HS30-H

http://alansphotos.fotopic.net/show_collection.php?id=42289 Alan T.

OK - I'll sort out some clear shots and e-mail them to you.

I have a genuine Factory-built Fairlady 240ZG ( HS30-H model ). My car is a '72, so it does not have the extra air-con related air baffles in the radiator air intake opening of the lower front valance panel. However, I have a spare ( genuine ) lower front valance panel that DOES have the air-con ducts on it. I can send some pics of this to you if they might help you in your research? Alan T.

The Factory G-Nose lower valance panel had mounting holes pre-drilled in it. These were to enable the mounting of the Sports Option "A" and "B" type front lip spoilers that mounted as a set with the super-wide Sports Option "Type A" and "Type B" 'Overfender' sets that became available to the general public in 1972 and 1973. So if you were making an accurate replica of the ZG lower valance panel, you could simply copy the Factory part and leave the mounting of any extra lip spoiler to the discretion of the user. They are indeed vulnerable, and having them easily removable will surely be a boon ( especially when getting a race car on and off a trailer ). Alan T.

If you are interested, take a look here too: http://classiczcars.com/photopost/showgallery.php?cat=500&ppuser=2116&thumb=1 Alan T.

Hi Stony, I have a spare 4.375 Ring & Pinion set for an R200 on its way to me from Japan at the moment. Condition is excellent. The problem is I'm in London, England - so it would need to be sent to you by International Air Mail, which would certainly be more expensive than finding one in the USA. PM me if you would be interested. Alan T.

Hi Shorty, ATSUGI were one of the OEM suppliers for early Z suspension components, along with AMPCO. The Factory Sports Option lists in Japan offered complete adjustable platform ( coilover ) suspension legs with gas internals. Some of them were made by AMPCO and some of them were made by ATSUGI. I suspect that you might have a set of the Factory Sports Option suspension legs on your car. Datsun Competition in the USA also sold some of these - so that might be where yours originally came from. There were several different models of these, but they SHOULD have part numbers stamped into the tubes that will identify them. See if you can spot the numbers, as it will help to identify the type and the rate of bump and rebound valving can then be referenced. I have a set of the AMPCO competition-type legs, as well as a set of ATSUGI "Rally" type legs with fixed platforms ( the Rally legs are longer than stock and stick the car right up in the air ). They do not use "cartridge" type dampers - but a full valve unit with a gas charge inside. The rods should be noticeably thicker than stock. If you want any further info you could drop me a PM and I'd be pleased to try to be of help to you. Alan T.

No 'Works' built Nissan S30-series Z Rally car was ever fitted with the S20 engine. Period. The 'Works' Circuit race and Rally cars are my pet subject, so you might want to have a good hand if you fancy a game of Top Trumps with me. If you want to split hairs about the designation of the 'LY' Crossflow engines that were fitted to 'Works' Rally cars, then you had better know what you are talking about. They were being used on the HS30 and HLS30 model Rally cars by the 1974 season, and by the Works circuit racers before that - so talking about them only being fitted to '260Z' models is looking at it from the wrong way. When the LY was fitted to the L24 block they used a bigger bore and the Option rods and Crank. Basically, the only common component with the normal L24 was the block. When they started to use them on the RS30 and RLS30 models, they used the longer stroke version of the Option crank and L26 block, and so on. The ultimate pure Factory development of the LY was the LY28 used in the Grand Champion Series race cars, utilising dry sumps and fuel injection. A semi-Works supported effort in European circuit racing during the late 1970's - based at JANSPEED in the UK - used the LY28 in single and twin-turbo form. I notice that it has only taken you a few weeks to become an expert on the S20 / LY / TC24-B1 engines. I am already nostalgic for the days when you did not know your RB from your BR, or your SOHC from your DOHC. And what's this about getting a fax from O.S.Giken at the end of the year? Its only a few short weeks ago that you did not know them from Adam. Are you being slightly economical with the truth, or is this just a typo? Alan T.

If it was on a 240Z rally car it would more likely have been the Nissan "LY" crossflow head, which was designed to mate to the L-series 6 block. This was a single cam, two-valve hemi-chambered design. The full conversion had a special crank, rods and pistons too. The whole kit was available from Nissan in Japan via their Sports Option parts lists, from around late 1973 onwards. There's a few of them still around in Japan and they come up for sale from time to time. Last one I saw at auction had a minimum price of 2 million Yen, and it was not even complete. Alan T.

