HS30-H

I use KAMEARI parts. Are you referring to the 'OA' emulsion tubes for the Mikuni 44PHH carburettor, or something else?

Guus, how come you didn't post a scan of this pic? Those vinyl seats must have given him crotch rot :tapemouth

Oh yes they would. You can't trust plastic model construction kits or their box art to be 100% historically accurate ( although some are more accurate than others ). Guus, that model based loosely on the '76 Le Mans entry Z is a good example - isn't it? The article in Neko's 'Fairlady II' book states that a total of only FIVE Fairlady Z432 cars were used as fast pursuit cars. The 2/2 was more common and - as Ben has spotted - some Fairlady 240ZGs were also utilised.

Ah, you got a preview then 26th-Z? Will we see footage of Katayama san ripping off the 'Fairlady Z' emblems, throwing them on the ground and jumping up and down on them?

Gav, They were not journalists, they were much more important people than that! They were the official test crew for the North American / Canada testing in late 1969. Kats posted some fantastic stuff on this subject back in the "Philosophy" thread ( although it deserves its own thread ). He posted stills of the title sequence of the cine film, and first-hand background stuff from the staff involved. You need to start looking around page 6 or 7 onwards : "North American testing" on 'Philosophy' thread: Kats, Wonderful stuff. Thank you. In the next instalment - they take an engine apart? Fascinating. That's a must-see. Cheers, Alan T.

Will, There were FIVE if you count the 432 and 432R front crossmember ( 54401-E4200 ), which had taller engine-mount 'towers' - mounted at steeper angles to the L-gata versions..... I can't help that much with detailed analysis I'm afraid, but I have found that the 'second' crossmember ( N3402 ) weighed noticably more than E4100 ( I presume slightly thicker gauge of metal? ) and that the welds were much beefier. Also noticed that the captive nuts for the splash pan were slightly differently positioned, and were bigger. The 'jack pad' also seemed to be differently shaped, and again thicker than the earlier type. If not worried about weight or originality, I'd say the N3402 would be a good substitute for the E4100? They always seem to be in better condition anyway! I don't have any personal experience of post-N3402 supercessions, sorry. Cheers, Alan T.

"Z Mecca" is in Tampa? I never noticed a city called Tampa when I was in Japan...... Christopher, I just want to point out ( although I'm sure you realised ) that most of what you can see on Pit Road's website is actually the product of KAMEARI ENGINE WORKS - a quite different company. Pit Road simply scanned Kameari's catalogue and put it up on their own website.... Pit Road are authorised sellers of Kameari products. I have been buying Kameari's products for many years, and I usually visit them whenever I am in Japan. I can vouch for their commitment to Nissan's L-series engines, and the quality of their products. If anybody wants to know anything about them, then please don't hesitate to ask me. Eric, I think you'll find that the Best Motoring volume 56 DVD is MPEG-2 NTSC - like most Japanese DVDs. The VHS video version is NTSC. My computer seems to play the Japanese MPEG-2 NTSC DVDs just fine. In 1993 I bought a multi-region video machine expressly to play the NTSC VHS tapes I bought in Japan ( UK format is PAL ). Nowadays they seem quite common, and much cheaper.

What's wrong with Cedric anyway? Great name. Almost as good as Boris. My dad wanted to call me Boris ( he was a big Boris Karloff fan ) but mum wouldn't have it. Nissan Boris. Great. Names are better than numbers. How about a Nissan Winston or Nissan Archduke Franz Ferdinand? This could go anywhere. The possibilities are endless! Actually, I reckon the final word in car model names has to go to Honda for the Honda 'Life'. Top that. Advertising slogan: "Get a Life...".

Poor old Sir Cedric was dredged up on Google I'm afraid....

I have it on good authority that the first Nissan Cedric was named after thespian Sir Cedric Hardwicke. A fine figure of a man if ever I saw one.

They were originally light truck jacks, I believe. You assembled the jack by sticking the body into the base plate, and hooking the hook onto either the side jacking hoops, or under the bumper ( or under the window ledge if the car is upside down ) and then pumping like hell. Some modern rally cars use a very similar jack system that is made in Japan. Apparently they are very good. Here's some pics of the jack in a Safari car:

Lachlan, you can discard that piece. Its the jack for the Works rally cars, and its on the sprue because Tamiya shared some moulds between the 1/12 scale ZG and Rally car versions. One less thing for you to assemble, paint and detail - you'll probably be relieved to know! :classic:

