HS30-H

Chris, Many thanks for your kind offer - but I've already pre-paid for it. I reckon it should be here any day now. That's good about Goertz. Although mentioning Goertz at all stokes up those 'no smoke without fire' doubters again. I was mortified to see the pages dedicated to Goertz when Brian Long's book originally came out. I still think he needs to be properly shown as the trickster that he is, and his 'rep' adjusted accordingly...... You may well have created a monster........ Totally agree with you there, daddz. That book is just wonderful. Worth every penny, and a real treasure. I agree with this too. The picture caption mistakes were a real pity, and really ought to have been put right in later editions. I notice that the MIKI PRESS book 'Fairlady Z Story' also had a lot of caption and subtitle errors. Where are the proof-readers? bpilati, May I say that I think we should critique these books when they come out. We should pick up on mistakes where they occur, and we should voice alternate opinions where they are valid, topical and relevant. What's wrong with that? It makes us all more rounded as individuals interested in that subject we call 'Z History', and raises the game for the next pamphlet, book, DVD or simple post on a site like this. It is one of the things that being an enthusiast is all about. Alan T.

26th-Z and daddz, I have this book on order with Motor Books here in London, but it seems that the publisher put the first batch destined for the UK on a slow boat. Still not sign of it yet....... And now I'm wondering if its another dud book? I'm already feeling disappointed. I guess I should really hold fire until I see the book myself, but things are already looking bleak judging from the comments above. Is there no *fresh* information about the design process and engineering of the early cars? Are there no interviews with the likes of Matsuo, Yoshida, Chiba, Benitani, Kamahara, Uemura and Miyate? Any discussion about 'design concession' and the differences between the 'Export' and 'Domestic' cars? I'm sorry, but I really CANNOT understand why in this day and age - with all the benefit of the 'carchaeology' that many people have been involved in ( with a LOT of it on forums like this ) - a fresh book hits the shelves, but brings little new information or insight to the complete story of a JAPANESE car. Is the book as blinkered as it sounds? :disappoin Alan T.

Maybe this photo of my project car will help?

No, it's not normal. But I'm convinced that it IS there, if you know exactly where to look....... Exactly. Stock location on an RHD car is just above the half-round bead rolled into the firewall sheetmetal, right by the metal bracket that holds the vacuum hose for the Master Vac. As a Japanese home-market car, it would not have left the Factory with a door-jamb tag or a dash tag. The only two VIN locations on the car are on the firewall sheetmetal and the 'fenderwell' plate. No. VIN number is always on the drivers side, whether its LHD or RHD. I agree. I think its there but you aren't seeing it. It will be right under those hoses and wires in your first photo, and is probably half-filled with paint and crud. If you get down to bare metal and its still not there, only then you will have a mystery on your hands.........

Brad, PM received. Sending you an e-mail soon. Cheers, Alan T.

Hi Brad, I bought some parts from Errol at Datrats a few years back. Very nice guy and very good to deal with. Sumitomo are still making the vented disc version of the MK63-20S in small batches. I can probably hook you up with a pair. Can you send me a PM with your direct e-mail address? I'll send you some pics and info. Cheers, Alan T.

NZeder, That's a good example of machine translation not really being up to snuff........ 'Kame' is Japanese for turtle alright, but the word 'possession' is not really the most accurate choice to translate the meaning of the second Kanji character ( when it is placed next to the first ). The meanings of some Kanji characters can often be modified depending on what other kanji characters are surrounding them. The best thing to remember is that Kanji characters are ideograms, and that a direct translation into English or other similar languages is not always possible ( or even appropriate ). 'Kameari' is actually the name of a place. Kameari Engine Works used to be based in the town district of Kameari, Saitama-ken. They moved a good few years back now to Yashio City, Saitama-ken. I live in the Bloomsbury district of central London, but nobody here would dream of breaking 'Bloomsbury' down into its component meanings ( probably something to do with flowers ). Our Roman alphabet allows us to see a word and read it without necessarily processing any ideas of how it came to be formed and used, but Japanese and other written languages based on ideograms bring that processing to the fore it seems. You might get looked at kind of funny if you mentioned anything about turtles to the staff of Kameari Engine Works..............

