Thanks for your interest. I have spent the past several years trying to convince myself that I am not insane (though the project may be), and my move to the AME chassis was a big decision. It was a trade-off in spending money up front to save me time and ultimately get a car capable of handling the way I would expect after dumping tons of money into it regardless of which direction I choose. I have followed some of the other members' projects, and I see tons of work going into reinforcing the unibody which ultimately adds a lot of weight anyway. My goal with the AME chassis is that it, together with a minimally designed roll cage to meet NHRA / SCCA requirements, will provide all of the primary rigidity for the car, and the small remaining shell of the body I will use will just go along for the ride pretty much.
I have struggled with coming to terms on a few aspects of the project. I don't like super wide wheels that protrude far outside the original body lines of the car. I wanted to keep that minimal, while recognizing that I would definitely need fender flares for what I have planned. Initially I wanted 17" wheels because I though 18" wheels looked strange on the Z car and was afraid they would just transmit too much road vibration to make it enjoyable to drive on the street. Plus, 17" tires now are relatively cheap. However, I also wanted to stick with a max tire diameter of about 25", so I came up with limitations on the 17" wheels and tire sizes. I finally decided on 18", and both front and back will be 25" diameter. OE Datsun tires were 24.6 I believe, and I felt it important to stay as close as possible to that.
The narrowest track width (hub to hub mounting) that AME offers is 55.5 (OE Z car is 54.5), so I went with that on the front and rear, and am using 5.5" backspacing on the front wheels (18 x 9) and 6.5 backspacing on the rear (18 x 10.5) to keep the wheels tucked in as much as possible. I'll be picking up my wheels within the next 60-90 days and will post pics when I have them.