HS30-H

Hello Guus, How do you do? I have heard about your Monte Carlo rally Z project, and in fact had seen pictures of it. Glad that you are doing something that not many people try to do. I have about 300 photos of the Works rally Zs that were on temporary display at the Nismo HQ in Omori, Tokyo last year. They let me go all over them ( once we found the keys ) and let me have full access - so I could sit in them and pretend to be Rauno and Edgar on the stages.......... Tell me what areas of the cars you are particularly interested in and I will try to select some of the best shots. I also have a big archive of period books and magazines ( particularly Japanese race magazines like Autosport and Auto Tecnic ) which contain great articles, as well as a lot of contemporary Japanese stuff like NOSTALGIC HERO and OLD TIMER magazine. I am sure that you have a copy os "NOS HERO" which has just beautiful photography. Kevin Bristow is a good friend of mine and I have been helping him to research his own ex-Works 1971 RAC Rally 240Z. He is making an absolutely fantastic job of it, and it is progressing well. I actually have some performance parts that would suit your Monte Carlo replica well - I import a lot of stuff from Japan for my own cars as well as for the Rally and Circuit racers in the UK. I can get some parts that you might have thought were not available any more. Let me know what you need. Have you seen any pictures of Vince Budd's Monte Carlo Rally Z replica from here in the UK? He has made a pretty good job too, and has used some parts from me quite recently too. His 4.6 R200 LSD will make a big difference to his stage times I think! Stay in touch, and tell me what you want to see details wise on those photos. All the best, Alan Thomas ( London, UK - "HS30-H" )

The chassis number identifies the car as a Japanese ( i.e "home" ) market S30 Fairlady. As such it came with an L20 engine ( just a two litre version of the L-series six and hardly any different to the L24 / L26 / L28 etc. ). Yes, this engine came with the E30 head. If it was a Fairlady Z432 the chassis number would start "PS30" and it would have an S20 engine - the twin-cam, 24 valve 2 litre six with triple 40PHH Mikuni carburettors. The factory made a total of somewhere between 420 and 500 of these cars ( a small proportion of them were the Fairlady Z432-R "PS30-SB" lightweight version ) but the actual figure is rather difficult to pin down because the factory slipped out quite a few cars for the domestic circuit race programme, like most car manufacturers. The true combined total is probably around the 450 mark if the race cars are included. PS30 chassis numbers go up over the 500 number, but there were some gaps and this does not denote that more than 500 were made. Many people get confused and think that all the Japanese market 2-litre cars had the S20 engine, or that all cars called "Fairlady" had the S20 engine. This is quite surprising, as the information is quite clearly detailed in most books about the S30 series Z cars. Its not so confusing really.......................... One of my cars is a 1972 Fairlady 240ZG ( HS30-H ) and many people automatically think that it should have an S20 twin-cam installed! This is really annoying, as the 240ZG came from the factory with a "normal" L24 engine, like all other HS30 variants ( that "H" at the start of the chassis number denotes the L24 engine ). One of my other cars is a 1970 Fairlady Z ( S30-S ) and this was made around mid year with a chassis number over 3000. This car too came with the L20 six, just like BleachZee's car. Also like BleachZee's car, my Fairlady S30 came out of Japan as a personal export by a US serviceman. It went to the USA and then came to the UK - so it is fairly well travelled. None of these cars were ever officially exported outside of Japan, and being such a low chassis number it is a very rare survivor of the '69 S30s. I know of a fair few in Japan, but many of them are fitted with later L28 engines for a bit more HP. If Bleachzee wants any more info on his type of car, please don't hesitate to get in touch with me. Happy to be of any help I can. By the way, why can't everybody understand that ALL the cars we love are actually "FAIRLADIES" and that the S30 series is the base that all "our" export variants come from? I cannot understand why so many people cannot get their heads round the fact that this is a Japanese car and that the Japanese "home" market right hand drive versions are what all the other versions are based on!!?? The left hand drive US export version in just a mutant export version of the Japanese base model. Please note the location of your hand-brake lever and the location of your indicator stalk. Does this ring any bells with you? They changed the design to incorporate specifications that would suit the US export market as they knew it would be such an important part of their business. They did not design the S30 series Z "especially" for the US market, but they took it into account as being the largest potential market. Jaguar did this with the E-Type Jaguar ( marketed as the "XKE" in the USA market ) and Triumph did it with their TR series sportscars, but they did NOT design the cars SPECIFICALLY for the US market. To the Japanese, and to me, these cars are ALL Fairladies, and they are all S30 series Z cars. The US-spec. HLS30. the UK-spec. HS30 and all other versions are all types of S30 Z, and were re-named to suit the local market requirements and taste. I guess its too late now, as thirty two years is a long time, but we really ought to be calling this the Internet S30 Z Club, as all the Z cars up to the S130 series would then be correctly included. They are calling the "new" Z a "Fairlady" in Japan too, rather than a "350Z". It will just be called a "350Z" for the US and other export markets, but to the Japanese it is the latest in the long line of cars to carry the Fairlady nomenclature.

