Interior Ergonomics

[Zedrally]

huhh, well that just blows the cost theory out of the water........

[Caen Fred]

Sorry Carl, I am sure you mean on the right side, next to the pull knob for the side fresh air vent of my RHD. Where else would it be?

And now, ladys and gentleman the Big Deal Q :

Where is that damned lever on a on Mac Laren Supercar, as the driver seat is in the midle? Ouch, ergonomic should hurt a lot if the right place for this lever is right in the middle of the car !!!!

[sjcurtis]

Zedrally, I think you were on the right track, go one step futher the the hood locking plate is reversed and takes the cable from the left side , this change also makes the hood secondary lock swap from RH to LH side of the center spigot.

my 2C

Steve:classic:

[Bambikiller240]

Originally posted by Caen Fred

Sorry Carl, I am sure you mean on the right side, next to the pull knob for the side fresh air vent of my RHD. Where else would it be?

Caen:

Actually the question asked by Sean was, "Where is the Bonnet release on LHD Z's?"

And my answer stands as written. "It is mounted to the underside of the Dash, just inside the Driver-side (LEFT) door. Right next to the pull knob for the side fresh air vent."

I'm sure your statement regarding RHD Z's is also correct.

[Caen Fred]

sorry, but with this lever in the eye I am having a hard time reading those posts...:stupid: :stupid: :stupid: :stupid:

[HS30-H]

Originally posted by Zvoiture

>>>>I am NOT going to attempt to list the differences between RHD and LHD versions. Over here in the UK, there are quite a few cars that have been converted <<<<<

Alan, Alan...Alan....(And I have enjoyed this evening a nice Bombay Sapphire, medium, up, olive...a nice bottle of cold Ozeki [with some mediocre sushi] and am working on a very tall Reidel of CA syrah)...I just CAN NOT believe this statement out of you! Is should be VERY SIMPLE!!!!! Are you somehow forgetting all the identical right/left parts that came off the ZERO monocoque? In fact, I'll bet you a bottle of 2003 Fairlady the button in the end of the handbrake is IDENTICAL in both a RHD and LHD S30.

To Datsun genius!

steve

Hiya Steve,

Well, I wasn't mixing grain and grape last night but I've still got a headache ( does a mixture of Gin, Sake and the 'very tall Reidel of CA syrah' give you a headache next day?!? ). Maybe that Orion beer is local slang for 'Big Lion' rather than a star. It doesn't seem to mix well with my medication.............

Ah yes - in my alcohol-induced stupor I forgot all about the DNA of the Z going back through the Cruise Missile and all the way back to the Zero-sen. How stupid of me not to see the wood for the trees ( or the fuselage for the rivets )..........

Nissan genius knew no bounds. I just checked the knob and it is indeed identical for RHD and LHD S30's. Imagine how happy the bean-counters were when this came through the factory accounts. And to use up that vast old stock of Zero-sen machine gun triggers as Emergency Brake release knobs was pure cost-cutter's nirvana.

How's the 2003 year Chateau Fairlady coming along? I need to drink a toast with it.

Bottoms up,

Alan T.

[HS30-H]

Originally posted by BambiKiller240

Hi Alan:

snip: I believe that Britain has "SAFEWAY" grocery stores? The headquarters of their former parent company is now here in Pleasanton.

Enjoy another Orion for me!

Regards

Carl

Hi Carl,

I DID enjoy another Orion, and now I'm regretting it ( they are huge bottles and 5% alcohol )..........

Just wondered about a possible Pleasanton / Pleasant Valley connection - but was obviously barking up the wrong tree. Thanks for straightening me up.

SAFEWAY is on the rocks! They are the subject of hostile takeover attempts from both MORRISON'S ( a Northern English phenomenon that us soft southerners have never heard of ) and SAINSBURY'S ( a dynasty not unlike the Kennedys ). Poor old Safeway is the rope in a rough and tumble tug-o-war for Supermarket supremacy. Launch the smart butter and cruise muffins immediately!

Alan T.

[Zvoiture]

>>>>>And to use up that vast old stock of Zero-sen machine gun triggers as Emergency Brake release knobs <<<<<

You're absolutely slaying me....Now everytime I release the brake I will think of Midway...

>>>>does a mixture of Gin, Sake and the 'very tall Reidel of CA syrah' give you a headache next day?!? <<<<

Not as a rule...now mix even a single beer in there and I would be singing a different story....

>>>>>How's the 2003 year Chateau Fairlady coming along? I need to drink a toast with it. <<<<<

The 2003 is just budding out...If you are refering to tasting one of the bottles I sent you of the 2001, make sure your affairs are in order before sampling it.

>>>>SAFEWAY is on the rocks! They are the subject of hostile takeover attempts from both MORRISON'S <<<<<

We had a spate of that here in CA a couple years ago...half of the Safeway's closed and became Von's, all the Lucky's closed briefly and were re-badged 'Albertson's', while at the same time all the Albertson's closed briefly and soon re-opened as 'Ralph's', Bel-air bought Nob Hill....

