HS30-H

That looks much too dark to me. You need to be aiming for a mid to dark gunmetal grey metallic. I don't know what cars you would have locally that I could point the colour out from ( I live in London, England ), so its a bit difficult! Its definitely better to err on the grey side rather than have it too dark, in my opinion. However, some Japanese replica ZG's can be seen with darker shades of metallic grey. I notice that the owners of white ZG replicas in particular sometimes seem to go for either a darker or lighter shade than the original Factory colour. Have a look at the pictures of my Factory ZG in my Gallery. I think there are some pics in there that will give you a good clue to the correct shade if you blow them up a bit. Good luck, Alan T.

The original Factory colour was a metallic Gunmetal Grey. BMW used to have a stock colour called 'Anthracite' which is just about perfect. I got a small bottle of touch-up paint from a fellow ZG owner in Japan, and he had it mixed to match his Factory paint on the lower panel. Its an almost perfect match to the BMW Anthracite. Almost any dark metallic grey colour is going to look OK. They were never black from the Factory. Alan T.

We should not forget that the non-crossflow layout is not just a Nissan thing. The inlet-over-exhaust and non-crossflow layouts ( inc. flatheads ) have been used with good effect since the birth of the Internal Combustion Engine. Brett hit the nail on the head; its all related to cost. When it comes down to it, a well-designed non-crossflow layout can work very well compared to a crossflow design - but the crossflow layout is theoretically superior if its potential is realised. The design of the L-series Nissan engine predates the S30-series Z by some years. Its ancestry is somewhat contentious, as there is always talk of its being derived from one of the Mercedes patents that was licensed by the Prince Motor Co. - but Nissan enthusiasts in Japan point out that the L-series 4 and 6 cylinder engines were already at the planning stage before Nissan absorbed Prince.................. The Nissan L-series 4 & 6 make very good use of their theoretically inferior layouts, and very high efficiency can be obtained from the heads with a little extra work. In stock form, the non-crossflow layout has its advantages; one of which is fast warm-up ( always good for the longevity of an engine ). Production costs are also lower than a crossflow design, especially at the casting stage. Nissan developed a crossflow head for the L-series engine primarily to use it in racing and rallying. This was the "LY" head, which was a two-valve, single overhead cam two-valve design with a hemispherical combustion chamber. The spark plugs were located on the exhaust side of the head. A specially-plumbed inlet manifold design was used to aid fast warm-up and efficient cooling. There was an aftermarket crossflow head design for both the L-series 4 and 6 cylinder engines, which was made by a company called "O.S.Giken". Their TC24-B1 design for the L-series 6 was a 24-valve, twin cam hemi design with the spark plugs located centrally in the top of the engine. This was a very complicated affair and was rather expensive, as has been noted! A special front timing case casting was necessary, as were special pistons and other ancillaries. Price was very expensive! The S20 twin cam ( derived from the Prince GR8 race engine ) was first used in the PGC10 Skyline GT-R, from late 1968. When this engine was offered in the PS30 and PS30-SB ( Fairlady Z432 and Z432-R ) in 1969, the car was described by Nissan in its sales PR as a "Fairlady Z with a Skyline GT-R engine". This design was also a 24-valve twin cam hemi, with spark plugs at the top of the hemispherical combustion chambers. No parts from the S20 engine are interchangeable with the L-series 4 or 6. Really its all just down to costs and ease of production / use. "Our" L-6 engines are actually pretty darned good at almost everything they need to do, and that's one of the main reasons why a crossflow design was not offered in the mass-market by Nissan until much later. Personally, I love the Nissan L-series engines. However, a nice LY28 or TC24-B1 would do very nicely too thank you:classic: Alan T.

Ah, Mr 26ounce is starting to get very close................. zerozero - that's "AISAN" not 'asian' cast on the side of the carb bodies ( It wasn't only Hitachi that licensed the Skinners Union patent for Japan........... ). Aircleaner box is not original ( at least not original colour ). Who's going to take the crown? Alan T. ( sorry to be so cryptic, but I'm three sheets to the wind and its time for bed ).

Thanks Mike! Alan T.