HS30-H

Copyright problems. Many of the photos that I have are taken from books and magazines. I also have some original prints from the photographers themselves, which were REALLY hard to get hold of. Almost all of the images are copyrighted by the photographers or publishers, and I have to respect that if I am going to keep collecting them. Putting them up on the web without clearance is just not fair to the owners of the copyright, and especially to the photographers. Mike, I think you especially will know what I am talking about here? That picture at the start of this thread is a classic case in point. I think PhilUK saved it from a previous post of mine in another thread. I really should not have posted it in the first place, as it is not mine to give out. However, its such an evocative shot that I could not resist it. Now its already being thrown around in cyberspace without the photographer getting any credit or payment. I feel guilty. Having taken a few photos myself, I know how it feels to have someone pinch your images and not even give a credit - let alone pay you. Thats why I don't think its fair to put 'em up. Hope that sounds fair to everyone. I don't think any of us would like to work and then not get paid................. Regards, Alan T.

Hi Phil, You may have already noted the wave of apathy that greeted your post. That picture you put up was captured from one of my own posts some time ago, so I can tell you that not many people out there are all that well informed about the Japanese race career of the S30-series Z car, much less even seem to care! I have plenty more pics of the Japanese circuit race cars, and particularly of the "Works" circuit race cars. However, I'm not going to start putting them up here as its probably not the best thing to do. I would suggest that you start to build your own little archive of photos and start hunting down Japanese books and magazines on the subject. You will find a fair bit on the web if you are brave enough to investigate the Japanese sites. Don't expect to find them all in one place, as they are relatively rare images. In answer to your questions, I would honestly have to say that you will have to try to be as accurate as possible if you want to make your car look even a half faithful replica of the real thing. The headlamp covers without the stainless trim will not really cut it ( unless you paint them body colour and make them look like they are off a BRE car ) and I have no idea about the shape or quality of the GRP flares that Mike at MJP here in the UK sells. However, I would imagine that they are sourced from the USA. The closest thing to the "real thing" is still available in Japan, and some companies in the USA sell copies of them. You might like to look up "Classic Datsun Motorsports" who are based in the USA and sell probably the best replicas outside Japan. I am sure that you would probably prefer to try to get stuff from the USA rather than Japan. With regard to "air dams" and spoilers - you will find that the Japanese racers experimented with many many different types. The different regional squads of "Works" supported racers all had their own theories and ideas about the best way to execute this item, and even different cars in the same team had differing spoilers. They even started blocking off the radiator openings and leaving small ducts for cooling / induction. The Le Mans cars ( actually, it was only ONE car that ran in 1975 and ONE car that ran in 1976 - and they were both the SAME car ) were fitted with the ZG-type Group 4 aerodynamic body parts. The "Type B" version was used in the case of that particular car, with the extra large 3-piece rear spoiler, extra-wide "overfenders", "G" Nose and the bigger "Type B" front spoiler. If you are hoping to replicate the 1971 Japan GP race car driven by Tohira ( a full "Works" spec. SCCN car ) then the Le Mans car is the wrong thing to be looking at, as they were two different things. The proper aerodynamic bodied cars were a bit later. Most of the Circuit Racing "Works" SCCN cars were running with GRP Bonnets ( "hoods" ) and Tailgates, with Acrylic in all windows except the front screen. There were a few cars built with GRP doors, but these were outlawed in the regulations for the 1972 season. The front Wings ( "fenders" ) were almost always steel on the "Works" cars. A lot of the period feel from these Japanese racers comes from wheel and tyre choice. In a quest for more grip with limited tyre technology, they got fatter and fatter. Do not underestimate the width of wheel and tyre that it takes to fill up one of those "overfender" arches. Black or gunmetal coloured wheels are a must-do. Also remember that the factory cut and rewelded the rear wheelarch lips for clearance ( which you might not want to do ). Lastly, as I hinted at above, this kind of style has a limited appeal to the General Public and is much misunderstood. It will drastically affect the resale value of your car. If you are into it enough then you will not care ( personally, I love the fact that many people do not know what it all means - it makes it "your" secret, and only the cognescenti will appreciate it ) but if you want to turn the car back into money then it is something to think about. Good luck, Alan T.

Hi Enrique, Glad that helped a little. Regarding your further questions; I think you are right that neither of the switches was illuminated. Looking at the wiring ( although its hard to tell from Nissan's sketch ) it just doesn't seem that they can be, and the only illuminated switch I know of on early S30-series Z cars was the rear window de-mister switch ( which was probably illuminated as a reminder to turn it OFF as much as anything else! ). I should imagine that the toggle type ( "later" ) switch was pretty much generic in the Nissan lineup, and it looks very similar to the type of switches that I have seen in the C10 series Skylines that were contemporary to the S30-series Z. I'm off to Japan next week for the Nismo Festival at Fuji Speedway, and there are usually lots of S30-series Z cars in attendance. I shall look through a few windows and see if I can see any symbols on any fog lamp switches. Failing that, I know somebody in Japan who will definitely know. Will keep you posted. Regards, Alan T.

