HS30-H

By the way, the answer to the original question ( "What's a clean Z432 worth in Australia" ) is the amount it cost to buy in Japan, plus the amount it cost to get it on the road in Australia.... A good, clean ( and 100% genuine - no re-shells! ) PS30-model Fairlady Z432 would likely cost upwards of 5 million JPY at the moment. The better cars can fetch double that privately.

I don't understand this post. There were no 432s ( or any other S30-series Zs ) that raced in 1969. The earliest official race - obviously not including any traffic-light drag racing - was on 18th January 1970. That car was a factory 'works' Fairlady Z432-R ( the super-lightweight bodied version of the 432 ) and it was light years away from a stock 432, let alone an L-series engined car. You're very unlikely to find a genuine 432 or 432-R with period race history for sale at any amount of money. There are a few out there ( a handful or less... ), but generally speaking it's not a question of money. With cars like that it's often a case of who you know rather than what you know, or how much coin you've got.... You'd be looking at something around 1 million to 2.5 million JPY for a rebuildable core in Japan these days, but spare engines are in short supply and S20-engined car owners and S20 specialists tend to sit on them for rainy days. The proper 432 / 432-R type of S20 ( different oil pan & pickup, along with several other detail differences ) are harder to find than C10 or C110 GT-R versions due to numbers made. You need a lot of other 'correct' parts to go with it, too. There are actually hundreds of differences between an L-series engined Z and an S20-engined Z built in the same period. The factory parts lists are the best places to see the differences. The 432-R is another kettle of fish altogether. C pillar emblems on all 'early' Japanese market airflow cars ( vented tailgate type ) were all the same, whether Fairlady Z, Fairlady Z-L, Fairlady Z432 or Fairlady Z432-R. It was a flattish, round emblem with a big letter 'Z' in the middle, and it attached to the unvented C pillars with two prongs that were the same as '240Z' emblem on the solid pillared Export market cars.

Don't think they are claiming 'whp'..... The 420 quote is on an engine dyno ( I'd bet it's actually 420PS at the flywheel ) and it's the injected version, with full management. OSG claimed 325PS at 7,400 rpm and 33kg/m at 6,100 rpm for the original TC24-B1 ( 2870cc, 11.0:1 x compression on carbs ) back in the early 80s, and people called that "Bullsh*t" too.... Personally I'd give them the benefit of the doubt. They are a class act. I guess if you buy one, and it doesn't make the figures claimed, you can claim some money back.....

Intellectual property? The vast majority of the base car was Nissan's intellectual property ( and commercial product ) FFS! You're both missing the point. Anybody who ( *allegedly* ) compared Rebello's over-the-counter street engines with anything else, and said that the Rebello engines trump all, is stupid. You just can't compare like with like in this kind of situation. If you try to get into that kind of contest then you are on a hiding to nothing, especially if you turn up out of the blue on a USA-based forum touting your wares and slagging off the local opposition. The sad thing about the Gibson guys sledging NISMO and Reinik is that it was the tail wagging the dog. Talk about biting the hand the feeds you. It's not as though the Reinik engines were dogs. The cars they were used in swept the board in their series for three years. They TOTALLY dominated. The point was they didn't have to turn the wick up that much. Not to mention that they were involved in a fairly different type of Group A racing than the Australian series. The Reinik engined cars certainly never suffered the amount of DNFs that the GMS engined cars did. What grates is that the Gibson side carps on about how brilliant they were, and how sh*t Reinik and NISMO were, but the car itself was designed, engineered, homologated and produced in Japan. It had NISSAN written on it in big letters. Who wants to have a dog that asks its owner to bark? When all is said and done, the GMS people should let their achievements speak for themselves. Their slagging off of their partners only showed that they didn't have the dignity that Reinik and NISMO had. There were two sides to the story ( as there always are ), but you won't hear the NISMO guys slagging off GMS....

Now you know how the guys at NISMO and Reinik felt when Fred Gibson's lot told them they didn't know how to build race cars or race engines. Karma's a bitch, isn't it?

You keep banging on about this fender mirror position thing, but what use is this car for reference of a "Factory" position if it's been apart, had new front fenders / wings ( without the pre-stamped factory holes ) and been painted - and if it's anything like many of R.A.'s cars - it might never have had those particular mirrors on it when it left the factory anyway ( because it's a 'younger' model dolled up as an 'older' model )? In fact, the mirrors on that car look like the shorter-stemmed 510 Bluebird or C10 Skyline versions anyway... I think you should put your mirrors wherever you want to put them. The point about this particular car seems to be that the mirrors are positioned where you think you want them - in which case go for it. You took full measurements, yes?