Hi Eric, Yes, the main showroom space is about ten times bigger than the 'Gallery' on the main Ginza crossroads. Basically, if you come out of the Gallery and turn right - so that you are walking down Harumi Dori ( not Ginza Chuo Dori ) - you are heading in the right direction. Carry straight on down Harumi Dori and across a couple or three small streets, and cross over Showa Dori ( the big one ). On the other side of the road diagonally to your left you will see the Kabuki Zaka theatre - which is a big local landmark. Keep walking. You will walk past one entrance to Higashi Ginza subway station, and then another. Right about where the second subway entrance is, you want to turn right and start walking at 90 degrees to Harumi Dori ( unfortunately, like many of the smaller Japanese streets, this one does not appear to have a name). You will now be heading towards Miyuki Dori. About 100m from where you turned off Harumi Dori, there's a Starbucks on your right, and its part of the new NTT building. Across the street directly ahead of you - on the other side of Miyuki Dori - you should now be able to see a big building with cars dotted around on plinths both outside and inside. It takes up the whole block. The whole ground floor is a showroom. This is Nissan's main Tokyo HQ building. You can see the interior from some of the shots I took at previous Ginza Gallery events, such as the Sports Car Graffiti event in 2003, and the Nissan Style Week events ( although I took some of the these pics at the Sapporo Gallery as well as Ginza ). It's fairly big, and there's a kind of informal 'cafe' area in one corner. The Nissan ladies who staff the Gallery are extremely helpful ( and extremely cute ). Usually they have a range of current models on display, and you can book a test-drive. You can also request Nissan sales literature here. It's a bit less interesting if they don't have one of the special events or promotions going on, but its well worth a visit if you are in Tokyo. The smaller Gallery site on the crossroads ( opposite the WAKO and Mitsukoshi dept stores ) really only has enough space for two or three cars max, but its in a great location. There's a Japanese map on the back of the invitation I posted a pic of in post 5 of this thread ( its a bit small ). I hope Razor will be able to make the first Gallery sections for '2005 Events' once he's got his pics resized. Go for it, Razor. Cheers, Alan T.

Hi Ben, That's one of the cars owned by the Katori brothers in Chiba. I've seen it in the flesh, along with another '432R' that they own ( another very patinated original car ). The one in the photos is not an ex-Works SCCN car, but it does indeed have quite a lot of the 'right' bits. There's a bit of a grey area around its exact identity. Lets just say that it was modified a long time ago, but most probably *not* by Nissan or any of their regional teams...... I'll tell you a little more about it in a PM. I'm not sure if the wheels it is wearing are a set of painted Central 20 'Sport Z' four-spokes or a set of the 'Gotti' / Kobe Seiko 4-spokes used on the Works Bluebird circuit cars ( certainly not the Cherry versions, because of the size ). I can look into it a little further though. I'll ask a few people. Cheers, Alan T.

Great! You hit the jackpot as far as S30-series cars in the exhibition went. That car belongs to one of my fellow members of Club S30. But did you only go to the smaller of the two exhibition spaces? The one on the crossroads opposite the Wako department store? The main Gallery and showroom is on the ground floor of the Nissan HQ building, about a 10 minute walk away from the crossroads. It'd be a shame to have got so near and yet so far. Post more photos! Cheers, Alan T.

Hi Rob, Didn't know you were in Japan at present. Have you got time to get down to the two Nissan Gallery sites in Ginza tomorrow? Its the last day of a special event / exhibition celebrating the 35th Anniversary of the Fairlady Z. They will have a full range of cars from the S30 through to the Z33 apparently. I heard that there might be some good souvenirs and giveaways on offer. I couldn't find time to make it down there whilst I was in Japan over the New Year holidays, but maybe you can? Cheers, Alan T.

Hi Ben, They are 'stoppers'. They stop the outer tyre wall from sliding into the centre of the rim in the event of a puncture. With the 'stoppers', it enables the car to be driven back to the pits in the event of a puncture ( theoretically ). When the tyre is mounted on the wheel, the 'stoppers' are backed off. When the tyre bead is seated, the 'stoppers' are wound in and the locknut is tightened. I think you are thinking of the 'Z Sport' that were exclusive to 'Central 20' ( the company headed by ex Nissan Works driver Haruhito Yanagida ). They are indeed very similar. My fellow club member Watanabe san has a set of these on his ZG, and he did tell me who they were cast by ( but I've forgotten - sieve head! ). I'll ask him again. Here's a pic of Watanabe san's ZG wearing the Central 20 'Sport Z' wheels: Cheers, Alan T.

