HS30-H

Hi Mr C, I think I have a small write-up with my car photos on the Members cars area, and as far as I remember it tells the story of my car ( or did I do that somewhere else? - can't remember... getting old. ). Anyway, I did not bring it in from Japan myself ( that's the question that everyone asks me ) and I bought it from a guy who spent an absolute fortune on it after buying it as a running resto project. Since then I've spent an awful lot of time, effort and yes money on it - but most people can hardly see what I've been up to. Oh well. I have another car thats a long-term project ( don't really want to finish it, or I'll have to start something else ) which is a Z432-R replica ( complete with S20 "Twink" ) based on a mid 1970 Fairlady S30 shell. Its the proverbial Frankenstein car at the moment - parts are everywhere. Importing parts from Japan is like going to the dentist. It hurts and it costs you money. Despite the "close" proximity to Australia ( well, its closer that the USA and UK ) I think you will find that the retail cost in Japan of most items will leave your eyes watering and wondering why the Australian Dollar is so weedy against the mighty Yen. Don't menton G****z!! 2many, I don't know which fender flares you are talking about as I do not have the link - so I can't comment, sorry. Alan T.

Oh no, not that old chestnut! The Prince Motor Co. licensed some Mercedes-patented engine design elements during the mid Sixties. That's where that story comes from. Nissan took over Prince ( one of the BEST car-making companies in Japan - ever ) when they got into financial difficulties, and naturally the Prince staff who joined Nissan took all their expertise with them. Sad to hear people still mentioning the word "copy" in reference to this kind of matter. In truth, very little blatant copying went on - but a lot of genuinely agreed and paid-for licensing went on. Its a shame that the Japanese got a rep. for "copying" rather than "licensing". One is theft, the other is business.............. Keep it out of the trees on that Rally, Mike! That reminds me - I have some gas suspension info. for you, and I will post on it over the weekend. Alan T.

Those pics are of Les Cannaday's car, aren't they? I don't know if he got some "genuine" Overfenders and moulded a set off them, or the ones on his car are the real thing. Whatever, they look just about as close as you are going to get to the ZG Overfenders - I don't think anybody does anything better. I have seen them in Carbon Fibre in Japan, which looks a bit too modern for my tastes. Les Cannaday either works for or owns CLASSIC DATSUN MOTORSPORTS ( http://classicdatsun.com ), and they sell these ZG type Ovefenders there. You won't find them any cheaper in Japan, and the shipping / Duty is going to be more expensive too. Rick, if you want to use some for racing you will possibly be needing something even wider - like the "Works" versions. I will send you a PM about this later today. Please look out for it. All the best, Alan T.

Graeme, You're probably going to have to tell these two guys where you are thinking of getting yours from. You said that there are "several companies" that offer the flares - but I presume that you mean they are outside Japan. The suppliers that I know are all in Japan, and the retail cost ( let alone the cost of shipping ) is quite often enough to put prospective purchasers off. Also, there's a big difference between the ZG type Overfenders and the Works Type A and Type B................ What version are you after, gentlemen? Alan T.

Here's a pic. of a Works ( SCCN ) 432R with the slightly wider Overfenders than the ZG type. Notice the little "lip" on the outer edge - the ZG Factory type do not have this. They got even wider on the aerodynamic cars that came just after this. Alan T.

