My 1970 Fairlady Z

[Bleach]

Here is my recent car. This is my first 240Z as I have owned two 1975 280Zs in the past and two different 280ZX's.

:eek:1970 Vin S30-00931 (probably made in 69)

Imported to Washington from Japan market (no manufacture month)

:tapemouth Original 1998cc inline six with dual SU carbs. (L20)

Dented, slightly rusted, garbage in interrior.

I have plans for an L28. I'm almost done with fixing up my Datsun 620 truck and then I'll get right into this project. I'm currently emptying the garage in preparation. She will be the 2-car garage queen!

[2ManyZs]

Nice find! It looks like it is definately worth fixing up. You'll have to give us up-dates once in a while so we can see it again. Even though I'm a "kutlz" with my left hand, I always wanted a right hand drive. Missed my chance on one years ago.

[2ManyZs]

BTW, what are you planning to do with the original engine? The car would be worth a lot more if you kept it original. It's a rare enough piece here in the states, and in original condition it would be very valuable. Unless there is something terribly wrong with it, I hope you keep it so that it could be put back in the car at some point. Of course that is just my opinion......

[AxtellZ]

I second that emotion, 2Many-

although the L28 would make for a fun drive, i would certainly keep the original as you say. Looks like a very nice find- have fun with it, and keep us up to date when you work on her!

JSA

[2ManyZs]

Well Meakin, I for one won't laugh because I don't know what the head casting number is on the double overhead cam head. Probably because it's been about 9 years since I even saw a Fairlady up close. Guess I'll have to get out my pile of books to find it out, unless someone else knows.

[ZmeFly]

if your gonna do it do it right and keep it original. forget about the l28. its not worth taking away the value of such a rare rare find. and remember if your gonna make it original you need the mikuni 40pph carbs too. gotta love that triple carb set up

[Bleach]

Yes, the head is stamped E30 as opposed to the E31 on the 240Z.

:sleep:

And this is a Fairlady Z, not a Z432. I'm pretty sure the dual SUs are original. The tripples were found on the dual overhead cam engine, right?

[Alfadog]

if it *was* a Z432......... well.......... then you'd just be amazing

Only 419 of them were made IIRC !

[Bleach]

I am very sure it is not a Z432. I have seen pictures of the Z432 engine. It is a cross-flow head. 4 valves per cylinder (dual cams), tripple webbers, and only 2.0L. (4-3-2) The engine in my Fairlady is a simple L-series engine with a very short stroke and small bore. It looks from the outside like any L24. This was just a common sports car sold in Japan, although this one in particular was brought over to Washington state by a member of the Navy about 13 years ago.

It was used for a while by the original owner and sold to a junkyard employee who was going to restore it. For some reason the employee got a bill of sale but never completed the transaction with a title. He couldn't drive it and he couldn't legally part it out at the yard. Another guy came by and bought it and went through the trouble of getting a lost title back on the car, costing him quite a bit of time and money. He got the car running and drove it around for a few years untill it was stolen and vandalized. When the Z was recovered, he was very angry and heartbroken. It sat for about 3 years untill he put it up for sale and I bought it. It even had the original fender mirrors up untill it was stolen... :mad:

It had the original 5-speed in the car when it was stolen. When the car was returned, reverse gear was broken on it. I still have that "broken" 5-speed but a 280Z 5-speed is in the car right now.

The speedometer reads only in Kilometers per hour and shows 33,000 kilometers on it. Most likely it is at 133,000 right now. It was inspected by the Washington Highway patrol and is registered as a 1970 Nissan 240Z. It would cost me double for tabs if I registered it as a right-hand drive Fairlady Z. That would be considered a specialty car or something like that. I don't need my registration to state that as long as the insurance company has knowledge of what it is and the value.

Once the car is fixed up, I will build a detached one car garage just for this car alone. Nothing will be in the garage except the car and an alarm system on the garage. ...at least that's my plan right now. Once it is fixed up the car will only be driven during the summer.

