HS30-H

Ah, BSP threads! Where would we be without BSP threads? ( up to our knees in water, probably ). BSP is also sometimes described as "British Straight Pipe"........... The BSP thread system is a tapered design, mainly used in sealing water and gas lines. In the USA, you will find that NTP ( National Tapered Pipe ) threads are very close to their equivalent BSP sizes. Simply running the appropriate NTP tap down through the BSP hole will enable you to use an NTP pipe plug in there. I think you will find that both EARL'S and AEROQUIP make BSP fittings ( and presumably plugs ). If not, re-tap to the equivalent NTP size and use an NTP plug. Good luck, Alan T.

For the 1971 Monte Carlo Rally, two LHD and one RHD Works car were entered. For 1972 and 1973 there were only LHD cars. The car in the pics is one of the 1972 entries. Not sure that the Scrutes would necessarily smell a rat; the conversion looks so good that it looks as though it "should" be that way! Maybe if questioned they would have tried to convince the Scrutes that the LHD was a mirror-image of the RHD car. Mind you, I'm not so sure that it WOULD have actually been illegal. It might just come down to an interpretation of the rules. Better not call it a cheat just yet! Alan T.

I should imagine that the front sway bar mounting bracket was removed to give access for that front pulley to come off? Have the "sugar scoop" lamp housings been blended into the front wings ( fenders )? Its hard to tell in photos of yellow cars - but it looks that way to me. Maybe its just the paint colour that makes it look that way. Strange that in the USA you should call those bumpers WITHOUT the rubber corner trims the "Euro" bumpers. In fact, all European import Z cars always had the rubber trim. The no-trim bumpers are the no-frills base model Fairlady Z ( S30-S ), and Fairlady 240Z ( HS30-S ) items. The "Luxury" spec. Fairlady Z-L ( S30 ) and Fairlady 240Z-L ( HS30 ) had the trim. Alan T.

All the UK-market HS30's came with rear anti roll bars. Alan T.

No - this was a specially fabricated conversion just for some of the LHD Works rally cars. The console was specially fabricated in hand-laid fibreglass by the Competition shop in Japan ( you can see the chopped strand underneath the console if you pry it up ). Apparently, the Works drivers insisted that the Handbrake be moved on some of the LHD cars. Seems that they could not get on with it on the right side of the tunnel. Note that this never happened in reverse with the RHD rally cars. I think you picked out one of the most interesting points about it Mike; the shape of the Console around the side of the lever is obviously clearanced to suit it, and not get in the way of the hand. They went to a lot of trouble to make that part. Of course, an even more interesting point is whether this would have been legal or not. If the car was homologated for Group 4 with the Handbrake on the right side of the tunnel, then that's where it should have stayed. They were probably hoping that the Monte organisers did not notice, and perhaps they didn't........ Alan T.

Here's an interesting pair of pictures. This is a Factory "Works" built rally car, in fact its the car that came third in the 1972 Monte Carlo Rally ( crewed by Rauno Aaltonen and Jean Todt ). I took the photos on a visit to the NISMO HQ at Omori in Tokyo, where the car was temporarily on display. Take a look at the Handbrake position and the Centre Console. Interesting isn't it? Alan T. ( ps - That's the Brake Bias Control Valve that you can see hiding under the cutout in the console. Somebody has taken the knob as a souvenir............... ).

Hi Mr C and Steve ( sjcurtis ), Yes - Nissan added an extra couple of digits to the HS30 chassis number codes, and this was to coincide with the release of the "Fairlady 240Z" ( "HS30" VIN prefix ) models in the Japanese market in October 1971. Previous to that they only had the 2-litre models over there. If you have call to search for parts for an HS30 made in that few months of production around late 71 and early 72, then it can get confusing. Quite a lot of Nissan's own data from parts manuals and the Sports Option lists gives a cut-off that seems to have been arbitrarily decided on as 01/72 ( I guess meaning that any HS30 made from January 1972 would have the extra digit in the number ) but in truth this seems not to be accurate. Thats why its always fascinating to try to find the highest Export HS30 VIN number before the switch ( and the highest S30 "Home" market VIN number before the switch too ). Its VIN number bingo! I used to own a UK-market "240Z" that was the Storage Bin type body, and that was marked "HS30-01916". My Fairlady 240ZG is "HS30-11856". Alan T.