I'd like to recommend you do some online shopping with my Truck Yaro friends at 'Tokyo Mach 7'. I think they've got just the thing for you: http://www.mach7.jp/shopbrand/005/X/

Hi Gav, Yes, spot on. Roughly, 'Zenki' implies earliest / former, 'Chuki' or 'Chuuki' implies mid-term, and 'Kouki' implies latter / final. It's a bit more complicated than that ( Japanese always is in my experience.... ) but that's generally the way that the terms are used in Japanese car business vernacular. It's not all that common to use it in connection with late Sixties / early Seventies stuff really. It's a bad habit I've picked up, and I must try to pack it in.....

They are known as 'Air Con Ducts' in Japan. Nissan started adding them to Fairlady 240ZG models after it was found that - in certain circumstances - cars that were fitted with Air Con were not getting enough air to the air con rad and coolant rad. The ducts merely channeled cooling air to make it more effective. The very first ( 'Zenki' ) factory Fairlady 240ZG models didn't have them, but they were added soon after and most later replacement / spare lower panels were supplied with the ducts by default. One of my 240ZGs doesn't have them, but the other ( slightly later production date ) does.

Stock part on Japanese market cars. Original part numbers were 62692-E4100 BASE-RUBBER, BUMPER ( R.H. ) and 62693-E4100 BASE-RUBBER, BUMPER ( L.H. ), superseded by 62692-E4101 ( R.H. ) and 62693-E4101 ( L.H. ) Gav, The factory HS30-H 'Fairlady 240ZG' rear bumper was steel, but with a painted finish to match the front, and with a full-width rubber strip joining up with the two corner strips seen on short nosed Deluxe cars.

I agree with NZeder. This car is a bit of a headscratcher....... The punched-hole rear deck style finished production around Jan/Feb 1971 for all models ( both domestic and export ), but your quoted chassis number of 'HS30-10786' says very early 1972 production ( maybe Jan/Feb ), so there's around 12 months of production between them. Most odd! Everything else I can see on the car seems to match in with approx date of the chassis number ( vented rear quarters, non-vented tailgate, console style, dash style, etc ) but the rear deck does not. But who would replace a rear deck, and indeed why? Conversely the rear quarters, tailgate, console, dash and - not saying this IS the case, but MIGHT be - the chassis number are all 'replaceable' / changeable. I see evidence of ( honest and well done ) older repairs to the car in the floors. The only part of the floors that is original factory sheetmetal is the rear section of the passenger floor. Notice the pressed-in contours and stamped out holes of that section compared with the flat and featureless style of the other sections. They have obviously been replaced. Nothing wrong with that ( it looks well done ) but I'd drill some coin-sized holes in them and put rubber plugs in for emergency drainage if it were mine. Maybe the old repairs on the car are more extensive than you think? Not trying to worry you here! I've seen a two seater "240Z" coupe with a 'GRS30' chassis number competing on a rally before now ( turns out it was actually the front half of a 260Z 2+2 grafted onto the back half of a crashed 240Z.... ) so nothing would surprise me. Maybe worth looking a bit deeper ( look for manufacturing date stamps on components, for example ) to try to get to the bottom of it? Looks like it was '920 Gold' colour originally. Good shade!

Again, try City Auto in Japan. Turns out they do have a website: http://www.cityauto.ico.bz/ Apart from City Auto, there are a few people in Japan supplying the same replica sets. You can see them popping up on Yahoo Japan auctions from time to time too. To be frank, if you park the front end of a G-nosed car in the cabbages then bashed up headlamp covers are going to be the least of your worries.....

Sorry Alex, I don't know anything useful about that particular Gotti wheel centre design at all. The bronze-rimmed Gottis I posted pics of are not mine, and the pics were found on the internet. I believe the owner made them up himself using vintage Gotti centre castings and new bronze-anodised spun rim sections. I don't even know what that particular design of Gotti centre was called, and only looked into them myself because I was curious about the fact that some of the Japanese Z nuts nicknamed the KS works 4-spokes "Gottis", and I was tracking backwards. Kobe Seiko made a similarly designed wheel for the works Cherries ( in 12" ) and some of the wide arch Sunnies. The works KS 4-spokes that I have are all date-stamped as 1972 manufacture, and the works Sunny wheels were earlier. I believe the 'Gotti' wheel design is slightly later than that. I'm afraid you will have to dive deep into Gotti wheel history and the European scene to get more answers about them. Sources like WheelWhores.com, the 'Euro Look' scene and neo-classic VW forums might be good sources. Works Alpine A110 and A310, Renaults and Simcas used both Gotti and PLS wheels in period, so any sites or forums which discuss them ( like AutoDiva ) might be good sources of info. Sorry I can't be of more help with the Gottis and all that. I was just suggesting possibilities for the 'look', either as pattern donors and/or reference material. Did you contact Rahail about the NOS OEM G-Nose hinges? He also has a good pair of genuine headlamp covers for sale ( recommended ). Cheers, Alan T.

