HS30-H

Ah, the super elusive lesser spotted E42 'Guide Air Arrse'. Once seen, never forgotten...

The S20 airboxes have carburettor trumpets/funnels integral with the cover:

Here's my factory replacement airbox on period Weber 45DCOE-9s and S20 inlet manifold, for shape reference:

Here's the factory parts manual image for the 432 airbox and filter system:

Hi Ian, On the colour question, both the Skyline GT-R (PGC10 & KPGC10) and Fairlady Z432 (PS30) airbox and connecting tube were RED from the factory, with the 432's airfilter housing being BLACK (because it was mounted ahead of the radiator support) whilst the GT-R's were RED (because they were in the engine bay). Factory replacement spare parts came in (manufacturer) Tsuchiya's factory blue colour, as per your photo. The mounting holes for the 432's airfilter box are present on the radiator supports of all contemporary L-series engined S30-series Z models (both Domestic and Export), as are - of course - the holes for the duct and the (diverted) cabin fresh air inlet. The captive nuts for the mounting of the factory option S20 olil cooler are there too. The 432's airbox fits on the car without any special accommodation/clearancing for the clutch master cylinder.

Oh, and one other thing. It has been said that Nissan are considering the possibility of making this 'Customized Proto' into a Limited-Edition model variant, and they suggested an edition of 240 cars. I think that is disappointing. I do not think the number '240' has any significance in this context. Personally, I would choose 25 as the original series production quantity necessary to homologate the 432-R into JAF and FIA Group 5 Prototype racing class (but maybe not enough to be worthwhile), 270 (although not many people would understand why...) or just 432. In any case, judging by the positive reaction, they should probably consider a much higher quantity. They'll sell!

Hi Kats. I have a theory. Just a hunch, but I feel that the very high profile of Takeuchi san's PZR in recent years has been an inspiration to Nissan's design team. His car has been seen in magazines, videos, blogs, social media posts, indoor and outdoor shows, autocrosses and just generally driving around everywhere. It has even been my personal taxi service on more than one occasion. Takeuchi san is very generous with his time and his car, and many people get to see it. Takeuchi san even joined us here on classiczcars.com and shared his restoration with us. It is one of the most special variants of the S30-series Z range, but it is not locked away in a glass box. It lives! I think the styling team's inspiration for this 'Customized Proto' show car was not just any Fairlady Z432-R, but Takeuchi san's 432-R in particular.

Hi Kats, Amazingly, despite my expectations, I actually like it too. Maybe even love it. Perhaps I have Omicron...!? Some people outside Japan will be missing the reference point, which is:

Ah, but relative to Left and Right hand sides of the car, not 'Driver' and 'Passenger'... And of course, all this is Domino Effect. The fuel tank is offset to the Right hand side because the exhaust is on the Left hand side of the car, because the exhaust manifold is on the Left hand side of the engine. Design Concession in action.

:polite cough:

That's for the 44PHH upgrade (over the 40PHH) on the S20 engine in the PS30-SB. The #2 in the parts list and diagram (16177-A0220) is the solid, phenolic insulator. Same type as stock on the S20 engine, just bigger.

So, isolators commonly required on fours, but much less so on sixes. On other marques & models I've been familiar with over the years (quite a lot of Italian, French, German and British stuff), rubber/metalastik isolators, MISAB plates (basically a gasket with an O ring in it) rubber bobbins, contraptions like the dreaded Thackeray Washer and all sorts of other funnies were dreamed up in an effort to mitigate heat soak and fuel frothing. Almost always on inline fours, with their inherent harmonics. I think in most cases they are just not necessary on a Nissan L6.

'NISMO' is by definition 1984-up. Pretty late L6-wise. I don't recall Nissan ever supplying them for the L6 until at least (off the top of my head) 1976-ish? That's a long time with the solid phenolic type, which they tended to use on the Works cars by the way. They have a reputation for moving around too much when they get hot. And on an L6, they get hot. They also de-laminate, crack and otherwise react badly to certain fuel additives. Other than that I love them... 😉

Surprised to see you intend to use that type of rubberised insulator on a six. I don't recall Nissan ever using anything other than the solid, phenolic type insulators on the sixes. On the L4 yes, but not L6.

You can ask him, as I have a hunch (just a hunch....) that we know him very well here on classiczcars.com 😉

But since when has (as mentioned in the BaT comments) the rather slippery concept of a "95+ Point Concours Restoration" become the standard by which a respectably refreshed daily/occasional driver level car should be valued? I don't know about anyone else, but I don't count the hours the work on my cars takes. It's a pleasure I'm happy to pay for when I can afford it. I don't tot up the hours I spend drinking beer, reading books or listening to good music either. I reckon many (most!) of the cars I've owned and sold have been negative equity propositions if judged purely in monetary terms. Well, so what? I enjoyed them when they were enjoyable, and was frustrated by the ones that let me down. That's the hobby. But the narrative from these over-invested grifters is that the only way is up, and they appear to judge the success/failure of ownership on whether they've made more than anyone else by bailing out at the right time. They're not connoisseurs, they're braggards. They don't hype these sales for the love and understanding of the cars.

