RLS30

Fastededdie

Fastededdie

Club Member
Simples what does the RL mean on my S30 260 Z And I'v just read an article from Top Speed were the writer says! the 260 did not come to the UK until 1979 I think she is misinformed. The 280 was produced then. Is she on crack?
 
Mr Tenno

Mr Tenno

Digital Officer
Staff member
Site Administrator
Your car should be RS30 unless it's a LHD-RHD conversion, RLS30 is for left hand drive 260z
 
Mr Tenno

Mr Tenno

Digital Officer
Staff member
Site Administrator
The 'R' is what denotes it as the 260z model over the 'H' used for the 240Z / Fairlady 240Z (HS30)

Not sure if they actually translate to anything, maybe @Albrecht has some insight?
 
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Albrecht

Albrecht

Well-Known Forum User
Mr Tenno said:
Not sure if they actually translate to anything, maybe @Albrecht has some insight?
Click to expand...

I would advise against worrying too much about what the prefix code letters actually 'stand for' in the sense that they are abbreviations. In some cases they are, but in others they are just alternate letters to signify a step change.

With the step from 'H' prefix (which was actually factory shorthand for 'Hi Kiryo' - 'High Capability/capacity' of the L24 engine over the L20A, necessary to mitigate the power drain of the emissions devices the Z would have to be fitted with in certain markets ) to 'R' prefix the factory tells us the 'R' denoted the L26 engine. It was down to the factory suffix codes which refined that even further:

RS30 Model Variation.jpg
 
Mr Tenno

Mr Tenno

Digital Officer
Staff member
Site Administrator
Fascinating, so is there a version of factory shorthand for the R like 'Hi Kiryo' ?

- 'Really Hi Kiryo'? :D
 
Albrecht

Albrecht

Well-Known Forum User
Mr Tenno said:
Fascinating, so is there a version of factory shorthand for the R like 'Hi Kiryo' ?

- 'Really Hi Kiryo'? :D
Click to expand...

'Rubbish'? :EXTRAeek:

Not to my knowledge. But this stuff wasn't really meant for the use of us civilians. I think its inevitable that - given how many models, and sub-variants of those models, that Nissan was pumping out in the period - that they would soon run out of alphanumeric coding to cover all bases and/or create confusion from clashing letters.

I think its safer to just accept the codes meaning specific things per series, but with the caveat of production date. So, in the S30 Series, 'H' prefix indicates L24 engine initially and is superseded by 'R' prefix denoting L26 engine, BUT then the 'HLS30' prefixed 'Datsun 280Z' model pops into the lineup and that 'H' prefix suddenly denotes an L28 engine ('Hi Kiryo', remember?).

As an example of how complicated it gets when you try to apply the prefix codes to other series cars, on the 330-series (Cedrics and Glorias) the L26 engine was denoted by an 'H' prefix... :conf2:
 
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