HS30-H

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:

Hi Ian, On the colour question, both the Skyline GT-R (PGC10 & KPGC10) and Fairlady Z432 (PS30) airbox and connecting tube were RED from the factory, with the 432's airfilter housing being BLACK (because it was mounted ahead of the radiator support) whilst the GT-R's were RED (because they were in the engine bay). Factory replacement spare parts came in (manufacturer) Tsuchiya's factory blue colour, as per your photo. The mounting holes for the 432's airfilter box are present on the radiator supports of all contemporary L-series engined S30-series Z models (both Domestic and Export), as are - of course - the holes for the duct and the (diverted) cabin fresh air inlet. The captive nuts for the mounting of the factory option S20 olil cooler are there too. The 432's airbox fits on the car without any special accommodation/clearancing for the clutch master cylinder.

Oh, and one other thing. It has been said that Nissan are considering the possibility of making this 'Customized Proto' into a Limited-Edition model variant, and they suggested an edition of 240 cars. I think that is disappointing. I do not think the number '240' has any significance in this context. Personally, I would choose 25 as the original series production quantity necessary to homologate the 432-R into JAF and FIA Group 5 Prototype racing class (but maybe not enough to be worthwhile), 270 (although not many people would understand why...) or just 432. In any case, judging by the positive reaction, they should probably consider a much higher quantity. They'll sell!

Hi Kats. I have a theory. Just a hunch, but I feel that the very high profile of Takeuchi san's PZR in recent years has been an inspiration to Nissan's design team. His car has been seen in magazines, videos, blogs, social media posts, indoor and outdoor shows, autocrosses and just generally driving around everywhere. It has even been my personal taxi service on more than one occasion. Takeuchi san is very generous with his time and his car, and many people get to see it. Takeuchi san even joined us here on classiczcars.com and shared his restoration with us. It is one of the most special variants of the S30-series Z range, but it is not locked away in a glass box. It lives! I think the styling team's inspiration for this 'Customized Proto' show car was not just any Fairlady Z432-R, but Takeuchi san's 432-R in particular.

Hi Kats, Amazingly, despite my expectations, I actually like it too. Maybe even love it. Perhaps I have Omicron...!? Some people outside Japan will be missing the reference point, which is:

Ah, but relative to Left and Right hand sides of the car, not 'Driver' and 'Passenger'... And of course, all this is Domino Effect. The fuel tank is offset to the Right hand side because the exhaust is on the Left hand side of the car, because the exhaust manifold is on the Left hand side of the engine. Design Concession in action.

:polite cough:

That's for the 44PHH upgrade (over the 40PHH) on the S20 engine in the PS30-SB. The #2 in the parts list and diagram (16177-A0220) is the solid, phenolic insulator. Same type as stock on the S20 engine, just bigger.

So, isolators commonly required on fours, but much less so on sixes. On other marques & models I've been familiar with over the years (quite a lot of Italian, French, German and British stuff), rubber/metalastik isolators, MISAB plates (basically a gasket with an O ring in it) rubber bobbins, contraptions like the dreaded Thackeray Washer and all sorts of other funnies were dreamed up in an effort to mitigate heat soak and fuel frothing. Almost always on inline fours, with their inherent harmonics. I think in most cases they are just not necessary on a Nissan L6.

'NISMO' is by definition 1984-up. Pretty late L6-wise. I don't recall Nissan ever supplying them for the L6 until at least (off the top of my head) 1976-ish? That's a long time with the solid phenolic type, which they tended to use on the Works cars by the way. They have a reputation for moving around too much when they get hot. And on an L6, they get hot. They also de-laminate, crack and otherwise react badly to certain fuel additives. Other than that I love them... 😉

Surprised to see you intend to use that type of rubberised insulator on a six. I don't recall Nissan ever using anything other than the solid, phenolic type insulators on the sixes. On the L4 yes, but not L6.

You can ask him, as I have a hunch (just a hunch....) that we know him very well here on classiczcars.com 😉

But since when has (as mentioned in the BaT comments) the rather slippery concept of a "95+ Point Concours Restoration" become the standard by which a respectably refreshed daily/occasional driver level car should be valued? I don't know about anyone else, but I don't count the hours the work on my cars takes. It's a pleasure I'm happy to pay for when I can afford it. I don't tot up the hours I spend drinking beer, reading books or listening to good music either. I reckon many (most!) of the cars I've owned and sold have been negative equity propositions if judged purely in monetary terms. Well, so what? I enjoyed them when they were enjoyable, and was frustrated by the ones that let me down. That's the hobby. But the narrative from these over-invested grifters is that the only way is up, and they appear to judge the success/failure of ownership on whether they've made more than anyone else by bailing out at the right time. They're not connoisseurs, they're braggards. They don't hype these sales for the love and understanding of the cars.

...which would - if you believe two of the vaunted 'gurus' in the BaT comments - have left the seller with a $25k+ sized black hole on "restoration costs" they assured us must have been incurred. Over-hyping by these heavily invested characters does not - in my opinion - help.