because it's closer to the torque spec set by Datsun/Nissan. I doubt that there will be any changes made to our fitment guide since 85 is within the plastic range of the stud, but we can certainly torque your vehicle in the future to his recommended 75 ft/lbs.

Hopefully this helps. Let me know if you have any questions. Thank you!"

I'm very pleased with the response from DT and this might be help to any of you that do business with them. DT has updated my customer record with this info so we don't have to go thru it again.

No charge for today's science lesson on "plastic range".

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Jim Arnett
Richardson, Texas
HLS30-15320 12/1970 (original owner)
ZCON 2015 Gold Cup - Street Modified class

Thank you sincerely for describing the 'plastic range' stuff. I've never heard that term and when I got to that part in your story I asked myself 'WHAAAA?'.
Very glad you explained it.

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1970 240Z

OMG!!! We finally hear of something Frank did not know of. Actually, the explanation came from the DT store mgr.

Be sure to find a way to work that into the conversation the next time you visit Vinney.

_________________
Jim Arnett
Richardson, Texas
HLS30-15320 12/1970 (original owner)
ZCON 2015 Gold Cup - Street Modified class

_________________
1970 240Z

Gee, I called it the stretch range, but whatever the term is, every bolt has it's "Plastic Range" Therefore after my double check, I have mine at 80 ft lbs. and that is well in the range. This last time I put my rims on I tried 65 and that to me does not satisfy my safety. I then went up to 75, and still just needed that extra 5. So 80 it is for me. BTW, if you put about 140 FT LBS to one of these Nissan studs, they wont break. It's not a GM.