[ZmeFly]

the 432 did have the cross flow head and the triples and was a 2.0. still the find is awesome. that really suck that the car was stolen and the fender mirrors are gone. still i would agree with everything you said. keep it all by itself in its own lil garage and dont let anyone near it . i was driving my 72 around for the summer was getting ready to take it home and sit it in the garage to strip it for painting. well it didnt make it that far a dumb neon girl hit me:( oh well what will you do

id definetly like to stay posted on your progress she is a beautiful ride. take care of her

[HS30-H]

The chassis number identifies the car as a Japanese ( i.e "home" ) market S30 Fairlady. As such it came with an L20 engine ( just a two litre version of the L-series six and hardly any different to the L24 / L26 / L28 etc. ). Yes, this engine came with the E30 head.

If it was a Fairlady Z432 the chassis number would start "PS30" and it would have an S20 engine - the twin-cam, 24 valve 2 litre six with triple 40PHH Mikuni carburettors.

The factory made a total of somewhere between 420 and 500 of these cars ( a small proportion of them were the Fairlady Z432-R "PS30-SB" lightweight version ) but the actual figure is rather difficult to pin down because the factory slipped out quite a few cars for the domestic circuit race programme, like most car manufacturers. The true combined total is probably around the 450 mark if the race cars are included. PS30 chassis numbers go up over the 500 number, but there were some gaps and this does not denote that more than 500 were made.

Many people get confused and think that all the Japanese market 2-litre cars had the S20 engine, or that all cars called "Fairlady" had the S20 engine. This is quite surprising, as the information is quite clearly detailed in most books about the S30 series Z cars. Its not so confusing really..........................

One of my cars is a 1972 Fairlady 240ZG ( HS30-H ) and many people automatically think that it should have an S20 twin-cam installed! This is really annoying, as the 240ZG came from the factory with a "normal" L24 engine, like all other HS30 variants ( that "H" at the start of the chassis number denotes the L24 engine ).

One of my other cars is a 1970 Fairlady Z ( S30-S ) and this was made around mid year with a chassis number over 3000. This car too came with the L20 six, just like BleachZee's car. Also like BleachZee's car, my Fairlady S30 came out of Japan as a personal export by a US serviceman. It went to the USA and then came to the UK - so it is fairly well travelled. None of these cars were ever officially exported outside of Japan, and being such a low chassis number it is a very rare survivor of the '69 S30s. I know of a fair few in Japan, but many of them are fitted with later L28 engines for a bit more HP.

If Bleachzee wants any more info on his type of car, please don't hesitate to get in touch with me. Happy to be of any help I can.

By the way, why can't everybody understand that ALL the cars we love are actually "FAIRLADIES" and that the S30 series is the base that all "our" export variants come from? I cannot understand why so many people cannot get their heads round the fact that this is a Japanese car and that the Japanese "home" market right hand drive versions are what all the other versions are based on!!??

The left hand drive US export version in just a mutant export version of the Japanese base model. Please note the location of your hand-brake lever and the location of your indicator stalk. Does this ring any bells with you? They changed the design to incorporate specifications that would suit the US export market as they knew it would be such an important part of their business. They did not design the S30 series Z "especially" for the US market, but they took it into account as being the largest potential market. Jaguar did this with the E-Type Jaguar ( marketed as the "XKE" in the USA market ) and Triumph did it with their TR series sportscars, but they did NOT design the cars SPECIFICALLY for the US market.

To the Japanese, and to me, these cars are ALL Fairladies, and they are all S30 series Z cars. The US-spec. HLS30. the UK-spec. HS30 and all other versions are all types of S30 Z, and were re-named to suit the local market requirements and taste.

I guess its too late now, as thirty two years is a long time, but we really ought to be calling this the Internet S30 Z Club, as all the Z cars up to the S130 series would then be correctly included.

They are calling the "new" Z a "Fairlady" in Japan too, rather than a "350Z". It will just be called a "350Z" for the US and other export markets, but to the Japanese it is the latest in the long line of cars to carry the Fairlady nomenclature.

[Bleach]

Thank you for all that great information. As I've been thinking about this car more and more I do realize now how rare it is that the vin number is so low and it is a Fairlady with the original engine.

I have since changed my plan and I shall do an all original restore on this car. (more of a good refresh) I will keep the L20 and rebuild the original carbs. If I want a little racer in the future, I'll just sell the Fairlady and buy a common 240Z or 280Z to play with and modify. This collectable car should be kept original, and I'm glad I came to my senses before I messed it up!

:bandit:

For now I'll get this thing like it originally was and repaint it the original ORANGE color. (I love orange on these cars) It will be an interesting car for some shows and on the street. :cheeky: