HS30-H

Something unique about PS30-SB rear suspension? It'll be news to Nissan too...

The hex bolts (technically screws) that go through the four tubes are quite unusual in the Nissan Engineering Standard. Hard to find. Bear in mind that the Nissan factory option/Sports Option/Race Option 'Safety Bar' was subtly different than the versions used by the Works team. Vertical drop base mounts in particular.

Still, it is only a hunch. The key point is that damage in testing was a distinct possibility, if not inevitable. We know '8D-420' was an early Works rally test car, and that it had been used fairly hard before and during the AUTO Sport magazine feature. After that it was clearly spruced up (and the black anti-dazzle paint added to the top front surfaces) before the DRIVER magazine feature. There might have been some haste involved.

My thinking - and it is just a possibility, I have no evidence - is that because it was an early lightweight '240ZR' (featuring all the PZR lightweight tricks) it would have been fitted with the PZR type lightweight front fenders. I believe these required the side marker/repeater holes to be stamped out in a separate process, and it just may not have been done. I remember there being one or two instances of factory race cars like this. Australian market cars didn't have the holes stamped either, which perhaps shows us that it was indeed a separate process in the front fender manufacturing. Just a theory. I've seen evidence of hand-cutting features on other Works cars too. Yes, I saw it twice during the long restoration process. Amazing work by Ando san, and a real University diploma course in PZR-specific details for me. I have a huge amount of reference photos too. Fascinating stuff. I don't want to spoil the fun, so I'll keep quiet...

Thanks Kats. I haven't got that issue (I will have to track it down now), but I have a small collection of DRIVER magazines from that period. The covers are always interesting and fun, and there was always an amazing amount of content in each issue. The journalists must have been working so hard. Nice balance of consumer-motorist (commuter), leisure motorist (trips, family, driving holidays) and sport motoring too. Their back-to-back group tests were very thorough. They always seemed to show 'back stage' and unusual shots in their motorsports coverage, which I love. 'Reportage' style:

Notice it has no emblem ('Datsun') on that left fender either. Possible damage repair? I do see the join line between the fender and headlamp cowl, but it is very faint. Possibly a lot of paint, and - as above - suggesting a repair? Largely due to that 1/71 Auto Sport article, '8D-420' has long been one of my dream cars. Big influence on the project I'm currently building.

In the 1/71 Auto Sport feature, '8D-420' does not have the satin/matt black anti-reflective paint on the upper surfaces of the front fenders, bonnet and cowl. I'm guessing your photos show it at a later date? That oil filter looks very red. Special type? At one point the Works team were using orange FRAM oil filters (certainly during the 1971 RAC Rally here in the UK) but this doesn't look like a FRAM. Is the article from a 1971 issue of MOTOR FAN Magazine Kats?

Yes! Kanri number '8D-420', as shown in the January 1971 issue of Auto Sport Japan. Wonderful car! This time on 'Trade'/Test temporary license plates no less. Issued in Yokohama? Factory test car.

Certainly the bigger battery was standard on Euro & UK models too, so that captive nut was used for the battery frame. I have the same on my '70 Fairlady Z-L, and have fitted the larger size battery, so use the captive nut accordingly for the battery frame. It just looked to me like it could have been a candidate for another cable clamp point when using the smaller (Japan size) battery, which stands away from the firewall. I think you've got it! Noted accordingly.

I agree that the PZ-specific stand-off bracket was designed to hold both battery cables at that point (in order to route them away from the accel linkage, as you say). I see many stand-off brackets that are bent up and misshapen (probably because owners/mechanics were seeking access to the accel linkage) and the bracket needs to be in its original shape to route the cable properly. I have also seen variation in the cable earthing point (again, probably due to actions of owners/mechanics) so that will also change the routing... About that mystery third clamping point: How about the captive nut on the firewall which is right over the battery? I feel like it is ideally positioned to hold ONE battery cable as it comes off the battery terminal - the one furthest to the outside of the car on the left - but seems rarely used. Possibly because of different batteries being retro-fitted?

