HS30-H

Hello all, Can I ask for opinions on the following? Are you happy with the positioning of the Emergency Brake on your early Z car? In the UK, we have traditionally called this the "Handbrake" ( is that true for Australia / New Zealand too? ) and I know in Japan it has mainly been known as the "Side Brake". Some owners will realise that the positioning of the Emergency Brake on the right side of the trans tunnel ( from the viewpoint of the driver sitting in the car ) was the same for both Right Hand Drive and Left Hand Drive versions. As far as I am aware, the only time that the positioning was changed to the OTHER side of the tunnel was in Factory-built "Works" competition cars ( specifically, in SOME of the Works rally cars that were Left Hand Drive - but not all of them ). I think this was only performed on a handful of cars after the Works drivers complained. As the owner of more than one RHD early Z car, I have always felt that the position of the handle on the right hand side of the tunnel was perfect. When I drove an LHD early Z car for the first time, I was shocked to find how awkwardly positioned the Emergency Brake seemed. I have in the past owned a fair few non-Z LHD cars ( American, French, Italian, German ) and I think I remember that the handbrakes were usually centrally-mounted or were otherwise easy to get to and use effectively and sportingly ( especially for the odd handbrake-assisted turn ). The early Z cars seem to be unusual in the way that they kept the same position on both LHD and RHD cars. What do you think? Alan T.

Gotti. There's a name that brings me back to my youth. I had a set of 8 x 13 Gottis on a Renault 8 Gordini I 'acquired' many years ago. They were de rigeur for a tuned Frenchie at that time ( late Seventies ), the car was a 1969 model but the wheels I had were probably made around 1973 or so. I used to think I was Jean-Luc Therier driving a Works Alpine-Renault on the Tour De Corse ( reality was a lot less romantic ). They were so wide they actually slowed the car down a huge amount just through tyre drag............. Used to go 'round corners like it was on rails though. That was until I discovered that terminal oversteer in a rear-engined car really IS terminal. Took me ages to get my Insurance premium back down to a sensible level after that. Alan T.

See - I told you it wasn't from a Z..................

Just to show the bewildering array of variants on the C110 Skyline range, here's a scan of a page from the Factory workshop manual for the KPGC110 GT-R. Remember - this does not even show the "Export" models!.......... Alan T.

Hi Ben, The KPGC110 GT-R had the "C" for 'Close' ratio version of the "B" type box, and the others had the "W" for 'Wide" in a 4 or 5-speed version ( or Auto ) then. Those 'Close' and 'Wide' ratios were offered as "Option" box ratios for the Z in the USA through Datsun Competition, and these are often confused with the more serious Direct Drive Option competition boxes with the 'Dogleg' shift pattern. Its easy to see why this confusion came about. If they had given the USA / North American market cars the 5-speed from the very beginning it probably would have been better for everybody! I didn't know the "A" type 5-speeds and the two-piece props were scarce in Australia. We have what seems to be a fair few knocking around over here in the UK ( usually liberated from scrapped cars or discarded after the installation of a "B" type box ). Ben, I'm still trying to gather more info on the GT-X E.S for you, but its taking a lot of tracking down. My Nissan / Prince car spotters manual only gives it a very basic mention, but I know I've got something else on it somewhere. I'll keep looking. Glad you like the video. Good stuff isn't it? Gee - I'm still not clear what those rear "bolts" are ( ? ) - any chance of an update? If the guy has had the car 15 years it sounds better than if he was just giving up on something he bought recently, but I guess you have to judge the car from what you see. All the best, Alan T.

Hi Gee, Sounds like this particular car is no. "HS30-00131" - which makes it the 131st "HS30" ( RHD "240Z" - in this case Australian market ) to be assigned a body number. Please remember that the "HLS30" VIN prefix cars ( most of them were the USA / North American market LHD "240Z" models ) had their own set of build numbers, which run quite seperately from the "HS30" / "PS30" / "S30" series cars - which all had their own set of numbers. That means that theoretically there would have been the following cars with the following numbers: *"S30-00131" *"PS30-00131" *"HLS30-00131" *"HS30-00131" ( "your" car ). So it doesn't mean its the 131st of ALL early Z cars, it means its just 131st of the "HS30" VIN prefixed cars. Australia got most of the first few hundred of the "HS30" series cars ( although #33 and #34 were brought to the UK for publicity / show purposes ) - so this particular car is one of the first batch of Australian imports. When you go to see the car, I would recommend that you still have a good look at the VIN number on the firewall and make sure it says "HS30-00131" as the vendor seems to be implying. Like Z Kid pointed out above - anything could have happened in the last 30 years and another car could have donated parts or even its whole shell to this car. Z Kid's advice to check, check and check again is very sound. Is "bolts" a local Australian term for the rear hatch struts? The only thing I could think of last night was exhausts or exhaust pipes, but Z Kid's suggestion makes much more sense now. If it has lost its original "vented" rear hatch ( which would have had a single gas strut ) it could be replaced - but it might be a good bargaining point. Gav, when I said "dual exhausts" I meant the twin-pipe system that ended in the one-up-one-down rear box as fitted to all S20-equipped Z cars from the Factory, and offered as a Sports Option part in Japan for all other models. This was two separate pipes right from the exhaust manifold exit, and the two pipes only rejoined in the rear box. I didn't mean the full straight-through twin pipe system with megaphones as fitted to the early Works Rally and domestic circuit race cars. Sorry to be vague and cause confusion. Gav - I think you were probably thinking along the same lines as me when Gee wrote a description that sounded like a 432!................. Gee - if you want info / pics of the Japanese market Fairladies ( including the 432 & 432R ) then send me a Personal Message from this site with your e-mail address and I can send some pics direct to you. Otherwise, there are a few pics in my Members Gallery section that might be of interest. Do let us know how you get on. If you end up not getting this particular car then maybe you could pass on its details to other Australian members here who might be interested. All the best, Alan T.