Hi Rick, You are lucky that the Australian dealers obviously kept a good record of what they imported back in the 1970's. Contrast this with my usual experience with UK dealerships who have no idea that Nissan even made something called a Z before the Z32........... A car magazine borrowed one of my old cars to do a photo shoot ( it was a UK-spec. 1973 240Z ) and they took it to Nissan UK's headquarters at Rickmansworth to use as a backdrop. Lots of staff came out of the offices during the shoot and had absolutely no idea what they were looking at. Sign of the times I suppose........... Alan T.

Hi Mark, Yes, the PCD ( Pitch Circle Diameter ) of the S30-series Z is 114.3mm, and its a four-stud as you know. Many Japanese manufacturers went with a Metric equivalent of existing Imperial sizes, to make life simpler for everybody. PLEASE be careful that you don't accidentally end up with a close but not quite right PCD if you are buying used Watanabes. The Mazda PCD of 120mm has often been bought by mistake ( been there - bought the t-shirt! )................ You also want to be REALLY careful of the auction sites like e-bay, as I've spotted mis-described Watanabes on there before now. The most common mistake is for sellers to advertise the FWD type of wheel as being suitable for an early Z. Pay attention to Eric B's explanation of the offset types and model types and all should be well. The sizes that you seem to be interested in should visually appear to be very deeply dished ( lots of Negative Offset ) and not so "flat" looking, so it really ought to be apparent what type is being sold from any posted pictures that you can see. I run 14 inchers on my car ( currently 8J ) and frankly I find that with modern rubber they offer a little TOO MUCH grip for my liking. They grip and grip and then let go very suddenly, with not a lot in between. Not good on a very busy Track Day circuit event. I'd prefer harder and less grippy tyres but they are a devil to find in the 14 inch diameters, so you will be a lot better off with 15 inch or more. I am using a British-made tyre ( AVON CR65 TURBOSPEED 225/60x14 ) but I guess you will have a lot bigger choice available to you than I do over here. Good luck, Alan T.

Hi Steve, A friend of mine is looking for a Comp. sump and this would be just right for him as long as its complete. Is it all there? If its complete with all the baffles / windage tray / pickup then he'd be pleased to pay the price you have quoted. Shipping costs ( to the UK ) would be at his expense of course. All the best, Alan T.

