1974 Nissan S30 Fairlady Z - Domestic But Built With Import Style

But that's not to say Noriaki-san strayed too far from the traditional path in modifying this Z. American pro-touring cars share a lot more with modified Japanese rides than many of us might like to admit. After all, thanks to the principle of parts interchangeability adopted from American automotive assembly lines, the first-generation S30 Fairlady hit Japanese showrooms complete with an L20-stamped, 130ps adaptation of the Datsun 510's SOHC inline-six, components of the Laurel C30's MacPherson suspension, the R180 differential of the KPGC10 Skyline, and potential for more backdoor upgrades courtesy of larger Nissan/Datsun platforms. Factory-backed U.S. drag racers were among the first to experiment with parts interchangeability for performance, and as they did, American O.E.s began offering more aggressive optional upgrades. Beginning in 1964, Oldsmobile offered its Cutlass in a trim dubbed "442" for the four-barrel carbs, four-speed transmission, and dual exhaust fitted to the Rocket V-8 stuffed in its engine bay, snagged from the larger Olds 88/98. The package also included upgrades from elsewhere in the parts bin, but once legislation from parent company GM put an end to Olds' factory-backed racing support, the new car was marketed to street enthusiasts. A decade later, in an effort to build support for racers of Nissan machines, dealer-direct versions of the Fairlady were produced in Japan in small batches homologated as the "ZG"-with an extended "aero-dyna" nose (commonly known as the "G-nose"), fender flares, acrylic headlight covers, and fender-mounted side mirrors-and later as the "432" and "432R", for the four-valve-per-cylinder, triple-carb, DOHC S20 inline-six it borrowed from the C10 Skyline 2000 GT-R. Removed carpeting, sound-deadening and heat; a fiberglass hood, transmission tunnel and body panels; lightweight doors; Lexan side and rear windows; bucket seats; four-point racing harnesses; a duckbill spoiler; and a choice of gearing also came standard. Interestingly enough, Japanese highway police were among the first buyers of the Nissan Z432, just as U.S. highway cops bought up the first Olds 442s a decade earlier. After learning this bit of history, it seems that if any car perfectly exemplifies the breadth of each country's automotive enthusiasm, including their push into the modern day, it's Noriaki-san's Fairlady.

Let's cut the suspense-yes, that is an RB26DETT under this Z's hood, taken from an R34 GT-R, mated to an RB25DET's native five-speed transmission from a RWD R33 GT-S, and upgraded only slightly. "I wanted to keep a proper engine," Noriaki-san said, regarding the choice to stay with a Nissan inline-six. "But I wanted to make the car with comfort." Engine internals are stock, as are the factory twin Garrett T25s, but the harmonic instability inherent in the RB26's rotating assembly has been corrected with some Common Snapper machine work to the crankshaft, and the cylinder head was ported and polished in-house and fitted with Tomei cams and valve springs, and Naprec valves. The car's differential has been upgraded to the ubiquitous R200 unit, and surprisingly, all this drivetrain retrofitting was accomplished with the stock S30 front and rear subframes-evidence of the far-reaching history of Nissan's RB line and Fairlady/Skyline commonalities.

By Luke Munnell

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