Quote Originally Posted by nzeder View Post
Great video - seen it before but good to watch again.

It is shame we did not get the Datsun 510 (aka 1600) 2 door saloon's cars here in NZ (what the BRE 510's were based on). Or the JDM (Japanese Domestic Market) Nissan 1600sss or 1800sss 510 coupes (different to the 2 door saloons, different rear window, rear 1/4's, C pillers and boot lid to name a few of the differences)

Talking about JDM only models it was also a shame very few know of or have even seen the Nissan KPGC10 Skyline GT-R. These were the first cars in the world to be badged as a GT-R and had a very good racing career locally in Japan. These Skylines won 50 races from 1968 to 1972 with 49 of them consecutive. This racing history has lifted these cars to legendary status in Japan. There was a little over 1900 of the first generation GT-R made in either 2 door hardtop saloons or 4 door saloons. The 2nd gen GT-R was even more limited in production with only 197 produced during their short production run. The 2nd gen was the last time Nissan use the GT-R badge until the R32 Skylines some 16 years later. These early generation GT-R used an engine that was an interesting piece of engineering.

The S20 engines were used in these early GT-R and is a pure race bread piece of kit. The have 4 bolt main bearing caps (2 come from the outside of the block into the side of the cap with the other 2 in the more common location. I have been lucky enough to have see a number of these visiting a friend in London who has 3 of the rare engines - there are only a handful of these engines outside of Japan. There were 2 versions of these engines. The Skyline version and the Fairlady Z version.

Yes that is Z as in Datsun 240z or more to the point the S30 chassis. I would love to own one of the Fairlady Z's that was factory fitted with one of these S20 engines - who wouldn't want the 240z body with a factory fitted DOHC 4 valves per cylinder 2000cc inline 6 cylinder with triple mikuni 40phh putting out 160HP in road trim and over 250HP in race trim. However with only 480 of these models produced (aka Z432 as they are known) they too have reached legendary status in Japan so finding an owner willing to part with one is hard enough and if you do you need very deep pockets -a good one will cost you more than $150K NZD before you think about moving it out of Japan.

Anyway here is video of the S20 engine running sitting where the accountants and Skyline engineering team did not want it - between the struts of the S30 chassis (aka same body shape as the Datsun 240z)

Thats great info! Thanks for posting.

Its amazing to think now, with Japanese cars enjoying such a strong foot holding in the US that when the BRE cars first ran in 1971, it was to build the brand within the market, as the Japanese car industry in the US at that time was a virtual unknown.