HS30-H

Hi Richie, Please try to avoid any question of replacing the roof panel on your car. I had this done on my very first Z using a new roof panel from Nissan ( the original roof had been butchered for a sunroof ) and it is a BIG job that needs to be carried out with the utmost of care and skill. Removal of the headlining and header trim on the damaged side of the roof will allow a skilled panel beater to access the area that needs to be worked on. I can see from the pics that it is eminently fixable. I had very similar damage ( caused by collapsing scaffolding ) on a Porsche 356 repaired with excellent results. Totally invisible. Just choose your body shop well, and don't disturb that roof panel! Regarding the identity of the car, I would bet all my furniture on it not being a 'replacement' bodyshell. It will of course have been a 'private' import ( we call them 'grey' imports now ) rather than an official Datsun UK import, and 95% of these in the UK were connected to American armed forces personnel bringing their personally-purchased cars over from Japan with them when they were moved from Japan to the UK ( RHD market to RHD market ). Many of these cars were sold off privately in the UK before the personnel were sent back to the USA. My 1970 Fairlady Z-L based project car is one of these. I'm interested that you feel you have identified the date of manufacture from a list published on the net. Where is this? I have never seen a VIN number list on the net that covered the home market cars with any accuracy. Indeed, some of the most widely used internet lists are total rubbish when it comes to non-USA market cars. Comparing your 'S30' prefixed VIN to the numbers on these lists is not going to get you anywhere. "Converting" to UK-spec is easier if you are starting out with a Fairlady Z-L; just about all the components are already in place except for the L24 engine. I presume this is what has been done in your case. However, you may not realise just how many differences there are between your car and a typical UK-market car of the same period. Its very interesting to compare the differences and details. I wonder how far you have looked into this? If I were you I would much rather trust a fully cross-referenced study of parts manufacturing dates ( hidden all over your car ) than any web-based list. Cheers, Alan T.

Welcome to the site Richie, Sorry to hear about the damage to your car. I think you'll find that a replacement roof panel is not necessary, and that a good body man will be able to sort out that damage with a minimum of filler. I know its "another topic entirely" - but I'm interested in this quote: How can the car be a '240Z' if it has an 'S30' VIN prefix? Its either a Fairlady Z or Fairlady Z-L, and if it has an L24 engine now then its certainly not the engine that it left the factory with. I doubt very much that its "full UK-spec". Sounds like another 'G.I. Bride' to me. Cheers, Alan T.

I wouldn't characterise that as the main reason its done..... I know more than one race car that uses the L20 crank ( or even just the stroke of the L20 with a custom-made crank ) and its often done to create a very revvy race engine that still conforms to race regulations in certain series. I don't think there are many combinations of Nissan L-series parts that have not been tried over the years. Nothing much new under the sun as far as the L-series in concerned.... :classic:

Gents, PMC.S = "Prince Motor Club. Sports". See this thread: PMC.S acronym means......... Cheers, Alan T.

Owner Kevin Bristow is one of my best mates. The car was in a bit of a state when he got it - but it was 99% complete and the 'real thing'....... Kevin has done the most amazing job to resurrect the car. Its not quite finished yet, but the work he has done to date is spot-on. He is a true inspiration. I fully expect this car to take a trip back to Japan at some point - to meet up with its surviving relatives and ( hopefully ) a little guest spot in Nissan's proposed new Yokohama HQ museum floor. Fingers crossed. Cheers, Alan T.

The problem is that e-mail notifications of responses / questions don't seem to be working lately. I haven't had any for a few weeks, it seems. This makes it hard to keep up, and means I may miss the discussion / question. I'm my own worst enemy for posting so many pics I know, and without the e-mail notifications its almost impossible to keep up and be polite.

Mike, 'TKS 33 SA 8075' is not one of the three cars still owned by Nissan that are stored at Zama. I only have a few 'period' shots of the car, and I presume that it would have gone back to Japan at some point ( presumably after the 'Dulux International' event that you reported its participation in? ) for a refurb / new identity or recycling into another shell. You're making an '8075' replica, or a 'Works' look replica in general? Cheers, Alan T.

Hi Phil, It doesn't really feel as though I have made much progress on the car. Most of the work I did on it over the Summer months was with it sitting up on high jackstands with me laying underneath scraping, brushing and wire-wheeling off the underbody. Its done now, but it feels like it took forever. I've had a few hiccups with lost components between my sandblaster and powdercoater ( each blaming the other ) and frankly probably spent too many weekends driving the R32 instead of in the garage. Now Winter is here and the garage is a cold, dark and uninviting prospect.... Yes, Fourways did all the interior, engine bay and exterior paint on the body. Its 920 'Safari Brown' ( 'Gold' in Export markets ) and therefore not the correct colour for a Factory PZR - which is a 'deliberate mistake' on my part. I brought my specially-fabricated front crossmember back from Japan as checked-in baggage this time ( the S20 engine mounting 'towers' are quite different to those of the L-series engines ). It looked quite suspicious going through the X-Ray machine at the airport, especially with the 432R-type engine bay wiring loom that was packaged with it. The security inspectors ran it through a few extra times at different angles and looked at it quizzically, but gladly didn't ask me to unwrap it. I guess they get to see all sorts...... Cheers, Alan T.

