HS30-H

Probably should include the seat mount crossmembers in the list of blacked-out items over body colour. Here's an example of factory black-out on the inside of a quarter panel vent:

Which is all well and good, but I would not advise anyone to use photos of a pre-production test chassis as reference for how the cars came off the production line en masse... OP: The advice of *everything painted body colour* is good, but somewhere along the assembly line a guy was assigned to put his head into the front end of the car and - equipped with a pot of satin black paint and a suitable brush - his job was to 'black out' two thirds of the front half of the radiator support panel so that it was a little less visible through the front grille. He and his friends also walked around the car blacking out body colour anywhere it was deemed unwanted, like around the insides of the door apertures and where it could be seen through trim gaps and behind grilles and vents. Being hand-applied, there was inevitably some variation at play on a case-by-case basis with this 'blacking out'.

....'his' pictures? There's irony for you.

So, note to members, prospective members, casual browsers and those doing research for further writing on the subject: Contrary to expectations, Classiczcars.com is not the place where the truth about Nissan's S30-series Z is going to be discussed, let alone curated and passed on into new hands. And now back to our usual programming...

Fixed

How about a little bit of level-headed critique and fact checking?

Fnarrrr. Give your head a wobble mate. You're apparently promoting a completely drivetrain-swapped hotrod (which is alright by me on its own terms) as some sort of example of 'the potential of the Z car'. The 'sticking it to the Porsches' stuff is pure pathos. Porsche is a specialist sports car manufacturer with a rich history in racing. Look up their history as a manufacturer entrant in the International Championship for Makes and the International Cup for GT cars during - lets say - the 1969 through 1980 period. Maybe you should put your mate's hotrod in a time machine so you can show them what's what. I'm not anti Z, I'm anti bull****.

Here are some links to in-car videos of real racing in old cars, just in case you've never seen that kind of thing before:

If anyone from Japan sees it, they'll be scratching their head in bewilderment. It is the wrong colour and has numbers that don't make any sense. Hopefully the people who choose these plates don't get any 'Japanese' tattoos... https://www.theguardian.com/music/2019/jan/31/ariana-grande-mocked-for-japanese-tattoo-typo-leave-me-and-my-grill-alone

Issuing municipality office and taxation codes are two different things. Pastiche. Green background is for commercial vehicles, like dump trucks and box wagons. You cannot get a green plate for a private car. It's nothing like what would have been on such a car 'back in the day'. Nothing. Two examples: Yellow car is under 2-litre taxation code, and the plate issued by Tokyo's Shinagawa ward issuing office. The shot of Matsuo san with the 240ZG is an over 2-litre taxation code (because the car has an L24) and plate issued by Kanagawa's Yokohama ward issuing office:

Don't make me laugh. It wasn't a race, was it? Be serious. I was commenting on the (sedate) pace of the Porsches, but since you seem to think that this hotrod - whatever it is - is somehow representing 'Zeds', and demonstrating how they "perform to their potential" (by changing this particular car so radically that it can no longer represent anything other than itself...) I'll have to say that the driver - God bless him - looked like he was out for a Sunday drive. Come on, these are just track day laps aren't they. You're not supposed to be timing them. "Faster shifting"... LOL.

That is nothing like correct colour, or type. You have chosen to replace the taxation code with a year (?) and there *is* no local issuing municipality mark for 'Kanagawa' because it is split into four issuing offices. Nissan Shatai's manufacturing plant would come under the Shonan issuing office's area, and therefore the Shonan kanji ( 湘南 ) would be on the plate if the car had been registered there. Correct colour would be white with a green border stripe, and a '33' taxation code.

Not wishing to be 'that guy', but those Porsches looked like they were on club parade laps. Hardly any kind of 'race', was it?

As I've used that combination (Japanese market stock 15.8:1 rack ratio, and the 'short' 105mm knuckles) on four of my cars, I can tell you that it is - in my opinion - very sporting indeed, and not *too* heavy, even with the smaller diameter Izumi 'Datsun Compe' steering wheel.

