HS30-H

26th-Z, The earliest L20A-engined Fairladies ( roughly contemporary with your cars ) had the heat shield with the spring tabs at the bottom - same as both your cars, so I don't think the example you have with the spring tabs positioned higher up is a Fairlady item ( at least not early Fairlady anyway ). Here's a scan from the 1969 Japanese-market Factory workshop manual as evidence. It was published in November 1969, and ( as a guide to when the photos were shot ) it uses PS30-00009 as a 'model' in the 432 section......

Would it be considered churlish or denigrating if I suggested that Saran Wrap might be a good low-budget alternative to clear lenses? I'm trying to be diplomatic here....... :tapemouth

Great comedy posting! :laugh: But shouldn't this be in the 'Funnybone' section? bpilati, I think I have a job for you. Get yourself over to 'Eyerack' and sort that mess out. They need somebody with vision, and the ability to cut to the chase and sort out the good guys from the bad guys. After you have finished there are a few other hotspots in the world that need a spot of bpilati-stylee analysis. The Cast: Mr K = White-hatted 'Good Guy' ( in the Gary Cooper mould ). The Idiots In Japan = Black-hatted baddies ( er, no names no pack-drill - so no awkward questions about who they are, OK? ) Goethe = German Philosopher? Only here as a bit-part player ( but hey, he had just as much input on the '240ZEE' as that Goertz guy - so why not? ). Ghosn is about as French as I am ( ie - not very ).

I second that emotion. Thanks for posting data and pics, Guus. Very much appreciated.

Hi Michael, The Nissan Motorsports items are bound to be good ones, but don't ISKENDERIAN still make a couple of cams for the A-series? They were listed last time I looked at the Isky range. Worth giving them a try? If not, then I know for sure that some of the Japanese shops still carry special cams for these engines. Let me know if you want me to look into it. Cheers, Alan T.

bpilati, I've been puzzling over what you wrote ( quoted above ) and I really can't make out exactly what you are referring to. Who are the executive jerks and why would they be boiling in their own juices? And what was Mr Katayama's good idea? The stories surrounding the removal of 'Fairlady' emblems by Katayama have clearly become mixed up over the years, and it is clear that 'whispering grass' syndrome took hold of the story a long time ago and blew it all out of proportion. I've never heard a first-hand account of the Japanese side of that story, and without hearing both sides of the story I think a lot of presumptions are being made. What is clear is that Katayama's personal removal of 'Fairlady' emblems from just three cars ( confirmed as being the three 'Press Cars' - thank you Carl Beck ) proves that this was already an issue that had been settled. Even before those three cars were being shown to the Press and public in the USA, Nissan had shown "Datsun 240Z" emblemed cars to the Japanese press, and displayed a "Datsun 240Z" emblemed HLS30-U ( wearing a sign saying "Fairlady Z - Export Version" ) at the 1969 Tokyo Auto Show. The issue must have been resolved before these cars were seen in Japan during October 1969. In fact, it must have been at least several weeks before that - as designing and producing the emblems ( even the first samples ) must have taken something like that amount of time. Even if the new emblems seen on the cars in October 1969 were hand-made prototypes then it surely indicates a firm decision as having been made and agreed a reasonable amount of time beforehand? Katayama's personal removal of the emblems from those cars gets talked-up as though it was a battle of wills that was still ongoing. It was clearly nothing of the sort. No way were Nissan Japan's staff trying to force the 'Fairlady' emblems on Katayama against his will at that point. Katayama's personal removal of the emblems on those three cars was just sweeping-up after the fight if you like. It was clearly already a done deal. Alan T.

The pair of wheels currently running on the Yahoo auction that g72s20 linked us to are a pair of Ise san's second run of replicas. He has had a very limited edition second run manufactured by the Hayashi Racing factory in aluminium, using an original wheel as a pattern. Hayashi were able to meet all the regulatory standards covering road wheels, so they are road legal. Only five sets are available, and they are being sold off in pairs. Expect to see them reach over 250,000 Yen per pair, or not reach the reserve price........ Alan T.

Hi NZeder, Sorry about my PM inbox. I've just been there and cleared it out a bit. I'll send you a PM straight away. Of course you would be most welcome to come and see my ZG ( you can see a half-built 432R replica and some boxes full of junk too :classic: ). Hopefully the weather will be a bit better by that time. I'll have to check dates and see if there are any interesting car-related events worth visiting while you are in the UK. Cheers, Alan T.

Ah, OK I see what you mean. Well, don't forget that the ZG was supplied without the spoiler in most cases, as were most of the Japanese models in fact. The spoilers were often specified as catalogue 'Option' parts, and these were fitted by dealers. When the dealers installed the spoilers, they had to drill the holes to mount them - hence the inconsistency in mounting position that you can see. It seems that the spoilers took a while to catch on in Japan, and many cars got them a good while after leaving the showroom. Here's a couple more illustrative pics from official Nissan documentation:

Nope. I've got his phone number though. I think I'll call him next week some time and see if he is interested in filling in a few gaps. I have a lot of background info from other people. I just sent you an e-mail about it. Tell me what you think.