Here's some data from the Japanese Nissan Parts Catalogue ( Publication Number C-236 ) from 1972 which covers both the "early" and "late" types and references their changeover period. The picture attached shows the drawing of the two types of Fog Lamp Switch. Part no. 9 is the *25370-E4100 "SWITCH COMP. - fog lamp" Part no. 10 is the *25370-E8700 "SWITCH COMP. - fog lamp" Part no. 9 is the "early" type and no. 10 is the "late" type. When the Japanese market got the chance to buy HS30 series L24-equipped cars ( October 1971 ) in addition to what they previously had, the factory changed over to the "later" type switch. This was apparently because the console changed, and the console changed because the "B" type transmission was phased in. All the Japanese Home-market HS30-series cars got the "B" type box from October 1971. The corresponding hole in the sheetmetal around the shift lever was different, thus the console design was changed. Looks like the "early" switch was dash-mounted and the "late" switch was console mounted. Good luck, Alan T.

Rolf and Steve, Many thanks for your words of encouragement. Steve, that switch on the right hand side ( position 3 as you call it ) of my installed panel on the ZG is actually now redundant. If you look at the picture of the reverse of the panel you can see that the wires have been simply cut and tied off. The switch itself is identical to the Parking Lamp switch that is in the middle, but the actual position is marked by a "fan" symbol........ When my car came over from Japan, it had a lot of aftermarket accessories / nonsense fitted to it. These included an LED panel that indicated Oil Temp. and Water Temp. and a very nasty audio setup, as well as all sorts of other iffy bits and pieces. It also had an Air Con unit fitted to it ( one of the Factory types ) and the wiring for that was pretty ugly too. The Switch on the right was performing a non-standard function in connection with the Air Con. All that stuff came off and went straight in the dustbin. I saved some of the switches and other useful-looking Factory bits for possible recycling on other projects. So, at the moment its unused - but it is in fact another Parking Lamp switch as far as I can make out ( the wire connections / colours are identical ). All the best, Alan T.

Quote: "What I'm hoping to get out of this post, is that someone will be able to post either a picture of the ACTUAL switch,..........." - at least you got a front and rear picture of the switch. You don't seem to have been particularly pleased with what I came up with -which makes me feel I should not have bothered. Any kind of reply would at least have acknowledged some effort on my part................. Alan T.

Sorry 240znz, I must have missed that one first time around. My guess is that it was not a "real" 240ZG, but a half-replica. If you do not know the owner, then you would not be able to tell you about it - but I would have thought this might be a little confection that he put together himself. Major clues to it NOT being an original one are as follows: *Genuine 240ZG's have "Fairlady 240Z" emblems ( the one you saw said "Fairlady Z" - which would either point to the car being an S30 or S30-S that somebody put a G-Nose on to, or a New Zealand market car that someone put "Fairlady Z" badges onto ). *Genuine 240ZG's always had the fibreglass "Overfenders" when they left the factory. What about the one you saw? Of course, it is possible that someone could have taken them off if they did not like them ( I have seen this in Japan ). *Lack of Japanese-market mirrors makes it sound like a non Japanese-market car. The above would tend to make it look like you saw a local market car with an aftermarket G-Nose and "Fairlady Z" badges - which are actually wrong for a "real" ZG. Once a ZG always a ZG. Even if you took all the ZG-specific parts off a ZG and made it look like any other S30-series Z, it would still be a ZG ( HS30-H ) because that's what it left the factory as. This works the other way too; simply adding ( even genuine ) ZG parts to an HS30 does NOT make it a genuine ZG. A good friend of mine is just about to emigrate to NZ, and he's a renowned Z specialist / tuner from here in the UK. Once he's settled in I'll give you his contact details. He really knows how to work on these cars........... Hope the above helped a little. All the best, Alan T.

