HS30-H

The kit retails at 48,000 Yen in Japan. At roughly 103~104 Yen to the $US currently, this works out at around $460 USD. I presume you are not including shipping charges and Import Duty based on a truthfully-stated value in your "$450.00 USD"?

Because the people who designed, developed, engineered and productionised this setup ARE NOT PARTICIPATING IN THIS THREAD. Has it crossed your mind that Kameari's test data will all be in Japanese? I've seen their test data on other products and this is the case. Perhaps you would like them to translate it into English before presenting it to the 'Judge'? Tony D, I know that Mori san and his colleagues had been working on the twin-idler tensioner for a matter of years before it was sold to the general public. They did embark on a serious test programme and I know that this actually cost them a lot of time and money. Some of the research was carried out by outside agencies with the relevant facilities. Even if I had any of this test data - which of course I don't - I certainly wouldn't post any of it on this thread. When testing the stock tensioner, Kameari saw some interesting things. One of the phenomena described to me was of a 'wave' effect of chain whip, much like the kind of wave that we used to send down a skipping rope when we were kids. It was explained to me that this 'wave' was observed running both ways up and down the chain as the test-bed engines were accelerated and decelerated, causing cam timing to advance and retard depending on where the forces were directed and where the chain slack was. Kameari had seen engines on their dyno fail because the cam timing was moving out of sync with the crank, and they believe that they solved this with the Twin Idler setup. The stock tensioner, when blueprinted and optimised, was doing fine up until the very highest levels of tune - and Kameari still sell, fit and use the stock type tensioners of course - but their most extreme engine specs needed some extra control of the chain. I suspect that if the front cover on our highly tuned L-series engines was made from glass, some of us might be surprised and somewhat perturbed to see the effect of harmonics and other forces acting on our timing chains. Do you agree? Mori san told me that their best-performing engine so far was fitted with the Twin Idler, and that he really believes in it. And as jmortensen has been pointing out whilst being ignored - it kills more than two birds with one stone too.

How unfortunate for Kameari that they have had their product ( and by inference, their reputation and good name ) in front of the Judge, the Jury and the Executioner without having been invited to the trial. It is not for me to present any "evidence" and frankly I doubt that it would make any difference to you one way or another. You have pronounced your judgment and the sentence has been passed. "Dead man walking" is the term I believe...... Sir, you are missing the point completely. I don't give a damn what you think of me. If you truly think you are "better" than me, then I will concede the point. I am nobody, and my opinion on engineering theory also means 'sweet FA' ( as we say here in London ). The problem as I see it is that you are passing comment on something that you have never seen, and have never had explained to you properly. You do however seem to think you have enough "evidence" to damn the product. You are also making negative inferences against Kameari, who are not even here to defend themselves or their product, let alone present whatever "evidence" you would decide they ought to put before you. Is there a little button under your user name that I can press to decrease your site 'cred' rating? Here's my oh-so-clever and relevant Randy Newman song reference: "Maybe I'm Doing It Wrong". Perhaps you could teach it to Kameari, and play along on your "GEEtahr"? I can do dick-headed and asinine too. Have a nice evening

I find that an extraordinarily condescending comment to make. I have definitely changed my opinion of you as a person because of it. What do you know about their development and testing processes? Two years ago I sat in front of the designer while he explained the theory behind and the development process to me. I have seen and heard it in use on cars in Japan, inspected it with my own eyes, fitted one to an engine myself and used it with what appeared to be good results ( but then, what do I know? ). I have also supplied one that was fitted to a race car here in the UK over a year ago, and that car is winning races. The driver and the engineer both report favourably on it. It is a great pity that a relative fool such as myself chose to defend the Kameari product. There is no doubt that I can't do it the justice of a fair defence. I have put some photos up on a website for reference purposes. Hopefully these will show more detail than has previously been seen. I have included scans of the instructions that come with the kit, which will also I believe help to illustrate further detail. http://at.fotopic.net/c583112.html

No, this is not the case. You posted a picture that does not illustrate the full componentry of the Kameari tensioner. This is misleading. The picture captions tell you what is going on, but your translation software won't be able to do the Japanese explanation justice. I'll dig out some pics of the whole system as it should be installed, and post links to them here later.

