Tech Wiki - Wheels : Datsun 1200 Club

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Datsun 1200 uses a common wheel bolt-pattern: 4 bolt holes on 4-1/2 inch circle (aka 4-on-4.5). Nissan engineers measured this in inches. In metric, this is equivalent to a 4 x 114.3 PCD (Positive Coefficient of Distance)

Stock Datsun 1200 wheels are 12 inch diameter, 4J (4 inches wide). All models, even GX models, used the same wheels. Only the Datsun 1200 SSS used a special wheel.

1 Compatible Wheels
- 1.1 Skyline R31 spare steel wheels
- 1.2 Sunny Stock Wheel Comparison
2 Wheel Offset
- 2.1 Scrub Radius
3 Largest Sizes to Fit 1200
4 Wheel Adapters
5 Modifying Axles to fit other wheel patterns
6 Suppliers

Compatible Wheels

Anything that is 4-bolt on 4.5 inch circle fits (depending on tire size), although the offset on many front-wheel drive wheels is too much.

Wheels that fit can be sourced from these vehicles:

Rear-wheel drive Toyota
1960s Ford Falcon and Mustang 4-lug (6-cylinder models)
Chevrolet Corvair (5 x 13). Pefect for the front, but The may need a 1/4 inch spacer to clear the brake caliper brackets in the front
Rear-wheel drive Datsun & Nissan models.
Datsun B310 wheels fit the rear, but do not fit the front of Datsun 1200
Datsun 240Z wheels -- 14"
Uni-lug alloy wheels
Hyundai Excel
Ford Laser (KA to KH)
Rear-wheel-drive Mitsubishi
Skyline R31 spare steel wheels (14")
Early SAAB (5.5 inch wide)

Nearly any rwd 4-lug on 4.5 inch bolt centers fit. These are equivalent to "114.7 PCD" in metric conversion terms.

What WONT work:

Honda
Isuzu/Holden Gemini
Ford Escort/Cortina
early Mazda
Subaru
Newer SAAB (900 Turbo)
Ford Escort/Pinto/Mustang II/Mustang Fox

Skyline R31 spare steel wheels

Also same as Nissan Pintara. These are 14" wheels.

aka "Pursuit" style rims as they are similar to police car (plain) wheels.

R31 Skyline or Pintara steelies

Don't pay more than $15 per steel wheel

The 5.5 wide wheels should fit.

The stock 6" and 7" wide Sillouettes won't fit the B110 or early B210 disc-brake strut. If you run Stanza or 240K struts, then no worries.

R31 steelies

Sunny Stock Wheel Comparison

wheels	B110	1977 US B210	1980 NA B310
size	4 J-12	4-1/2 J-13	4J-12 Canada w/A12A 4-1/2 J-13 5 J-13 (aluminum)
offset	27 (?) mm	30mm offset	30mm 25mm (aluminum)
tire size	155SR-12	155SR-13	6.00-12 155SR13 175/70SR13
balance (place weight on inside of rim)	10gr or less (0.35 oz)	11gr or less	10gr or less
lugnut torque	8-9kg-m (58-65 ft-lb)	8-9kg-m	8-10

Wheel Offset

The stock wheel is 4 inches wide with 30 mm backspace.

wheel offset and backspace diagram

Front-wheel-drive cars use negative-offset wheels. Often they will fit the 1200 if wheel spacers are used.

wheel spacers

Scrub Radius

Too much scrub makes the car a bit unstable under braking and therefore won't generate quite as much cornering grip. This applies mostly to the front suspension (due to the kingpin inclination angle) and not so much to the rear (where camber is nominally zero due to the live-axle design).

scrub radius. its the distance from the centre of the tyre contact patch to where SAI intersects the ground.
'+' scrub radius where the centre of tyre contact patch is outside SAI, '-' where its inside the SAI.
SAI = Steering Axis Inclination. On a strut front end, its simply an imaginary line drawn throught the centre of the strut. Or, it you have bent struts, it's a line drawn through the lower pivot (balljoint) and the top 'pivot' (where the shock insert bolts to the strut top)
Strut front ends apparently don't like lots of + scrub.
Obviously with a given wheel offset, the only way to alter scrub is to alter the SAI. Movint the top of the strut inwards will do that, but also move the centre of tyre contact patch outwards to a lesser extent, so you can't really alter it all that much.
anyway, all i really know is my +3 offset (103mm backspace) 7" Hotwires work much better than the -10 (90mm backspace) offset 7" superlites I had. Would other less offset wheels work better? I dunno...
reference: LB18_110 on 1200 coupe race car

Largest Sizes to Fit 1200

17-inch diameter wheels easily fit the 1200. The key is: width and overall height.

See: Tire Sizes for a discussion of the largest tires that will fit and which wheels are needed for those tires.

Wheel Adapters

Wheel adapters can be used. These bolt to the hub, then you can fit other wheels.

Modifying Axles to fit other wheel patterns

Modifying Axles to fit other wheel patterns can be done as well. For example, you might have the axles drilled to fit five bolts, enabling you to use 5-bolt wheels.

re-drilled axle flange