Hi Graeme, The original Factory flares ( as fitted to the ZG ) were really rather dainty things, and were attached to the body with large aluminium "pop" type rivets. On the ZG, they were largely cosmetic and only intended to allow the Homologation for race use of even wider "Overfenders" on the Factory race cars. These were called the "Works" overfenders in Japan, and came in "Type A" and "Type B" versions - depending on what the rest of the body consisted of. These had a bigger base radius and were naturally wider than the ZG overfenders. If you put a set of the ZG type Overfenders on an S30-bodied Z, you will find that it does nothing to cure the problem of interference of the original wheel-arch lip with the tyre. What they did in Japan ( and quite brutally on the Works race cars ) was to cut out and re-weld most of the metal underneath the Overfenders - especially at the back. Many people are reluctant to do this, quite naturally! However, if your wheel / tyre combo does not interfere with the original sheetmetal, then you have no problem. They just won't "fill up" the Overfenders. I have a spare set of Overfenders for my car, and these were moulded off a set of factory originals. There is not much to them, and they just have the flat areas where you drill through and into the body and poke your pop-rivet into the virgin sheetmetal. I have the Factory race department instructions for fixing them on around here somewhere - if you are interested. I would be cautious about aftermarket overfenders, especially if it is the Factory-spec. ZG type that you are after. I know a couple of good suppliers in Japan, but I can't vouch for any product from elsewhere. They might not be quite "right". Only you can judge what you are expecting. The big question is what you want to do about cutting those original arches away? Good luck, Alan T.

All European markets other than UK had Kph speedos, as did the Japanese "Home" market. There are several different models of speedo in the Kph series ( some of them go to higher speeds than others ) depending on what model they were fitted to. Alan T.

Thanks Mike and Ben, but I've been put on a diet now ( eek! ) and scones are definitely off the menu. Mike, your question about the L20 six has pretty much been answered in the above post by Ben. However, there were a few other versions too ( how about the L14 four, or the L-series fire-pump ! ) and they were fitted in absolutely SHEDLOADS of models - lots of which were never even seen outside the Japanese market. As far as Z engines go though, the sixes are all they ever had - but there was good interchange amongst all the parts, allowing the aftermarket and home-based tuners to try all manner of swaps to come up with super-revvy short-strokers ( L24 / L26 bore with L20 crank ) right through to stump-pulling tank torquers ( L24 / L26 / L28 bore with LD28 crank ). This interchange was always helped by the big "family" of pistons and different rod lengths, allowing canny tuners to get the right piston / rod combo from the L-series four or six parts bin. Made life fun for "we who can't leave 'em be". You might hear that the L-series "Fours" were designed first, and that when the Z came along they "added two extra cylinders" to make the sixes - which of course is nonsense. I have certainly seen this kind of statement in the UK motoring press many times, and they only said it because in 1970 they had hardly clapped eyes on an L-series six, but had seen the fours on "lesser" Nissan imports. Truth is that the engines were virtually contemporary in release, and were on the drawing board at the same time. They just got released in four-banger form first. The sixes were used in all manner of weird and wonderful Home-market cars, but the stringent Japanese taxation laws of the period made it much more expensive to go over the magic 2 litre mark - hence the wealth of 2 litre models making a kind of "glass ceiling" until late 1971 when they finally thought that their Home market customers might think going up into a higher taxation bracket would be an acceptable trade-off for the extra power and torque. The "sister" car to the S30 Z - the C10 Skyline - was fitted with even more different types of L-series engines than the Z. In fact the Skyline got the L20 and even the L24 before the Z, as well as the S20 twin cam ( but thats another story! )........ In my opinion, the L-series fours and sixes were ( and are ) some of the world's best engines. I have had many types and models of cars, but these L-series anchors are long-lived, durable, eminently tuneable and very flexible. Trouble is, they are a bit on the heavy side!............. Alan T. ps: Mike - thanks for the kind words. A bit of encouragement is always appreciated.