Hi Mike, That picture of the Central 20 'Z Sport' wheel on the car was taken in Japan. It's a friend's 240ZG, and he alternates between the stock steels and hubcaps, the Z Sports and a set of RS Watanabe 8-spokes. It's a lovely car, and it's been in a lot of magazines. The two sets of Z Sports that you very kindly sourced for me in Aus and NZ ( still MUCH appreciated! ) are in safe storage in the loft for now ( it's heaving with stuff I'm hiding from the Mrs up there.... ) but they will be used on the 432-R replica in rotation with the works Kobe Seiko rally mags for sure. I'm going to paint them black all over - which will change the look quite a lot - and run Dunlop 'M section' historic race tyres for a more period-correct look. Have you seen the Katori brothers' *fake* 432-R in the Japanese magazines? They use black Z Sports on that, and I think it suits it. Once again, big thanks.

I think the Gotti centres are the closest. You might be able to find some if you search in Europe? The Central 20 'Z Sport' was a one-piece cast aluminium design:

They were *similar* to several designs, including the ARE 'Libre' and the Central 20 / Chowini 'Z Sport' wheel. There was an early GOTTI design that was very similar ( so much so that some Japanese fans nicknamed the works KS 4-spokes as "Gottis" - even though they were nothing to do with Gotti ) but this was a 2 or 3-piece design with a cast centre and spun rim sections. Actually, getting a similar centre piece cast would perhaps be a cheaper and more viable plan, as you could then use readliy available spun rims. Casting the whole things - in two sizes - would cost a fortune. I've been involved in such a project in the past, and it cost a bomb believe me...... I have a friend here in the UK who is selling an NOS pair of genuine factory ZG bonnet hinges, so I shall PM you his e-mail address. Cheers, Alan T.

Actually, I don't think City Auto have a website. If they do, then I don't know it. However, you can call them on 02768 85366 ( or better, fax them on 02768 87104 ). City Auto sell their own - admittedly slightly basic - G-Nose hinge set, but Bad Dog Parts in the USA make their own versions too. You can get away with using the stock short nose torsion bars and bonnet prop, although the factory ZG parts were different. I know I've recommended Kameari Engine Works to you before, but I'm going to do it again. Your shopping around will probably mean you look like a 'window shopper' to all but the one supplier you choose. I know it's your right as a consumer to shop around and get the best deal you can, but there are any number of variables and if you just choose the cheapest quote you might not feel it was the best choice in the long run. My advice - again - is to trust Kameari. They will do a good job for you. You would be most likely to find a set of the correct works K.S. 4-spoke wheels on Yahoo Japan auctions from time to time. K's Historic sometimes sell the odd set that they come across, but they are 'reassuringly' expensive. There was a very short run of replicas made a few years back ( aluminium rather than magnesium ) but they only made one size and they too are hard to come across and very expensive. Prices? No comment! I know what I paid for mine, and it still hurts..... I would not run an original set on the track, except perhaps for gentle 'demo' / show work, as they were 'lifed' by the factory and date stamped accordingly. When you get one of these wheels in your hands you can see why they were 'lifed' and basically scrapped when they had only done a couple of events. I would go for more recently manufactured wheels if I were you.

Whoops. Typo. I meant 'E31' of course..... Well, apart from the obvious ( usually a superseding / later part number would indicate an improvement or modification over the original part ) you might find that ends up being similar to the 'which head is best?' type of discussion, which is subjective, and what with subjectivity itself being subjective, it all gets quite confusing.....! But just on the subject of 'normal' 73.7mm stroke L24 cranks with the 'normal' sized bearing journals, there's not that much difference between them. You just want to avoid the really early ( late 1969 / early 1970 ) production version, as it suffered from a lack of counterweighting that gave rise to a nasty harmonic at certain engine speeds. This was immediately superseded by a design with improved counterweighting.

It's the second half of the Nissan part number. You can look them up in the factory parts lists. Those 'E88' and 'P30' numbers are the same thing, only even more abbreviated. You could call your pictured crank an 'E41' by the same process.

