48 minutes ago, kats said:

Thanks Alan, I too thought people in the US & Canada could have ordered STD gear ratio FS5C71A and FS5C71B but they couldn’t. The only and reliable source of information was Datsun Competition parts catalog. If they had reached out to look up parts catalog other than their territory, they would have known to order properly.

The invoices from Waverly Motors even quote the 'S30D' and 'HS30' origins of the parts. They should have been looking at standard car factory parts lists rather than Comp parts lists. It would have saved the owner some money too.

The lack of information excuse doesn't wash. This was happening when the cars had already been on sale for the best part of two years and the stock specs of other market transmissions - including gear ratios and the matching diff ratios - were written out in full in several sections of the factory service manuals for the North American market variants. Seems more like a lack of imagination from the dealer.

Commendations to the original owner and his ambition for a sportier drive, but the dealership let him down a little.

I guess this Datsun Competition catalog might be referred when the mechanic looked for parts. It’s got detailed parts numbers for gears.

I am also curious about the car in question might have an R160, not an R180 neither an R192. The easiest way to distinguish them is the bottom corner, R192 doesn’t have a protrusion while others have.

Kats

guys can we stop doing the biggest d*** challenge please? This is a club not a competition who knows best

21 hours ago, kats said:

That car is super clean and preserved condition. Time capsule! Only thing I would change would be the propeller shaft which is incorrectly applied to the car. The spline is exposed from the front piece of the shaft, which is not good. From Sep 1971 it was extended 35mm to cope with the new rear differential location. The part number E4100 was replaced by E8700.

It’s very complicated even for Nissan parts center service man. I wrote memo to avoid making mistakes when I order parts for my cars. Hope this helps someone.

Kats

From Sep 1971 it was extended 35mm to cope with the new rear differential location.

It's funny how many people do not know this Cats.. Same goes for the A and B transmission, and different shifter location

10 hours ago, HS30-H said:

That's a very lenient take. Quite simply, Waverly Motors sourced and fitted the wrong part. They fitted an E4100 propeller shaft when they should have fitted the longer E8700, which was already available as a stock Nissan part. And having fitted the short shaft - with the splined centre joint clearly over-extended and NFFP - they sent the customer on his way. It was wrong then and it's wrong now.

Waverly also appear to have sourced a competition option version of the FS5C71-A transmission, then took it apart to install a set of 'street' ratio gears when they could have simply ordered an off-the-shelf Nissan transmission which already gave them what they were building. Stock equipment in the rest of the world.

You can call it Monday morning quarterbacking if you want, but Nissan had been knocking out FS5C71-A equipped Zs since late 1969 and it seems to me that a franchised Datsun dealer might be expected to have noticed. It was fully noted in the Factory Service Manual for the car.

Harsh maybe, but I'd say fair.

Well these days, you could also take it to a driveshaft shop, have it correctly extended and make look like stock, if you can't find the original anymore.

I have two of those original 5 speed shafts laying around here. Do you have total length measurements from the short and long one ? I might check what I have laying around.

I also didn't know there where 2 different ones for the A type 5 speed.

3 hours ago, bartsscooterservice said:

guys can we stop doing the biggest d*** challenge please? This is a club not a competition who knows best

Did I miss something? What exactly are you referring to?

All I see is a sensible, informed and respectful exchange of views and data. Was something lost in translation?

3 hours ago, bartsscooterservice said:

I have two of those original 5 speed shafts laying around here. Do you have total length measurements from the short and long one ? I might check what I have laying around.

Kats just posted dimensions and photos on his long-running and highly informative Datsun 240Z vs Fairlady Z432 thread: https://www.classiczcars.com/forums/topic/23900-datsun-240z-vs-fairlady-z432/?do=findComment&comment=682106

Good work Kats! Your thread is a goldmine and one of THE best works of information and entertainment on this forum.

Many clearly don't have a clue about the inner workings of an early 70s Datsun dealer. The correct - keeping the customers car and happiness in mind - would have been to see that the first shaft was incorrect and reordering the correct part. The comp dept in those days was, based on my first hand experiences, always very helpful. Perhaps there were other forces at work.

It might be something simple, like the owner had a catalog and told the dealer "I want these parts". Or the dealer had the catalog and ordered the parts based on what Carl Beck showed above, the only two shown, as a set. The dealer got the parts, installed them, and said "this shaft isn't right, it will take another month to get the right propeller shaft". The owner decided to drive it in the meantime and never went back for the right shaft. Assume intelligence and good intentions from all involved and you'll feel better.

The owner's name is on the receipts. Maybe he's still alive and can answer the question.

At this point I'm more curious about why a guy in Elkhorn Nebraska bought the car.

Edited January 13Jan 13 by Zed Head

In early 1972 I believe the Datsun competition parts were only available in the USA through the two race shops campaigning the cars. It was until 1974 Datsun Competition parts were widely available. If you study the receipts closely you will see the pricing corresponds with the catalog for the race shop on the west coast of the USA. The installing dealer would have purchased from them and then fitted the parts in the dealer workshop. The name of the 240Z owner is visible on the car purchase receipts, he obviously was a bit of an enthusiast with a Shelby Cobra, Sunbeam Tiger and Lotus Europa in his collection.

BRE Z parts catalog 3_71.pdf

Can’t get over the pricing! Back in the day!!

6 hours ago, Zed Head said:

It might be something simple, like the owner had a catalog and told the dealer "I want these parts". Or the dealer had the catalog and ordered the parts based on what Carl Beck showed above, the only two shown, as a set. The dealer got the parts, installed them, and said "this shaft isn't right, it will take another month to get the right propeller shaft". The owner decided to drive it in the meantime and never went back for the right shaft.

That's an episode of The Twilight Zone I must have missed. In other news, if my grandmother had wheels she'd be a bus.

17 hours ago, Zed Head said:

Assume intelligence and good intentions from all involved and you'll feel better.

I'll try, but a franchised dealership ordering parts from a competition parts list, then modifying them to replicate stock production parts, is pushing me toward a different conclusion. The exposed splines on that propeller shaft are very persuasive too, LOL

7 hours ago, Zed Head said:

At this point I'm more curious about why a guy in Elkhorn Nebraska bought the car.

Going out on a limb here but.... To flip it? Assumed intelligence, good intentions and being in the right place at the right time.

Vendor has now posted with the backstory to his acquisition. I don't see anything to be throwing shade at. Good luck to him, I say.

23 hours ago, HS30-H said:

Did I miss something? What exactly are you referring to?

All I see is a sensible, informed and respectful exchange of views and data. Was something lost in translation?

Kats just posted dimensions and photos on his long-running and highly informative Datsun 240Z vs Fairlady Z432 thread: https://www.classiczcars.com/forums/topic/23900-datsun-240z-vs-fairlady-z432/?do=findComment&comment=682106

Good work Kats! Your thread is a goldmine and one of THE best works of information and entertainment on this forum.

Thank you Alan! Also thank you for asking about the rear differential, looks like the car in question has an R160, that is why I felt the portion of the exposed spline something bigger than 35mm. Now I feel better.

Kats