At the launch of the S30-series Fairlady Z range in Japan ( October 1969 ) the following models were released to the general public; *FAIRLADY Z ( "S30-S" ) - The "no frills" base car, with no hubcaps, no rubber trim on the bumpers, plastic / rubber mats instead of carpets and lots of other little cost-cutting measures. These cars had the L20 2-litre six and four-speed trans. - but with a good list of options that would upgrade the spec. to the owners choice ( including a five-speed box option ). *FAIRLADY Z-L ( "S30" ) - The 'luxury' version, with all the bells and whistles ( wow - carpet and hubcaps! ) and the five-speed as standard. Still with the L20 engine. *FAIRLADY Z432 ( "PS30" ) - The hot one, with the S20 twin cam engine ( same as the previous year's Skyline GT-R was released with ) derived from the Prince GR8 race engine. Hundreds of differences to the "normal" S30 cars - too many to list. *FAIRLADY Z432-R ( "PS30-SB" ) - The even hotter one, still with the same S20 engine but with a whole host of other features and differences to the bodyshell intended to homologate specifications for the race cars. Even more differences, and definitely too many to list here. Then from October 1971, the following additions to the range: *FAIRLADY 240Z ( "HS30-S" ) - Pretty much the same as the Fairlady Z ( "S30-S" ) above, but now with the option of the L24 engine - basically a bore and stroke job. Took the car into a much higher and more expensive taxation bracket.............. *FAIRLADY 240Z-L ( "HS30" ) - As per the "S30", but again with the L24 engine. These cars were probably closest in spec. to the UK and Australian market RHD "240Z" models, but with quite a few nice Factory options that other markets did not necessarily get. *FAIRLADY 240ZG ( "HS30-H" ) The improved-aerodynamics Homologation special sold to the general public allowed the Factory to use the base parts ( and in fact even more radical ) kit for Group 4 races in Japan. This version was based on the "HS30" and the main differences were the extended nose and "Overfenders". So, you can see that the story of the Japanese-market cars was quite complicated and that they got the L24-engined cars in late 1971. They had a pretty good choice from October 1969 though..... I thought that the weight data ( as quoted by the factory ) might be interesting to some people, as it covers quite a few models, and it can be seen that the "no frills" base-model car was the lightest, even compared to the PS30-SB "lightweight" Z432-R. Naturally, the 432-R had quite a few parts making it heavier ( such as that 100 Litre fuel tank ) - so weight is a matter of "swings and roundabouts". This kind of info. is not widely available - so it seems that many people do not realise what a diverse range the S30-series Z was. That's a pity. Alan T.

Here's some data from the Japanese side at the October 1971 launch of the HS30 series cars there: *FAIRLADY Z ( S30S ) - 975kg dry ( auto 1,000kg ) / 1,085 kerb ( auto 1,110kg ) *FAIRLADY Z-L ( S30 ) - 995kg dry ( auto 1,020kg ) / 1,105kg kerb ( auto 1,130kg ) *FAIRLADY 240Z ( HS30-S ) - 985kg dry ( auto 1,010kg ) / 1,095kg kerb ( auto 1,120kg ) *FAIRLADY 240Z-L ( HS30 ) - 1,005kg dry ( auto 1,030kg ) / 1,115kg kerb ( auto 1,140kg ) *FAIRLADY 240ZG ( HS30-H ) - 1,010kg dry ( auto 1,035kg ) / 1,120kg kerb ( auto 1,145kg ) *FAIRLADY Z432 ( PS30 ) - 1,040kg dry ( no auto ) / 1,150kg kerb ( no auto ). You have to be careful about these kinds of figures quoted in road tests and books, as they are notoriously inaccurate and quite often don't pertain to the particular model / spec. in question. Sorry I don't have any info. to hand on the HLS30 models, but I would imagine that they are not too different from the HS30 spec. I don't have any data to hand on the 2+2 to either, and it would take some digging to get the brochure out of the pile here - sorry. Alan T.

Er, Mr Camouflage, The point I was trying to make about the Centre Console was with regard to the Arm Rest. These were never fitted from the Factory, and I see them most often in pics of USA / North American HLS30 cars - in which territory I believe the Dealers offered them as an Option part ( made in USA as far as I know ). I think I made a comment to the effect that it would make sense to have an armrest on an auto-equipped car ( nothing much else to do with your right arm except lean on it ). And who said I knew everything there was to know about 240Z's? ( let alone all the other models of S30-series Z )!!! I think I know something about some of the models and a little bit of the Japanese side of the story ( especially interested in Factory-built race cars ), but I'm no self-appointed "expert" and I do not have my own website or anything. I was just trying to help this guy out, and I didn't realise the Console Arm Rest Police were going to arrest me for "Posting Without Due Care and Attention".................. I'll have to be more careful in future, Officer.