It does, but - for example - a 15:1 steering rack ratio isn't anything like hard work on an S30-series Z. It is well suited to the nature and philosophy of a Sports/GT car, whereas a 17.8:1 ratio - as used in the early HLS30U variants for the north American market - is more like a family car/sedan type ratio. Overly light, and not exactly sharp and responsive, is it? These cars being Japanese, it is probably more pertinent to look at the Japanese market variants for that. You might not have noticed that Nissan put quite a lot of effort into making sure that the ergonomics of these cars worked just as well in both LHD and RHD forms, even if the layout of the componentry was naturally biased to their RHD market origins. Jason's car was originally a US market variant and I believe he considers the 17.8:1 rack ratio to be a little on the 'slow' side. So as part of his rack refurb he's taking the opportunity to 'quicken' up the ratio of the rack and pinion set. I'm not aware of anyone else doing that, so hat's off to him.

Another view of the rear spoiler on the AC A98 Coupe. It's a bolt-on job:

Both that 196 SP 'Fantuzzi Spyder' and the Cobra Daytona Coupe were examples born of Kamm tail type styling, and both integral to the shape of the rear ends on the cars. The Daytona more exaggerated, but still integral. You were talking about add-on/bolt-on spoilers previously. My 250GTO pic is an example of a bolt-on being tested. Some people will argue that these are low-volume racing specials, and we should be looking more at series production road cars. The 432-R could fall into both camps depending on viewpoint. Trust me, Brock never had anything to do with the rear spoiler on the 432-R. I'm a big admirer of his work (especially with the Daytona Coupe, although I think AC's own A98 Coupe was both more lovely and more efficient) but let's give Nissan and their engineers a little bit more kudos for their work, please. AC A98 Coupe:

KPGC10 (late 1970)

KPGC10 Skyline GT-R had a homologated bolt-on rear spoiler/reverse wing, but it was a Sports/Race Option part and not standard equipment or a showroom order option. In any case, it was nearly a year later than the 432-R. You'll end up chasing your tail looking for the 'first' rear spoiler, especially if you insist on it being 'bolt-on' rather than an intrinsic part of body design (Kamm tail et al), and Google searches in English will probably be dominated by USA Uber Alles effect, where people think that GTO means Pontiac product. Nevertheless, certain Shelby Mustangs, the aforementioned Goats and several other proto Muscle Cars will certainly be in with a shout. Mr B might even pipe up and cite something called a "Camero", whatever that is when it's got its hat on... I reckon your time would be better spent trying to spread the word that the first S30-series Z rear spoiler wasn't a BRE design, which is something I've seen and read many times. I may even remember reading it on a now-deleted zhome.com page. GTO:

432-R on October 18th 1969, at Nissan's Ginza, Tokyo head office for the 'Press Preview' event prior to the opening of the Tokyo Motor Show:

I just think it would have been a little late to be developing parts like that. After all, this was taking place a matter of weeks before the 432-R would go on show as a finished product - available to buy - with the rear spoiler as standard equipment. I think you're talking about the January 1970 issue of MOTOR FAN magazine, which featured a 432 in one of their comprehensive road tests. Being a stock 432, it didn't have a rear spoiler fitted as standard equipment (it was an extra cost showroom option, so the car had to be ordered with one) and was tested as such. Here are a few pages from the article:

Isn't it more likely that the previous USA & Canada 'Kaku U' testing expedition for the 510 - in late 1967 - informed them of what would be necessary that far north? Nissan already had plenty of experience in snow rallies through the 1960s, and in certain regions of Japan - especially Tohoku and Hokkaido - serious snow is a certainty every winter. Dedicated snow tyres, chains and studs would not have been a particular novelty for them. I would think it likely that they arranged for their own Japanese snow tyres to be ready for them in particular locations during the 'Kaku U' expedition planning?

So, here's the QED. Do we look solely at the 'Datsun 240Z' / HLS30U and its local sub-variants for our research and understanding of these cars, or do we look at the whole family? I think the answer is obvious, but I find myself posting in another thread today where it seems, to some, not to be.

Testing:

The word 'Testing' might be doing quite a lot of heavy lifting in this context. I would say it had already been 'tested' in Japan, approved for production, lined up to be fitted as standard equipment on the 432-R, and an extra-cost showroom option on the other Japanese market models. With the initial batch(es?) of North American market models being somewhat de-contented to meet a low RRP, it seems unlikely that a rear spoiler would have made the cut in any case.