xs10shl

I've got an early Z and a '73 911, and just based on my impressions, the two cars offer quite different driving experiences. It's probably more accurate to say that these are two cars borne from entirely different engineering philosophies, and perhaps even catering to entirely different market segments. If pressed to make a comparison, I'd be more inclined to say that the Z is the poor man's XKE. Or perhaps better, the Z is the smart man's MG.

Ohhh, man. As much as I love the coupe, I wish they'd have found a way to make a convertible as well!

In addition (to the best of my knowledge), a GT-R should not have a wood grain center console. The wood pieces are replaced with aluminum ones.

Edited for erroneous information.

Apropos s20 - here's what appears to be a well-worn s20 for sale for an even 2.5 million yen, or $30,000. Lots of incorrect and missing bits, including very expensive carburetor and air cleaner setup. Linkage also missing. Probably over priced, but perhaps not too far off. I'd imagine a rebuildable engine with no missing parts would be in this price range. http://page5.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/auction/e107759035

With Alan on this one. I haven't checked prices lately, but I'd perhaps even consider 1.5 million Yen a good price for a decent core. As an aside, a while back i was quoted in the neighborhood of 5 million Yen for a finished 2.3 s20. That sounded expensive at the time, but with today's exchange rate, that becomes a cool $60,000. Probably should have done it when I had the chance - would have "saved" some money.

Looks great in the photos, but seems inexpensive, even for described rough condition. Anyone have a history?

Sorry for the previous post. It's a mess. I'm on a mobile. [edit - fixed it]

Ive got a few workarounds i use with my local plater which helps preserve the nylon in my nylocks so they maintain their color and substance. This may or may not be applicable to your situation. The silver zinc or silver cad process itself seems to not damage or discolor the nylon, but the cleaning process does. Now I put all my nylocks into a descalar bath in an ultrasonic cleaner prior to sending it to the platers. The descalar and ultrasonic cleaner costs a few hundred and is useful for removing rust and plating. Alternatively, if every surface which needs to be plated is exposed, you can put the part in a media blaster to clean it, and then polish it on a wire wheel until it gleems. Tell the plater to forgo the cleaning process and plate it clear zinc. If you want it to look really sharp you can also tell the plater to not add any blue color to the zinc. The resultant part will look shiny silver, hopefully with the nylon unharmed. This works for me, hopefully for you too.

Sorry for the confusion, everyone - I may have inadvertently hijacked this thread with my errant post. The original-style 5 speed knob is indeed for my '69 Z432, but I actually meant "original" to refer to the original thin-knob style, as opposed to the newer-style fat, fake-looking repro knob - I should have made that more clear. I recall seeing a thread about owners using these original-sized 5 speed knobs on their 240 gearbox conversions, so I added it to the list here. (However, it would be correct to say that in this specific case, it would also happen to be correct to the car specification). I will of course also be delighted to find a rally knob per Alan's comments. Back to thread topic - hardest-to-find Z car part!

Great piece of data, Kats. I was just talking today with my friend about the surviving Z432s, and the possible whereabouts of the missing 300+ cars. It's been explained to me that the registration requirements in Japan are harsh enough that it's possible a good number of them rusted to the point where they could not be registered, and were quite possibly scrapped. Your thoughts on this? I would think with prices being what they are that more would surface weekly. This price of $7.8 million Yen seems pretty good for your friend's car, assuming it's a well maintained and correct PS30.

I thought I'd take this opportunity to post that I'm still looking for the following if anyone has them for a 69 correct thin-style choke and throttle levers original thin-style 5 speed wood shift knob fog lights with switch

http://translate.google.com/translate?u=www.geocities.jp%2Fps30diy&hl=en&ie=UTF8&sl=ja&tl=en Has some decent information, pictures, vehicle information on the Z432. Some documents contain pictures showing some of the subtle differences between the cars, depending on when they were made. Some of the registry data is slightly outdated, but it's a pretty decent effort overall, I feel.

Ok so that makes three Z432s of which one is an R clone. It's always nice to get it straight because 10 years later it will become gospel. Those silver-rimmed headlight covers look fantastic on the green car.

Three 432-Rs are mentioned as being in the shop. That's almost 10% of total production - very nice. Although It seems to me that he might have meant three 432s, two of which are R's - still impressive!

I'd venture to say that a Z432-R in any condition would be at the top of the early Z food chain. Hard to say what one would be worth, as I've never heard of one for sale.

Well, there you go - strike 2 for me. At least this time I was in the ball park - ha!

Alan, are the replicas true (round, no runout)? I suppose they must be if you're racing on them. I've got an inklng to get a set of the 15" myself, as they'll fill out the wheel well a little better.

Duh - you are right! I was typing from memory, and I forgot the c110 has the scripted "S".

Also the last generation Prince logo (which appeared on the R380) was also used on the steering wheels of Nissan's c10 and c110 Skylines (perhaps others?). I believe the standard models had blue logos, and the GT-Rs were fitted with red ones.

Thanks all for your kind comments on my Z432. I'm hoping to do all of the little things to get it ready to display, but I'm pretty new to the Z world, so it's tough going. It is a 69, and there are a bunch of non "early car" parts on it which don't really offend or affect driving ability, but I might as well look around to see if I can find the correct parts. I suspect I'll be tinkering with it for a while. One thing which I am keeping original is the forward placed diff, which I can report provides a "factory original" high speed vibration, ha! On to the subject matter at hand - of the records I've seen from private individuals, there are perhaps less than 100 Z432s with known whereabouts, and if memory serves, only 11 432-Rs known as surviving. That's not to say that there aren't more out there, lurking in the shadows waiting to be discovered - we can only hope! As far as Z432-R pricing, I doubt a real one will ever hit the open market, so we'll probably never have the answer as to value. If it did, I would imagine you could expect to have to pay 30,000,000 yen depending on condition and pedigree, perhaps much more. As I learn more about the Z432-R (largely due to Alan's contributions), I see that these cars are quite unique. I could not see someone passing an s30 off as a Z432-R without having spent an enormous sum of money on making the necessary changes to the body. I admire Alan's efforts to put one together, and hopefully he'll bring it to Goodwood soon! Alan/kats, I'd love to see your current list of unique attributes of the Z432-R. There are obvious ones like fuel tank, seats, and metal gauge thickness. How about sharing some lesser known differences? I believe you've mentioned that there are over 1000 (I think), so it may be too much to tackle all at once!