26th-Z

Thanks for the links, Guus. I surfed all around, found two videos and many pictures. It was great. #266 did pretty well. I think 11th and third in class IV 4.

All except for the verification part. We are showing a few mistakes. HL cars came with an L24 and an L28 engine. The difference is L24 engined cars (1970-1973) show five serial numbers (HLS30-00026) and L28 engined cars (1975-1978) had six serial numbers. RL cars had an L26 engine (1974-1975). L26 engines also appear in world export cars from 1974-1978. The Japanese market L20 engines (1970-1975) are single overhead cam and the S20 engine for the PS30S and PS30SB chassis had dual overhead cams, two liter. The engine description for home market Fairlady Z's is probably the one common mistake I see most often. Typical Fairladys came with 2 liter, single overhead cam, engines L20 and L20E (fuel injection). The 432 / 432R variant came with the S20 engine. And no, it was not made by an aftermarket company "like Scarab".

Great explanation, Gavin! Begining with the 260Z, and 'R' designation letter for the L26 engine, Datsun added another digit to the serial code sequence apparently because they were selling far more cars than they originally envisioned

hls30.com, you got some of the serial number stuff right, but not enough of it. How about this? When did Datsun convert from 5 digit serial numbers to six digit serial numbers and explain the coding letters involved. With all due credit to Alan, the sleuth that he is, I'll post an interesting photograph to the winner.

I get these e-mails all the time, from supposedly Paypal, eBay, and my internet provider. They all have an investigation site and you can fight back by FORWARDING the suspicious e-mail to them. Paypal's is spoof@paypal.com Since we are on the topic, I have noticed a lot of virus containing e-mails, lately. Some of them are "about your order", "order confirmation", "your parts order", and "information about your parts request". At first, I thought about identitiy theft as I didn't order anything or didn't request anything and it looked suspicious. The virus software usually picks it up, but I am discussing this with words of caution. Keep track of what you order and what you request. Take a look at your accounts every now and then or get them to send you a monthly statement. Virus software can not be over-emphasized. It's a stormy climate out there - slap a raincoat on that computer!

Thanks, Alan. I must be loosing some of my mammaries in my old age! I see another photo of the fog lamps mounted in Brian Long's; "Datsun Z, Fairlady to 280Z", page 50, car in the wind tunnel. I have a set of later fog lamps manufactured by Bosch, but these are completely different from this discussion.

View from the back side

About a year ago, these were on eBay and I thought they were the real McCoy, but with your diagram, Alan, they are missing the lens ring tabs and the mounting bracket appears different.

I am happy to see this thread resurrected. This is a Nissan photo of what they looked like mounted.

I'll order up some warmth for you, Tomohawk! I actually did see it snow here fifteen years ago. Thanks for the reference, Mrcheeze36. Here is the $20 custom plate link http://www.autogeek.net/japaneseplate.html

The cutouts for the rear marker lights on HLS30-00026 are not neat and tidy stampings. In fact, the shape makes it difficult to fit the screw clips. In contrast, the front cutouts are obviuosly made by a stamp machine; uniform in size and shape for the marker installation. Discovering that home market cars were not fitted with rear marker lights satisfied my curiosity about this issue. Notice the correct alignment of the marker lens from Alan's diagrams. Many people have them in backwards.

Choke that Z! This cold weather is just the worst. The wind is howling and I can hear the surf from my back yard! Mr. Camoflage - Some time ago, there was a thread that explained the Japanese license plate, what the letters and symbols represent. Alan knows. Your link to the sale of these plates is a good one, but I would not assume that they were authentic originals. I may be wrong, but I think they are repros.

Restore the plate AFTER you get approval.

Let me add to Zrush's comments - Hi zrush! In Florida, an old plate that matches the year of the car has to be sent in and approved which is usually no big problem as long as the plate is in good shape. For 1970, the Florida plate was green and matches my paint color. Florida plates back then had a two digit and single letter prefix. The digits signified the county of registration (16 for Sarasota County) and the letter was a weight classification (D for the 240Z - lightest) The next four to six digits were numerically sequential and I recall people lining up at the tag office to get a low number. The "collector" plate was issued for $16 rather than the normal $20 tag fee and that is why you used to see "collector" plates on farm trucks and loosermobiles. Florida now issues license plates as though they were bumper sticker statements and although I appreciate "Save the Manatee" and "Remember the Challenger", I'm holding out for "Respect Blue-Hairs". Gone are the days of unified State identity and I, like zrush, support the vanity plate option - 26th-Z.

Brian Long lists #302 Metallic Green and #303 Metallic Green for the 1974 model year. He notes that these colors were domestic and export colors. IZCC lists two colors also. 302 Leaf Green Metallic (from 8/73) and 303 Green Metallic (8/73 - 7/75) 903 is Blue Metallic. Sounds like you have #303, SuDZ.

6 / 10 !!! This is a fun site.:classic:

Nice new avatar, Alan. I like it better than the last one. Many thanks for the pictures!

Here is a link to MSA front air dams as well as spooks. Take a look at the BRE spook they sell. http://www.zcarparts.com/store/merchant.mvc?Screen=CTGY&Category_Code=7AD1

Spook

Chin spoiler on a fairlady

Oops - try again Chin spoiler

Guys, Help me out with pictures, please. Chin spoiler

At first I thought that was a flush handle for some Z brand plumbing fixture, but then it ocurred to me to look up Zimmers. Remember Zimmers? The kit car that bolted on to a Camero chassis? Do an Ebay search for Zimmer http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2454592600&category=34209

Tomohawk, I searched for a thread discussing where the word "spook" actually came from and can't find it, but you may run across it. I think it is a word combining spoiler and scoop. Spooks started showing up on cars in the late 60's when designers started thinking about how air flows around cars and how much horse power is devoted to pushing a car through the air. They may been trying to scoop air into the radiator as well. Your question is really asking about differences in terminology and I don't think the word spoiler should be used for aerodynamic devices on the front of the car. Spoiler describes a device that spoils the air flowing off the back of the car. Spooks and air dams are used to control the air flowing underneath the car, although commonly refered to as front spoilers. An air dam is usually considered flat vertical where a spook protrudes forward scooping air and directing it upward. A chin spoiler is simply a shorter version with no real scoop or dam definition and generally acts to direct the air off to the sides. The amount of horsepower used to push a car through the air is determined by frontal area - that which is perpendicular to the air flow. It is important to decrease frontal area as much as possible. Angled surfaces do have frontal area value, but contribute by directed air flow. Air dams may at first seem costly with a lot of frontal area, but they consolidate all the little frontal areas protruding underneath the car as well as directing air flow from underneath, thus creating negative pressure sucking the car to the road. Air dams usually hang pretty low. Spooks are angled, have less frontal area, direct air upwardly, but still allow air underneath. In my opinion, adding a front spoiler to a Zed increases the frontal area and in theory slows the car. Without making modifications to decrease frontal area, you are kind of pissing into the wind, shall we say.