HS30-H

Most of the Trust ex. manifolds for the L6 were based on ( if not 'copied from' ) Nissan 'Sports Option' items, so it's not really surprising that they are quite similar.

There were at least twelve different L6 tubular exhaust manifold designs produced by Nissan Japan ( 'Nissan Sports' / Nissan Sports Option etc ) before NISMO Japan was created in 1984. Its worth remembering that the Japanese aftermarket was quite prolific too, and tubular manifolds were made and marketed by many companies ( both small, like 'OK Racing' and 'SS Kubo', and large, like 'FGK' / Fujitsubo Giken and 'Trust' ) and for many different applications, including C10 and C110 Skylines, S130 Fairladies, C130 and C230 Laurels and 230 and 330 Laurels. Anyone buying a used, aftermarket manifold from Japan could easily end up with one of these. Some of them will fit an LHD S30-series Z, and some of them will not...... Like geezer, I think there's a very strong possibility that the black manifold in your pictures is actually a 'Trust' unit - but there have been a few different versions of these over the years. Here's a Nissan 'Sports Option' manifold that lives in my garage:

Slownrusty & Montezuma, Thanks for the compliments, but that particular car could be classed as recent history rather than the in-period history of what it represents. Its build was well documented and publicised, and I got shown around it at the old Prince & Skyline museum. It also got used as a studio prop in the NHK 'Project X' series episode called 'The Last Prince' - which was fairly ironic if you think that it wasn't the real thing........ 240ztt, I don't know where the guy that wrote that Wikipedia page got his information, but as far as I am aware the R380s ( R380-Is ) and R380-IIs were never 'sold off' to privateers. They were retained by Nissan and raced alongside the R381s ( and eventually the R382s ) driven by works drivers and the odd well-connected and experienced part timer. So no, I don't think any of those cars made it out into private ownership. Some spare parts did ( the odd GR8 engine component that would have been 'rescued' from the junk pile pops up every now and then ), but no complete cars. Hope that helps. Cheers, Alan T.

If it's for a genuine 240ZG, and you can't get hold of the factory part, then there's really only one specialist that can be recommended: Marugen Shokai in Hokkaido, northern Japan. Here's the page on his website that details the 'Lamp Case' options: http://home.att.ne.jp/sky/FairladyZ/ZG/Lamp/Lamp1.htm

That's actually a replica. It was built by 'S & S Engineering' ( Shinichiro Sakurai's company ), what - ten years ago at least now? It's been used for a bit of filming on a few different productions, but most of the time was parked up in the 'Red Park' Prince & Skyline museum. It's been for sale for a long time.......

Gentlemen, A full, comprehensive and accurate answer to the original question was given in post #14. The only thing missing now is an acknowledgement from the person who asked the question, but perhaps it would not be wise to hold one's breath...... LOL. Alan T. ( "HS30-H is an unknown quantity at this point" according to HybridZ )

Probably best described as 'blueprinted' from the foundry stage onwards. Certainly some of the factory race block castings were made in small batches under controlled conditions to ensure consistency and accuracy, but they did not really have any major visible differences to the stock production blocks. However, they were supposed to be using stock production castings - so that would be expected. A lot of work was done at the machining stages ( oilways, boring, Wills ring grooves, stress relieving and surface prep etc etc ) but nothing particularly secret or special. Nissan Sports even published booklets on how to prep them.

I've got a set of L20A rods that might be for sale, but I'm worried about how long you are expecting them to be.....?

To clear this up: The car pictured is a C-S31 model 'Fairlady Z-T', which was introduced to the Japanese market in July 1977. The picture itself comes from the catalogue of Nissan's 'Historic Car Collection', which is housed at Zama. This particular car is no.075 in the collection. The mirrors on the car are the remote control ( 'Remocon' ) electrically adjustable type as fitted to the top of the range Coupe & 2/2 'Z-T' models from July 1977 onwards. Maybe you do? Even if it's just a teeny weeny lickle ickle tiddly tiny bit?