I don't really want to get drawn into a discussion of the merits and/or drawbacks of the OSG TC24. I've talked about my ( limited ) personal experience of it on other forums, and it always seems to end up with some bright sparks quoting spurious figures for the opposition, talking up the power that can be got from a modified 'stock' head, and just generally taking the piss out of it. Depressing. But I think - for a small private engineering firm - it was a really brave, clever and interesting project, and they got a good bit of publicity out of it ( still do! ). However, it was built too late in my opinion. If they had designed and built it ten years earlier it might have had a chance to be better received, further developed and produced in greater quantity ( because demand would have been greater ). It was also never properly homologated, so you can't use it on an early car in FIA sanctioned events, as Mike has already pointed out. So it's an interesting side bar to Nissan L-Gata engine history and aftermarket tuning, but suffers from unicorn syndrome. About Nissan's FIA race heads ( the 'Safari' and the 'LY' ): Like I said, I'd prefer not to be drawn into a discussion / comparison that's just about quoted power and torque figures. Soon as you start getting into such a discussion, people start quoting figures from the likes of BRE, BSR, Rebello, Wako, Kameari and/or their own pet tuner, and it all means very little ( especially when the "BRE taught Nissan how to build race engines..." crowd walk through the door ). However, as I kind of hinted at before, such heads were not designed, built and then homologated solely with higher power figures in mind. These parts were built with endurance racing in mind, as well as Nissan's target of winning the East African Safari Rally, Monte Carlo Rallye and RAC Rally. On an event such as the old Safari, hand grenade buzz bomb engines that give high power on a dyno and had lives timed in hours were no use to anybody. Quite often crews would be forced to use local fuel with low octane ratings, and who knows what else in it, for an event covering thousands of miles with limits in servicing. These FIA heads were conceived as being useful in such circumstances, but such development was cut short by the 'Oil Shock', when racing took such a hard hit in Japan. Nissan also won the Safari in '71 ( quite apart from the success of previous years ) with the Z, proving that the 'normal' L-Gata could do the job anyway ( although it was hardly a stock engine in the car ), and did it again in '73. So the FIA heads were not just about power figures. They were about giving high revs, stable and even temps, and decent power for hours on end, and not just in 'ideal' conditions. They can and will give high power, when built with that target in mind. Cheers, Alan T.

Marugen Shokai's main page: http://home.att.ne.jp/sky/FairladyZ/ZG/ZGmain.htm Note that he doesn't make or sell the 'Type B' Overfenders and/or spoilers. The best replicas of the OEM G-Nose in the business though..... Alternative suppliers of replica works 'Type B' parts include the likes of 'RS Start' and 'City Auto'. Mike pointed out 'Arita Speed' before, and they do make their own replicas of the works parts, as well as all sorts of other derivatives. However, you may find that several retailers buy from the same manufacturer - and the manufacturer does not sell direct to the public. That's probably a good thing, as - in my experience - most FRP moulders are as mad as march hares. Must be the fumes......

About the 'LY' crossflow head: In fact, the 'LY' was a complete package when built correctly. It wasn't sold as a kit to 'bolt on' to an already existing bottom end. To make use of the semi-hemi combustion chambers, special domed pistons were required with cutouts in the correct places, and these were used with high-strength conrods and a dedicated crank. The crank was made from a higher strength steel than the stock cranks, had narrower rod journals ( due to bigger radius at the ends of the bearing surfaces ) which required the special rods and brgs. This crank had a different flywheel bolt pattern ( more bolts ) so you needed to use the dedicated flywheel too. Lots of other dedicated parts too. The engine block was mounted at a different angle in the body to stock blocks, requiring special engine mounts and a dedicated bellhousing.... Replicating an LY would be a big undertaking. There's a lot there besides just the basic head casting: There's the inlet manifold, tappet cover and bellhousing to be cast too ( exhaust manifold could be fabricated ) but you need to think of the twin rocker shafts, the rockers themselves, the camshaft, cam pulley, cam chain, etc etc etc. Bear in mind too that the 'LY' ( like the FIA 'Safari' head ) was designed to be used with triple throttle bodied injection, and the angle of the inlet manifold on the 'LY' was not really ideal for carbs...... Power? Well, bear in mind why Nissan designed, built and homologated these heads and you have a large part of your answer. It wasn't all about power. Not to be cryptic, but it's a big subject..... Cheers, Alan T.