Just to update DOEHRING about that NISMO "museum" in Japan; in fact Nissan showed two of the Works S30 Rally cars they still own at the NISMO headquarters ( called the "Omori Factory" ) in Omori Tokyo. This was a special promotion in late November and early December 2001 to coincide with the "NISMO FESTIVAL" event at Fuji Speedway, where the "new" Fairlady Z was shown to the general public ( to be sold as the "350Z" in the USA ). Nissan actually still own at least three S30 "240Z" Works Rally cars, as well as many other important ex-competition Datsun, Nissan and Prince cars. However, these cars are normally kept in Yokohama ( in a building called the "Nissan Memorial Sports Hall" which is in reality a large hanger that is not open to the general public ). One day maybe they will make a proper museum.............. Please note that the Nismo HQ at Omori, Tokyo is most definitely NOT a museum! This is the main HQ of NISMO and is very much a working and creative facility, with race-car building and planning going on, as well as special servicing on high-performance Nissans for customers. This site was originally the HQ of Datsun Competition ( "Sport Corner" etc. in Japan ) and has a great and long history. The two S30 Rally cars on display were the no.5 car driven by Rauno Aaltonen on the 1972 Monte Carlo Rally ( finishing third ) and the no. 21 car driven by Edgar Herrmann on the 1971 Safari Rally ( overall winner ). Both cars are in amazingly original and unmolested condition with fantastic patina and almost nothing missing. I was lucky enough to visit the Omori Factory at just the time when the two cars were on temporary display ( I also visited the NISMO FESTIVAL at Fuji Speedway ) and the staff there were kind enough to let me take many photos of the cars after crawling under, over and all through them. Anyone who thinks that these cars were anything like a "standard" car would be in for a real big surprise.................... Another genuine ex-Works 240Z is currently under restoration in the UK. There are very very few survivors of the Works rally campaign. DOEHRING asked about a Rally 280ZX possibly entered by a Japanese privateer crew on the RAC rally in the UK. I photographed this car several years ago in a small museum in Japan near Fuji Speedway. I still have at least one photo and I will try to dig it out. It was indeed a privateer effort, sponsored by the Japanese importer of CIBIE spotlamps - and the museum that the car is now in belongs to the CIBIE importer. That car was nothing like as special as the Works S30-type Rally cars. Perhaps DOEHRING would like to get in touch with me if he is interested in more info.

Just a quick note to put ericB straight about the head from the S20 engine. It will certainly NOT fit any of the L6 blocks, or any other block apart from the proper S20 block. This engine was derived from the Prince GR8 racing engine, and is quite fundamentally different to the L-series sixes. There WAS a bolt-on crossflow head for the L-series sixes offered by the factory, which was called the "LY" ( usually nicknamed the "Crossflow" head ) and that was actually a single-cam head with a hemispherical combustion chamber. These were made available to the public through the Sports Option parts lists in Japan in the early '70s, and were homologated mainly for race use in Japan and on the Works rally cars. In fact, to build a "true" LY28 engine you would need the rods, pistons and cam-drive parts that go with it, as well as all the manifolding parts. These engines used a different bellhousing and engine mounts to the normal L-series engines, as the mounting position was "straight" rather than canted over. So, don't get mixed up between the LY28 "Crossflow" and the S20 - as they are quite different animals. There are very few LY28 engines or heads left in the world now - and most of them are in Japan ( where they are very sought after ). Some of the Works rally car parts dissipated through Europe, and there are two cars that I know of in the UK that have ex-Works LY28 Crossflow engines installed. There was an aftermarket Twin-Cam Crossflow conversion available in Japan in the late '70s, manufactured by a small company called "O.S.GIKEN". This was called the "TC-24" and was a true bolt-on conversion for the L-series six block, but was extremely expensive and was only made in limited numbers. This too is now very sought-after in Japan. "O.S.GIKEN" still make many high quality parts for high-performance Nissan cars, and are particularly well known for their excellent clutch and transmission parts. The RB-series Nissan sixes are not technically related to the L-series sixes, the S20 or the LY28 - but they do share a common family tree.