My two swiss S30Z Fairlady Restoration build thread

[JDMjunkies.ch]

13 hours ago, HS30-H said:

A cool part of DSSA history. Thank you for showing it to us. Intriguing!

I'm surprised that they chose to use 40DCOE-24 series carbs. Weber's own recommendation as a conversion 'road' kit for the L24 engine was three 40DCOE-18 series and the 24 series was actually only offered as stock (factory) equipment on the 1600cc ALFA Giulia Super. The 24 series had 27mm chokes and 0.35 pump jets, whereas the 18 series had 30mm chokes and 0.45 pump jets. The 18 series also had an accelerator pump stroke more suited to the L24 than the 24 series did. My best guess (take that for what its worth) is that they sourced the 24 series carbs from ALFAs and/or already had them available.

The manifold is a new one on me. I can't ever remember - even as a Londoner - seeing the name 'LONDON' cast into a manifold. Your illustration from the Janspeed catalogue shows the '470' casting that - I have always been told - was cast and supplied by Mangoletsi. Janspeed, and others, often supplied the Mangoletsi manifold with their conversion kits. I wonder if the 'LONDON' manifold was also something cast by Mangoletsi for a specific customer? However, I can't think of any L6 specialists in the London area or using the London name. Curious.

Here's a Mangoletsi '470' casting manifold that I have in my loft, for comparison. Casting quality is - I have to say - fairly rough:

Hmm very interesting. thanks for your inputs Alan.
Here' are two more closeup pics.
First a detail of the carbs, clearly visible as 40DCOE24:

Secondly, the casting marks on the other top-side of the manifold, saing C / T. It may look like a "G" in this photo, but i verified in some other pictures and it's definitely a "C".

The casting quality is not that "rough" as the one from Mangoletsi / Janspeed in your pictures (which looks exactly as what is in the Janspeed 1981 catalogue).
But the one in the DSSA setups looks like somebody refinished the casting on the bottom side with a coarse file or something. My friend is trying to contact the previous owner to get some more details. I'll keep you updated.

Edited March 4, 2023 by JDMjunkies.ch

[JDMjunkies.ch]

A little Update: I found this Post wich mentions the "C/T & London" casting marks refer to a London based company named "Conversion & Tuning", of which i've never heard before:
http://www.turbosport.co.uk/showthread.php?t=211869

this page has a short background information about it and an 1971 catalogue with lots of company photos and background information. the logo seems to match:
https://mk1-performance-conversions.co.uk/conversion_tuning.htm

Unfortunately this 1971 brochure does not contain any Z-related stuff (maybe they just added it later to their lineup), but the catalogue features some other Datsun related parts, so it seems highly likely that it must be this company.

Edited March 4, 2023 by JDMjunkies.ch

[HS30-H]

3 hours ago, JDMjunkies.ch said:

Secondly, the casting marks on the other top-side of the manifold, saing C / T. It may look like a "G" in this photo, but i verified in some other pictures and it's definitely a "C".

Yes! You've got it. Definitely 'Conversion & Tuning Centre Ltd' of Brixton, South London. I didn't see the 'C T' logo cast into the manifold in your previous post. Very distinctive.

The only other big London-based specialist supplier of carburettors, inlet manifolds and conversion kits from that early 70s I can remember was Chris Montague Carburettor Co. in North London (my side of town), and which I am old enough to have been a customer of. Gone now. They really knew their stuff. I bought my John Passini-authored Weber 'bibles' from them in the late 1970s. 

My *guess* is that Mangoletsi may have cast some manifolds for C & T London with their logo on them. It probably would have been too expensive for C & T London to have commissioned their own castings with such a relatively small market already covered by Mangoletsi. I would say - judging from the photos - that the C & T London version looks like a neater casting than my '470' Mangoletsi, but that may have been down to batch quality differences? Having said that, other '470' manifolds that have passed through my hands in the past (often from period 'Samuri Conversions' cars) are equally poor castings, so they seem to have been pretty consistently poor. Could C & T London have insisted on a better casting, with their name on them? Seems feasible. 

Just as an aside for your friend; if he uses this 40DCOE-24 setup on an L24-based engine he might want to try changing to short (10mm) accelerator pump rods and 0.45 accelerator pump jets, as used on the 40DCOE-18. I have recommended this a few times for others with positive results. The Nissan L6 seems to 'like' a short, sharp accelerator pump action on the DCOEs. John Passini covered the topic in his books. Recommended.     

[xs10shl]

Great stuff! Did you happen to record the inner diameter of one of the inlet-ports?

The 73 safari 16mm print could yield some good footage. Hopefully the print survived, and can be brought into the 21st century light. 

[JDMjunkies.ch]

21 hours ago, xs10shl said:

Great stuff! Did you happen to record the inner diameter of one of the inlet-ports?