Hi Alfadog, If your car is an Australian-market HS30 then it really ought to have been fitted with a rear Anti Roll Bar ( "Sway Bar" ) from the factory. The originals are quite a different shape to the aftermarket ones ( which were usually offered in the American market to allow the fitting of a rear bar where no mountings existed ). So be careful when thinking about purchasing one of the aftermarket types to fit on your particular car; you might receive the type that does not fit in the standard mount brackets on your chassis. As I've said before on previous posts about the USA / North American market HLS30's - its strange how the factory thought that a rear bar would not be needed for that model. Was it just to save money and keep that dealer price down? Can't imagine it would have saved that much, and most of the S30-S, PS30 and HS30 models had them fitted as standard........... Anyway Alfadog, check out whether you have the factory rear bar or at least the factory mount brackets before diving into the purchase of something that you either don't need or can't fit. Alan T.

Hi Bo, You're going to have to get the car up in the air and give it a good looking over underneath before you can identify your trans and diff. combination. However, if you have a "normal" shift pattern ( ie, fifth gear position all the way over to the right and forward ) then I would bet that its a pretty standard "B" type box ( the FS5C71B ). Depending on which version of this they fitted when they modified the car in Holland, there will be different ratios. They might even have fitted the 32010-N3130 "Close Ratio" Option transmission, which has the same shift pattern as the standard box. More likely is that they have fitted something like a 4.1:1 or 4.375:1 Ring and Pinion at the same time as the LSD unit. This has the effect of closing up the gear ratios, as well as making acceleration seem somewhat brisker. It also means that top speed is slightly reduced. If you have been used to the normal USA / North American spec. diff ratios and four-speed transmissions then you might now be finding out why some of us think that the other market specs. were superior!.... Those Dell'ortos might have been equipped with large chokes or something compared to the Webers, as if they had the same choke sizes and overall settings then the car would perform about the same with either set installed. The Dell'ortos are not racing carbs per se; it depends how they were set up and jetted. They will not outperform the Webers of the same size. No idea why they thought that it would be useful to be able to take the radiator out so quickly. The factory bolted them in quite securely on their race and rally cars, as they did not expect to have to take them out. Maybe its what someone thought was "racey". If you can post photos of the brakes and suspension ( and the diff. too if you cannot identify it ) then it will be a great help when trying to identify them. We have a member on the site ( "z-point" ) who is Dutch and is based in Holland. He might know a little about your actual car and who used to own it over there. Why not send him a personal message and tell him what you know. It might be interesting! Alan T.

Nah, either they don't get it or they don't care! Somedays the fish just don't bite. Alan T.

Hi Bo, I just had a look at your photos, and I have to say that it looks like you have a standard production car that has been "tweaked" a little........... You might have misunderstood what I was trying to say about the spare-wheel well; if it was a Factory-prepared / "Works" bodyshell then nine times out of ten you could bet that there would be no spare-wheel well AT ALL. The spare would have to sit flat on the deck, level with the surrounding floor. The big tank takes up all the space where the original tank would be, as well as the space for the spare-wheel well. The mods on the car that I can see ( especially the radiator and its overflow tank sited on the inner wing - sorry "inner fender" ) seem to bear no characterstics of what the Competition prep. shop at Nissan's Oppama test track used to make, or of any Sport Option / Competition parts that were available through the years. The Webers are also quite recent types ( post "Emissions" versions ) and are not in period with the age of the car - so it would be even more doubtful that the factory had anything to do with them. They are probably less than fifteen years old. I doubt if you will find any type of oil cooler or circulating pump / heat transfer system on your diff now. If it was a genuine Factory / Works type then it would have pipes both in and out of the rear cover ( although the early R180's had a spray pipe on the top of the body that aimed cool oil at the Crown-Wheel and pinion interface ). You might like to see if you have an R180 type diff. ( standard on your year of car ) or an R200 ( a later addition to the range that was much stronger ) or, and this is very unlikely, an R192 ( fitted to the Z432 and Z432-R ) which would be quite exciting. My bet is that its an R180 with a Nissan Motorsports or Sports Option list LSD unit fitted. The 5-speed transmission is probably the standard FS5C71B box ( unless you have a "Dog-Leg" first gear position - which again would be exciting, but unlikely ). Those louvered inspection covers are not something that the factory ever did, either. While all the above might sound quite negative considering the story you were sold, I do think that the car looks to have a really good spec. and is far superior to the "standard" HLS30 USA / North American market version spec. The engine is probably very well built ( its a good sign that it has an E31 head ) and if it goes as well as it looks then why worry? Intrigued by that unknown thing under the sump that you mentioned ( although it could be a special sump or something ). What about the brakes / suspension? Are they uprated too? Alan T.