Just click on the Album button at the top of this page, and you'll easily find it. If that does not work for you its at: http://www.hybridz.org/phpBB2/album_pic.php?pic_id=890 Don't get too excited, as my shot was with a wide-angle lense and just hand-held above the engine bay. Its not so good. Alan T.

Porschephile, I just read your post and I thought I would post a picture in the Gallery section here at HybridZ for you ( please go and have a look ). I took the photo at last weekend's Tokyo Nostalgic Car Fair. The car belongs to a company called ROCKY AUTO ( Stony will know them well, I think ) and they specialise in RB-into-S30 swaps. This particular one is NA ( using 50PHH Mikunis ) and by all accounts it works very well. Thought you might be interested. Alan T.

No you didn't. I'd forget about brushing up on the Chinese if I were you, as its Japanese. Alan T.

Every new post from turbobluestreak is a ray of sunshine in my life. Probably unintentionally hilarious, but hilarious nonetheless. Alan T.

ZG and 432 models were always supplied with the bonnet ( hood ) same colour as the rest of the body. The 432-R ( PS30-SB ) came with an FRP bonnet ( hood ) which was Matt Black on the outside and Gunmetal grey on the inside. Lots of non 'R' cars in Japan have, over the years, been painted with a scheme resembling the original 'R' scheme - which may be adding to the confusion. Many of these avoid the difficulty of looking after a Matt Black finish by doing it in Gloss or Semi Gloss. Maybe that's what you have seen. I've never seen a real ZG with a Matt Black bonnet ( hood ), and you can rest assured that no standard ZG models left the Factory with that finish. It would certainly look a bit odd, too. Cheers, Alan T.

If you need pictures, then look here: http://www.classiczcars.com/photopost/showgallery.php?cat=500&ppuser=2116&thumb=1 - which contains pictures of my genuine Factory-built HS30-H Fairlady 240ZG in Grand Prix Maroon. Alan T.

The REAL Fairlady 240ZG model ( Factory code: HS30-H ) only came in three colours: *Grand Prix Maroon - 116 *Grand Prix Red - 110 *Grand Prix White - 904 The Maroon colour name was a famous mistake by the Factory. In fact, they had meant to call it "Marron" ( as in the French name for Chestnut ) which is commonly used in Japan when describing this sort of deep brown colour. There's no way that the Grand Prix Maroon is anything like what we would normally term a maroon shade ( there's not enough red tint to it ). These three colours were set off by the metallic Gunmetal shade applied to the front bumper ( made from urethane ), front undertray moulding ( the whole underneath of the ZG nose panel ) and rear bumper. The rear bumper also had an extra rubber moulding that joined the two corner pieces - effectively making the rear bumper have a runner strip along its whole length. The Overfenders ( don't call them 'flares' or 'flairs' ) were also painted in the same metallic gunmetal shade. Alan T.

turbobluestreak, With respect, I strongly recommend that you make a big effort to research the history and current activities of O.S.GIKEN - as well as the full specification of the TC24-B1 head conversion - BEFORE you talk to them. I'm sure that they would be much more willing to listen to you and your plans if you show that you know something about their company and their products. I'm mindful of the fact that up until a few days ago you didn't seem to know anything about them or the TC24-B1. A little bit more research on the subject might not go amiss. It might also help to start thinking about whether a revival of the conversion would cater for the 2.4 litre capacity, or the 2.8 litre capacity that ( surely ) most people would prefer to go for nowadays. This would point towards different valve sizes and cam specs compared to the original setup. Remember too that a special piston was also necessary. Alan T.

As far as I am aware, they do not have their own website. Here are their contact details: OS GIKEN CO. LTD. tel: ( 086 ) 277 6609 fax: ( 086 ) 277 8115 Good luck, Alan T.

