1970 240Z Works Rally - the road to restoration

[Patcon]

@SteveJ

@Captain Obvious

[HS30-H]

13 hours ago, xs10shl said:

Of particular curiosity is a nondescript 1"x5" vented box located on the left side of the car, which is a part of the main headlight circuit.  This box contains what appears to be four resistive wires wound around 4 insulators, and is controlled via a large 4-position dial on the center console, which is labelled "HEAD RHEO" in period photos (which I take to mean "Headlight Rheostat").  This same dial is visible on several of the early Works cars, but appears to be implemented differently (and potentially not-at-all) on some of the later cars. 

As mentioned privately, I honestly think this is case of mistaken identity. The dash control labelled 'Head Rheo' is - surely? - the dimmer switch for the navigator-specific auxiliary lighting ('P' Light illumination for maps, timers and Haldas). I don't see any reason why it would be necessary to have a rheostat-controlled dimming function of headlamps, spot lamps and fog lamps on a rally car. 

I've got one of the 'mystery' boxes too (leftovers from Works activities here in the UK) and - notably - the wire colours are different than on yours. I have three reds and a black going into a square 4-spade male connector:

Referencing a factory carnet import inventory for the 1971 RAC Rally, I see Works part number 'Y9821-22438 Diode a**'y' which seems to fit the bill as it is listed amongst other auxiliary lighting parts. 

Would it not be more likely that this Diode box acts as a one-way 'gate' in the lighting system of the car, helping to protect against switching combinations that would otherwise overload/mess up the wiring? I'm absolutely not any kind of expert on auto electrics, but it seems to me that there's a lot going on with the Works rally car lighting system that is not apparent to us on the outside looking in, and certainly so with regard to the different combinations of lighting possible with the column switch, the individual fog & spot lamp switches, a master lighting switch and the push-to-pass momentary switch that (I think?) you have on the end of your car's indicator stalk?

 

Edited November 15, 2022 by HS30-H
Forum software likes 'Boobs' but not 'A**'y'...

[xs10shl]

@HS30-H Thx for the info. Part of my confusion is that I mis-remembered the labelling on the console, and when I re-examined my pictures, the dial was labelled "HEAD.SELECT", and not "HEAD RHEO".  My confusion lay in the fact that the internals of the box appeared to contain resistive wiring, making me think of it as being some sort of rheostat. 

In sort, the stalk is as you described, and works as expected when the "Head Select" switch is off.  It's also possible that there is a jumper cable I'm missing that somehow wires combinations of the 6 lights together in one easy-to-us switch - and that how I've got it wired now is incomplete. 

I've included a closeup of the console dial here for others to look at, with the "HEAD.SELECT", so folks know what is being discussed. Sorry for the dark picture, it wasn't very bright to begin with.

[xs10shl]

Works Lightweight cars made extensive use of fiberglass panels and acrylic windows to reduce curb weight.   As an example, the rear deck is made of fiberglass, with an ultra-thin acrylic window bonded to the frame.  It's quite light - I can hold it with my thumb. 

[Carl Beck]

15 hours ago, xs10shl said:

Works Lightweight cars made extensive use of fiberglass panels and acrylic windows to reduce curb weight.   As an example, the rear deck is made of fiberglass, with an ultra-thin acrylic window bonded to the frame.  It's quite light - I can hold it with my thumb. 

Is the NISSAN Logo - pressed into the acrylic on that one?

[siteunseen]

18 hours ago, xs10shl said:

Works Lightweight cars made extensive use of fiberglass panels and acrylic windows to reduce curb weight.   As an example, the rear deck is made of fiberglass, with an ultra-thin acrylic window bonded to the frame.  It's quite light - I can hold it with my thumb. 

You're close to Jackson Pollack big money skills. 

The Z window chrome would make a good frame.

 

 

[xs10shl]

3 hours ago, Carl Beck said:

Is the NISSAN Logo - pressed into the acrylic on that one?

Yes, pictured - not very well stamped, I'm afraid. Tailgate permutations for Z432-Rs over the production life of the S30 are a slight mystery to me, so I'll invite others to chime in with info.  From the parts manual, a Z432-R with lightweight decklid would have a fiberglass frame, an acrylic window a little thinner than a stock piece of glass, and a standard rubber gasket to affix it into the frame.  The Lightweight Spec Works cars did it differently - they used an even thinner piece of acrylic (perhaps half as thick, by my estimates), bonded directly onto a lip on the decklid frame, without using a gasket (refer to picture)- essentially making the frame/acrylic a single piece. This feature is visible on pretty much all the 1970-71 period photographs I have of the Works cars, so I have come to believe it's the likely procedure the Works team used on all the Lightweight Spec cars.  The acrylic is so thin, that there's really no way it would be rigid enough to stay in place using just a gasket.  In addition, I'm not sure that this exaggerated mounting lip on the frame was a part of the standard PZR frame - it's possible that this batch of decklid frames were modified specifically to allow for the two pieces to be bonded together.  I just don't know the answers yet - more research is required.

