did the 240Z have factory option triples?

[zr240]

I was just wondering if it was ever a factory option for the 240Z with the L24 engine to have triples (webber, mikuni? etc)

If so are there any documents to say so?

Thanks

[Smokey]

I don't think that they ever came from the factory like that. They might have been a dealer installed item in '73 and '74 to combat the flat top carbs. I think from the factory, they only came with the dual SU's.

[Ben]

Triple Mikuni's were a Motorsports/option part.

So yes, you could buy them from a dealer, but they weren't fitted to the L20 or L24 engines from the factory. I still think Nissan Motorsports USA offers the 44PHH & 50PHH Mikuni kits.

However the S20 2.0L only came with Triple 44PHH's....

(fitted to Z432 & Z432-R Japanese Fairladys only)

[HS30-H]

Originally posted by Ben

However the S20 2.0L only came with Triple 44PHH's....

(fitted to Z432 & Z432-R Japanese Fairladys only)

The S20-engined cars were fitted with triple twin-choke MIKUNI N40PHH-A24 from the factory. The 44's were in the Sports Option catalogues for those cars, should owners have wanted to upgrade.

The L-series engined cars, as Ben rightly says, never had the triple twin-chokes as "standard" equipment - but Japanese owners could get anything from the Sports Option lists fitted to their car should they so desire, and would usually go to one of the SPORT CORNER dealerships for this. These were the Nissan dealers with the better expertise on the tuning and modifying front, and they also sold the sportier models rather than the bread and butter models.

Outside Japan, only the USA really got anything near to what the Japanese market had access to. From the days of the Roadsters, the US operation had tried to start supporting owners who wanted to go racing with the cars, and Datsun Competition really grew out of this. The Datsun Competition lists did not carry as many of the specialised parts for the Z car as the Japanese Sports Option lists, and sometimes they carried parts that were locally-developed and suited to the local market's specialist needs.

Both the Japanese and the USA markets DID get the option of triple twin-choke carbs - but they were never fitted as "standard" equipment on any of the L-series engined Z cars.

Best place to look for any documentation is either in the Datsun Competition parts lists, or the Japanese 'Sports Option' parts lists.

Alan T.

[HS30-H]

Here's a page from the '73 Sports Option catalogue which shows the carbs, manifolds and linkages etc. for the L-series engine type.

Alan T.

[Ben]

Thanks for correcting my size-mismatch Alan!

You are lucky to have an 'original' Sport Option Catalogue, I have a copy of a copy of a copy!

Likewise with the Datsun Cherry, B210 & Formula Pacific catalogues.

For anyone who wants more info on some of these performance parts - get a copy of the FIA Homologation papers for the HS30 - it has quite a lot of NLA good stuff in it!

I do know someone who has an original 'Group G' catalogue for the twin-cam L16 & L20B's (similar to the Formula Pac. but only engine parts).

I have a 'Motor' Magazine from 1974 which has an article about an Australian ex-pat who lives in Japan and his heavily modified Z432-R (big cams, racing valves & springs, triple 44's, twice-pipes etc). It tended to overheat in traffic....:classic: But was great fun at 'illegal speeds'.

[HS30-H]

Hi Ben,

Copies of copies of copies are not to be sniffed at! Lots of my stuff is just copied, anyway. I figure that copies are better than nothing at all - that's for sure. Its amazing how many people don't know or even seem to care that the Sport Option lists existed..............

That's good advice you gave about the FIA homologation papers, and they are another thing I'd like people to recognise a bit more. I used to hang out with the old-Porsche world many years ago, and with the old Italian car community here in the UK too ( I had a few Lancias and Alfas, for my sins ) and it seemed that anybody who was interested in the sport and competition side of things knew all about the FIA homologated parts and the stuff that the Factory race teams used to use. I have to say that it does not seem the same in the Z world. Only a select few know or care about it all. Very odd, that.

I've never seen one of the Formula Pacific lists, though. What's it got in it? Was that the formula that used the LZ18 / LZ20 engines? My friend Mr Matsui in Japan used to engineer Kazuyoshi Hoshino's car in F. Pacific. I visited him a couple of years ago and the car is still in his workshop. I can't for the life of me remember who made the chassis for it ( I think it was English though - maybe a Brabham or a Ralt. Whoops, that kind of makes it Australian in a way doesn't it!? ). That "Group G" list sounds interesting. Would like to see that.

I think I know the article about the ex-pat Australian living in Japan with the "432-R". I think I remember that the article was not very accurate, and that the car was in fact NOT a true PS30-SB, and just ( "just" is relative in this case! ) a 'normal' 432 with a few tuning bits on it and not very Japanesque. I think the owner might have been guilty of a little exaggeration to an uninformed journalist.........

All the best,

Alan T.

[Ben]

briefly (it's 2am....)

I'll dig up the Formula Pac. info & pass it on. I'll also try & get a copy of the 'Group G' stuff (that's been pending for a while, but I'm lazy)

I expect you are right about the 432, as the car in the article is at standard height (not higher) & there is no mention of the perspex windows or other 'SB' specific features.

Still - lucky bastard....

I have made a point of getting homologation papers for every car I own. After all, they only cost $70 from my state FIA-sanctioned motorsport body (CAMS).

I drool at the brakes & suspension parts that were used on some of the cars - friggin huge!

[texasz]

HS30-H and Ben,

If you guys wouldn't mind sharing copies of these lists/papers/cateloges/etc. with the rest of us it would be greatly appreciated. Personally I am open to having them available for download, emailed to me, snail mailed to me, or whatever.

I for one would like to see what these contain and I'm sure that there are others here that would also.

[zr240]

Thanks for all the info guys! the reason I was asking this quetion is that we want to run a car in the historic class in Aus and would make a lot of sence to run triples to keep up with the porsches etc Could you tell me were I could get a copy of that sports option cataloge so I can show it to the powers that be and see if I can get triples homologated in our historic class.

Thanks

again

Ash

[dozer171]

wow, those papers sound like a fantastic read, i've never heard of them!!! would you guys be willing to put them into some sort of format for download such as *.pdf or something? or copies for snail mail, i'll gladly reimburse you for your efforts and postage!

[halz]

I do like the look of the optional exhaust kit - those twin pipes would look very mean!