Stock PS30 battery cable routing should be very similar to stock S30 and S30-S battery cable routing for cars made during the same period. The two cable run from the battery, along the firewall at the same level, over the top of the bonnet/hood catch bracket, and then turn down towards the bellhousing and starter motor - with their last holding point on the firewall being the dedicated stand-off clamp which is quite similar to the Mater Vac hose bracket. Small bolt-on clamps hold the cables to the firewall. I think people started routing the cables through the catch bracket because it acted as an extra guide, and perhaps looked a little neater. Strictly speaking, it is not correct.

at the "fake" hyperbole. You're a little late to be complaining about Super GT's regulations, as what we see now (a shared 2-litre turbocharged 4-cyl engine and tube frame chassis) has been the norm in the GT500 class since 2014. We've had at least seven years of Nissan 'GTRs' running that spec, which is even more poignant. That's just the way it is these days. Same for all the major manufacturers. Don't I remember you waxing lyrical and whimsically about the Z32-era IMSA GTO 300ZX Twin Turbo race cars? What did those tube-framed, plastic-bodied race cars "tell" you about the road going models? Nothing much, I'd say. "The Original Racing Z" was a Fairlady Z 432-R, a limited production homologation special with lightweight body pressings, plastic windows, 100 litre fuel tank, LSD and a 24 valve twin cam engine. So yes, basically 'stock'...

Not wishing to steal Kats' thunder here, but I have previously posted scanned pages from the aircon section of the 1969 'Z1' Nissan Service Shuho booklet and perhaps this is a good time to post them again. It seems to me that many early Z enthusiasts do not know that factory aircon was part of the original 270KK/'Maru Z'/S30-series design, even though the tell-tales are there for us to see on every early car - Export or Domestic. I'm surprised more people do not notice them... A true 'Fully Loaded' early Z with all the bells and whistles would have been quite something in late 1969. World Class.

As related to me by Uemura san, the pierced dimples 'cheesegrater' deck area is the top half of an important transverse structural (triangular) box section in the bodyshell. The reason for the pierced dimples is simply to aid strength, and to help avoid 'oil canning' should any load be put on the top surface of the deck. Nothing to do with weight saving. The vertical front face has square-pierced pressings for the same reason (strength), with the earliest examples lacking a partial doubler plate over the transmission tunnel which was soon added to beef up that area. The subsequent integral tool box design pretty much did the same job, killing two birds with one stone.

Blue-on-blue early PLS30U phantom? That sounds like a fun project!

Great photos! As far as I am aware, 8D-420 was never given a road registration and was purely used as a Works rally team test car in Japan, and mostly on Nissan's off-road/rally test ground near Mount Asama. One of its interesting features was a full six point roll bar. Apparently the front bars dropping down from over the doors and following the A pillars were felt to be too intrusive (certainly for occupant legroom and comfort, but possibly impairing vision too) and were dropped for the following cars, so they only used the main hoop and two vertical drops. None of the early lightweight rally 'test' cars survived, to my knowledge. Some parts were recycled back into the system at Oppama, with 'shells 'written off' the ledgers and broken up to keep the accountants happy. Nothing would make me happier than the discovery of another long-thought-lost example, but the possibility seems very remote. One from the collection: Testing on the Mount Asama course.

Lawks, what a mess. The valve covers on these engines were not manufactured by 'Aitoku Co. Ltd', and they never supplied replacement covers either. They were simply a reconditioned engine supplier, hence the sticker advising that there's no oil inside (the engines could not be shipped with oil pre-filled) and to check drain plug and 'filter cap' (sic) tightening before starting. That's simply a valve cover taken off a recon engine. The valve (cam) covers were manufactured by Nissan using the High Pressure Die Casting method. The casting dies were polished, and the outer surface of the covers came out of the process with a fine-grained, dense outer surface finish that did not require painting.

Hi Kats, Just this week I received a box set of 'Fairlady Z Story & History' Vols 1 & 2, kindly sent to me by editor Morita san as a gift. He said the photo printing production in the new edition was improved (maybe colour contrast is better?) and indeed it is beautifully produced. I was proud to have made a small contribution for the section which covered the race & rally cars. There are many never-seen-before photos in there. Recommended!

Just my opinion, but if we could 'stop the clock' at some point in the car's life then the most important - as well as, arguably, the most attractive - might well have been when it first became a race car in (mid?) 1970. 33 Red. I'd say that was a 24 year old Gene Tierney type moment...

OK then, in my little fantasy scenario we can still have the dent in the roof - complete with young lady if required - and see what kind of hullabaloo comes of it.

Categorically NOT "the sixth Datsun 240Z ever built", but the page was last updated in 1998. First one to be delivered to a Datsun dealer? Hmmm... What if dept: It is interesting to imagine the hubbub the car would create if it still existed in its as-delivered state, if the caved-in roof had been repaired and the car had had a quiet life in sympathetic hands only to reappear today in remarkably original, untouched condition. Seismic, I think.

Ah, the super elusive lesser spotted E42 'Guide Air Arrse'. Once seen, never forgotten...

The S20 airboxes have carburettor trumpets/funnels integral with the cover:

Here's my factory replacement airbox on period Weber 45DCOE-9s and S20 inlet manifold, for shape reference:

Here's the factory parts manual image for the 432 airbox and filter system: