HS30-H

People might wonder why such effort was made with regard to mudflaps, and the answer is that many events mandated their use - for safety reasons as much as anything else. In events such as the Monte Carlo Rallye, where studded tyres would be used on the mountain stages, there was a very real risk to following vehicles. There were often penalties for cars which finished with damaged or missing equipment, so some teams added extra sets of mudflaps which were rolled up out of the way and could be deployed as replacements. If not, great efforts were made by the team to jury-rig a repair in the field. The old faithful of baling wire doing its stuff:

Classic. No mention of the S20 engine's historical significance in the 270KK/'Maru Z'/S30-series Z story and no mention of the fact that the very fabric of that (theoretical) '69 240Z concerned already had S20-specific DNA, let alone mention of the S20's heritage, quality, character, the drivability of the package and - let's face it - the wow factor. Re-creating one of the S30-series Z's long lost prototypes (which is what an S20-swapped '69 LHD Z would be) could be a great 'what if' project along the lines of Jay Ataka's 'Phantom Z Sport Wagon'. And judging an S20-swapped car solely on its power rating would be equivalent to judging that 'Phantom Z Sport Wagon' purely on its additional load space. Totally missing the point...

Judging by the 432 that he bought, not necessarily...

Again, you're way off track. Fujitsubo have made their new EPU system for Japanese customers who have later production (S31 'Kouki') cars which may or may not have been retrofitted with R200 diffs. It's all in the write-ups. You *presume* (wrongly, as usual...) that they are somehow addressing Export 280Z models. They are not. This is Straw Man stuff from you again. You put up a false narrative and then knock it down. Time after time after time, you put words in their mouth. I know why.

So you're (seriously?) suggesting that the only reason Fujitusubo have inverted the flange for their new EPU system is to make people stump up for the whole system? Did you even read the write-up on why they did it? For me, you have zero credibility here. Zero. You're just doing the same stuff you always do. And looking at your spelling, are you drunk, ill, or both?

Sourcing and fitting an earlier twin cutout crossmember would not be all that difficult? Straight swap. Here are some scans from a 2020 issue of Nostalgic Speed magazine (Vol.025) which might be helpful. They show and talk about the flipped flange (he's pointing at it...) and there are some good photos illustrating the area where the twin pipes pass around the (R200) diff. Might be useful to some.

A cursory look back through this thread shows you throwing shade at both Fujitsubo and Spirit Garage. Your (ridiculous) assertions that Fujitsubo should personally curate every single sale - even when their products are passing through a chain of both authorised and unauthorised re-sellers - is for the birds, as is your suggestion that they need to do it in the English language. Pie-in-the-sky stuff. You have been sniping at Fujitsubo on other forums and on Facebook for years now. Many of the questions being asked arise from typical social media whispering grass scenarios, and from misconceptions which you yourself contribute to. My advice to everybody - as always - is to go back to source. In the case of aftermarket exhausts that means the manufacturers themselves. Look for example at the situation regarding R200 compatibility. The guy whining that his exhaust didn't fit his 280Z simply didn't understand what FGK's published data told him. You're kidding, right? This thread is titled "New Fujitsubo Exhaust System" and it started in January 2017. By post #4 you are active in the topic and throwing shade, by post #12 you are showing a photo of your own product and by post #13 you are advocating your Z Story exhausts with sales patter ("....still a big advantage buying from me is that.....I'm here - you can talk, ask questions, get measurements (get replacement parts if needed) - gotta be better than buying blind from a 'buy it now' site !"). By post #17 you are even quoting prices. So you elevate yourself as a rival supplier, and you've had posts (and threads) elsewhere deleted and edited because of it. You've even been sent on extended Gardening Leave by one forum because of your incessant sales pitches. As I've pointed out to you elsewhere, you would be well advised to simply let your products speak for themselves and stop with the blatant and between-the-lines criticism you throw at the products of other manufacturers who are not here to defend themselves.

There's no "flame war", and taking yourself a little less seriously might be a good companion to the pragmatism I've already recommended.

Flipping the 'binocular' flange between the manifold and the rest of the system is (surely?) part of their effort to improve ground clearance.

It seems to me that after 19 pages "The Information" is peppered with misunderstandings, miscomprehensions and personal opinions with - I'd say - a little light salting of wilful disinformation and unfair criticism from a rival supplier with a dog in the fight. I've answered your PMs to the best of my ability. I've also recommended that you reach out to the actual manufacturers rather than their online re-sellers because I don't believe the re-sellers will make the effort to get full answers to your (many) technical questions. QED. I also get the feeling that, whatever system you eventually go with, you'll probably find fault. You now say you're going with a Spirit Garage system but (even as a happy Spirit Garage system user) I can assure you that the Fujitsubo systems are better quality both in materials used and in construction. Whatever you buy, a pinch of pragmatism will go a long way.

To be fair, you've been posting on this thread asking questions since 2017 and you still haven't bought a system. One might be excused for thinking it's you that doesn't want to "buy the damn thing"... 😉 At some point you just need to step up and do it. I see you asking questions about stuff (sensor bosses, welded mounting tabs etc) that you can add/modify on whatever system you buy. Some of the questions make it sound like you are ordering parts for NASA. Aftermarket exhaust systems for almost any car - in my experience - are likely to need a little tweaking at the very least. This is not millimetre accurate engineering here. They are pipes with bends in them. I previously vouched for the Spirit Garage (Japan) systems and used one on one of my cars for many years. It is still going strong. However, I made some small modifications to the rearmost mounts to better fit (in my opinion) my car, and my tastes. No big deal, surely? I eventually painted most of it flat black, as I got tired of the 'bling'. The Spirit Garage and Fujitsubo systems are excellent quality and have the advantage of ready availability and, currently, USD to JPY exchange rates greatly in your favour.