Hi Cuong, I don't think we would get many "students" attending the course ( even if I WAS qualified to lecture in it - which I'm not! ) - I think there are not that many of us out there who are interested in the true story of the S30-series Z from the same perspective as you and I. My "project" car is actually based on a Japanese Home-market Fairlady Z-L bodyshell, and as it was built around April / May of 1970 it has the features that I needed to build an accurate replica of a PS30-SB - which were pretty much all built on very early bodies. I have replicated the deletion of the spare-tyre well ( and inserted a ribbed steel panel ) so that the "correct" 100 litre tank can be used, and of course the body already has the non tool-box type features behind the seats. You would not believe the amount of differences between the ordinary L-series engined bodies and the S20 engined bodies, let alone the hundreds ( if not thousands ) of differences in all the other parts. As its only a "replica" I can get away with mixing and matching quite a few parts, but I really do want to try to keep as faithful to the flavour of the real thing as possible - so I'm trying to track down as many of the correct parts as I can, especially where they show. I shall post up a few photos in the Members Cars are in the Gallery - but its not much to look at yet. The body might be painted by Christmas, by I'm kind of hoping that it won't - so that I don't have to pay for it until January! Regards, Alan T.

Just in case anyone wants to crunch the numbers on these parts, here they are; *86720 - E4100 "FINISHER - floor console" ( "early" type ) *86728 - E4700 "COVER - finisher" ( "early" type ) *86720 - E8750 "LID arse'Y - floor console" ( "later" type for all models except Fairlady Z "base" model ) *86720 - E8751 "LID arse'Y - floor console" ( "later" type for Fairlady Z "base" model "S30", which had Parking Lamp system as Optional Extra ) *86723 - E8700 "GROMMET - parking switch" ( This to be used on 86720 - E8751 where Parking Lamp system is not chosen as an Option ). Here's the schematic from the Japanese parts list manual for the cross-over period, where both types are shown;

Here's the rear of the same panel. The actual switch mounts the same way ( screws at 10 and 4 o'clock ) so I would think that they are interchangeable between the "early" and "late" type panels.

Here's the "later" type in situ in the ZG;

Here's the "early" type in slightly out of focus close-up;

Right, I went over to the garages yesterday and took the ZG for probably its last run of the year ( putting it away for the winter now ). The rented garages are a good 30 minute drive from home. I had a dig through the parts for the 1970 Japanese-market project car too, and only managed to find the actual switch panel -not the switches themselves ( although I think I know where they are now that I remembered ). As far as I can remember Nissan used the same switches - but just a different panel. Therefore the actual switches ( they are a pair in one unit ) could be had from either the early or later type. Sorry Enrique, I do not think I have a spare of either. I took some photos which you can see below. The "early" type is naturally out of the console and out of the car ( the car is in the paint shop ) but the "later" type is pictured in situ in the ZG. Enrique, I'll send you some higher resolution copies direct. Alan T. Here's the "early" type panel:

Kerching! Cuong wins the cigar. Yes, the build number is way too high to be a genuine PS30 Z432. The factory usually claims to have only built around 420 PS30's ( including 432-R's ) but the specialists and owners in Japan know it was slightly higher than that. Probably closer to 460 or so. Nissan did another "funny" with the build numbers on the PS30 series and suddenly hopped, skipped and jumped a few bodies. Consequently, genuine late 1973 PS30's can be found in Japan with VIN numbers in the low 500's. Nissan don't like being reminded about it, either.................. My particular VIN tag is for my long-term project car; its an early 1970 Fairlady Z-L ( S30 ) which I am turning into a Z432-R "replica" - complete with S20 twin-cam engine, 100 litre fuel tank, flat rear floor and other appropriate period parts. The tag is just a bit of fun really - the build number is correct for "my" body, but PS30's never got into the 600's let alone the high 3000's. I'm guessing it will take a very alert Policeman to spot the difference, and hoping that I will be able to flannel him enough to get away with it if he DOES spot it. Coastguard! Shame on you! The S30-series Z was born with a 2-litre engine in it! Alan T.

Sorry Mike, Yes - these Parking Lamp systems were indeed for the Japanese "Home" market cars. It used to be the case that anyone parking a car on the open road outside a street-lit urban area would have to illuminate the offside front and rear corners of the car for safety reasons. Don't think its still applicable now. You could choose to switch on the left or right sides separately ( depending on which side of the car was sticking out into the road ) and interestingly there does not seem to have been any legislation about pointing the "wrong" way; I don't know about elsewhere in the world, but I'm old enough to remember laws here in the UK that made it illegal for a car to be parked up on the side of the road "facing" oncoming traffic - it always had to be the rear that was facing the traffic on that side of the road ( hence the red reflectors ). Sounds like you had the same thing in Australia. Interestingly, they were fitted to the more expensive models of Japanese Home market Z as standard equipment but the poor old "cooking" model Fairlady Z ( S30-S ) had them as an "option". Presumably owners who chose to keep costs down would have to make sure that they did not park outside street-lit areas. I've seen some of the corresponding tail lamp assemblies turn up on UK-market cars ( just not connected in the same way ). Looks like another one of those things where Nissan were running short of lamps and chucked on something "near enough". Regards, Alan T.