Hi Mike, I don't understand. Can you clarify what you want me to clarify? The emblems on the rear spoiler of my ZG are correct. A 'Fairlady' emblem ( no 'Z' integral ) and a '240Z' emblem.

Example photos of the two different types:

Christopher, If this is the one that you bought from the UK recently, then I can tell you EXACTLY what car it came from ( and it was categorically NOT HS30-00026 ). I'll contact you directly about it.

Simple really. They were original equipment on any Fairlady 240Z ( which includes the ZG, as Alfadog pointed out ). 'Fairlady Z" models got the one-piece emblem with the Z moulded into it from October 1969 onwards ( S30-S, S30, PS30, PS30-SB and upwards etc). 'Fairlady 240Z' models ( from Oct.71 in Japan ) got a new Fairlady emblem without the Z on the end. This was combined with the '240Z' emblem that was used on the Export models - so a pair of emblems made up the 'Fairlady 240Z' script ( applicable to the HS30-S, HS30, HS30-H and their sub-variants ). The 'FairladyZ' emblem was used over a much longer period, and on many more models - so its much more common. SER240Z, would you consider selling your metal 'Fairlady' emblems? I would be willing to buy them if you were. A couple of years ago some thieving little lowlife prised off the emblems on the front wings ( fenders ) of my ZG, and I had to use my precious spares to replace them. I could do with another couple of spares in case the same thing happens again ( quite likely here in lovely London :disappoin ).......... Cheers, Alan T.

Well I looked and looked, and didn't find a single pic of a Hakosuka Skyline in Police guise....... Seems to be possible to find just about any other model in Police colours, except the C10. Strange. I don't think we can trust the plastic kit versions to be 100% proof that they existed. The manufacturers would often re-pop an old kit in new colours / box art, with a few extra parts, just to get more use out of an old mould. I'll keep looking, though....... :classic:

The R-DRIVE parts books show the bolt coming down into the captive nut, so if the picture is simply upside down then all would appear to be correct? By that I mean that the head of the bolt is UP, and the thread is DOWN, and the captive nut can only work in one way with the bolt this way. But maybe this is a good example of a genuine, original, untouched car, of the same spec ( ie - HLS30-U ) of roughly the same production period, being the ONLY true reference. I'm not 100% sure that we could trust the parts books or FSMs for detail down to this kind of level.......... Top marks for dedication, Kats. :knockedou

Kats, Is that picture upside down?

Short answer - no. The air inlets on the air cleaners simply allow the engine to suck as much air as they need. No tangible 'ram air' effect under a bonnet like that, no matter which direction the air cleaner inlets are pointing in. Don't worry yourself with it. The designers knew what they were doing......... Literally hundreds. If you counted all variants and all years you might even get up into the thousands. The good news is that spares for 'proper' SU carbs are plentiful, and spares for AH Sprites and MG Midgets and their like are no problem either. If only the situation for 'our' cars was so good.....

Ah, you mean S30-00769 for the S30 pics? I think that's a case of owner preference, and the car isn't as it would have left the Factory. As far as non-rubbered bumpers go, Nissan's intended spec for the models released in October 1969 was that only the S30-S and PS30-SB had them. What the owners subsequently fitted was their own business........ Sure it had bumpers. It was an official production model intended for limited sale to the General Public specifically to aid homologation of race cars and race parts. It had to have bumpers. They took them off of the race cars... You can call them 432-R bumpers if you want, but its probably more truthful to call them S30-S bumpers. At least it would be good accompaniment to the "432" mesh grilles which are exactly the same as the mesh grilles on other models......

Austin Healey Sprite or MG Midget.

I see the vertical bumper guards ( we call them "Over riders" over here ) quoted as "Option" parts in all the Nissan parts lists and brochures that I have. They cover the Japanese market, Europe ( inc. UK ) and Australia. However, in practice I think the non-USA / Canada Export market cars were not 100% consistent in their specs with regard to details such as these. Some dealers seemed to be aware of the dealer 'Option' parts, and some did not. You can imagine that this - combined with other factors - probably led to customers not knowing what they could have had..... I've never seen the USA-style aftermarket 'towel rail' bumper additions in any other market.

Feel the Force, Guus. Feel the Force.....:

A few more Japanese police cars:

Hi Michael, Yes, they are not 'Z' emblems - they are all wearing the Chrysanthemum ( Kiku ) emblem of the Japanese police force. In fact, the Kiku emblem has something of a nationalistic meaning in Japan. Your wife - being Japanese - will be able to explain its significance far better than I can. I tried to scan a close-up as best I could:

No Mike, all of the first-gen European market models did have the rubber bumper trim. The smooth non-rubbered bumpers were first seen on the no frills base-level 'Fairlady Z' ( S30-S ) and lightweight 'Fairlady Z432-R' ( PS30-SB ) models at launch in October 1969. I agree with 26th-Z's thoughts that this might be a crossover from the USA-speak surrounding marques such as Porsche and VW. Sometimes the "European" market spec parts were seen as 'cool' or at least different enough to be of interest. Ironic that the "European" bumpers were not actually used on European models........