Just to tie-up the loose ends on this thread: I visited my friend in Japan who has a couple of sets of the four-spokes, and here is the explanation ( as far as we can understand the situation, that is ): The four-spoke wheel design seen on some of the Works Sunnies and Cherries may well have originated from an original design by famed European wheel maker "GOTTI". Either the first few sets, or a batch or whatever, were ordered from GOTTI and used on some of the Works race Sunnies or Cherries. When Nissan wanted some wider ones, they asked Kobe Seiko to forge some similar designs from Magnesium. These were then used on the later Works Sunnies and Cherries. When Nissan wanted a super-wide wheel for the 240ZR and some of the later GT-Rs with very wide Overfenders, they again asked Kobe Seiko to forge some special wheels ( in two widths ) to their requirements. These were based on the designs that Kobe Seiko had manufactured at Nissan's request for the Cherry and Sunny. That's the story as far as we can make out. Please note that its perhaps not the definitive version of events, and that where anyone is being accused of 'copying' you might get a different version of events! I'm happy to be put straight by anyone who might know better..... I popped off a couple of shots of the wheels that my friend has in his workshop. For reference, I took a close-up of the Nissan 'hamburger' marks cast into one of the spokes. Cheers, Alan T.

Hi Eric, Some excellent info there from Ben. The four spoke wheels in your pic were indeed originally made by Kobe Seiko. KS made the original magnesium wheels for the 432R, the original 'Works' rally mags - which were never sold to the general public - the original Sports Option magnesium eight spokes for the 432R ( which were later offered for the HS30 ) and also these super-wide four spokes. They came in more than one size. In Japan, these wide four-spokes have been called "Gotti" mags for a long time - although as far as I am aware they were not a direct crib of a Gotti design, and they were manufactured by Kobe Seiko exclusively for Nissan's Works race use. They even have the little Nissan 'hamburger' mark cast into them. "Gotti" might be a nickname linked to a design that they resemble, as Gotti is a famous wheel brand in Europe. They were not actually sold to the general public, but like most things in race use they mostly seem to be owned by private individuals these days. The ones on the white ZG in your photo are in fact replicas. A short ( very short ) run of replicas was made a few years back by the owner of the car ( Ise san - who is a fellow member of Club S30 in Japan ) and they are unfortunately not fully tested and approved. He was recently putting together plan to manufacture a fresh limited-edition run of replicas, but the price is going to be enormous ( and I mean enormous ). I've got some more detailed pics at home, so can send them to you when I get back to the UK. Today I'm also going to visit a friend in Japan that has a couple of original ex-Works sets - so I'll ask him a bit more about them. Cheers, Alan T.

Yes, TRUST ( along with a few other manufacturers ) made such turbo conversion kits for the Japanese market back in the late Seventies to mid Eighties. There were many different versions, and this looks like a genuine one rather than a home-built one-off. As sblake01 has pointed out, and you guessed yourself, it won't necessarily fit an LHD car as it was designed to fit an RHD setup. Cheers, Alan T.

Here we go again........ Carl, I'm sorry but if you really think that the cars in question can truly be described as "Factory" restored - with all the inference of connection with the Factory that they were originally manufactured in - then you are living in another world to me. I think you know what is implied when the word "Factory" is connected with these cars, and there is no way in hell that it is appropriate. How can you say that Nissan Motors USA is "the Factory" in the true sense of that entity being the PLACE where the cars were put together when they were originally made? I think its just bending the truth to suit an agenda. If you want to carry this idea to its logical conclusion, then even Nissan's own spare parts supply operation in Japan becomes a "sub contractor" to Nissan. This is not the case is it? They are a wholly-owned subsidiary company that CANNOT be described in the same way that a true sub contractor should. Once again you are demonstrating that you have never understood the dynamics and machinations of Nissan Japan. I've seen you describe Nissan Shatai as a "subcontractor" to Nissan before, and it tells me that you are misinterpreting their relationship. Nissan Shatai built - as in pressed, welded and finished - the bodies of the first-generation S30-series Z cars. Nissan Shatai ( was ) is a company owned by Nissan. Its part of the Nissan group of companies. If you want to call them a "subcontractor" in the same sense that companies such as Hitachi, Mitsubishi, Koito, Tokico, Kotobuki - and all the other myriad names associated with making parts for Nissan's first-gen Z cars were, then once again you are bending the facts to suit your agenda. You are wrong. No comparison. I hope you really know what the function of Old Woking Service Station had in relation to the "Works" rally cars when you use it as an example for comparison ( I don't think you do )? The Works rally cars were built from the ground up in Japan, and Old Woking simply took them apart for normal rally-related servicing operations. If you think you can imply that Old Woking's activities "re-worked" those cars in the sense that they became responsible for their specification and modifications as Works rally cars, then you are once again demonstrating a skewed view of the facts. You have no idea what you are talking about. I don't call it "silly semantics" when we are trying to straighten out the use of a word that implies a whole different situation to the truth. Why is the word "Factory" being used - as opposed to "company" or "manufacturer" or some other word? You know as well as I do that it links the cars back to the place where they were originally built, which is inappropriate in the true sense of the word in this particular case.