Yes, that's the Nissan 'LY' head for the L6. First seen in late 1971, and fitted to the L24 block to make an 'LY24' - later fitted to the N42 Nissan Sport option blocks to make an 'LY28', eventually ending up at just under 3 litre capacity. It was a 2-valve hemi chambered crossflow design, with 42mm inlet ports and 40mm exhaust ports on the standard unmodified casting. It was single cam with two rocker shafts, and splayed 'finger' rockers operating the valves. We have discussed it many times on this forum in the past ( also on classiczcars.com ) so if you search 'LY' you should be able to find plenty on it. Some pics:

Hi Jerry, As can be seen from the logo on the centre caps, they are 'Chowinis'. In actual fact, this was a 'badge engineering' exercise - where two different companies sold wheels under their own names, but they were actually manufactured by a third company..... The two retailers concerned were: Haruhito Yanagida - Japanese born Nissan 'works' race team driver, and proprietor of Z specialist shop 'Central 20' on the outskirts of Tokyo, Japan. He sold the wheels as the Central 20 'Z Sport', with centre caps logo'd to suit. Peter Chow - another race car driver, of Chinese extraction, active in Macau, Hong Kong, Japan and elsewhere, but synonymous with the Toyota brand rather than Nissan. He sold the wheels under his 'Chowini's' brand - as yours are. I believe they date from around the 1979-80 period, and were only ever available in 7j x 14" size, with the 114.3mm x 4 PCD, and made from cast Aluminium alloy ( not Magnesium ). The wheels were actually manufactured by Hayashi Racing, and were based on a magnesium four-spoke design that had been used by Nissan's works race cars in 1971, '72 & '73 ( but which were manufactured by Kobe Seiko ), but that classic four-spoke design itself could arguably be traced back through American Racing, and all the way back to pure race wheels designed and manufactured by the likes of Brabham and BRM in the early 1960s. It's quite tricky tracing the DNA of designs such as this, which tend to get copied from copies of copies and on and on. Being as yours are branded as 'Chowini's', you might have a better result if you market them to the 'old school' Toyota crowd - who will usually know what they are looking at. I have eight of the 'Z Sport' version here in London, and four of the original Kobe Seiko four-spokes works wheels too ( they are 15" diameter - so much easier to find tyres for ). I bought one set of four of the 'Z Sport' from New Zealand, and one set of four from Australia. If you don't get any offers I'd be happy to buy them from you if we could agree a price, and I'd have no problem with the cost of shipping - but you might want to hawk them around the Toyota guys a little first and see what kind of offers they make. Don't let them low ball you! Cheers, Alan T.

There ought to be a medal for that.

It's on Yahoo Japan auctions, and the start price is 990,000 JPY - so the 'price' you will have to pay depends on whether - and how much - other people bid for it. It's missing a few pieces. Valve cover as you noted, but also exhaust and ( vital ) inlet manifold and its cooling channel. Valve springs, spring retainers and collets, the special chain tensioner parts and the special chain itself. You would need the specially-angled trans bellhousing and engine mounts to suit too. These were originally used with a special crank, rods & domed pistons. All data is available - parts a little less so. Start price is lower than you usually see these up for...........

You might want to take the seat out and jetwash it....... My dad used to take me to see a lot of racing in the late Sixties and early Seventies. We would spend ages in the pits, and sometimes a mechanic would be kind enough to let us look a little closer. At the end of the Le Mans 24hrs in 1970, I was picked up and placed inside the cockpit of a 917 by a team mechanic ( I was only 8 years old ). I remember it smelled very strongly of hot oil, rubber, fuel, sweat and - there's no polite way to put this - piss. And I was sitting in it. I've never forgotten it. Not many 'comfort breaks' in endurance racing. When ya gotta go, ya gotta go.

NISMO? 'NISMO' was simply a TELEX address in the period I'm talking about. NISMO is something like fifteen years later than the original Nissan parts for the S30-series Z, so I can't take any responsibility for the correct or incorrect positioning of mirrors where the person does not even know what series or model the part numbers pertain to. Since I first posted the dimensions, I've had all sorts of people telling me by PM that they "don't work", or that there must be "some mistake" - but half the time it turns out that they are fitting some generic eBay purchase ( more than once an aftermarket lookalike from Thailand, or originally from a Toyota or Honda ) and don't even seem to have the curiosity to wonder what the part numbers for their eBay-snagged purchases originally related to. And Tony, I have never seen a chrome or stainless fender mirror specific to the S30-series Z in a Nissan 'Sports Option' list or catalogue. I believe that most of the chrome or 'stainless' versions that people have been buying lately were originally designed - with part numbers to suit - for Bluebirds or Skylines. Yes, they may well work - but the versions I have seen have had different stalk lengths / angles and different bases. The data I gave out originally was for early S30-series Zs specifically, so if anyone wants to fit anything else then it may - or may not - be the same and may - or may not - work as well as they expected - but in the end they have to take responsibility for that themselves.

Quite simply, the "stainless" ( chrome ) mirrors were never designed for the S30-series Z body. They are from another model. Usually a GC10 Skyline, or 510 Bluebird. It's not surprising that they don't work properly.