It wasn't really the Overfenders on the white twinny-grinny 432s that I thought was 'blasphemous' ( although the fact that they were carbon fibre seems to sum up the approach in the build of these two cars ). It was more to do with the fact that they chose to make so many non-period and 'bling' mods to a pair of 432s rather than a more common model. Seeing an S20 engine with a chromed valve cover made me feel a bit queasy, but perhaps more disconcerting was the beautiful engineering and almost flawless bodywork, paint, wiring and plumbing. It was all excellent. How could such an artisan have such bad taste? Very odd. Lots of the components of the two cars, when taken off the cars and viewed on their own, are perfectly fine. But put them all together ( on a PS30 body! ) and to my mind its neither fish nor fowl. I have NO problem with modifications - even the most extreme - and I would have been pleased to see something like an RB in the engine bay ( not in a PS30 body please... ) but I couldn't see the philosophy behind them. Just my opinion, though. The owners I guess have a right to do whatever they want. Then the Veilside-kitted Z33 turned up, and the owner appeared to be best mates with them both. That made the penny drop for me...... three peas in a pod. Not really. I always find interior shots a little awkward at meetings like this. Like photographing somebody's kitchen. There's usually a lot of cooler boxes, folding chairs, coats and shoes inside the cars! One guy even brought his bird with him. I don't mean a girl, I mean an actual live tweety bird in a cage. Some kind of exotic warbler or finch. In a classic dome-shaped cage with a perch. The owner was in a lovely GP Maroon ZG. I kid you not. I'd have thought the poor bird would get alarmed and drop dead, but apparently not. Now that's what I call a family day out.

Hi Mike, I didn't go to Japan just for the Sagamiko meeting. I was just lucky that ( like last year's event ) I was taking a business trip to Japan at around the same time and was able to 'tweak' my schedule a little in order to accomodate it without getting into too much trouble. I could have chosen the NISMO Festival by tweaking a bit more the other way - making my business trip later rather than sooner - but its taking place at T.I.Circuit Aida again this year ( whilst FISCO is being redeveloped by Toyota ) and that's a bit too far west for me. There's still time for anyone who wants to go to that though. Anyone? That photo is of Takeuchi san's original 432R. The 432R model left the Factory with a semi-matt black FRP bonnet ( hood ) with a kind of dark charcoal metallic paint on the inside. There was a 432R on the Nissan display stand at the world launch of the S30-series Z, so if anything you might say that the Works rally cars followed the PZR on bonnet colouring rather than the other way around. The FRP PZR bonnet and the first series of Works rally car bonnets were the same item with the same part number. You mean the warehouse at Zama? ( sore point: Nissan can't call it a proper 'museum' unless they admit the general public ). I've only been there once and I think it might be a while before I can go there again. Maybe Nissan will even get their new 'museum' floor in their proposed new Yokohama HQ built before I go there again ( its scheduled to open in 2010! ). I've actually got hundreds of shots of the three Works cars that Nissan still own. What do you want to see? I might play requests. Alan T.

He was not at the Sagamiko meeting, but that was not particularly surprising. I asked after him via a couple of mutual friends, but both said that they had not heard from him for a while. Didn't he say he was taking a bit of a holiday from the net for a while, and spending more time with his family?

Same situation for me too, Gav. No e-mail notifications whatsoever. Makes it difficult to be polite in trying to answer questions on all the recent pics I have posted.

Maybe he remembers looking at the manual for the aftermarket aircon system? I have FSMs that cover ALL the Japanese home-market S30 Z models, and there are none with evap units between the shock towers. Sorry to be even more pessimistic, but these 'G.I. Bride' cars quite often have a lot of misinformation and 'whispering grass' type anecdotes attached to them ( I know, I've got one of these cars myself ). As an American forces serviceman, he would much more likely have picked it up from the foreign language and Diplomatic sales office in Ginza ( Nissan's Tokyo HQ ) rather than the Factory itself - which had no facilities for such a personal collection. I still think it sounds like a Japanese aftermarket unit.

Hi Ben, You're not kidding. Take a look at the photo attached below....... it was hard to avoid them :cross-eye The one on its lonesome? Yes - that one was an original ( and looked FRESH ) on standard wheels and wheel trims. There was another GP Maroon car there on standard wheels and trims, but that was a lookalike. That's Takeuchi san's car. You are right, he gets around; not only does he go to a lot of meets, he also gets into a lot of mags and videos. I agree - its good that the car is used and not mothballed. Somebody needs to invite him to one of the USA Convention meetings, don't you think? Cheers, Alan T.