Aha, Some barking up the wrong tree going on here............... Pigsnuckle Public Library had a dictionary delivered last week, so I'm sure they had no problem spotting the fact that we were looking for a deliberate anomaly. Coastguard - Yes, its a 2 Litre alright so that's one line down. But that's "Overall Length" not wheelbase ( its got the same wheelbase as any other 2-seater S30-series Z ) - so that's another line down. 2Many - Yes, very good, you spotted that it is "reputedly" a Z432 ( from that PS30 chassis type ) although it COULD be a Z432-R ( PS30-SB ) as this was not differentiated anywhere on the tags or body number. 2Many and Zvoiture - don't get suckered by that "7-1" line. That's just Japanese tax code stuff. The "anomaly" is something that does not add up if you know a little 432 history.............. Come on, its easy! I just gave you a big clue! Alan T.

Good point Alfadog. But more to the point; why would anyone at Nissan want to BUILD a 280ZX?..................... Alan T.

Enrique, I just sent you a PM. I'll post pictures of the Parking Lamp Switches in my car later today ( I'll have to photograph them first ). Here's a snap of the earlier type ones to be going on with ( if you can see them ); Alan T.

Let's try another one. Spot the "deliberate" anomaly................. Alan T.

Lets round all those answers up together and get a rope around them once and for all; *HS130 = 280ZX ( Right Hand Drive market version ) *GRLS30 = 260Z 2+2 ( Left Hand Drive market version ) *GHLS30 = 280Z 2+2 ( Left Hand Drive market version ) Wonder what the right-hooker ZX was doing in your neighbourhood Zvoiture? Maybe another US Forces "Personal Import" job? Please subtract 100 points because I called MSA and asked for the answers ( but they didn't know either................ ). Alan T.

Zvoiture, thank you for putting me straight on that one. My mental GPS must have been playing up.................... I dialled in "FS5C71-A" and nothing came up, so I presumed there was no such thing. Alan T ( Pompous arse )

Well, they are not 1-off as in "unique" - more that they are built on a case-by-case basis for each customer / application. As for Spring Rates, I have a large choice and I'm still undecided. What with all the other setups I've had I now have a pretty large stock of springs in varying lengths and rates - from 180lbs up to 280lbs. However, I would certainly prefer to have a relatively soft spring rate with the dampers doing more work ( my previous setups ended up with the springs so stiff that the dampers were hardly having to do anything ). Colin Chapman - of Lotus fame - used to try to set his cars up with relatively soft springs and stronger damping. That's the theory I am hoping to benefit from. Anyway, the possibilities are endless when it comes to discussing suspension settings / types. All I can say is that the car I drove with this setup was the my favourite handling / riding Z so far by a long chalk. Alan T.

Well, the price I actually paid is kind of hard to break down. They are not an "off the shelf" item - they are put together as one-offs................ My friend had them made for me by BILSTEIN UK to his specs for Bump, Rebound, overall length of the tubes, Spring length and Spring Rate ( Springs were not in the photos ) as well as the Uniball top mounts and other mounting hardware. Additionally, he supplied the cores to get the work done so that I could recycle my LEDAs ( which should be saleable to someone who wants to use them for a street setup at least ). He needed some body panels ( including a whole right rear quarter ) to repair his rolled racecar, which I sourced for him along with some high ratio LSD-equipped R200 Diffs and a few other bits. We did a "Contra" so that the minimum of money changed hands, but anyone who wanted to get these done from scratch would have to pay well over $2000 ( USD ) to Bilstein, and that's in the UK - so presumably much more expensive to order the equivalent from your side of the "Pond". You would also have to send some cores over for them to work on, as Bilstein will not supply these. That might seem a lot of money, but don't forget that Bilstein chop off the whole tube and then add their own tube with all the workings in it. The valving is all specially chosen, as well as the Bump and Rebound rates and other data that is needed to put them together. Surely there must be companies in the USA that would be able to build a similar setup? I have no idea from who, but wouldn't there be the equivalent available on a special order basis? Having said that, it would probably not be considered necessary for street use by most early Z owners and might not even be thought necessary for circuit race use either. Having had several different setups on the car ( stock dampers with higher rate springs, then Tokico inserts, then Koni D-adjustables, then the Leda set-up with cut-down tubes ) and never feeling happy with any of them after having driven the gas Bilstein-equipped car, I thought I might as well bite the bullet and go for them. I thought it might be of interest to some people here who have never seen one of these "upside down" setups before. Its a little bit like the principle used on racing motorcycles. Alan T.