Dan, Whilst I obviously respect your engineering knowledge, I still have to ask you if you really understand how this thing works? You keep writing about "greater tension" and "that chain whipping all over the place" when the Kameari tensioner doesn't necessarily use greater static chain tension ( the user can choose how much static tension to put into the chain ), and - as I wrote before - the chain literally cannot whip as there is no real slack in it. The major forces acting on the chain are those of the crank driving the cam gear against the valve train, and I wouldn't like to imagine how those forces get multiplied and/or reversed as the chain 'whips' with the stock tensioning arrangement. But then I'm not an engineer by profession. You have not addressed my question about "twang" and the "GEEtahr" string effect. Does this mean you now understand something about the Kameari tensioner that you did not understand before? I hope so. Now Dan, you know the Nissan L-series six was designed in 1964, and incorporated basic design features that were not exactly newfangled even back then. It was also never designed to cope with the stresses of the kind that come with race level tuning, so comparing this 1960s low-stress sedan engine to low-inertia multivalve DOHC superbike engines intended to operate at high rpms really is comparing turnips to dragon fruit. Can I point out a slightly more relevant engine design for comparison? One that that is 'in period' and 'in family' to boot. It's the Nissan S20 twin cam engine. Have you ever seen the chain tensioning system on an S20? You'd probably be very happy to see a couple of short rubber-faced chain guides on it, but it also had a pair of jockey wheels - one of which was adjustable for tension with the engine in situ. In fact, adjusting and maintaining correct chain tension was part of the routine maintenance of the engine. There was very little chance of chain whip in the S20. I think it is an interesting engine to use as a comparison. You can see some of the thinking behind the Kameari design in there. Naturally Kameari have tried to create a component that does the job that they want it to do, but nobody is pretending that this is a complete blank page re-design of the L-series cam drive arrangement. Effectively, anything they can get to work on there is going to be a compromise of some sort. But I think that the way they have done it is very clever ( I have never seen or heard anybody enquire as to what the original function or purpose of the casting over which the 'inspection cover' on the front of the L-series heads is sited ) and I take my hat off to them. More place for oil leaks? Where from? I don't understand this comment. Increases maintenance? You have some personal experience of this component, then? Adjustment is a five minute job with the engine in situ, and I would expect Kameari intend the tensioner to be used mainly by the kind of people that either race, or run their engines hard enough to require careful regular maintenance rather than a 100,000 mile fit-and-forgetter. They have never - I believe I am correct in stating this - claimed that it 'increases power' per-se. That is not its intended function. Neat looking? Personally I don't think it is. I would prefer it to be completely hidden, and in fact I know somebody who has hidden his. He doesn't have to explain it to anybody, which would appear to be a benefit worth investigating further.... Costs $$$? It is made in Japan, and in small batches. The components are expensive to manufacture in small quantities, and are of good quality. Something like this is never going to be 'cheap', and is never going to be popular. I believe Kameari understood that when they designed and manufactured it. Alan T.

Andy, Just a little 'heads up': LHD wiper arms are quite different to RHD wiper arms. You need RHD, yes? Don't forget that they "dress to the left" in the USA ( as my tailor says..... ). Also, OEM rear light units? You mean UK market spec, or USA / North American spec? Again - very different of course. I have a pair of the USA / NA spec lights NOS in box if you want them - but they are illegal to use in the UK............

1970 Fairlady Z ( S30-S model ) came standard with the 4-speed and 3.7:1 diff ratio. 5-speed was an extra-cost option and came with the 3.9:1 diff gear. 1970 Fairlady Z-L ( S30 model ) came standard with the 5-speed and 3.9:1 diff ratio. 4-speed was an option and of course came with the 3.7:1 diff ratio. t-tom, if your 1970 Fairlady has a 4.375 diff ratio then it never left the Factory like that.

A slightly conservative figure I reckon. I'd say that kind of money would get a complete engine that was in need of a complete rebuild. That's not my experience at all. An S20 in standard tune is quite docile, and matched to its correct transmission and diff ratio is a dream to drive. Got any side-by-side data comparison performance figures for a PS30 / PS30-SB to an HLS30U? I don't see the L24-equipped car ( especially in the US market model ) "leaving behind" the 432 over a standing start quarter.

Aren't you getting confused between the Fairlady 240ZG and the Fairlady Z432 ( and Z432R )? The 432 / 432R never had a G-Nose, and the ZG never had a twin cam. Won't look "aesthetically the same" as a Factory car then, will it? The only thing stopping you from getting your hands on an S20 engine will be the amount of money that you are prepared to pay. Once you see how much it will cost you will probably give up. As for fitting. the front crossmember will need to be modified to copy that of the 432 / 432R, and you would need to make sure that you found the 432 / 432R type sump and oil pickup if you bought a more common PGC10 / KPGC10 / KPGC110 Skyline GT-R type S20 engine. You'd need to move the dipstick tube if this was the case too. Transmission would need to be either the FS5C71-A 5-speed with the correct S20-mating bellhousing, or the correct type of FS5C71-B with the whole front section to fit the S20 rather than the L-series mating type. Exhaust manifold will foul the steering shaft on an LHD car, so you'd need to make a custom manifold. Radiator inlet and outlets are different too, as is wiring.

Andy, Did you actually get all that many negative comments? I observed quite the opposite. If anyone was trying to talk you out of it, then they were probably just giving a Pavlovian response. Maybe they thought that was what was required of them? Maybe you didn't get as many negative comments as you would have secretly liked? "Purists" in the Z Club of GB? Where? Ha ha.

Yes, I have. Been in a car equipped with one too. Take a look at this old HybridZ thread: http://forums.hybridz.org/showthread.php?t=76847&highlight=TC24-B1 You can still get L20A and FJ20 rods in Japan, last I looked. Its the FJ24 that you can't find anywhere. Used L20A and FJ20 rods are very cheap out there, but surely getting some custom-made rods will be better and not that much more money. The USA is just about the best place to order a set of custom-made rods, I think?