But we digress!

steve

[Victor Laury]

Alan T wrote:

( being taller on average than their Japanese / Australian / NZ / British RHD-market counterparts ) would be happy to reach over to the other side of the trans tunnel to use the Handbrake / Emergency brake?

As a representative of a big, tall American, I am more than happy of this configuration on both of my classic Datsun sports cars.

[EScanlon]

"And now for something completely different, a man with three buttocks..." Monty Python Show.

I've been reading this post on and off for a bit, and took the time to read it completely today.

Here's my contribution to stir up the fire.....

In my opinion, the reason you have very few responses from the LHD drivers (meaning the U.S. drivers), is that, FOR THE MOST PART, few have seen, and even less have driven a RHD 240Z. As a result, their basis for comparison is simply not there.

As in the Monty Python skit I paraphrased from, as far as that guy was concerned, everybody EL.SE was the odd character, he was perfectly fine with this 3 cheeks.

Trying to ask LHD drivers if the handbrake is on the wrong side or not, is like asking women if their NOT having a penis is bothersome. I'm positive that they would look at you as if you had finally slipped a mental cog. Their reply would be to ask you how YOU can stand having that thing between your legs.

Without a COMMON reference by which to compare the differences we simply do not have the frame of reference by which to compare and make an intelligent response. All we LHD drivers who have been deprived of RHD vehicles to drive and compare with can SUPPOSE, is what it would be like if the brake were on the other side.

But, I'd like to introduce a bit of aviation fuel to the discussion, and stand back and watch the flames.

I'm posting two pictures and I'll continue my post on a third reply:

[EScanlon]

And here's the second picture:

[EScanlon]

Ok, by now I hope you've looked at BOTH pictures. They are a picture of my car, BENEATH the cowl metal, both the right and left sides.

Did anyone notice that in EACH picture you can see no less than THREE wiper mount holes? That means that there are FOUR wiper holes on the car.

Four wiper holes, hmmm, do you suppose that Datsun originally considered using very short wiper blades since most Japanese people are short and therefore don't really need a tall wiper blade since they'll never look out the top half of the windshield? HA!

The answer, in my opinion, is that Datsun INTENDED this vehicle to be easily converted from RHD to LHD or vice versa. So as to whether the car was originally designed to be one or the other.... A human ovum is neither male nor female, it isn't till the sperm actually breaches the cellular wall and the two diploid genes are mixed that you have a definitive gender assignation. And even that has been shown to sometimes go awry.

So, RHD cars with the brake on the RH side vs LHD cars with the brake on the RH side can be debated all you want, but in my opinion Datsun may have intended this to ALSO be a switcheable feature. If you look at the plate for the hand brake that is below the jute and vinyl, you will note that other than being welded, they could be interchanged side for side. That would allow the brake to be mounted on either side.

However, unlike most of the other differences between the RHD & LHD parts, this one is very minor.

Everyone has avoided "listing" the differences between the RHD and LHD cars, but they must be examined before this one item can really be discussed.

Case in point: The ignition key and the combination switches.

On a LHD car, the LEFT stalk is for the turn signal and high / low beam switches. the RIGHT stalk, has the windshield wipers and wash as well as the headlights and parking / running lamps. The text embossed on this stalk would prevent it from being reversed on a RHD car and put on the left.

The ignition lock and housing is such that the key is inserted into the lock from the RIGHT hand side of the steering column. All other American vehicles that I've owned, or driven have it this way. The only car that I've ever driven that was different, was a 68 Datsun Roadster; which had the ignition lock on the LEFT side of the column.

Would someone post the description of these items on a RHD car please?

There are some other items that would help shed light as well.

LHD cars have the Fresh Air Vent and Flap assembly in the RH side firewall. The battery in the engine compartment is also on the RH side. The fuel door is on the right. The rails for the left side seat are such that the left seat has a longer range than the passenger, but that could easily be swapped around.

The dash is an obvious one, but on a LHD car the Speedometer is on the left and the Tach on the right. The center position gauges are (L to R) Oil/Temp, Amp/Fuel then Clock.

The Heater Control Panel levers all are pushed to the LEFT to turn their individual controls OFF. This one would be more difficult for Datsun to swap around as it would involve a completely different face plate AND lever assembly just like the Handbrake would.

But that returns us to the original item of discussion.

Although the designers of the car may have tried to incorporate all of these subtle features into the car so that it's configuration as a Left or Right hand drive could easily be changed, manufacturers, as a general rule, don't like that. The additional items, inventory, money investment, item tracking etc etc would undoubtedly have been pared down to those items that ABSOLUTELY needed to be maintained and discarding those that simply didn't matter.

The items that we have left, can actually be viewed as vestigial remnants of the car's original ambidextrous beginnings.

"The popcorn you are eating....., has been pissed in. Film at 11."

Kentucky Fried Movie

Let the howling begin.