I love this quote: "Note that production of right-hand-drive 240Zs – which were sold throughout other parts of the world - did not commence until 1970." Says who, Mr Knowling? And why point this out so baldly unless trying to make some kind of inference from it? Nowhere in the article does Mr Knowling refer to the existence of the Japanese home market models that were equipped with the L20 engine. He also makes it sound as though they only had the 432 before the 240ZG popped out of nowhere. Perhaps he's using zhome.com for source material? :classic:

Yes, I'm afraid its another magazine article that makes lots of old mistakes. Its in the January 2005 issue of CLASSIC CARS Magazine. Entitled "Style on Trial", it pitches four "Seventies sporting coupes" against eachother in a bid to find "....which car epitomises the Seventies best." Cars involved are Jon Newlyn's gorgeous ( very early ) 1970 HS30 '240Z', a 1973 BMW 2002 Tii, a 1981 Alfa Romeo Alfetta GTV 2.0 and a 1975 Ford Capri II 3.0 GTS. The article is written by Glen Waddington, with some really nice photos by Charlie Magee. Waddington puts the Z as the 'winner' of the group test, saying; "The Z couldn't possibly offer as much as it looks like it could deliver. The fact that it only comes quite close is what makes it a real Seventies icon. It's slick, stylish and just tacky enough to pull the trick off." The style of the article is something that is customary for classic car magazines such as this, and of course they can be entertaining and fun. They do however also need to be factually correct, and this is where Mr Waddington falls out of bed: "The Datsun has the German styling consultant Count Albrecht von Goertz to thank for its sex appeal." Now I'm sure Jon Newlyn would have set him straight had Mr Waddington mentioned that he was going to write this, so I have to conclude that he went away and referenced all the other books and magazine articles that have credited Goertz over the years. Same old same old......... He comes up with a couple of other chestnuts too: "...power comes from a 2.4 litre, overhead cam straight-six that Datsun inherited from the Prince Motor Company, which it took over in 1966. It's basically a Japanese copy of a Mercedes-Benz engine, and the design of the block lived on and evolved into the Nissan Skyline R34 GT-R....." That's nonsense. First of all, the Nissan - not "Datsun" - L20 debuted in 1965, in the Cedric Special Six, a full year before PMC was merged with Nissan. The L20 six might well have shared some design features with Prince's G7 engine, and the G7 used some Mercedes-Benz patented design features licensed to Prince - but its not as simple as Merc, Prince, Nissan, one, two, three. And why is it that when Japanese companies pay to license patented designs its called "copying", but when anyone else does it its not? The L-series six isn't even really IN the family tree of the RB engines that were fitted to umpteen different models of Nissan before the RB26 DETT got as far as the R34 GT-R ( the third GT-R that the RB26 DETT was fitted to ). The RB-series debuted in the 1984 Nissan Laurel, and it was another five years before the RB26DETT was introduced. The RB engines might be seen as Nissan's straight six successor for the L-gata ( whilst Nissan's top brass would have preferred the V6 ) but the DNA of the RB essentially came from the Prince GR-8, which sired the S20 twin cam - design details and DNA of which were carried through into the FJ20 and its derivatives, and on into the RB. That's where Nissan says the RB series genes came from - not the L-series. Last, and perhaps expectedly for a 'British' classic car mag, Mr Waddington displays a sniff of that old antipathy towards Japanese machinery that we have come to expect: "How could the Japanese, famous for the uninspiring Sunny and Corolla, manage to produce a car that could convince the uninitiated it's a Ferrari?" Now, I understand that this is stylistically written from the perspective of the "man on the Clapham Omnibus" circa 1970, but Mr Waddington doesn't go anywhere with it. It's like he is confirming the 'fact' that the Japanese didn't design the thing. In which case he is proving that nothing has changed since 1970, and even automotive journalists - who really ought to be able to do some research on the subject - don't know any more about Twentieth Century Japanese industrial design or styling in 2004 than they did in 1970. In between all this nonsense he actually writes some quite complimentary things about the car. For me, the article is spoiled by the same old mistakes - but he even makes some new ones up to go along with them. It might sound churlish to take apart an article that essentially praises the Z, but if the journalist had made that many mistakes about the other cars in the article then there would probably be a fair few letters of complaint written. Mind you, he might not have made any mistakes with the other cars as their history is well documented. Anyway, letters of complaint and facts-correction have already been sent to Classic Cars magazine - but I doubt they'll be taken all that seriously. Pseuds Corner over and out.........

Go for it, 26th-Z. I am glad to see a thread like this being created, and I too will be an interested follower. There's been such a lot of cr*p written about these cars and the whole project over the years - especially when the cars have been offered for sale - that I'd be pleased to see some substantiated and corroborated data about them. Cheers, Alan T.