The above is all a bit geeky, so I apologize for deep-diving into the minutia. Unfortunately, my acrylic was ruined by a former owner, who cut a 6" hole for what appears to be a fresh-air venting system.  Thankfully, I have a "very used" standard PZR acrylic window.  So, in order to fix my existing decklid, I'm going to have to cut off the old acrylic, and bond on the new, thicker one, or bite the bullet and replicate the existing acrylic piece using thinner material.  Right now, I'm leaning towards the latter, for consistency.

 

 

Edited December 3, 2022 by xs10shl

[HS30-H]

On 12/2/2022 at 8:11 AM, xs10shl said:

Works Lightweight cars made extensive use of fiberglass panels and acrylic windows to reduce curb weight.   As an example, the rear deck is made of fiberglass, with an ultra-thin acrylic window bonded to the frame.  It's quite light - I can hold it with my thumb. 

Did it have any of the venting/draining gubbins inside it.

Other Works FRP tailgates I have seen had the vents blocked off and therefore didn't have any of the usual internals.

[HS30-H]

8 hours ago, xs10shl said:

Tailgate permutations for Z432-Rs over the production life of the S30 are a slight mystery to me, so I'll invite others to chime in with info.  From the parts manual, a Z432-R with lightweight decklid would have a fiberglass frame, an acrylic window a little thinner than a stock piece of glass, and a standard rubber gasket to affix it into the frame. 

Stock (roadgoing) 432-R tailgate was steel, of course. It had the acrylic window and used the stock window rubber (sans stainless trim) to hold it in. 

Nissan Sports/Race Option tailgate was FRP and had the standard shape lip, so could accept the stock window rubber and either stock glass or acrylic window.

8 hours ago, xs10shl said:

The Lightweight Spec Works cars did it differently - they used an even thinner piece of acrylic (perhaps half as thick, by my estimates), bonded directly onto a lip on the decklid frame, without using a gasket (refer to picture)- essentially making the frame/acrylic a single piece. This feature is visible on pretty much all the 1970-71 period photographs I have of the Works cars, so I have come to believe it's the likely procedure the Works team used on all the Lightweight Spec cars.  The acrylic is so thin, that there's really no way it would be rigid enough to stay in place using just a gasket.  In addition, I'm not sure that this exaggerated mounting lip on the frame was a part of the standard PZR frame - it's possible that this batch of decklid frames were modified specifically to allow for the two pieces to be bonded together. 

That matches what I've seen too. The FRP tailgate used by the early Works rally cars must have been a dedicated moulding because of that different window-mounting lip. It allows the bonded acrylic window to sit pretty much flush with the outer surface of the tailgate.

Somewhere I've got photos of a Works lightweight car with a bonded window that has very small screws embedded (covered) in the bonding material for a belt-and-braces solution. 

 

[xs10shl]

On 11/4/2022 at 11:42 PM, kats said:

 Do you see the two brackets at the duct opening for the blower motor ?  I am thinking the brackets could be only for PZR. If so, how about a PZR body Works car like yours . I am curious about it. Also , a mounting bracket for an igniter, do you see it in your car ?

Kats, we got the dashboard out a few days ago, which gave us access to the duct opening.  Attached is a picture showing no brackets. 

As to the CDI, there appears to be no physical evidence that one was ever installed in this car - no mounting bracket, and no welds where one would expect a bracket to be installed. Crucially, there appear to be no provisions in the wiring harness for a CDI, or even a power point for an igniter.  I'm not ruling out that a CDI may have been installed at one point (perhaps using a separate harness currently not on the car).  To that point, one might be tempted to argue that the front harness may have been switched out.  However, as we were removing the dashboard, we discovered that there was no separate dashboard sub-harness: it was all one giant Works-numbered engine/dashboard harness, reaching from the coil, around the front and right side of the car to the fusebox plugs, and then all the way back across the dashboard to the ignition key.  So in order to change just the engine harness, one would need to replace all the dashboard wiring, which IMHO is an extremely unlikely scenario, given how original and unmolested everything appeared to be.  Of note, I'm still evaluating how the tach works, so there may be a few more surprises in store there which may revise my opinion about the ease/likelihood of adding a CDI option in-period.