Hi boholio, Congratulations on your new acquisition. I don't want to upset you while you are still on a high with your new car, but I think you need to take an industrial sized containerful of salt with that story. First off, the factory was in Japan - right? They never built any "custom" S30 series Z cars for ANYBODY, let alone any "race" cars. They kept all that in-house, and any race cars built by the factory in Japan were kept under very close supervision and were campaigned by "Works" employed drivers, or run by semi-Works teams with drivers like Haruhito Yanagida ( of "Central 20" fame ). A very very few cars eventually found their way from the Works teams ( both in Rallying and Circuit Racing ) into the hands of privateer racers, but these cars were just being pensioned off - and were never built FOR any customers outside the Nissan team. You will also have to bear in mind that the factory purpose-built their race-cars starting from sheet metal components; they utilised different chassis / unibody pressings to the "standard" shells, and built them up on the line as purpose-decided race cars. They did not just pick bodies off the line and modify them. This is in contrast to what happened with the cars campaigned by the likes of BRE and their rivals in the USA, who received standard PRODUCTION road cars from Japan and built them to their own specs. In short, the Factory "Works" racers were purpose-built race cars from the get-go, and NOT modified production cars. If your car had modifications performed by the factory on the production line, then they will conform to a fairly standard spec. that the factory adhered to. The easiest of these to identify on the bodyshell is the deletion of the spare-wheel well, and the insertion of a ribbed panel in its place - this was to leave enough space for the larger fuel tanks ( initially 100 litre, and then even bigger ). If your car still has the original spare-wheel well and the normal 60 litre fuel tank, then it is unlikely to have started life as either a factory-made Rally car or a Circuit Racer. Just from the other details that you mention, its also hard to imagine it has any "Works" history; the carburettors ( both Weber and Dell'orto ) were never used by the factory race cars. They used Mikuni carburettors ( 40, 44 and 50mm versions ) as well as the ECGI fuel injection. Both Weber and Dell'orto carburettors are not purely race carbs; most of the models that they make are dual-purpose, with only a very few described as pure "Race" models. The LSD-equipped Diff. could also be a street item; if it was fitted with a cooler pump then it would be more likely to be a Factory race part - but LSD units have always been available for the R180, R192 and R200 Diffs. that the factory used on their S30-series Z race cars. I won't mention anything about Dutch princes; probably best to leave that to "z-point" ( Guus himself is Dutch and tunes in quite regularly to this site ). Probably he is the best person to comment on the Royal Family of the Netherlands!....... If you want any help to try to pin down exactly what you have, then I would be pleased to try to help. Maybe if you post some pictures ( try putting some in the Members Cars section ) of the details of the car it might help. It sounds like a good spec. anyway, and as long as you did not pay too much for the "Royal Race Car" story then you should be happy with it. Good luck, Alan T.