Mostly in your head. Rent free.

I couldn't possibly imagine why you'd be asking so many questions about Fujitsubo's Legalis systems, or be so exercised about finding out as much as possible about them. Have you ever considered making and selling your own exhaust systems?

Hi Kats, I think every PZR bonnet I have ever seen has that same gap difference in comparison with the factory steel bonnet, including the period race cars. You can see the fender mounting bolts and rubber pads. So it is 'correct' for PZR and I don't think it is down to shrinkage or distortion. The aftermarket FRP bonnets on two of my cars have the same feature, so I would *guess* this is possibly a feature of construction and the process of making the moulds/molds? Maybe it is somehow inevitable when using an original steel panel to make the moulds/molds? I see some variation in the interior structure details of the factory mouldings, so I would again *guess* that this would be down to a process of evolution and/or natural variance of hand-made parts produced in relatively small batches across a period of months and years? In that period I don't think anyone truly expected an FRP panel to fit as a closely as a factory steel one would.

I can't help feeling that things would be a whole lot simpler if everybody got into the habit of doing that for all the other production years (and months...) too.

Perhaps tellingly, and certainly interestingly, Chief Engineer Suitsu san's original plan from April 1967 aimed at shipments starting in August 1969. They were slightly late!

And 1969.

Hmmm. Yes, S30-series is S30-series, but maybe you are forgetting (or didn't understand?) the point made previously; that 'S30' is both the series designator AND the chassis prefix for the 'base' models - S30-D 'Nissan Fairlady Z-L' and S30-S 'Fairlady Z'? And this whole line of conversation sprang from people trying to make sense of the 'Series 1', 'Series 1.5', 'Series 2' et al vernacular terms and the continuing confusion between 'Model Year' and manufacturing date. Yet that is all - largely - a local, North American phenomenon. The point being made was that 'Series 1' etc is probably not a judicious choice of retrospective denomination when the factory had already used it... Nobody, nobody!, even the "woke police" (pfft...) is telling you that you can't call your 'Datsun 240Z' a 'Datsun 240Z', or your 'Datsun 260Z' a 'Datsun 260Z'. Meanwhile people will - I guarantee! - continue to use the term '240Z' to describe a whole family of S30-series variants being conceived in 1967, designed and engineered through 1968, then produced and finally put on sale in 1969. A tap on the shoulder from the Z Police would then be in order...

"Woke police". LOL. This from the guy who claims to have never heard of one of America's greatest automotive authors. I'm talking about situations where the whole is being talked about, but the specific is being used. For example, a book published regarding the 'Maru Z', '270 Kaihatsu Kigou' project; The genesis, planning, design, engineering and putting-into-production of the whole S30-series range as seen at launch (S30, S30-S, PS30, PS30-SB, HLS30U, HLS30, HS30U etc etc) being titled 'Datsun 240Z Engineering Development'. See? Probably not... Happens all the time. Probably whizzes way over your head.

Not really. And if you approve of people using '240Z', '260Z' or '280Z' in situations where 'S30-series Z' is more appropriate, then we are definitely on different wavelengths.

And that's the problem...

You've got at least some of that the wrong way around. BMW '3-series' (like '5-series' and '7-series' etc) is used in the same way that (for example) Mopar used 'A-body' and 'B-body' to denote platform type/size. Hence they carry it across different generations of Series (E21, E30, E36, E46, E90/91/92/93 etc). Similarly, W201 is a Mercedes generation for a particular class of product. The sequence was W121, W110, W201, W202 etc. The whole point about Nissan's S30-series is that it was a series from launch, but people use variant names from within that series as though they are a series themselves. Hence '240Z' instead of HLS30/HS30 and their sub-variants, '260Z' instead of RLS30/RS30/GRLS30/GS30 and their sub-variants, and not even a thought to S30/PS30. Nissan's system made sense and was used across its whole range. The 'base' model in a series was usually the series denominator, hence C10-series Skyline and C10 model, S30-series Z and S30 model.

I can see why the vernacular 'Series 1' etc thing came about, but I think the word 'Series' was probably not a good choice seeing as 'Series' was already defined by NIssan with 'S30 Series'. Additionally, the 'Series 1' etc nomenclature seems to be a moveable feast open to misuse, mistake and misnomer. The Human Element, I guess. It also does not apply neatly (to say the least...) to market variants that are not USA/Canada models. On the contrary. They do. It's the American 'Model Year' thing that doesn't work very well elsewhere. I'm also wary of applying such nomenclature to Japanese cars in general. Sure, Nissan and the other Japanese manufacturers made great efforts to comply with the American 'Model Year' system and apply/inform of certain changes in line with that, but that doesn't mean that their non-USA market output follows suit. The whole thing seems to have been badly applied and open to misuse. Look at how much talk there is on here and Bring A Trailer about the anomalies and inconsistencies in (stated) Model Years vs (stated) Production Dates. It seems like there was a huge gulf of intent between a car rolling off the line at the Hiratsuka plant and it being sold by a dealer in the USA and, despite the best efforts of everyone at Nissan Japan, the dealers were almost free to do what they liked. There are parallels with showroom sales of the new RZ34... Personally speaking, most of what I need to know about a particular car will probably be contained in the combination of its chassis designation and prefix (full 'Katashiki would be nice), production date and its destination market. Anything over and above that comes from looking at the fabric of the car itself. 'Model Year' and 'Series X' are tits on a bull to me. We touched on this several pages back on this thread.

Sorry but I'm definitely the wrong guy to pose that question to. I find the seemingly arbitrary nature of 'Model Year' application to be a USA-specific nonsense open to all sorts of shenanigans. A real chimpanzees tea party. Thanks for the hat-tip though. I wish you good luck...

Series is 'S30': Yes, I know I know....