...which would - if you believe two of the vaunted 'gurus' in the BaT comments - have left the seller with a $25k+ sized black hole on "restoration costs" they assured us must have been incurred. Over-hyping by these heavily invested characters does not - in my opinion - help.

Verified facts are already available - including the correct spellings - hence me pointing out that this forum is a good source, so if anyone wants to take on the responsibility of writing an article for public consumption they can easily get what is required, and/or use it as a base to work from. I don't see why it's up to me to publish anything for them. It's already out there. I reckon anyone who takes on that responsibility has an obligation to get it right, or at least get it as right as possible and then get it peer critiqued/fact-checked before publication. As we have seen recently with some rather fancy coffee table-type hardback books (no names, no pack drill...) that doesn't always happen.

But here's the thing. Takeuchi san, the owner of the car in the article, is a member of the forum here at classiczcars.com. He posted detailed photos of the restoration of his car here on the site, and we discussed the car and its details more than once. No disrespect to the OP, but there's an embarrassment of riches in the form of 'Good Info Fairlady Z432-R' right here. Old Japanese proverb: The darkest place is at the very foot of the lighthouse.

For what?

Largely cribbed - almost word for word - from posts on this forum.

Yes. 1970 'Deluxe' model S30-D Fairlady Z-L would have had loop carpet sill trim pieces, matching the floor and deck area carpet. In contrast, the 'Standard' model S30-S Fairlady Z would have had 'leather' textured vinyl trim to match the floor and deck mat material.

Maybe somebody with more patience and stamina than me, and who presumably - unlike me - got through the whole video, could tell me the answer to the (rhetorical?) question posed by the title of this production? What DID Nissan do that Toyota couldn't?

Why do these same rotten ingredients keep getting served up in 'new' dishes time and time again? The video would have it that Katsuji Kawamata somehow came up with the 'Fairlady' name first, and *then* decided it would be a good idea to create a line of cars to use it on. Nonsense. The 'Fair Lady' name was simply pinned on something that was already well underway. Next the presenter tells us that the 'SP311' was "...an all new design by Count Albrecht Goertz". Huh? Goertz had NOTHING to do with the SP/SR range. Nothing. Is this guy getting mixed up with the minimal input that Goertz had on the rear pillar shape of the CSP311 Silvia (which had already been styled by Kazuo Kimura before Goertz got anywhere near it)? I reckon so. The Yamaha YX-30 as the Nissan 2000GT/Yamaha project? Nope. The guy has got the wrong project there. And that Yamaha YX-30 project had input from Goertz? Nope. The YX-30 the genesis of the Toyota 2000GT? Nope. Toyota may well have seen it, but they didn't base anything on it let alone the MF10 2000GT. This whole section is garbage. Then the Katayama lore starts. Of course it had to. Apparently Katayama was "the President of Nissan" at the time (another clue to the lens through which Japanese industrial history is being viewed through here) and - amazingly, seeing as he was simultaneously both an 'outcast' and some kind of refugee saint with product line-up input - the video wants to tell us that Katayama alone had dreamed up the idea that Nissan needed a sporty GT coupe in its line-up. Of course, nobody else back in Japan had even imagined such a thing, let alone taken any notice of the fact that worldwide trends in safety legislation and litigation were pushing against the long tradition of open sports cars. Nope. Garbage again. Painting Katayama as some kind of sole visionary is just short-sighted and misleading. Apparently in 1971 the 'JDM' Fairlady Z got its '240Z' emblems replaced by 'Z' emblems. Nope. He's got that backwards. The original '69 up, non-vented, quarter emblems on the Japanese market variants were 'Z' roundels. In the switch to vented quarters, ALL variants got vented 'Z' roundels. Does the presenter think the early Japanese L20A-engined variants got '240Z' quarter emblems? Roll on a little and we have the usual mix-up of facts surrounding the planning of the S30-series range, with the S20-engined models not mentioned at all in the narration. However, pretty panning shot of a 920 432 there, unless I was by this time hallucinating... I got as far as the presenter talking about the Fairlady 240ZG (he calls it the "Fairlady ZG") as though it was the only Japanese market model with an L24, when in fact in September 1971 Nissan offered three distinct L24-engined S30 variants alongside the already available L20A and S20-engined Z variants. My will to live was fading, but I stuck it out. Who knows, things might improve. So when *is* he going to mention those S20-engined variants? He must have forgotten that the S20 was part of the plan pretty much from the get-go. That'll be it. Katayama apparently not keen though. Oh! HERE is the 432-R (no 432?). Afterthought? Presenter mentions the S20 engine as also being fitted to the KPGC10 Skyline GT-R when that model debuted a good year after the Z. In fact the production S20 engine was designed and engineered to allow fitment in the S30-series Z body (capability for both front and rear sump versions) but debuted in the PGC10 model Skyline of February 1969. I guess we should be grateful for small mercies? Nope. I'm not swallowing any more of this. I need a couple of Alka Seltzer.

But packed full of mistakes, misconceptions and misapprehensions. As usual.