Mike, Naturally, its on me! However, it looks like our posts just drop off the end of the Active Topics list without any of the Lefties taking the bait............. Perhaps they have no idea what we are talking about, or they just don't notice it in amongst all those "How fast will my Z go if?...." and "Can I fit 19-inch wheels on my Z without widening the arches?..." type of posts........... So perhaps we don't need the bomb shelter after all. That feels like being damned through faint praise! More tea, vicar? Alan T.

Ho dohc and gav, That's quite a list of stuff to answer, dohc - and I will be away from home for most of today. What with the time difference between us, you will not see my full answer until tomorrow I think, so please bear with me while I pull it all together. Gav, I'll post some photos of the 432-R replica project too - even though its pretty uninspiring yet ( just a rolling shell and a conglomeration of parts! ). Alan T.

Hi Cuong, Good to hear that you are up and running. Maybe its a good idea that you won't be putting the windows in until after the dyno run. You might find that they pop out of the body with all that power! Question: Did you buy your engine as a "known quantity" and then left it alone - or did you open it up and freshen it up with new rings / bearings? No idea what you can do with the handbrake issue. I have seen mini-discs ( just for handbrakes ) with a tiddly little two pot cable-operated caliper on another car at some point. As far as I remember, this was mounted on the propshaft just before the diff. It looked rather like the disc setup I had on my 100 National racing Kart about 25 years ago! My PS30-SB replica is STILL in the queue at the paint shop. They are really busy at the moment, and it looks like this will cause me to be a whole Summer behind schedule. I am using the time to gather more parts, and the engine situation is becoming more interesting. I might be going for a gear-driven oil pump kit ( the S20 was originally chain drive to the oil pump ) which is more reliable and has the bonus of sounding great too. Tell us how you get on at the dyno - yes? All the best with it, Alan T.

Hi Cuong, Dream on, eh? The Z432-R ( PS30-SB ) usually came in either the Orange, or 920 "Gold". I am painting my replica in 920 as its a really utilitarian colour and not many people seem to like it. I have also seen them in the early Red ( not 110 ) and Silver, and there was at least one white one I think. They had the semi-matt Black bonnet because on the 432-R it was made from FRP ( with a gunmetal topcoat on the inside, which was applied by the company that made them ). They painted them black to help dissipate heat, but it was more of a sporty image thing than a real attempt to help cool the engine. The ordinary Z432 ( PS30 ) on the other hand could be ordered in more colours - you could have all of the stock Japanese "Home" market colours if you wanted, but most owners chose Red, Orange, Gold or Silver. What with Japan being so hot, darker colours have a definite disadvantage. Glad to see you are "getting there" with your project, Cuong; I have been watching it develop in your photos. I think your feet might catch fire when you get on full boost!.............. Alan T.

Hi Cuong, Don't get too excited. There are always two or three Z432s for sale at any one time in Japan. There are a lot more out there than you might think, as they were always expensive and were the "top of the range" S30 model, so they have been coveted and cosseted. They are a lot more difficult to own than a "normal" L-series engined S30 - and of course the prices are MUCH higher. Add to this the perception that they are not all that powerful, and expensive to make faster, and it means that they are like the elephants at the zoo; lots of people like to look at them but not many people find it practical to own one! That price is 4,980,000 Yen ( about average of what they change hands for over there ) and if you were buying for "Export" ( rather than for use in Japan ) you would be able to get it a little cheaper than that, as the seller would not have to give you so much aftersales service. One of the problems of buying a car in Japan is the difficulty of transporting both yourself and the car around the country; its expensive! Buying a car a long way from the port where you will ship it from can cost an arm and a leg............... The Japanese script could not be recognised by the software on this site ( at least not on my computer ) so it just looked like gibberish. However, it would probably be just the usual stuff describing the car. I noticed that the year of the car "S46" came out clearly though; this means the 46th year of the reign of Emperor Showa - which translates as 1971. Cuong, are you secretly planning to get one eventually?! I know some of the best Z432 and S20 engine specialists in Japan personally, so could help out there. I have no idea about how to get this kind of money together without the wife knowing though....... Alan T.