Brabham, For a supplier of replica FRP panels like the ones on the '76 Le Mans car, try e-mailing Mori san at KAMEARI ENGINE WORKS, and tell him that you want the 5-piece G-Nose kit, the Works 'Type B' Overfender set, the Works 'Type B' front spoiler, and the Works 'Type B' three piece rear spoiler. He has a fibreglass supplier who makes decent enough quality for a relatively low budget. You could of course go to much more expensive suppliers ( high quality from the likes of Marugen Shokai does not come cheap ) but the end result will pretty much look the same if you spend enough time fettling it and fitting it. However, isn't your car a 2+2? If so, I would not be on the rear Overfenders and rear spoiler fitting very well.....

More stories via the Autodiva forum ( commenting on gossip and stroke-pulling of the time ) that need to be taken with a big pinch of salt. One of the main contributors to that thread spent a long time a few years back pumping me for information and hard data about the car, and a few people have added press reports and other stuff into the mix. For me, the "300HP" engine-switch story just doesn't add up. Why? Well, the post-crash photos show the car still fitted with the 'Safari' FIA head and ECGI system ( not to mention the driver-controlled engine oil top-up reservoir system ) with all its dedicated plumbing and wiring, which is exactly the engine configuration that the car used in 1973 when the factory built it, and when it went to South Africa for the Springbok Series races. If there was an engine switch just before the '76 race, then what was installed in the meantime? I say its a smokescreen, and the clue is in the last line I quoted above.... They just managed to qualify in '75 ( they were lucky, as a dispute between some of the Ferrari-running teams and the ACO bumped them up from being reserves to actually taking part in the race ) and were slow. This probably as much due to driver quality ( no offence ) as to lack of proper preparation / equipment and the fact that the car was already getting old and was not necessarily suited to the Le Mans track. Remember that this was a car that had been built by the works in Japan, had raced / tested in Japan and then been sent to SA to race. It was left there - along with a limited kit of spares and data - in the hands of people who were not necessarily going to be fully familiar with it, and who did not have the factory mechanics to hand after their first race. With the cancellation of the Springbok Series, the car was eventually rescued from redundancy by the well-connected Schuller, and only got on the reserves list for the '75 Le Mans due to some clever lobbying / 'not-what-you-know-but-who-you-know' and some iffy paperwork. Having completed the '75 event ( not without some long stops ) and placed in class, they were automatically bumped up the queue for the '76 Le Mans, despite the protests and misgivings of other teams and drivers. Faced with all this lobbying, the team produce a story that they have switched their engine to some new demon tweeked '300ps/hp' unit ( from where?! ) and assure the ACO and their fellow competitors that they will be faster come the race. It's just a smokescreen, I'm certain of it. The engine was the same basic unit all along, and the '300ps/hp' is a nice round figure that appears rather conveniently.... About that '300ps/hp' figure: The car ( along with a sister car ) went to South Africa with data from the works team. The 'Safari' headed car ( running in Group 4 with local drivers ) was quoted at 262ps @ 7600rpm and 25.5kg-m @ 6000rpm, whilst the 'LY' crossflow headed sister car ( running in Group 5 with two Japanese works team drivers ) was quoted at 275ps @ 7200rpm and 29.8kg-m @ 5,600rpm. You can see that these are real endurance racing specced engines, designed to churn away lap after lap for hours and hours on end, with fuel stops to top up their 120 litre tanks. So the '300ps' quoted for the '76 Le Mans car - USING THE SAME ENGINE CONFIGURATION THAT WAS '262ps' ACCORDING TO THE WORKS TEAM - is more than that for its LY-headed sister, which went back to Japan after SA. Doesn't quite add up, does it? I would not draw any conclusions from the lap times / top speeds of the car at Le Mans either in '75 or '76'. In the '76' event they at least had a couple of more capable drivers on board, but the car had not been built by the factory for Le Mans, was already old, and was running with limited resources by a team that was trying to punch well above its weight. To be blunt, they were out of their depth. More on the car specs anon ( got some work to do here! ), but I just want to mention one thing, Brabham. Please bear in mind that the '76 car represents something that crashed with fatal consequences for its owner / driver. There's some baggage that comes with that. You might see it as a 'tribute' to build a replica / lookalike, but it may offend others - particularly if they were close to SION Auto / Haller or the others. Please bear that in mind. And quite apart from that, the '76 Le Mans getup is bloody awful! A half-hearted and several years too late attempt at 'Pop Art' by somebody's well-meaning mate. The car looked its best in its factory colours / configuration ( '73 Fuji 100km / '73 Kyalami 9hrs ) in my opinion...... Cheers, Alan T.

Worked after I reduced the sizes of the photos...... Here are some shots of the wheels: