HS30-H

That's high praise indeed from such a respected authority as Mr Pete Brock, and I have the great pleasure of pretty much agreeing with him. Way back in the early 1990s I attended a Japanese Toyota 2000GT owner's club meeting at Tsukuba Circuit, and was very kindly allowed a drive of several laps around the circuit in a beautiful silver RHD MF10. What a revelation! Like putting on a bespoke Savile Row suit, it just felt 'right'. A proper Japanese GT car. Loved it. Some pretty stupid comments on Bring-A-Trailer (the worst - some idiot claiming that Toyota "stole" the design etc etc - flagged up and deleted) as usual when it comes to Japanese cars. You know the drill...

For example:

It's been discussed here on classiczcars several times in the past, and the "it's Cadmium" opinion tended to come from one particular source. In fact, Nissan factory documentation in Japan mentions that on most of their product of the period concerned they and their suppliers were using was ZINC plated, and often finished with a yellow/gold passivation stage. The Japanese word for Zinc is 亜鉛 ('Aen') and it is mentioned specifically in Nissan's 'Service Shuho' booklets for the S30-series Z cars.

Reality check: On 18th October 1969 Nissan held a 'Press Preview' event in their ground floor showroom at their Ginza, Tokyo HQ, featuring their new Nissan Fairlady Z, Fairlady Z-L, Fairlady Z432, Fairlady Z432-R and 'Fairlady Z Export Model' Datsun 240Z. Those 5 models would also feature on Nissan's huge stand at the 1969 Tokyo Motor Show, which opened its doors to the general public on 24th October 1969. By the time the show finished on 6th November, more than 1.5 million visitors had passed through the doors.

I think the weight of evidence - suspected replacement of radiator core support panel, non-factory finish on undersides of bonnet extension and headlamp cowls, bad fit of headlamp cowls, rippled fenders/wing tops etc - points towards a front-ender at some point in the past. Not surprising in the grand scheme of things, and - of course - rectifiable. The new owner will hopefully put some effort into that. I don't want us to break a butterfly on a wheel here, as the car has a new owner and hopefully it will see some sympathetic rectification. What disappoints is the sales hype and presentation of the car by Bonhams, and some sections of the press, as an excellent example of type. I'm disappointed at the previous owners too. They could have done better by this car.

Kats, I've always believed that shot of the underside of the bonnet extension in the factory service manual (G1-21 above) shows either an early, early production or almost pre-production panel. The horizontal strengtheners on the underside are not anything that I've seen on any of the (many!) genuine ZGs that I've had a good look at over the years, and are certainly different than the four vertical stiffening ribs that I believe were used for series production. In which case is it another example of the factory documentation needing to be treated with caution? What do you think?

Kats, you might want to clarify that the above photos are not the Bonhams ZG, but are examples of an Automatic Transmission-equipped car for detail reference?

Kats, First time I've seen some of those photos. Thank you. What do you think about the finish of the reverse sides of the headlamp cowls/cases? The lower nose assembly looks authentic to me, but Ben already mentioned the chopped strand FRP finish he noticed on the underside of the bonnet extension panel and it seems to me that the reverse sides of the headlamp cases have the same (I think incorrect) finish. Possibly evidence of replacement/repair?

Quite apart from all the other issues with the car, that front license plate makes me very nervous. Hopefully it was put on to create some 'atmosphere', but it's all wrong for the car. The taxation class is wrong for a genuine ZG (it's for a car with capacity under 2000cc) and any car hailing from Sapporo needs extra scrutiny of its structural condition because more than half the year it is snowy and icy up there. There's one old car dealer in Sapporo who has a particularly bad reputation for make-do-and-mend type repairs that are covering up all sorts of nasty stuff.

Some photos of an OEM Fairlady 240ZG 'upper nose'/bonnet extension panel for reference. Construction/material is very similar to the later factory rear spoilers, which is a more advanced form of FRP moulding giving very crisp definition and very stable shape. These panels are very vulnerable, and easily bumped by other vehicles when parked. I've seen all sort of repairs on the underside, with chopped strand and woven roving bonding being common. I've also seen a piece of wood glued under there (!) and some pierced steel self-assembly shelving even did the deed on one example. It would not be a surprise if the panel on the Bonhams Monterey car had been repaired at some time in its 45+ year life. It's easily rectified these days.