Ooh the irony. Ouch. Couldn't have put it better myself. Thank you. :classic: Very well put. Of course, this will all be covered in that new Z book by Pete Evanow ( sp? ) won't it? Please tell me that it will............. :paranoid: This last statement I can't completely concur with. I'd say that there is an interest amongst some Japanese Z enthusiasts for the "AEM" cars / spec, but they are very much a minority. LHD cars re-imported to Japan generally sell at lower prices than original home-market RHD cars. There are of course honourable exceptions to this that prove the rule. Sundowner, I'd advise you to try and gather as much information as you can before embarking on any buying sprees. Come up with a 'look' and a plan, and make 100% certain of what you want before you spend precious money buying any stuff that doesn't fit with the look you are trying to achieve. Good luck! Alan T.

Amen to that, but I don't know why you would "hate the argument"? On the contrary - it has everything to do with RHD. What you are seeing is a direct consequence of the fact that the main componentry of the car was biased towards an RHD configuration - descended from Nissan's Austin links. Nissan made a fine job of building-in LHD configuration compatability when they productionised the S30-series Z, but the fact that the basic design is arranged around an RHD configuration seems to pass over the heads of many. Even the hole for the gear shift lever is not 'central' in the trans tunnel........

YES! Feels like its all starting to fall into place. Basically, yes. But don't forget that these also have their own sub-divisions ( EG - USA / Canada LHD versions and 'rest-of-the-World' LHD version ). No official exports of 432, 432-R, 240ZG. Of course, we have not mentioned any of the different Export-market 260Z and 280Z models ( although they will be pretty used to that, unfortunately ) or the A-S30 and S31 and their ilk.........

I think you'll find clues in the front pages of your Factory workshop manuals and parts lists, thus: *'HLS30-U' = "Left hand drive for USA Canada." *'HLS30' = "Left hand drive." *'HS30-U' = "Right hand drive." There are lots of other suffixes that denote different specs and options, and these were mainly used internally within Nissan. The Japanese home market - with its many versions and options - was particularly complicated. These full 'Katashiki', 'Ruibetsu' and 'Shashu' codes were printed in the front of the Japanese factory workshop manuals, parts lists and the 'Service Shuho' model information booklets that were used to teach the Japanese dealerships about new models when they were introduced. Here's a scan of one of the Japanese 'Katashiki' tables from October 1971, detailing the suffixes that were added to identify different model types and specs within the S30-series Z range. Remember that the TWELVE codes in the list are covered by firewall stamp VIN prefixes of just THREE types: 'S30', 'PS30' and 'HS30'...............

AAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGHHHH! Groundhog day. We've been over this what seems like thousands of times before. It must all show up if you use the SEARCH function and read, read, read. NO! Fairlady 240Z ( HS30-S model ) VIN prefix stamping = 'HS30' Fairlady 240Z-L ( HS30 model ) VIN prefix stamping = 'HS30' The 'S30' and 'S30-S' were NOT '240Zs'. And stop mixing up suffixes with prefixes. There was NO two litre "Z-G" model ( where the hell did you get THAT one from??? ). Fairlady Z432 ( 'PS30' model ) firewall VIN stamp = 'PS30'. Fairlady Z432-R ( 'PS30-SB' model ) firewall VIN stamp = 'PS30'. THERE WAS NO "Z-G 432" ( arrrrrrggghhhh! ). YES! Bloody hell. This is all written in the book that I know you have on your bookshelf, Sean. How can you make something already complicated even more complicated? I have a headache now. :squareeye

You posted a picture of the engine block earlier in this thread. It had 'L20' stamped on it - so yes, it is an L20A and probably the original one that came in the car from the Factory too..... You can't just put an E31 or E88 on the L20A block in place of an E30. You will have to consider 'eyebrowing' or 'notching' your block to allow the larger valves the open at full cam lift without hitting the block. Also remember that the inlet and exhaust manifolds of the E30 head have smaller passages than those of the E31 and E88. Ideally you would want to change manifolds and carbs too. But I wouldn't mess around too much if I were you. Either repair the L20A and run it, or pull it out ( put it into storage ) and put in an L24, L26 or L28.