The first S30-series Zs to be delivered to dealers in Japan started arriving in late October and early November of 1969. Deliveries to the north American market started arriving in the first few months of 1970 - so there was a gap, but it was nothing like as much as a year..... I think 'HS30-00430' would have been built in the latter half of 1970, so it isn't a "1969" car. 'HS30' ( RHD Export type ) prefixed cars were built in 1969, but not in any great quantity. Nissan Shatai were concentrating on building 'S30' prefixed Fairlady Z and Fairlady Z-L models, 'PS30' prefixed Fairlady Z432 and Fairlady Z432-R models, and 'HLS30' prefixed Datsun 240Z models, in the first few months of production. It is important that we acknowledge that 'HS30' prefixed RHD Export market cars were part of the concept, design, engineering and productionisation processes from the very beginning ( especially since we are often misleadingly told that the 'HLS30' models led all ), but RHD Export production was sidelined for many months whilst LHD Export and RHD Domestic model production was ramped up. Apart from many other factors, Nissan Shatai and its suppliers simply could not keep up....... The 'L' prefix in 'HLS30' denotes Left-hand drive, but for all LHD Export markets - not just the north American market. Not all HLS30s were created equal......

No, the 'Datsun' name was mainly applied to exports ( and a few select domestics ), and Nissan Motor Co's history is now several times longer than that of its ancestor D.A.T. Jidosha Seizo. I have a 1970 Fairlady Z-L, two 1971 Fairlady 240ZGs and a 1971 Skyline GT-R, and none of them came from the factory with the word 'Datsun' anywhere on them. They are all Nissans. In fact, all of the 'Datsuns' that we discuss on this forum are actually Nissans. Most of them just had 'Datsun' emblems attached to them due to some rather obscure and out of date reasoning that was rooted in the war years.......

Part numbers: *96301-E4100 ASS'Y-BACK MIRROR, outside ( R.H. ) *96302-E4100 ASS'Y-BACK MIRROR, outside ( L.H. ) ( Fairlady Z, Z-L, Z432 & Z432R, , October 1969 thru November 1973, Fairlady 240Z, 240Z-L, September 1971 thru November 1973 ). *Fairlady 240ZG 'HS30-H' models used the same part numbers, but the mirrors were given a specific colour notation in the parts lists.

Yours appear to be the early PGC10 Skyline GT-R version.........

Er, I think the expression in the modern vernacular is - "word". Yes, the Mercedes heads will not fit a Nissan L-gata engine block...... Guess why. I'm sorely tempted to say "EEEK! - part 2"..... But let's just cut to the chase and say Nissan petrol L-series engines have nothing to do with Mercedes diesels, and if you are boring a Nissan L-series petrol block then just worry about the wall thickness of the particular block you are boring, and not about any 'Mercedes design' fairy stories......... The "Mr K book" is also known as the "Hackensack Book Of Lies" in our house. You might like to keep in mind that it could be seen as part of the industry of promoting the 'Mr K.' brand ( TM ) rather than a document of strict historical accuracy....... And I'm taking pains to be as polite as possible about that. I'm not too worried about your sadly departed Welsh relative ( bless his soul ), as you - being still with us - are giving me more urgent cause for concern at the moment....... At least you can spell 'Arse' properly. Hats off to you for that at the very least! Cheers, Alan T. ps - you might like to try a Google search on 'Hiroshi Iida, Nissan L-gata engine', and see what comes up. You might be surprised........

This sentence gets the dubious honour of providing my first internet forum "EEEEK! - he can't be serious!" moment of 2009.......... There's so much bad stuff joined up in there that it's in danger of imploding and re-forming as an entirely new universe.

I should imagine that is reference to the vertical 'offset' ( or slant ) of the engine, rather than any horizontal offset. That vertical slant was purely for packaging reasons. Nissan's L-series six cylinder engines were first used in the H130-model 'Cedric Special Six' of 1965, and went on to power a wide variety of models and variants. In most of these it was installed at an angle to improve packaging, and most of the componentry was designed to suit ( think of transmissions for example ). There was a natural design bias towards RHD configurations - simply because the majority of vehicle types using the engines were RHD - but this did not affect LHD installations too seriously.

Who told you that the LHD 240Z engine was mounted "...at a right hand offset..."? I'd check my sources if I were you. If you are talking about the angle that the engine was mounted at, then this was to do with vertical packaging rather than any RHD or LHD "balance" problems. There's a good argument to suggest that the RHD layout took a natural bias - considering that Japan was/is an RHD market and that the drivetrain of the car was sourced from predominantly RHD-oriented models like the Laurel and Skyline - but the S30-series Z was quite purposely designed and engineered to cater for both RHD and LHD configurations from it's conception. If you are concerned about chassis "balance", then you can achieve most of what you want/need with corner weighting and adjust accordingly.........