The 73 safari 16mm print could yield some good footage. Hopefully the print survived, and can be brought into the 21st century light. 

Unfortunately i didn't take any measurements. maybe i can do it when i visit my friend next time.
Yeah the video sounds interesting, let's see what we can recover. but it will definitely take some time to find the right person to do it.

[JDMjunkies.ch]

Recently a Datsun Friend introduced me to the "Service Data and specification" booklets, which i was unaware of before. Naturally i had to investigate, and luckily i found one for sale online. Strangely i have only ever seen the earlier versions in a mixed english / Spanish language print so far. However when i checked out my friend's DSSA parts lot recently, it also included a bunch of 1979 version booklet in german:

The 1979 version only includes the S130, so the following pages are from the 1973 version with some pictures of the S30 stuff.
The booklet's intention is for the Datsun workshop mechanic to have an overview of different specifications and interchangeability from the different NMC cars of an era.

It is divided in general specifications, Motor and Body. There is also a similar booklet for non-passenger cars (trucks, etc)

Here's some example of model codes used in the documentatino and some basic specification, which does not include the non-export versions.

I like the overview, like shown here the different suspension options, on one page. I will use these to update some of my previously made knowledge posts.

Here's another example, showing the Manual 5-speed transmission of 1973 (previous version not included). but it's a great overview of data. And there is plenty more to dicsover.

Oh, and i had a talk to my bodyshop about the progress and it's still on schedule to restart work in approximately three weeks. Can't wait 🙂

[JDMjunkies.ch]

Soo. today i have some big news. but let's start with the usual deliveries:


1) Something i've been searching for a while now. Well Actually i'm looking for the LHD L-Drive but this is the closest i found so far: an UK R-Drive manual:

For those who don't know the L-Drive / R-drive is a Parts manual folder, but due to it's size it has the most detailed drawings and some additional informatino which is difficult to see or not existent in the microfiches, parts booklets etc. So my experience is that these are the most detailed parts books availabe (outside of NMC of course):

Looks like your usual parts manual. This one is specific for the 240Z / 26oZ RHD Export specificatino booklets. so mainly UK and AUS, i guess. but i still have to see. I got it from the UK.

2) I also got this LH Inner wheel tub from KFVintageJDM in Bogota:

Some may remember that i already got t his part from Tabco (USA). but i was never satisfied with the quality.

Just look at the details like the little "humps" which are basically nonexistant in the Tabco item:


Or the way they're cut at the edges, etc.

And they came just in time, because i just got a coll from my Bodyshop that they will finally work on my car starting on Monday. Full-time with three men!
Expecting big news soon. Early next week i'm going to visit them and bring an entire truckload of bodypanels for them to exchang :-)Stay tuned for more soon. hopefully.

Oh and forgot to post this stuff which i got a while ago.
3) M-speed Nismo Competition racing mirror replica:

Ventilation Intake pieces:

And a nice print from Etsy:

Which now found a nice place next to my signed Starroad Print in my garage.

Let's see what the next weeks will bring. I also have a NOS parts lot find on it's way here and i'm just placing an order vor a cool Piece in Japan...
Stay tuned for more

[kats]

Great books and parts!

 I am wondering the data of FS5C71B, my understanding is after 08/1976 they got 3.321 for the 1st gear except Australia. Before that all the export FS5C71B was the same as GTR and Fairlady 240Z series, also Z432( Z432-R was discontinued before the birth of FS5C71B anyway). Am I correct? 

 I know you have already read through the Nissan transmission manual, so my inputs are for everyone here who is interested in the data.

 I also have the small book but for 1970, it is interesting descriptions in Spanish! I can’t understand any of them but will be a good textbook for learning Spanish.

 I amended some data which is inaccurate for the gear teeth.

Kats

[JDMjunkies.ch]

On 4/23/2023 at 1:19 AM, kats said:

Great books and parts!

 I am wondering the data of FS5C71B, my understanding is after 08/1976 they got 3.321 for the 1st gear except Australia. Before that all the export FS5C71B was the same as GTR and Fairlady 240Z series, also Z432( Z432-R was discontinued before the birth of FS5C71B anyway). Am I correct? 

 I know you have already read through the Nissan transmission manual, so my inputs are for everyone here who is interested in the data.

 I also have the small book but for 1970, it is interesting descriptions in Spanish! I can’t understand any of them but will be a good textbook for learning Spanish.

 I amended some data which is inaccurate for the gear teeth.