Very nice. Looks like NZ is something of a happy hunting ground for unusual Japanese home market models.

Oh dear, I get home from a hard day's work and have to read more bollocks on this thread.............. Show me an "HS30H" VIN and you get a fantastic prize from yours truly. A wooden spoon with your name engraved on it. There ain't no such animal. The 'H' suffix of the Fairlady 240ZG was never stamped on the firewall or VIN tag, and existed only in Nissan's internal documentation and model delineation - in just the same way as the Fairlady Z and Fairlady Z-L shared the 'S30' VIN prefix on their firewall and VIN tag stampings even though one was actually an 'S30' and one was an 'S30-S'......... I need a nightcap. :sleep:

It's a 'Ken' or 'Ken-sa' hanko stamp. Quality control in action. Applied by the QC checker at the component manufacturer's factory. We've discussed them on this forum many times in the past. Bullshit. You could have written that in 1905 and been at least partly right, but writing it in 2005 makes it look as though you haven't got a clue what you are talking about. Which surely can't be the case?

Sean, I think you got most of the information you wanted from the replies you received via the other forum you posted this question on......... As usual, not entirely accurate about the RHD cars..... "1972 Model Year" is I believe a USA / Canadian market term. Not applicable to RHD cars. As is "Series III" ( along with "Series I" and "Series II" ). And you are forgetting that not all 'HS30' VIN-prefixed cars were 'Datsun 240Z' models. The Japanese home market had the 'Nissan Fairlady 240Z', 'Nissan Fairlady 240Z-L' and 'Nissan Fairlady 240ZG' added to their range in October 1971. All three models used the 'HS30' VIN prefix, and the word 'Datsun' was not written anywhere on the cars. Japanese home market 'HS30' VIN-prefixed models manufactured during the calendar year of 1971 had body serial numbers 'HS30-10001' through 'HS30-10436'. Then the 1972 calendar year had 'HS30-010437' ( note that extra digit ) through 'HS30-012045', whereafter the first digit was changed over to a '1' and numbers 'HS30-100001' through 'HS30-100800' were manufactured. 1973 calendar year production started from 'HS30-100801'.......... You "might" find it if you are looking for it, but more to the point - it was made and it did exist. Alan T.

Well, there's probably just a handful of S30-series Fairladies here in the UK. Perhaps around five or six at the most.

In my 'Gallery' on this site. Look for the '432R Replica Project' section. Some silly new pics added just today.

Don't apologise to anybody Ben - I agree with you completely, this car is much more likely to be a Z-L ( 'S30' ) than an entry-level no-frills Fairlady Z ( 'S30-S' ). You are correct about the bumpers. The Z-L had the rubber trim from the Factory and the Z did not, but the rubber trim and over-riders could be ordered as an option. The Z-L came from the Factory with a clock, but the Z had the super-rare clock blanking plate from the Factory. But again, dealer option choices and later replacement could change the way the car came from the Factory. The other identifiably Z-L specific thing on this eBay car is the presence of stainless front and rear window runner garnish pieces. Z-L came with these from the Factory but the Z did not. Could have been added later in the car's life but more likely original I'd have thought. One of the other swaying factors is that the base-level S30-S is so rare in comparison to the Z-L, and always was. This car being what I call a "G.I. Bride" ( like so many of the Fairladies outside Japan ) it is also much more likely to be a Z-L than an S30-S. The S30-S was particularly austere, and any serviceman bothering to take Fairlady home with him would have tended to favour the relatively luxurious Z-L over the S30-S. I hope somebody saves the car and takes some of the gee-gaws off it. By the way, my project base car ( also a Fairlady Z-L ) has VIN number 'S30-03761' - precisely 80 numbers older than the eBay car........... Cheers, Alan T.