Mack, Here's the actual quote from the Honsowetz book: "The optional two-valve, crossflow six cylinder head is not available through Nissan Motorsports USA. The reason for this is it's not allowed in many racing classes. However, this isn't a major loss because the crossflow head will give "only" a 4-6% horsepower increase over a comparable two-valve, non-crossflow head" He is obviously referring to Nissan's 'LY' head ( a single cam, 12 valve hemi-chambered design ) and NOT the O.S. GIKEN TC24-B1. I don't know where Honsowetz got those "4-6%" figures from ( maybe from Bob Sharp? ) but since the LY used many other different parts from the normal L-series engine it is hard to know what spec is being referred to, and just how it can be compared to anything else objectively. But anyway - you get my point? He's talking about a DIFFERENT head... Honsowetz goes on to write a couple of paragraphs about the O.S. GIKEN head, but it is clear that he never saw one or had any personal experience of one. He never quoted any performance figures.

Speaking only for myself here, and no disrespect intended to yourself or the others working on the 'Frankenstein' head, but how can you compare your project with the TC24 B-1? Your "$5000" figure is a GUESS ( OK, maybe a *target* figure.... ) and you have not got anywhere near finishing a prototype yet, let alone testing it, developing it and productionising it. If anyone is "scoffing" at you then maybe it is because a price has been tagged on to your product BEFORE many other questions have been answered. O.S. GIKEN on the other hand designed their conversion, made all the patterns and moulds and cast the things from scratch. All of this was done when the L-series sixes were current and popular - more than 20 years ago - and in the HOME market for those engines. Even if it was done on a small scale it was carried through with big scale values and standards. The price at the time reflected what they had invested in the project, and even then they were probably not charging enough for them. Please don't compare your project to theirs. You are not even on the same page yet..... If I were you I would have tried to resist the temptation to publicise the project until you were a bit closer to completion of a running prototype. Don't you think you might be showing your hand too early? Mr Won'tletmyzDie, Did you try using the SEARCH function here? If you had typed in 'O.S. GIKEN' you might have learned something about what has been discussed here before. Rod Bell is a busy guy, so I would recommend that you don't waste his time by getting him to look into this any further without looking through the old threads on this site. Other similar ideas have come to nothing, and all for the same reasons.

LOL indeed, Show me a complete TC24-B1 for $10K and I'll buy it......... But that figure was in somebody else's head - and not a quote from OSG. No disrespect intended to Young Frankenstein, but comparing three chopped up KA24 heads and a lot of unanswered questions to a complete TC24-B1 is a 'no contest'.

The R192 LSD-equipped diff ( for some unknown reason called the 'R190' in the USA ) was first used - as standard equipment - on the Nissan Skyline GT-R ( PGC10 ) in early 1969. It was also used on the KPGC10. From late 1969 it was fitted as standard equipment to the Fairlady Z 432 and Z 432-R. In 1973 it was replaced on the 432 by an LSD-equipped R200. As has been noted, these diffs were sold in the USA by Datsun Competition. They were also available through the Nissan 'Sports Option' lists for the Japanese market. A range of ratios was available, but none of them was a "5.13". I should imagine that this is in fact a 5.143 being misdescribed by the seller. Nice advice from the seller: "check fluid before fitting".

Both. But do remember that the spoiler was an optional part that was not on every car. In fact, most 432s will have received their spoilers a good while after they were sold..... Standard ( no spoiler ) rear emblems on the 432 were 'Fairlady Z' ( sloping up at an angle - just like the 'Datsun' rear hatch emblem, and in the same position ) and the '432' emblem underneath it, but level horizontally - not at an angle. There was also a 'Nissan' emblem on the left hand side of the hatch. When it came to mounting the emblems on the spoilers, the situation was a little more grey. Spoiler fitment was sometimes performed by the selling dealership, and as there were no pre-drilled holes in the spoilers it led to variations in layout. But most often they tried to copy the basic layout of the hatch emblems. The situation with the 'R' model was slightly different. This was the only model to have the rear spoiler as 'standard' equipment at the launch of the S30-series range, and indeed the 432R spoiler is the part that BRE used on their race cars. The first 432R previewed by the Japanese press in early October 1969 did not have the '432' emblem on the rear spoiler. It had only the 'Fairlady Z' emblem on the right of the spoiler, mounted straight; parallel with the lower edge of the hatch. Copy this car and you don't really need a third '432' emblem for the rear.

Nice. Are they metal ( Mazak ) or plastic? Only two in the pic. Not having one on the back of the car then?

Sorry Stony, I wasn't trying to contradict what you wrote. I just wanted to make it clear that there was a Phantom with an APU - even if it was only a British hybrid.

The Phantom FG1 models used by the Royal Navy and Royal Air Force were fitted with the Rolls Royce RB168-25R Spey 201 engine, which did have an APU on board. The RAF purchased 15 ex-US Navy / USMC Phantom F4Js as a stop-gap measure after the Falklands war, and these came into service in 1984. Being fitted with the GE J79 engine ( with no APU - as Stony pointed out ) these were sometimes stranded when diverted to airfields that did not have the air start 'Palouste' system. The Palouste would then have to be transported to the airfield in question in order for the aircraft to be recovered.