Here is the Chrome wheel from Paul Ricioli's car.

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Ross Williams
1978 280Z Black Pearl Edition 38k Original Miles

That's EXACTLY the car.

I had a weird reaction to this car. When I first saw it, I recall thinking something like, "Ewww, a lime-green Z car??" and then as I got closer I said, "What? SPOKES on a Z car??, Oh no!", and then as I got even closer I said, "Hey ~ chrome spokes on a lime-green Z car...not bad". Then as the day wore on I kept returning to this car and feeling better and better about it until by the end of the day I was thinking, "WOW ~ I wanna go look at that beautiful lime-green Z car with the chrome spokes again" but I didn't want to say it to anyone out loud.

At the final judging I was happy to see this car was tied with another (also really beautiful) Z car for Best of Show. When this car won, I felt better about liking it so much.

But this is probably the ONLY Z car that ever looked really sensational in wire spokes.

3 piece, 20 bolt, 16x8.5" hre's, -1.5"offset, split, rebuilt, powder coated with 245/45zr rs2 hankook's

I've had them for a few weeks, but here are some shots

Rota RB 17x9 -13, 17x9.5 -19. They're the perfect dimensions for an early Z with ZG flares.


Comparison, against my stock "Turbine" 14x6 wheels;

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-Chris

Those are 17s? The 'shorter' rubber makes the overall height look the same.

They are very similar. The new wheels/tires are only about 1/2 an inch taller according to the tire calculator. It looks like less in person. The main advantage to these new things is a thinner, stiffer sidewall and greatly increased width. This combines for a night and day difference in traction and handling between the new and the stock.

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-Chris

Those are nice.

Here's the new kid on the block again. Going back thru the thread.....

Re. Frank's slotted dish rims, when I had them on the '70 I had the same problem: the brake dust gets in the nooks and crannies (THOMAS' English muffins, get it?), it just doesn't want to come out. I'm a pretty slow thinker, so it took me almost 40 years to come up w/flat black in the slots, which would go w/almost any color Z, while highlighting the rims and rotors. I wouldn't care to match the car's color, though..... to me it looks kinda tooky in most cases (that's pronounced two-key, y'all)!

Anybody remember the Honeycomb mags? They look somewhat like the rims Bryan has on his car, only all aluminum. I have them on my 160-Z ('71 510), but they're worse than the slotted dish to work on.

And how about the REAL Minilite mags? The REAL LIVE magnesium wheel? They look something like Phrog's. I got a set while w/Bob Sharp back around 1975-77, and they cost me a bundle at that time. I would probably faint now.... When I had the '70 painted candyapple red I used '75 Ford gold inside the rim of the front spoiler, the pinstripes, the rear filler panel, and, of course, the Minilites. Good looking, but the real deal is reducing the unsprung weight......


Ranger Rick

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All Z Best,.......Kathy & Rick

1969 Z.CAR (#00013 10/69) 8/30/76
1969 ITSA.Z (#00171 11/69) 8/24/73
1970 OLD.Z (#06289 6/70) original owner
1971 510 2dr since 12/31/75
1969 1600 rdstr (our 160-Z)
1971 (#19851 1/71) sold
1975 75.Z (#01343 1/75)

Yeah Rick ~ those "snowflake" or "Honeycomb" wheels looked great ~ until you stepped on the brakes! Both Phil and Jim Hagani are fans of those great wheels, but you should hear them moan about cleaning them up for a car show!

And YES! I remember 'real' magnesium 5-slot wheels. Had them on my Z in the 70s and I loved them ~ lightweight and strong. A bit hard to keep the balance weights stuck on them tho, and LORD ~ you wouldn't want to be anywhere near them if your car caught fire! Unless you had a Class-3 fire extinguisher (Chemical/Electrical), you were just gonna splash flames all over the place by hitting them with anything less.

I guess that's why we can't buy them anymore.

Same reason you don't want to be near a magnesium-deck lawnmower if it catches fire ~ just pull it BACKWARDS to a safe place and let it burn. Never spray it with a hose.

Yeah, those Honeycomb rims are EDUCATIONAL, they teach you how to CUSS REAL GOOD!

I didn't know you couldn't get the real magnesium Minilites anymore, that's new to me. But like you say, in a fire, they could go up like Willie Peter (White Phosphorus to you non-combat-veteran types)!

Ranger Rick

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All Z Best,.......Kathy & Rick

1969 Z.CAR (#00013 10/69) 8/30/76
1969 ITSA.Z (#00171 11/69) 8/24/73
1970 OLD.Z (#06289 6/70) original owner
1971 510 2dr since 12/31/75
1969 1600 rdstr (our 160-Z)
1971 (#19851 1/71) sold
1975 75.Z (#01343 1/75)

These are the set I have more-or-less settled on, just need to get the car back from the shop and then get the suspension "at height" to figure out how far I can go on size/offset. They are CCW SP18's

Current thinking is 19x10 +25 up front and
19x12 +5-10ish out back. Just need to see exactly how much wheel/tire will fit under once everything is dialed in.

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"We hang the petty thieves and appoint the great ones to public office." -Aesop

Nice looking rims; I would love to see how they look once installed.

Is there some kind of product available these days that could be
applied to keep brake dust, road grit, bird poop, and whatever else
might be attracted to them, from adhering?

I notice they are 5-lug. Do you have some kind of replacement hubs
for this install, or are you using some kind of adapter arrangement?

All Z Best,................................Kathy & Rick

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All Z Best,.......Kathy & Rick

1969 Z.CAR (#00013 10/69) 8/30/76
1969 ITSA.Z (#00171 11/69) 8/24/73
1970 OLD.Z (#06289 6/70) original owner
1971 510 2dr since 12/31/75
1969 1600 rdstr (our 160-Z)
1971 (#19851 1/71) sold
1975 75.Z (#01343 1/75)

The 370's are a 5 lug hub factory, but CCW(Complete Custom Wheel) can make them to any 4/5 lug pattern in almost any offset you could wish for. The once piece wheels come between 18"-20" and the 3 piece between 16"-18" in any width you could want(5" up to 12"+). The price is a bit high at around $2600-$2800 a set, but well worth it when you consider that most of the high end off the shelf Japanese forged wheels start at around 3k in those sizes, and for a set of comprable HRE's you are looking at 4-6K+.

After all that, I may wind up going in a different direction. I LOVE the OEM sport package wheels. They are light, very attractive forged Rays wheels and I found a company that specializes in widening wheels. Once the sizing is figured out, adding 2" to the rear and 1" to the front with spacers to bring them out would still be a fraction of the cost

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"We hang the petty thieves and appoint the great ones to public office." -Aesop

Rick, here is a famous/infamous example of a Z car with CCWs:

http://www.cardomain.com/ride/827044

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-Chris

If anyone is interested, I have a set of the wheels like Ross shows, and a set of 14" slots like Frank favors, both sets need polishing but don't have any road rash. And they are for sale cheap-150 for the Ross wheels and 250 for the Frank wheels. OBO.

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71 on a rotisserie, two more in pieces in my shed...and a 69 1600 waiting for me to get to it