The "Project X" book by Akira Yokoyama is a 'Manga' based title, originally published in October 2003 to accompany the NHK television documentary of the same name. It tells what I would call a modernised version of the story of the creation of the S30-series Z in cartoon format, and leans heavily on the Katayama / Matsuo dynamic. It is quite lighthearted, and not really 100% historically correct. It is hard to truly recommend other Japanese titles, as each of them tends to contain just a small section that is of interest to me. Also some of the ones I consider to be better are no longer in print..... "Warera ga Fairlady" ( roughly: "Our Fairlady" ) published by Kodansha in 1979 is a great little paperback with a lot of small but interesting historic photos in it. Out of print now, but sometimes possible to find used in Japan. More recent is "Z no shin wa" ( roughly: Legendary Z" ) by Shigeru Kubota, published by Shuppan Geijutsu sha, ISBN 4-88293-211-3, is a rather dry text-based softback that puts the Z into historical context in Japan. Rather short on good photos. Also recent is "Z o-tsukuta no otoko" ( "The man who made the Z" ) by Hisashi Kuroi, a softback published by Futaba sha, ISBN 4-575-29444-6 and subtitled ( my translation ) "Yutaka Katayama and the Datsun Z". Some historical pictures in this, but in my opinion it is basically an opportunistic bit of bandwagon jumping in the Katayama personality cult vein, and the title is fairly preposterous. But there you go - there's a lot of it about. Car Graphic's "Nissan Fairlady" softback, published back in 1981, is a good value compilation of all Car Graphic magazine's articles on the Fairlady up to that point. Their road tests are a benchmark in Japan, and their reprint of the article detailing the creation process of the S30 is nice, but not as good as the original magazine with its fold-out sections. There are some good articles about the race and rally cars in there too - with a reprint of Shotaro Kobayashi's Fuji track test of a Works 240ZR, which is great. Car Graphic recently updated and re-released this as "Nissan Fairlady Z", ISBN 4-544-91502-3, but it adds lots of S130-onwards stuff and drops the SP/SR stuff that was nice in the first version. However, the printing is much better quality and on much better paper. This is worth having. Neko Publishing's "Fairlady Z" - no.32 in their pocket-sized 'World Car Guide' series is fairly new ( ISBN 4-7770-5067-X ) and covers the whole Fairlady range with a few bits of race history thrown in. Some nice colour pictures, but some silly mistakes on captions and headings. Probably still very worth having at the price though. Neko publishing's "Fairlady I" ( ISBN 4-87366-005-X ) and "Fairlady II" ( ISBN 4-87366-007-6 ) hardbacks are pricey and weighty investments as coffee-table 'art' tomes, but I reckon they are nice things to own and pull out of their slip covers for a browse every now and then. Good data in them too. In and out of print since the late 1970's, sometimes seen on eBay and with book dealers, it should be possible to order from a book specialist if you are armed with the current ISBN. But as I said, pricey. "Fairlady Z File" published by Studio Tac Creative has been re-released a couple of times, and is a full-size full-colour "mook" of the type that is so often seen in Japan. Lots of colour, lots of street-modified cars. Re-prints of NOSTALGIC HERO magazine's articles in the GEIBUN MOOK series are good value: "All Fairlady Z" ( ISBN 4-87465-480-0 ), Geibun Mooks no.260 is an all-Z compilation from several years of Nos Hero magazine, and is nice. As is Geibun Mook no.327 "All Nissan Sport" ( ISBN 4-87465-562-9 ) which covers many of Nissan's sportier models, with some rare Z content and good race history articles. Interesting and worth having at the price. Since the Z33 debuted there have been a wealth of new "Mooks" dedicated to the Z range published in Japan. Each of them seems to cover a little bit of history, and I'd say each of them has something to offer - even if it is only one picture that we have never seen before. I can't list them all here as I'd be typing all day. Maybe some of the above would be of interest to you? Cheers, Alan T.