Hi Sean, Sorry to be tardy in getting back to you on this. I'm not trying to debate anything about the actual design of the Handbrake mechanism - just the matter of whether its positioning on the RIGHT hand side of the trans tunnel could be seen as more ergonomically efficient for RHD, or for LHD S30-series Z cars. I think this is a clue to whether the car was engineered initially as an RHD, or initially as an LHD. However, in order to get there we have to hear whether or not LHD owners think that it SHOULD be on the right side of the tunnel for LHD Z cars. It seems to me that RHD owners are quite happy with it on the right. In normal use, this will not matter all that much. I realise its almost a non-issue for most owners of LHD cars. I'm not trying to imply that the LHD cars are fatally flawed because the Handbrake is on the "wrong" side of the tunnel. I'm just trying to use it as a clue to establish some kind of debate on the origin of the design. I'm irritated that some people have been trying to make others believe that the USA / North American market cars were in some way the evolutionary fathers of ALL versions of the S30-series Z car. Sean - in answer to your question, it would be a fairly involved process to engineer a mirror-image handbrake on the left side of the tunnel, but it seems that certain of the Factory rally drivers insisted that such mods be performed on some of the Works rally cars that were made in LHD ( for such events as the Monte Carlo Rally ). Surely they must have found that having the Handbrake on the SAME side of the tunnel as they were sitting was essential to its effective operation in Rallying? I think that's a big clue to the answer of all this. Hell of a big job. As for your theory about the Export models getting the top of the range Domestic models with all the bells and whistles - its not as simple as that is it? The Japanese "Home" market cars have always seemed to be written off as in some way inferior, and the fact that they were badged "Fairlady" seems to have convinced many that it was a completely different model. In truth, the top of the range L-series engined Fairlady - the ZL - was of an arguably superior spec to the USA / North American market "240Z" EXCEPT for the size of its engine. This is not even including the 432 in the discussion. Its well known why the Home market cars were initially pegged at under 2 litres ( at least until late 1971 ), but they DID have the 5-speed, more suitable diff ratio for a "Sports" car, and a rear anti-roll bar. The best all-round car would have to be a combination of the L24 and the five speed / diff / rear ARB - but nobody got that until the "HS30" cars started hitting the showroom floors......... Sorry my replies are always a bit "dry". I'll have to think of a way to make them a bit more interesting. I certainly don't mean them to come out that way. Ideally all this debating would be done over a drink ( like a kind of bar-room U.N. of the Z ) but since that is a bit beyond us yet we'll have to do the best we can. Cheers! Alan T.

Hi Nick, Thanks for your input. That Nissan were hoping for good export sales with the S30-series Z is not in doubt, but what I am disputing is the statement that the S30-series Z was designed specifically "for" the USA / North American market in the sense that the LHD version was the priority, and some kind of blueprint or base version. I have seen that implied on another site, and I think that its wrong. My point in trying to get a discussion going about the Handbrake positioning ( as an example of many other small details ) is to defend against this statement. I don't know about design genius, but MARKETING genius was certainly involved in its success in the USA / North American market ( including its price! - Nissan cut their profit to the bone for the USA market ). I've never seen, heard or read any discussion about the positioning of certain controls on the LHD versions in comparison with the RHD versions. Added to this, it always seems that the USA market were for the best part unaware that other markets were getting a 5-speed manual transmission and sportier diff. ratio ( as well as a rear anti-roll / sway bar ). That makes me feel that these topics are worthy of discussion. The Z was indeed exported to the USA before the UK, but I think the UK market is pretty much a sidetrack in this story. Distance of shipping, Import Quotas, Type Approval and high purchase taxes for imported vehicles put paid to Nissan's 1970 import plans, and the first batch of cars initially aimed at the UK were re-designated to the Australian market. The big point ( almost never discussed ) is that the car was launched in JAPAN. Its the Japanese cars that always seem to get described as some kind of inferior cousin, but I don't think this is completely justified. Please don't think I am trying to champion the UK-market RHD cars. That's not my point. As far as the point of this thread is concerned, it was pretty much a coincidence that there were some export markets that were also RHD.............. I agree that the UK motor industry was making some pretty indifferent product around that period. I'm no flag-waving "British is Best" clone, and I have first-hand experience of some of the crap that they were churning out. When the "240Z" was launched in the UK, motoring journalists had the cheek to call it a "copy" of the Austin Healey 3000 ( part of that anti-Japanese prejudice so prevalent at the time ). Again, please don't think I'm trying to imply that anything with RHD is superior to an LHD design. Taking the discussion up that path is to miss the point I think. Best regards, Alan T.

And yet more RD150:

And more RD150:

More RD150:

RD150:

Hi Kats, I had a look at a wheel and tyre combo in my garage, and I found that the tyre is a BRIDGESTONE "RD 150" RADIAL 175HR-14, Made in Japan. This was the original spare from my UK-market HS30 ( 1971 ) and seems to be slightly different from what you are looking for, but I thought I would post some pics anyway. This is NOT what you are looking for, right? Alan T.