OK everyone,

Here's a semi-serious quiz for anyone who fancies having a shot.

Some of you will know the answer, or at least hav a pretty close guess straight away. Maybe we can spin in out a little and expand the subject so that we can all learn from it.

Here's a picture of a section cut out from an S30-series Z bodyshell. The section includes the area at the base of the quarter window, the inner wheel arch and the door jamb. This section was cut out of a UK-market HS30 body that dated from around 1973 ( didn't look at the VIN or any other identifying features I'm afraid ) but that SHOULD be irrelevant to our quiz, as I'm pretty sure that ALL models of early S30-series Z car in ALL markets had the same detail.

I've added some wobbly white arrows to point out four captive nuts that were welded into the panel at the Factory. These are the subject of our quiz. What were they there for, and what fitted on there?

Here's the first pic:

.........and here's a pic of the inside of that panel ( a side that you can't usually see ):

Anyone know for sure, and can explain it?

Hope you can take the time to post and find it a subject worthy of debate.

Good luck!:classic:

Alan T.

I'm hoping it's not for the factory roll bar. Nissan placed mounting points, very much like these, in the roadster for the roll bar. I wouldn't expect much protection from them. The sheet metal would tear away and you'd be wearing the bar as a neck tie.

Ah, Victor - you've almost finished the thread before its really begun.

That's it - they are for the Sports Option roll-over bar. In fact, most of the Factory race and rally cars used these mounting points as PART of the mounting for their roll-over bars. The complete mount was a little bit better than you might think, so your comment about them being weak would really only be correct if they were the ONLY place where the bar was attached to the bodyshell.

Victor, I'm glad a Roadster owner got this as there was certainly a fair amount of continuity involved with the thinking behind these parts.

Anybody got any idea what the complete mount looked like, and where else it located?

Anybody seen a bodyshell WITHOUT these mount holes?

Alan T.

Well, I have yet see a Z body without these mount holes, but I always figured they were used for mounting safety harnesses for the factory race teams.

At least that what I use them for.

http://www.classiczcars.com/photopost/showphoto.php?photo=3564&password=&sort=7&thecat=500

Nice one! Here's a question to throw in, there are two little rectangular bits of metal/plastic about half way up either side of the inside of the hatch, right next to the water sealing rubber. They seem to serve no purpose, but why are they there?

*I can't post a picture for obvious reasons*

Alfa,

Aren't they just bumpers that keep the hatch centralised in its 'hole'? Little rubber blocks moulded onto a steel backing, and screwed into the body? I think they are what you mean.

Kmack, I knew you'd get this too as what reminded me of it was your post a few days ago discussing how you had been using them. They were not used as harness mounts though - they were for a bracket that located the bar in a special holder.

Here's a pic of the bracket:

Alan T.

Alan,

Thank you for clearing that up. It always made me wonder...

Alan,

Any chance you might have a photo of what the bar looked like mounted in the car? I could definitely use/make something like that if I just had a photo to go by!

Hi Kmack,

Sure. Here's two photos of different cars. The first one is a circuit car with the Works / Sports Option bar:

.........and here's a Works-built FIA rally car with the same arrangement. The Works rally cars had a slightly modified bar ( altered by hand using the standard Sports Option bar as a base ) but the mounts were the same type.

Alan T.