After learning how to search through Yahoo Auctions Japan, it was a gift, yet a sin. More parts were readily available in Japan than in AUS at the time, so I was spending copious amounts of hours on there. Even if I didn't need anything, I'd still be searching just to see if I could find anything of interest for the Silvia.
Majority of those searches were just for wheels. I had come across quite a few interesting pairs/sets over the years. Instead of trying to find another pair of XR4's, I decided I wanted to have mis-matched wheels, taking inspiration from Fonz's car. I already had a set of Mark I's and a pair of XR4's, but I also wanted a pair of Mark II's.
Original listing images
It didn't take me that long to find one. I had asked Jesse to place a bid on the auction and I came out successful. The tyres needed to be stripped for transport as there's a law here where you cannot import used tyres anymore due to safety reasons, so either way, they needed to be taken off. Size measuring at 15x7JJ B-type. I don't remember the build date on these, but judging from the information sticker, I'm going to say early to mid 90's.
While searching for these Mark II's, I found a pair of unicorns. With majority of these being manufactured in 14", I didn't believe that they came out in 15". Did my research and what do you know, they did come in 15", but they are hard to come by. I don't think Hayashi Racing/Takechi Project made a big production run on them.
Original listing images
The wheels were listed under "SSR" on the auction ad - to try and get more views I think. I decided to bite the bullet and take my chances on these. If they were 14", I would have been able to sell them off. Again, asked I Jesse to place a bid on them for me and again, I was successful. Only having to outbid one other person if I recall.
I decided to ship them via sea and after two to three months, they arrived at my doorstep. Coming home from work to see wheels, is a feeling many people can fathom. New - old car parts are the best parts.
Takechi Project worked in conjunction with Hayashi Racing to produce these wheels. I checked the size and luckily they are 15"! Before purchasing them, I had asked Jesse to confirm with the seller if they were 15" as the seller had listed them as SSR. Within the auction title, the seller did state that they were 15", but I just needed to make sure. Final size measuring at 15x7J +2, build date xxxx.
Two more pairs added to the collection, oh what a feeling,
Nissan.
I started the process of painting the XR4 centre caps. I had masked the XR4 stickers, scuffed down with sand paper, etch primer, base coat and clear coat. I went with a gloss black this time round.
Here you can see the difference with good prep versus bad prep. Lots of orange peel on the right one.
I also acquired some original Hart centre caps.
They were sprayed gloss black also. I try to do everything within an OEM specification as possible.
And last but not least, I sanded down the rear pods. I inspected the crack on one of the pods, it wasn't repaired that great. I will rectify this problem, but more on that later.