Please don't get too excited about this just yet.............. O.S.GIKEN are not interested in making any more TC24-B1 heads anytime soon. Many people have been trying to persuade them for many a year ( with me amongst them ) but the high re-tooling costs would make it just too expensive. With a high price, not many people are going to be buying them, and OSG are therefore not going to play ball. The cores for the moulds and all the original tooling are not in very good shape, and there's a hell of a lot of it. Just think of the complexity of all the castings, as well as the parts such as the exhaust manifolds, cams, followers, valves, timing chain & sprockets etc etc. The design even called for special pistons........... O.S.GIKEN are a medium-sized company that specialise in trick drivetrain parts for Japanese cars. They are doing very well in their specialised field, and have all the work they need at the moment. I'm afraid that they are not going to be very receptive to any request from you to remake a batch of the TC24-B1 conversions. Many Japanese enthusiasts have been lobbying them for years - but OSG are adamant that they will not do it. Even if they DID - it would be enormously expensive in Yen, let alone Dollars ( or for me - Pounds Sterling ). If you think that I might not know what I'm talking about, then have a look at the "credits" for the pictures on that website you posted links to. I supplied those pictures myself from my own literature collection ( the "TG" prefix in the magazine article is a mistake by the way - it is "TC" for Twin Cam ). I don't want to pee on your barbecue, and I admire you for having the get-up-and-go to try and organise this, but I don't think its a good idea to get everyone excited over such a very very remote possibility. There's still a big following for tuned L6 engines in Japan, and the TC24 would be very welcome if it made a return. I'm afraid you're walking in on a conversation that has already been concluded......... Frankly, getting something made in the USA is going to be a much more likely scenario. Good luck, Alan T. ( eternal pessimist ).

All markets except the USA / North American market got the early Z with a 5-speed. 4-speeds and Autos were also offered as an "option" in those markets. When you ask about the "240Z" you have to remember that the Japanese market also had the other variants that were not called "240Z" in their homeland ( Fairlady Z and Z-L, 432 and 432-R ) before they got the "Fairlady 240Z" model in late 1971. Don't forget that the "240Z" was just ONE variant of the S30-series Z model range........... If you're asking JUST about the USA and Canada - then the "240Z" HLS30 only came with the 4-speed or Auto in that market. But please don't forget that the USA and Canada were not the only places that the Z was sold. Alan T.

Hi Mudge, It's interesting to me that you are stating something that I have heard before - namely that there was a perception in the USA that Nissan did not do a lot to assist and aid the race programmes of privateers. I have to say that there was not that much direct help in many other territories either! Certainly as far as we in Europe perceive things, it always looked as though Nissan Motor Corp. USA was doing a lot more to help you guys over there than we were being helped over here. Surely the fact that Nissan set up a satellite operation ( NMC USA ) and this subsequently created Datsun Competition, must have been a real boon to the racers? We never had anything like that over here in Europe, and the import and sale of Nissan cars was handled initially by a franchise who did not want to know anything about racing. In Japan the situation was quite different. The Sports Option lists carried all the FIA and JAF homologated parts, which could be bought by the general public and used in racing ( if you had enough money to be racing in Japan during the early Seventies! ). If you were well informed and could afford to import expensive Japanese parts, then you could get all of these cool and trick bits over to Europe and use them on your circuit race or rally car. In practice, not a lot of people did............... I think the perception over here in Europe was definitely that you "had it good" over in the USA............. I find it interesting that your perception over there was quite different to ours. As far as I am aware, it was Mr Yutaka Katayama himself who was the primary influence on the USA-market HLS30 cars having just the 4-speed. This is quite ironic, as Katayama was one of the founder members of the Sports Car Club of Japan ( SCCJ ) and pushed Nissan to compete more in racing and rallying during the late '50's. It must have been his perception that the US-market buyers would be happy with the 4-speed, softer springing and no rear sway bar. Judging by the amount of early Z owners who have retro-fitted 5-speeds and more suitable diff ratios, you'd certainly have to conclude that Katayama was wrong. The rest of the world did indeed get the FS5C71A five-speed transmission in their early S30-series cars. The four-speed was listed as an "Option" part in many markets, and very few made it to Europe. I was always puzzled and intrigued as to why the USA-market got such a compromised version of the Z................ In Japan during the Sixties, Seventies and early Eighties Nissan was always seen as THE sporty car company. They put the most effort into racing and they made the sportiest cars with the biggest range of Factory Option race and rally parts. Mazda, Honda and Toyota were trying all they could to take this public perception away from Nissan. Nissan let their crown slip and fell down the rankings. Nowadays there really ARE only a few people interested in making sporty cars at Nissan, but during the Sixties and Seventies they were without doubt supreme. Alan T.

Surely it would have been the Japanese that decided to give the US-market cars the 4-speed and the Diff ratio to match ( and no rear sway bar )? Alan T.

