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Courtesy of Randy Jaffe The black tie ceremony is tonight.

Here is, perhaps, a reminder for us of the elasticity of the 'Series 1' term... I'm not a fan! Wasn't it only the very first (whatever that means...) few HLS30Us that were shipped without carpets and ended up getting the locally made versions? I have a 4/70 HLS30U and it certainly had factory-fitted carpet when new. The jute section in question looks like a factory piece to me (?). If it is, then I'd expect it to have - at least - the cut-outs for the possibility of a passenger foot rest bar in the same 'tits-on-a-bull' (pardon my French) way that the tar mat does on my 4/70 HLS30U. The cut-outs at the rear certainly look to be in the right place, and the right shape, to accommodate the Japanese market forward seat mounts. Plenty of other stuff on these cars is there only because they were designed with other variants in the mix, after all.

It is for positive crankcase ventilation. There should be a hose going from that to the PCV valve at the balance tube. They are parts 3 & 5 on this page: https://www.carpartsmanual.com/datsun/Z-1969-1978/engine-240z-260z/emission-control-device. Hose: https://www.thezstore.com/page/TZS/PROD/15-6211 Valve: https://www.rockauto.com/en/catalog/nissan,1972,240z,2.4l+l6,1209169,exhaust+&+emission,positive+crankcase+ventilation+(pcv)+valve,5052 If you plug the PCV, you risk pressurizing your block and finding out how weak your oil seals are.

To wit:

Some of the details seen on artist Hosokawa san's cutaway are almost exactly the same as seen on '8D-420' for the Auto Sport January 1971 colour feature and fold-out poster. Note in particular the identical positioning of the wheel brace and jack spindle on top of the spare wheels, which seems unlikely to be replicated on a different day/car. Clearly Hosokawa san had access to the car, but also ended up having to 'guess' some of the details that he could not see/sketch/photograph, or which he perhaps forgot to note at the time. Myself and a couple of others have long scratched our heads about details like the missing/invisible exhaust manifold, the strange and truncated shape of the transmission, the too-square 100 litre fuel tank and the bizarre shape of the moustache bar, as well as what you have already pointed out. '985', being Aaltonen's car (their lead and star driver in the rally program) and also placing highest of the Works team cars in the '71 Monte, was an obvious choice to mock up for the magazine's cutaway poster. So, I think the cutaway is a composite of more than one car, with a few mistakes and omissions. There's a long thread on the Auto Sport (UK) Nostalgia Forum which documents and discusses the work of cutaway artists like Hosokawa san, and there are always many mistakes/omissions/anomalies to be pointed out. I think it is a hugely difficult task to draw one of these things and I'm in awe of the cutaway artists' skill, so I don't want to nitpick too much...

I should expand on the low quality of the Titan import blades from Amazon. It's not only that they don't last as long, but how they wear as well. They don't seem to wear evenly and loose sharpness on part of the edge, this makes it difficult to make even straight cuts. The blade wants to turn and tends to gouge, especially on concave curved surfaces. If anyone tries this method also make sure to use only enough heat to slightly soften the paint, especially on flat areas like the hood. I found that on flat areas if I couldn't hold my hand on the heated surface for at least 3 to 5 seconds, it was too hot. Good to move around quite bit. It's surprising how little heat it takes to warp the metal.

So i went to my local paint shop and had some single stage made up to match an alternator bracket that still had some factory blue on it. Cody got the block all taped up last weekend but ti was too cold. S o I sprayed it this weekend. It's much darker than it looks in the sunlight. Much more like the paint in the can looks. He is planning on working on the rotating assembly next weekend

Good commentary on the razor blades. Having the brand of a good product always helps. The heat gun/razor blade paint removal process beats the hell out of chemical stripper. Along that line, back in '97 my brother the "expert" body man was helping me with my restoration (that went dormant until last year). So last year when I was cutting out a bunch of crappy work I had done back then I found 1/4" of filler in the rear lower quarters. Darn I said, how did that get there? Can you imagine, a 1/4"? Guess who's not helping this time around? 😁

I agree , from my maths I should say around April. I should be realized that , Nissan Shatai used “ month “ for their change , I can see it in many cases . Given the chassis number , it will indicate beginning of month . Even not an early one , If there is chalk markings on it , we can’t get rid of it . Let’s repair originals with the method above . Kats

Interesting, actually my car is a Canadian market car. It's an HLS30UN model (non emissions). I guess the "A" is still a mystery.

I will take a breakfast with a cup of coffee. Kats