Edited December 4, 2022 by xs10shl

[kats]

Thank you so much xs10shl ! I imagined how many hours were taken to see only the duct opening, thank you. 
 

This fact makes me think of that Works rally car , it needs ventilation system (I mean motorized), so they need to be opened like other public cars.

Also I remember Mr. Namba ( general manager of works team) said in the magazine “ for preparation of 1971 Safari , we were making a stronger ventilation system for dry dusty conditions. Works cars were going to be equipped with filtration system - inlet air from cabin to engine. In the end, we didn’t need to do it “.  How were they going to do it?? Is there any trace which we can see it today ? I am curious about it.

On the other hand Z432-R, they omitted the heater box/blower motor to stay light in weight.  I asked about it Ando-san who restored at least 5 road going Z432-Rs but he has never seen an original parts that attached to the brackets. Some Z432-Rs have just added a blower motor and a heater box , some Z432-R just don’t have anything around the opening. Ando-san usually makes a rectangular plate for the duct opening because customers always complain about too much cold in winter driving. 
It is fun to imagine, if a works Z432-R raced in winter, would mechanics have added a delete panel to prevent excessive cold air coming into cockpit ? 
How about two inlets each side of foot well ? Does a Z432-R have a duct and flap operated by single cable like public cars ? Sorry this is not related, not proper to ask here.I will continue to search for these.

About the mounting bracket for the igniter, thank you so much for checking it. So, we see only S20 cars have them on the cowl top panel. 
LHD cars have only one cowl top panel(no brackets for igniter and inlet opening)  for all variants including works rally car, RHD cars have three types i.e. L- series cars ( no brackets for igniter and inlet opening) , S20 Z432 ( brackets only for igniter), S20 Z432-R (brackets for igniter and inlet opening).

 As reading your observations, I believe the wiring harnesses are original to your car. Just great !

Thanks always, I really love this topic here.

Kats

PS I think this picture is your car.

Edited December 5, 2022 by kats

[HS30-H]

16 hours ago, xs10shl said:

Kats, we got the dashboard out a few days ago, which gave us access to the duct opening.  Attached is a picture showing no brackets. 

 

9 hours ago, kats said:

Thank you so much xs10shl ! I imagined how many hours were taken to see only the duct opening, thank you. 
 

This fact makes me think of that Works rally car , it needs ventilation system (I mean motorized), so they need to be opened like other public cars.

9 hours ago, kats said:

On the other hand Z432-R, they omitted the heater box/blower motor to stay light in weight.  I asked about it Ando-san who restored at least 5 road going Z432-Rs but he has never seen an original parts that attached to the brackets. Some Z432-Rs have just added a blower motor and a heater box , some Z432-R just don’t have anything around the opening. Ando-san usually makes a rectangular plate for the duct opening because customers always complain about too much cold in winter driving. 

Perhaps it is not so surprising that the heater inlet duct 'chimney' doesn't have 432-R style captive nuts? After all, this is an LHD car and there were no LHD versions of the 432-R's E72 'Cowl Top Inner' to use. Additionally, a Works rally car would most definitely need a fully operating heating and ventilation system (and more!).

9 hours ago, kats said:

How about two inlets each side of foot well ? Does a Z432-R have a duct and flap operated by single cable like public cars ? Sorry this is not related, not proper to ask here.I will continue to search for these.

All the roadgoing 432-Rs I've seen had the fresh air ducts, flaps and cables. There's not much weight in them and they would certainly be a welcome presence on a road car driven in Summer.

9 hours ago, kats said:

Also I remember Mr. Namba ( general manager of works team) said in the magazine “ for preparation of 1971 Safari , we were making a stronger ventilation system for dry dusty conditions. Works cars were going to be equipped with filtration system - inlet air from cabin to engine. In the end, we didn’t need to do it “.  How were they going to do it?? Is there any trace which we can see it today ? I am curious about it.

I don't know if it will have been done on xs10shl's car, but other (later) Works rally 240Zs had 'overclocked' fan motors with extra windings, allowing them to push more air. They also enlarged the ducts under the windscreen and put wire mesh in them to stop them swallowing up anything important...

There's some evidence of Namba san's mentioned ventilation system mods on cars later than the '71 Safari winner. '7924' is the '73 Safari winning car of Shekhar Mehta. LHD, but it was originally built in order to take part in the 1972 RAC Rally (driven by Rauno Aaltonen) and it shows the much-modified heater box and blower motor mounting position they used. This Works rally-specific mod hides its light under a bushel, and its full splendour would only be revealed if the dash was removed...