Just to clear up any confusion that I might have caused by being unclear about it in my post - those two LY Crossflow heads 'for sale' that I mentioned are USED items. They are both at least 28 years old. As I mentioned, neither of them is complete and yet the prices the vendors want are very very high. These items are very sought after amongst serious Japanese collectors and historic racers, so you would be at the back of a very very long queue if you wanted to buy one. I've been in the queue for many years myself! Turbobluestreak - you might not be fully conversant with what was available for the L-series 6 in the area of Option and aftermarket heads. Many people confuse the S20 twin cam ( as fitted to the PGC10, KPGC10 and KPGC110 Skyline GT-R and the PS30 Fairlady Z432 and PS30-SB Fairlady Z432R ) as being related to the L-series 6 - but they are entirely unrelated and share no common parts. Here's a very quick overview. Basically, there were only two choices of head apart from the 'stock' heads: *NISSAN "LY" head ( usually nicknamed the "Crossflow" head ) which was made available to the general public via the Nissan Sports Option parts lists from roughly late 1972. This was a single overhead cam two valve per cylinder design using a hemispherical combustion chamber. To use this head effectively you had to buy the dedicated option Con Rod / Piston set and all of the special cam gear assembly. Truth be told, this was really a whole different engine configuration based on the L-series 6 block. A special transmission bellhousing and engine mounting set was also necessary, as the angle of the engine mounting was changed too. Contrary to the rather dismissive reports from people who have usually never even clapped eyes on one, these engines were absolute screamers. I have personal experience of them in both NA and Turbo form, and they are very special indeed. Putting together a running example without compromising on all of the special parts involved would be a very time-consuming and expensive job. Many of my Japanese Z enthusiast friends have been dreaming of an LY Crossflow since they were kids..... *O.S. GIKEN "TC24-B1" - This was an aftermarket head conversion made by O.S. GIKEN in the late 1970's. They also made a version for the L4. This was a double overhead cam, 4 valve per cylinder crossflow design. Again, special pistons and rods were necessary. The cams were chain driven just like the stock L6, but obviously with a much longer chain and some special chain tensioners mounted onto the front of the L6 block with some machine work. Not that many were made, and they are still very sought after in Japan. Most of these were used in NA form, but during the 1980's the Japanese tuners started using blow-through turbo and fuel injected configurations on them. I have personal experience of a rather short-lived twin turbo version of one of these, which was quite memorable to say the least. Just like the LY, the TC24-B1 has been unfairly slated by people who have little or no experience of it. Naturally, the sky-high price of these conversions was enough to give disbelievers the ammunition to damn them with. However, they were always fairly exotic and low production items intended for serious racers and ( later ) street tuners. A poor exchange rate didn't help either. Its somewhat annoying to see ( especially in the Honsowetz book ) that many of the American tuners and racers wrote them off without much personal experience of them. In the case of the NISSAN "LY" Crossflow, I'm really glad that a company like Nissan went and made something like that for their racers and were obliged to make them available to the general public too. Its now a part of Nissan's very proud race heritage. In the case of the O.S.GIKEN head, I take my hat off to them for being brave and ingenious enough to design, manufacture and market them. They were a fairly small company when they did it, and they have gone on to great things in the transmission and clutch scene in Japan. They are doing very well indeed. Its a shame that they are not in a position to re-manufacture the head conversion again, despite many years of lobbying by interested parties. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but there are a lot of people looking for these items in good used condition and they command high prices when they can be found. Most of them change hands without being advertised. The "normal" L6 heads perform so well ( considering that they have Inlet and Exhaust ports on the same side ) that they tend to make the aftermarket and Option heads look rather superfluous. However, in theory any crossflow or four-valve configuration is going to be superior to the stock L6 configuration. Sorry for the long-winded post, but these kind of parts are kind of my "pet" subject!.......... Alan T.

I have an S20 engine for my project car, and I can confirm it is COMPLETELY different to the L-series six. There are no interchangeable parts between the two. I know of two LY Crossflow heads currently for sale in Japan ( that's the SOHC hemi-chambered two valve Nissan head that they used on some of the Works circuit race and rally cars ) - but the price would certainly put you off. Both of them are incomplete, and even then the prices are STILL over 2,000,000 Yen each ( work THAT out at today's exchange rate ). The missing parts would take some rounding-up too........... Nice idea to get a DOHC head cast - but there's a lot more to it than just the head casting itself............. Check out old posts using the SEARCH function on the "Crossflow" and "LY" subject. Might be of interest to you. Alan T.