HS30-H

Put them all up. Let God sort 'em out.....

Hi 26th-Z, The picture shows the car in the 1975 race. The same car ran again in the 1976 event, ending with a fatal crash. The car was an ex-SCCN Works circuit race car from Japan, and not the ex-Works rally car that it was pretended to be by the attachment of the rear number plate. We've covered the subject on this site before a few times I remember. jmark, Hard to recommend any one book in particular. You might need a collection of Japanese 'mooks' ( magazine books ) and even then they tend to miss a lot out. The definitive book is still waiting to be written.......

Well, on the true Works rally cars the damping rates were not adjustable on-car in the field. The damper units were made at the Factory rand that was it. Changing bump and rebound was only possible by re-valving, which meant stripping and re-gassing. Those numbers seem to relate to the later style units. Are you sure that they are correct? I would have expected them to have the E7213 second number on the BRE Baja car, or even to be the extra-long E7220 "Rally" struts with the fixed platforms? The E4622 second number doesn't seem to show up until around late 1975 according to what I'm looking at. Have you got the right numbers? Are they Atsugi, Tokico or Ampco-built units? I think you will struggle to find genuine parts to rebuild them with. If it is just the seals that are at fault then you might be able to find equivalents, but any of the other internal hardware is rocking-horse sh*t. Why not consider putting cartridges inside the original outer tubes? Yes, I have first-hand Factory data on the true Works cars - but it is pretty complicated and you have to understand what was matched with what. As usual with race cars, the specs were something of a moving target, and you need to be careful not to confuse yourself. Please don't mix up the Sports Option / Datsun Competition parts with the real Works suspensions. The Works competition department took the Sports Option parts and built new / modified units from them - with different parts, specs and hand fabricated details ( such as the tubes for the Halda drives on the front legs ). They were quite different. I can try to help with regard to the spring data you need, but I'm scratching my head at those E4622 numbers you quoted because they seem to be later than they should be. The full numbers are stamped onto the strut tubes, aren't they? Were these the units that have been on the car all along, or were they sourced separately?

Emil, Let's talk about this in PMs and emails. jmark, My current avatar image depicts SCCN works driver Moto Kitano crossing the finish line of the "Race De Nippon" event, held on 12th April 1970, in his SCCN works Fairlady Z432-R. He shared the car with fellow SCCN works driver Masahiro Hasemi, and they took pole position and won the race overall as well as their GTS class. This was the first major race win for the S30-series Z car worldwide, I believe.

Har har har har har. So does the "World Championship" of baseball. Yeah. All of them are complete idiots. Send 'em out on coarse sand, dried up salt, crater-strewn lunar surface and wet snow. Then we'll see who can drive worth a damn, eh Sopwith? ( let's not mention rain though, in case those extremely talented oval drivers get antsy.... ). Yeah! Primarily. Like, er - two or three of them. Not like any other form of motorsport, eh? Whoa! Selling the "Motorsport Capital of the World" a bit short there aren't you? Those guys obviously never even realised they were in the capital of motorsport, in the capital of the World. The fools! It's obvious. What they need is sopwith21! Either that or Danica...... [serious head on] Sir, if this debacle hadn't taken place in the Capital Of The World then I'd bet you wouldn't even have noticed it. Meanwhile, the world still rotates around you. Personally, I'm more interested in what went on at a rather more important and historic 24 hour race in France that I wasn't able to attend this year. I think you'll find the 'Vettes did quite well this time.........[/serious head on]. Loxahatchee over and out.

Er, nice thought Gav - but I'm probably the last person who would know what was going on in the USA in 2006......... Welcome to the site, Daffy :classic:

Yeah, we saw it all unfolding in front of us on live terrestrial TV here in the UK. With the time difference between the USA and UK, it was broadcast at a really nice time. I must say, ITV F1 commentator Martin Brundle was superb - a shining beacon of common sense in a sea of stupidity. Sad that the only race held at the RCoTW to be covered live on UK terrestrial TV ended up as such a farce. I should imagine that F1 will not be going back to the Brickyard in 2006. That won't be such a pity in itself ( the most commonly-used expression of the infield section at Indy has been "Mickey Mouse" ) but it will be a great shame if F1 doesn't go back to the USA and race at a more suitable circuit in 2006 and beyond. Predictions for 2006: Max Mosley to go. Michelin to go. Caesar's Palace parking lot to be resurfaced.

