New Vid on "ZG" ..Number27

Graham Palmer

Club Member
Jack aka Number27 has become the 'thinking mans' 'tuber, vs the 'teenage scribblers' out there......nice vid on a special Z... (although gear lever bushings needs replacing
 

Albrecht

Well-Known Forum User
Jack aka Number27 has become the 'thinking mans' 'tuber, vs the 'teenage scribblers' out there.....

In which case its a shame he didn't prepare for this video with a little more research. It is full of basic mistakes and misapprehensions.

First of all, it is a NISSAN Fairlady 240ZG. It isn't a 'Datsun'. Secondly, engine-back drivetrain was exactly the same as the contemporary Japanese market Deluxe models (Fairlady Z-L and Fairlady 240Z-L) so that means a Servo-synchroed FS5C71-B transmission and 3.9:1 ratio R180 open diff. There was NO stock LSD on L-gata engined models. Only the S20-engined variants had LSDs as stock equipment.

Apart from the 432-R, all contemporary Japanese market S30 models came without a rear spoiler, and it was an extra cost showroom option which required being fitted to order (because of tailgate emblem positioning). Fender mirrors were stock on ALL contemporary Japanese market S30 models, not unique to the 240ZG. Those wheels are RS Watanabe 8-spokes (not "Wanatabe") and in this particular car's case - as far as I remember - they are Aluminium alloy versions rather than Magnesium.

He falls into the rather obvious trap of slagging off the stock steel wheels and hubcaps (missing the point of the homologation?) and then suggests that 'racers' would be choosing their own wheels so, again, probably missing the point of the homologation? Nobody was buying a 240ZG in the showroom and taking it straight to the race track.

He doesn't seem to understand that he is looking at - and fiddling with - the correct oscillator-driven Kanto Seiki 'Rallye Clock' with its stopwatch function (he needed to press the knob to stop, reset and start it) so clearly not properly researched, and it was - again - stock on all contemporary Deluxe models and not unique to the 240ZG.

He doesn't quite seem to understand what the homologation process was for, or what it allowed Nissan and anybody else to do with the parts involved. A couple of extremely low resolution photos right-clicked-and-saved from the internet (Japanese race cars - but wrongly identified) and a video clip pinched from the NISMO Festival did not explain it correctly. In fact, the car in the NISMO Festival video is not a Fairlady 240ZG (it is a much later ex-Nissan Racing School car which has been painted up to resemble a Works race car) which is kind of the point of the homologation, and appears to have gone right over his head...

"Affordable"? He quotes a figure of $100k US, which suggests his reference point may well be the lone and slightly scruffy 240ZG that was sold at auction in the USA a few years ago. In reality, 99% of genuine HS30-H model Fairlady 240ZGs are in Japan (there are only THREE genuine cars in the UK at present, AFAIK) so you'll be paying Japanese prices to buy and import one, where they are changing hands for the equivalent of 75k GBP + and up. The better examples are now well over 100k GBP at the current exchange rate.

I don't understand the circumstances around the filming of the video. He seemed under-prepared and on-the-fly. Was he there to film something else? The subject deserved a little more research before shooting, surely?
 

jonbills

Membership Secretary
Site Administrator
I can't bring myself to watch it now - is there an explanation of the orange splodges on it?
 

Albrecht

Well-Known Forum User
...is there an explanation of the orange splodges on it?

As far as I am aware, the orange stripe graphics were added for an event the car took part in some years back. They are non-permanent. Stick-on type.

This particular car left the factory as a #904 Grand Prix White example, and was colour changed in the UK.
 
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