Kats

Hey Kat's. very interesting finding. I have to find out more. But it seems my documentation is a bit limited. my latest R-Drive only goes up to 1976 and all other documents which i have, you have already shown pictures up there.
I wonder how you assigned the part numbers written in red here to the different Z-versions? Or is it just an Idea? It could be very possible, though

Soo, on friday i got a call from my bodyshop that they want to start work ASAP, because they have already an epxensive Pre-WW Bentley scheduled for fall and want to complete mine until then. So how am i to turn them down?

I prepared all my bodypanels in stock, and also made an inventory to make sure nothing gets lost. it seems that not much of the original metal will be left at the end. but honestly, i give them many items just as reference or for "in case"

I packed everything into my In-law's transport bus

And spent quite some time at the bodyshop to discuss some details. Out of excitement, i forgot to take pictures, so the below one is the only one you'll see today.
We also discussed a few portions of the bodywork done by the previous bodyshop and saw that some of the self-made bodypanels look nice at first glance but don't align to my quality standards, so i just placed another order for the RH rocker panels and floor pans, which are now available in better quality than the stuff i got 6 years ago. and he will re-do the work. Yeah it's a bit of a pain-in-the-back but at the end i want the result to be as close to perfect as possible, so i decided that little extra-work won't hurt while they're at it anyway.

If everything goes well you'll see regulare updates here soon in this space. stay tuned.

[Namerow]

It will be interesting to see whether a European shop applies strategies or techniques that are different from those that we're familiar with here in North America for this type of bodywork surgery.  Looking forward to your posts.

[kats]

Hi, I just wanted to say the data of FS5C71B in the book is inaccurate. 
My red writing is just my idea, since FS5C71B has two types of ratio for the 1st and 2nd. Nice sportier gearing has E9500 for its related parts while  the other has E9507. If you remember these numbers it will help you to distinguish which is a correct part for your FS5C71B when you shopping.

By the way I am trying to summarize data of transmissions, it is very complicated!

Kats

 

[JDMjunkies.ch]

Todsay i have some very good news, some not so good ones and then some good ones again.
The very good news: The bodyshop started working on the car in full force. And they seem way more professional than the previos one. Not that he was really bad or so, but you see those guys have a different approach of working. Before they even plugged in the welder, they decided to measure through the entire chassis and compare them to the original drawings and check if everything is straight.
And now the bad news. It seems it's not. According to them, it once got a hit front left, and the difference from height from the left to the right side is approx 1,5cm.
The good thing is, i have the complete NOS factory LH Frame rails. complete front inner fender and Air channels. so basically they can rebuild a whole corner of the car with NOS parts.
But before they start, they will put the car on an alignment bench and get it straight. Otherwise it makes no sense to replace parts on a bent car. you better get it right before you even start. While one guy measures all the corners and is setting up a plan in which order the car needs to be rebuilt so it remains solid all the time, the other guy is already busy preparing all the old panels. Some have small storage and transport dents or need corrrection here and there, so the other prepares all the body panels. excellent. They promised to send some pictures soon. I yet have to see the work, but i have a much better feeling. They haven't asked for a cent yet, while the other one always wanted to be paid in advance (which i can also understand somehow), they have set up multiple calls to clarify details, they ask the right questions and are more interested in showing me solutions than showing me problems they found. So far, that's way more my kind uf guys. let's see.

Now the good news again: I was able to obtain another big Parts lot from an old parts hoarder. This time it's not so many NOS parts, but more of well preserved or resfurbished stuff. Mainly about 20 kilograms of replated bolts and fasteners in really good quality (he sorted them for his own usage and only kept the good ones from dozens of z's which he dismantled over his lifetime) and now i got all the "leftover" replated bolts.

But you also will find a bunch of really good rubber pieces. and some NOS parts now and then scattered in.

These plastic parts and wiring from the ventilation / heating system will definitely be handy. they're in excellent condition. If you look closely you also find some parts which are from later generation Z or ZX cars, but the most is from the 240Z as far as i can see.

Plenty of replated stuff.

I have to double check if those are really from the 240Z, but nevertheless, they're a set of NOS factory decoration stripe decals. I won't use them, so will definitely put them up for sale, once i have confirmed what car they're for.

Again, multiple kilocrams of Nissan Z and ZX bolts and washers. i'm sure this will come in handy when something is missing 🙂


I have a box where i collect my stuff for replating. but now many of that is already available freshly plated, like the hood holder, shown below.
The dull gold one is one that a previous owner painted and would have needed a blasing / Sanding and replating, while the one below is now already freshly refurbished.
Overall i will need some time to figure out which parts are usable for my car and which not, but the parts that fit my car are definitely worth the price

Oh and i just spent some money in Japan for some really, really cool parts, and as soon as the sea-freight shipment arrives here in probably 2-3 months, i will be able to show you more.
Also have a few smaller orders open, and some work happening soon with my EK9. so expect plenty of updates in the near future on this very page.