I heard back from my tame local Nissan parts department manager this morning. No luck I'm afraid. He can't get them. Sorry.

Carl, One thing I think worth mentioning at this point ( which may or may not confuse the issue more ) is that most of the UK-market cars seem to have turned up here with higher spring rates than the 1.49kg/mm quoted in the R-Drive parts manuals. There is no written evidence to support this as far as I am aware, but many of the HS30 models imported to the UK between 1970 and 1973 appear to have been fitted with the E4106 / E4107 front springs and E4201 rears...... You will probably know that the UK market cars got a different damper spec than the USA market too. Higher rates of bump and rebound, which motoring journalists noted in original UK-market road tests. Of course, the 432 had higher damper rates, and the 432R had higher rates again. There were a lot of springs and a lot of damper specs in the S30 model family. Nissan generally matched relatively low spring rates with very high damper rates during that period. In fact, the competition damper units ( especially those on the Works rally cars ) were extremely stiff when compared to their spring rate. Apparently the reasoning behind this was in some part to do with their philosophy for the Safari Rally: namely that stiff shocks wear out more slowly, and last longer on the stages. It was just the rest of the car ( and the occupants ) that suffered......... Funnily enough, I can see an 'HS30' shock absorber / damper unit noted on the USA-market factory parts lists. I wonder why that was - any ideas?

Zedrally, ChrisA asked the same question. See post #18 on this thread for the answer, and an attached photo. Cheers, Alan T.

OK Carl, I've taken a look at the draft, but I think I would much rather add my comments to this thread than send them direct to you - if you don't mind. That way anybody else who is interested can also add comments / corrections / extra info / different opinion....... It seems to me that you are immediately differentiating between the Japanese-market cars and the Export cars, and creating some kind of segregation? If you put this page of Japanese-only pace cars up on the zhome site, then what is going to happen to the pages that are already up there, where the caption "Pictured below, as far as I know from my research to date, is the first Z Car that was used as the "Official Pace Car" for a major racing event." is still visible? This is now out of date, isn't it? Are you going to modify those pages? Would it not be more relevant to have some 'Pace Car' pages that cover pace cars with a worldwide view, or will you still differentiate between the Japanese-market cars and the Export versions, with a strong bias to the USA / North American market? This kind of goes to the heart of my difference of opinion with you regarding the way you divide the S30-series Z cars into convenient compartments on zhome.com. To me ( and Nissan! ), the S30-series Z was a small 'family' of models. I can understand the need to divide these models to talk about each specifically in more detail, but only if it is clearly understood that each of these models is a member of a family. Without understanding the family, I don't think it is possible to understand each specific model - and vice-versa. Maybe others would like to add their comments on this? Alan T.

Some spring data. Not much, but it is all I have to hand at present. *54010-E4104: Spring constant: 1.49kg/mm Inside diameter: 100mm Free length: 386mm Loaded length: 201mm Typical loading: 274mm *54010-E4107: Spring constant: 1.80kg/mm Inside diameter: 100mm Free length: 331mm Loaded length: 178mm Typical loading: 274kg *54010-E4105: Spring constant: 1.49kg/mm Inside diameter: 100mm Free length: 392mm Loaded length: 201mm Typical loading: 283kg *54010-E4106: Spring constant: 1.80kg/mm Inside diameter: 100mm Free length: 319mm Loaded length: 178mm Typical loading: 254kg *54010-E4103: Spring constant: 1.49kg/mm Inside diameter: 100mm Free length: 380mm Loaded length: 201mm Typical loading: 264kg *55010-E4106: Spring constant: 1.80kg/mm Inside diameter: 100mm Free length: 319mm Loaded length: 178mm Typical loading: 254kg *55020-E4102: Spring constant: 1.85kg/mm Inside diameter: 100mm Free length: 369mm Loaded length: 225mm Typical loading: 388kg Identification mark: Single white paint dab. *55020-E4201: Spring constant: 2.07kg/mm Inside diameter: 100mm Free length: 356mm Loaded length: 225mm Typical loading: 296kg Identification mark: Two yellow paint dabs. I have a few other part numbers that apply to the Japanese home market models ( some of them are the same as some of the UK market numbers posted above ) but since we are talking about "Euro" it might be better to stick to that for now. Note: Things got even more complicated after 1973. The numbers I have posted apply up to ( I believe ) around mid 1973 here in the UK..... I need another coffee now. Alan T.

