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Somthings strange
- Thread starter Wyn
- Start date
Hugh Myers
Well-Known Forum User
I believe that the works did indeed develop and use a crossflow head towards the end of the rally era of the 240/260Z.
Hugh
Hugh
ben240z
Club Member
Han Tjan, who was driving the nissan sponsored dutch race car in the 70's and had contacts with nissan, managed to get hold of a crossflow head for Janspeed when they took over the developement of the car. There were 2 types of crossflow head, 1 being a customer head and the other being the race head. The differences were subtle but the race head engined cars were noticable quicker apparently. As far as janspeed could make out there was no chance of getting a race head out of japan so had to settle with the standard one. they used that head when they tried to turbo the race car and I believe that it now resides on a fourways engineering prepared race 240z. If you have the spare cash to take out another mortgage then you might be able to encourage someone who has a crossflow head to part with it. But the advantages of using this head (when taking into account the cost) are not that great with the advances in modern engineering and technology that are available to the modern day engine builder(in my opinion) ben
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Wyn
Club Member
Cheers for the info, tis easy when you know how. 
Cool looking piece of kit tho
Thought summert looked fishy when I saw the manifolds on the o/s
I take it that pic was taken on an angle? Almost looks like the engine is sitting at a diffo angle from normal, looks like its leaning to the n/s !
Cool looking piece of kit tho
Thought summert looked fishy when I saw the manifolds on the o/s
I take it that pic was taken on an angle? Almost looks like the engine is sitting at a diffo angle from normal, looks like its leaning to the n/s !
Albrecht
Well-Known Forum User
Cap doffed to zbloke and SKiddell
It looks like it is sitting at a funny angle because it IS sitting at a funny angle. Nissan's 'LY' Crossflow head was used with special engine mountings and bellhousing that tipped the engine over at a greater angle than the stock L-series.....
The 'LY' head was normally used with special crank, rods, pistons & flywheel ( as well as the LY-type inlet and exhaust manifolds ) and was sold to the general public via the 'Nissan Sport Service' and their Sports Option parts lists in Japan. The 'Works' race and rally teams used them to good effect ( SCCN circuit race cars were using them from late 1972 in Japan ) and the first of these used Mikuni 50PHH carbs. They were soon to be seen with Nissan's 'ECGI' injection setups, as seen in the photos of '4079' above.
Two of these engines are running here in the UK - both of them left over from Nissan's rally activities here and in Europe.
They are extremely sought-after in Japan, and command high prices. Nissan have just one running car with the LY engine ( an ex-SCCN / Nissan Racing School car that was 'restored' by NISMO three or four years ago ) and there are several running engines in private street cars out there too.
Here are some pics of a street-tuned car in Japan I saw a couple of years ago, running on 50PHH Mikunis:
It looks like it is sitting at a funny angle because it IS sitting at a funny angle. Nissan's 'LY' Crossflow head was used with special engine mountings and bellhousing that tipped the engine over at a greater angle than the stock L-series.....
The 'LY' head was normally used with special crank, rods, pistons & flywheel ( as well as the LY-type inlet and exhaust manifolds ) and was sold to the general public via the 'Nissan Sport Service' and their Sports Option parts lists in Japan. The 'Works' race and rally teams used them to good effect ( SCCN circuit race cars were using them from late 1972 in Japan ) and the first of these used Mikuni 50PHH carbs. They were soon to be seen with Nissan's 'ECGI' injection setups, as seen in the photos of '4079' above.
Two of these engines are running here in the UK - both of them left over from Nissan's rally activities here and in Europe.
They are extremely sought-after in Japan, and command high prices. Nissan have just one running car with the LY engine ( an ex-SCCN / Nissan Racing School car that was 'restored' by NISMO three or four years ago ) and there are several running engines in private street cars out there too.
Here are some pics of a street-tuned car in Japan I saw a couple of years ago, running on 50PHH Mikunis:
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Albrecht
Well-Known Forum User
Hi George,MrG240Z said:
The Works circuit-race Z cars were RHD, and so were the first batches of Works Z rally cars. However, for use on events such as the Monte Carlo Rally an LHD layout was preferable for the drivers and the navigators. Indeed, world-class drivers of that period had often grown up with LHD cars ( Aaltonen for example, who had a lot of input on how the Works rally cars were to be put together ) and would have preferred to use LHD cars. Nissan continued to build both LHD and RHD Works cars for most of the rally career of the S30-series Z cars.
Interestingly, Nissan moved the position of the handbrake on the LHD Works rally cars from the right side of the trans tunnel to the left - to the preference of the drivers. This was no small job! Note that the handbrake is ALWAYS on the right side of the trans tunnel in both LHD and RHD versions of the S30-series Z, except on these Works rally cars.
Albrecht
Well-Known Forum User
They had built other crossflow heads before the LY, and some of them were even more complex and efficient ( the 'S20' 24-valve DOHC for example - which was fitted to a Z - from 1969! ) and were aimed at a smaller niche market than their more usual and simple non-crossflow SOHC designs. The majority of these 'special' engines were developed with racing in mind.900ss said:
The LY was developed specifically for racing too, and was only sold to the general public in order to homologate it. As a single-cam two-valve design, it would have been difficult to adapt to the sweeping new emissions regulations ( Japan had stringent regulations in force from the early Seventies ) and would also have been expensive to build. In retrospect, its easy now to see why Nissan carried on with the L-series fours and sixes whilst they developed more efficient and 'clean' engines such as the FJ and ( eventually ) the RB.
Albrecht
Well-Known Forum User
Here are a couple of scans from one of Nissan's 'Sports Option' catalogues.900ss said:
The 'LY' was an SOHC design, with the valves ( two per cylinder ) actuated by angled 'finger' rockers riding on the cam lobes. The valves were arranged in a 'V' shape, hence the low profile in comparison to an ordinary L-series head in which the valves are at a much less extreme angle.
