240Z Early/late Production

[GTI-Z]

Whilst pulling apart, refurbishing, cleaning, purchasing and putting back together my 240Z, I have noticed a few little quirks in the build of the car.  The chassis is HS30 - 01555 built about Oct 1971 which puts it around that period where there was quite a few changes to the model.  Whilst I am fairly certain that the car is pretty much original, it is interesting to see what happens when Nissan have some old parts in stock with new coming in.

 

1.  The gearbox is a 71A with the flange at the back.

 

2.  I missed out on the hand throttle and have the later console.  Yet my owners manual shows the hand throttle and use of instructions.

 

3.  It appears that it has the earlier style fuel cap

 

 

4.  My seats appeared to be half and half.  That is the reclining mechanism is the lever on the side, but the bottom support of the seat is the rubber strapping.  I found this out when I ordered new strapping from MSA but was told that it didn't come on my model, that I should have the Z shaped metal support.  A photo of perished strapping sent back elicited a remark of surprise from the salesman (along the lines of "well I'll be buggered")

 

 

 

 

 

[gilltech]

Hmm, having an interim model of sorts can certainly make things interesting.

[gav240z]

71A Box with the later console is odd... Since the 71A gear stick lever would come out further back than the later cars... It's possible the console was changed?

[HS30-H]

Whilst I am fairly certain that the car is pretty much original, it is interesting to see what happens when Nissan have some old parts in stock with new coming in.

 

I found this out when I ordered new strapping from MSA but was told that it didn't come on my model....

 

I think it's a bit too simplistic to believe that Nissan Shatai put these cars together in anything other than an orderly fashion. We may well see things that don't make sense to us, but that doesn't mean it didn't make sense to Nissan. They had a system that phased in rolling updates - in many cases making their internal departments and dealers aware of them though the domestic 'Service Shuho' booklets and, for Exports, Nissan Service Bulletins. There were hard and fast changes on some big details, but on small detail stuff (I'd say changes in seat webbing fitted that description) it probably wasn't deemed necessary to broadcast the fact and they could be phased in as the parts became available. 

 

Frankly I wouldn't trust the (very nice I'm sure) guys at MSA to tell me anything too specific about an 'HS30' prefixed car, so I admire your faith!

[gav240z]

FYI: HS30 01562 had the early style console.  Ignore the fuse cover that's wrong.

[PB260Z]

I think it's a bit too simplistic to believe that Nissan Shatai put these cars together in anything other than an orderly fashion. We may well see things that don't make sense to us, but that doesn't mean it didn't make sense to Nissan. They had a system that phased in rolling updates - in many cases making their internal departments and dealers aware of them though the domestic 'Service Shuho' booklets and, for Exports, Nissan Service Bulletins. There were hard and fast changes on some big details, but on small detail stuff (I'd say changes in seat webbing fitted that description) it probably wasn't deemed necessary to broadcast the fact and they could be phased in as the parts became available.

 

Frankly I wouldn't trust the (very nice I'm sure) guys at MSA to tell me anything too specific about an 'HS30' prefixed car, so I admire your faith!

As always Alan is correct and it still works like that, today we see three main types of changes to a model

 

- Facelift - Significant visable changes, usually accompanied by mechanical or spec improvements (heavily promoted across broad media)

 

- Tech Change - non visual change - mechanical changes and improvements (promoted through the franchise and automotive media channels)

 

- Running Change - small changes, usually of technical nature (not promoted outside of the franchise)

 

This results in minor changes to vehicles occuring that the details of are lost in the passage of time.

 

A good example is the Landcrusier 70 Ute, it is just about to get a tech change with new 2nd & 5th gear ratios. You could read about this change 4X4 magazines but that is about it.

 

Exact chassis No change point will be clearly communicated to the dealers and factory parts guides will reflect the change point.

20 years from now people who are into 70's will be aware of the difference but the exact chassis number change over point will most likely the topic of debate for those not in possession of the factory parts list.

 

Another and different example is the Toyota 86 - when launched it could be ordered with the option of a full size spare wheel and modified boot trims, in place of the space safer wheel. This option was removed about 12 months after launch. Years from now people will look at an 86 at car show and wonder why it has a different boot carpet and floor to other cars with the same build month.

Edited August 13, 2016 by PB260Z

[GTI-Z]

Gavin, I'm assuming that the later console is the one with the ashtray just behind the gearstick covered by a silver coloured sliding cover.  I'll add a few more pics tomorrow when I get home (stuck on night shift at present).

 

Alan,  that's one of my faults, I can be a bit too trusting at times !  

[gav240z]

Gavin, I'm assuming that the later console is the one with the ashtray just behind the gearstick covered by a silver coloured sliding cover.  I'll add a few more pics tomorrow when I get home (stuck on night shift at present).

 

Yes later console has the silver ashtray sliding cover. See below.

[GTI-Z]

OK, I thought I should put the gearbox back in to get some sense of how the gearstick fits through the hole in the transmission tunnel.  So here it is:

 

 

The hole doesn't appear to have been re-cut at all and as you can see fits right through the centre.  Below is with the console in place - later version as mentioned in your previous post.

 

 

Brad

[HS30-H]

OK, I thought I should put the gearbox back in to get some sense of how the gearstick fits through the hole in the transmission tunnel.  So here it is:

 

The hole doesn't appear to have been re-cut at all and as you can see fits right through the centre.  Below is with the console in place - later version as mentioned in your previous post.

 

 

It's the bodyshells that are different between 'A' type 'box fitment and 'B' type 'box fitment.