From the first UK-market Nissan 'R-Drive' parts manual: *54010-E4104 - SPRING-FRONT RH ( ratio 1.49kg/mm ) - MANUAL ( exc. Europe ). *54010-E8101 - SPRING-FRONT RH - Europe. ( note that no spring rate is given ). *54010-E4107 - SPRING-FRONT RH - OP. ( Manual ) ( ratio 1.80kg/mm ) ( exc. Europe ). *54010-E4105 - SPRING-FRONT RH - For air conditioner - AUTOMATIC ( exc. Europe ). ( note that no spring rate is given ). *54010-E4102 - SPRING-FRONT LH ( ratio 1.49kg/mm ) - MANUAL ( exc. Europe ). *54010-E8100 - SPRING-FRONT LH - Europe. ( note that no spring rate is given ). *54010-E4106 - SPRING-FRONT LH - OP. ( Manual ) ( ratio 1.8kg/mm ) ( exc. Europe ). *54010-E4103 - SPRING-FRONT LH - For air conditioner - AUTOMATIC ( exc. Europe ). ( note that no spring rate is given ). *55020-E4102 - SPRING-REAR ( ratio 1.8kg/mm ) ( exc. Europe ). *55020-E8100 - SPRING-REAR - Europe. ( note that no spring rate is given ). *55020-E4201 - SPRING-REAR ( ratio 2.0kg/mm ) ( Opt. ) My head hurts already. I'll have a cup of coffee and then start typing out some spring data that applies to the above numbers. Bear with me.....

The reason for my posting of the "Europe" ( according to the UK-market R-Drive Factory Parts Manual ) spring part numbers was to try to establish exactly which springs were being referred to by the USA dealers when they quoted "European" springs. There seems to be some continuing confusion about which market these applied to...... I'll try to make it clear what I think the answer to that question is, but it is going to take a lot of cross-referencing and typing out. And even at the end of that, I don't believe I have - as I mentioned in my first post - the exact info that is being requested. However, maybe some of what I have will be useful. It appears to be quite a lot more complicated than that when we look at all the part numbers. Maybe you could look at the spring data and come up with a combination that would work, but it might have to be a 'Frankenstein' effort. The thing is, there are a LOT of part numbers / specs......... That's what I thought too. Here goes.... If the "Euro Spec. Stage I" springs are more accurately the UK-market springs, then I think we might have a result here - but there is quite a lot of data to wade through. I think we should use the part numbers as the datum point rather than the US Dealer / Aftermarket description of "Euro". Bear with me while I type all this stuff out....

Will, Looking at my UK-market parts lists just now, I can see the following part numbers: *96301-E4100 - ASSY-BACK MIRROR OUTSIDE RH ( Exc. France ) - EUROPE. *96302-E4100 - ASSY-BACK MIRROR OUTSIDE LH ( Exc. France ) - EUROPE. *96302-E8800 - ASSY-BACK MIRROR DOOR OUTSIDE RH ( for Australia ). Note that there seems to be no number for the "Australia" LH mirror.......... I honestly can't recall ever having seen one of these mirrors fitted to a UK-market car. I'll ask my friendly Nissan dealer, but I don't hold out much hope I'm afraid....... Alan T.

Carl, Just to clarify; When you write "Euro Spec." model '240Z', you are specifically referring to the LHD model sold in France, Germany, Belgium, Holland & Portugal and NOT the UK-market RHD model ( or the Australian / NZ-market RHD models ). Is that correct? I have data that applies to the UK-market models ( which seems to include the Australia / NZ models too ), and also the Japanese home-market models ( some shared part numbers ) but I regret that I don't have the data you need for the "European" LHD models.... Presumably you are looking for only the 'Europe' market data?: *54010-E8101 SPRING-FRONT RH - EUROPE. *54010-E8100 SPRING-FRONT LH - EUROPE. *55020-E8100 SPRING-REAR. EUROPE. Alan T.