Ben, if you felt any weave/texture on the reverse of that panel, it's wrong. Factory OEM finish on the underside of that section was gel coat, with the strengthening ribs very clearly defined and neat. I'll take some photos later to better illustrate, and will post them here. The panel has probably been changed to an aftermarket version some time in the car's life.

Ben, did you put your hand underneath the bonnet extension panel, ahead of the bonnet? That's where the strengthening ribs are on the original factory panel. Some of the photos of this car showed that panel to be slightly ill fitting/distorted. If there were no ribs it could indicate a later replacement. Great story by the way. Believe. You'll get there.

Evidently.

I think you should try to properly diagnose the problem, and fully understand what exactly is wrong, before writing off the strut and searching for a replacement. Take it off, take it apart, use Mk.I eyeball and whatever measuring equipment you have to hand. Get to the bottom of the issue. I'd treat them as a matched pair and do them both, in fact. Devil's Advocate:

Those are cobwebs, not cracks. My money's on this being something less dramatic, and fairly easily cured.

Kats, I have a 1968 factory manual for the (pre-'A') L20 six which has a nice layout drawing for the H130 Cedric's engine. It shows our early-type 'reservoir bottle' plumbed into the top hose area, a long way from the radiator cap. Clearly any pressure-relief type radiator cap that might be fitted on that particular model did not affect the function of the reservoir bottle system:

It's more likely to be something else entirely. A bent spindle would possibly cause all sorts of other problems, not least of which would be hub bearing trouble. I don't see it as the likeliest scenario here yet, so don't do anything rash. You need to fully understand the problem before you make any attempt at rectification.

The strut tubes are indeed welded to the spindle casting/forging. If you invert a strut and look at the end where the knuckle is bolted onto it, you can clearly see the welded joint. I can't imagine a tube being welded on at the wrong angle and passing quality control.

This statement would benefit from having a little bit of sunlight shone on it...

I think we are on the same page there. But for Kats' installation on his blue HLS30U, he is using the later type reservoir bottle and that means an unpressurised bottle, one-way system. It looks to me as though Kats is getting quite a lot of coolant in the reservoir bottle. More than I would have expected. Japan has been pretty hot (to say the least!) lately, so maybe the cooling system is struggling to keep up? Kats, is the pressure rating on your 240Z's radiator cap quite low?

My (early) version of the bottle - which came with a radiator-type pressure cap - would theoretically be suitable for that type of setup, but I just can't see a scenario where the pressure in the 'reservoir tank' is higher than that in the engine/radiator - allowing coolant to flow back? Here's the factory parts list showing the 432/432-R system: If you look at the radiator cap, it seems to be a simple sealing cap with no pressure relief valve. In this setup, the pressure relief cap is on the 'reservoir' tank. I think this would allow overflow/cavitated coolant to pass from the radiator into the reservoir tank, with excess pressure and/or coolant to be vented via the drain tube. The pipe connecting the radiator and the reservoir is radiator hose type quality, pressure resistant and with proper clips. Nissan clearly did away with this system later, using a simple cap on the 'reservoir' (it has a small hole in the top to vent air) and a normal pressure relief type radiator cap. The later GT-Rs were like this too. My KPGC10 has a slim, unpressurised overflow catcher tank next to the radiator.

Kats, the S20-engined cars had the tank/bottle acting merely as an 'overflow' catcher. There is no return path to the radiator as the coolant/air can only move in one direction so it's not the same as a 'header tank'. Generally speaking, it was a characteristic of high rpm/high performance engines of the period for them to cavitate their coolant somewhat, and the tank is simply a way of avoiding the slightly embarrassing scenario of, er, uncontrolled spillage... Nissan called it a "reservoir", but as far as I can see the only way that it can be used as such is if you manually pour the coolant caught by the "reservoir" bottle back into the radiator when it has cooled down.

Kats, The good news is that you don't have to drill any holes in your HLS30U for the mounting bracket. Nissan very kindly put them there for you...! I was lucky to pick up an 'early' type overflow bottle for my 432-R replica project car. Actually, I rather like that yellowed age to the nylon part. I prefer to keep it like that. I tried to put as many genuine 432/432-R parts on the car as I could, but it's a very long list.

McDonalds, Kentucky Fried Chicken, Starbucks, Universal Studios Japan and Tokyo Disneyland. Apart from that, you're pretty safe.

The 432 does not have a mechanical fuel pump. It has only the electric pump. How would it "run fine" without the electric fuel pump - its only fuel pump - running?