When it comes to 240Z / Fairlady Z factory Suspension setups it might get a bit confusing. Especially if you don’t own an American Market 240Z. Information is rare and there are too many Options and a lot of missinformation floating around the WWW. I tried my best to put all Information together in this one post. It contains a ton of data which has been sourced from official JDM and USDM Manuals, Parts books, E-Fast, the original Microfiches, Option parts catalogues, official sales brochures and other trustworthy sources. Picture shows S30 suspension, scan from the Japanese Motorfan Fairlady Z Special book: As always i spent countless hours on this post and tried my best to get all the data correct. If you find any fault or have additional information, please let me know. And please ask before you copy my hard work! 1. General Information As you can see from the pictures above (and according to the Service bulletin vol 124 “introduction of the 240Z”), the suspension on all S30-chassis cars had an independant Strut type suspension with a hydraulic cylindrical multi-motion shock absorber and coil springs. Depending on the car version and market there were more or less (or thicker or thinner) additional stabilizer bars installed on the car and the specification of the springs and absorbers where different too. 1.1 Why and what Different Setups? In accordance to different Road conditions and different Markets requirements as well as different suspension loads depending on the equipment of the dififerent car versions and options, Nissan made a few different Suspension Setups. Here you can see different Car overall heights in the different JDM-market cars thanks to different loads and Suspension setups: I checked all the Manuals, all sales brochures and some japanese magazines and found following data for overall height of the car (which depends on the suspension setup, as the body is always the same). Not sure about the data in the norwegian Sales brochure, tho. Maybe a typo? Same for the swedish user manual info. probably they just translated the info without changing the specs to actual specs? 240Z Austria: 1283mm (Austrian sales brochure) 240Z Switzerland: 1283mm (Swiss sales brochure) 240Z UK: 1283mm (UK sales brochure) 240Z Norway: 1286mm?, correct is 1283mm (they copied data from US manual) 240Z Sweden: 1285mm? (Swedish 240Z user manual), wrong, correct is 1283mm (they most probably copied the data from US manual) 240Z Australia: 1286mm (From the Australien Microfiche CD) 240Z USA: 1285mm (Including Canada) (also = FIA Homologation Fiche 3023) Fairlady 240Z Japan: 1285mm (Including 240Z-L and ZG versions) Fairlady Z Japan: 1285mm (Including Z-L Version) Fairlady Z 432 Japan: 1290mm (Including Z432-R version) I believe the difference between 1285 and 1286mm in some countries which have the same suspension setup is just because of a rounding error in the calculation. Here’s an interesting Picture from Kats over at ClassicZcars. which is from the High-speed stability countermeasurement test document of the “final Euro” spec cars vs the Portuguese cars. As you might know the portuguese cars where a bit special compared to the rest of the european market. At least in the beginning of the Z-story. So the Portugues cars came with a “standard” (refered to the Japanese Z432) 1290 mm height, while the rest of the european cars came with the 1985 or 1983 spec height, depending on which specs you believe in… The tests mentioned above (more on that in a future separate story) resulted in (besides other changes) a different suspension setup for the European market, which is also mentioned in the 1972 Datsun “240Z introduction” Bulletin (See detailed specification changes also further down the story): To make it a bit more complicated, Nissan offered a variety of Options (which sometimes were the factory Setup in other markets) as well. Here’s a part of the USDM Sports option catalogue explaining the difference between European and American Springs (See orange box): Now they didn’t only Change the spring and damper Specifications but they changed the whole Strut housing design. So combining springs, dampers and strut housings from different markets will end up in a strange look, feel and handling of the car! Be Aware! Nissan sold the Euro-Spec II springs in USA with optional european strut housings only (See later) because of that reason! 1.2 Problem The main Problem is that today’s aftermarket replacement dampers and Springs are mainly for the USDM Model as it’s the biggest volume market, and in comparison, european and japanese (and other markets) models are relatively rare. So most People will put USDM springs and / or dampers into their non-USDM cars. Most of the guys don’t even know there’s a difference. I asked a lot of People what Setups they use and most People with European cars running USDM gear told me that the car looked strange, felt strange, had a weird ride-height or stance, etc. It can definitly work but it’s not correct! see solutions i found later on in this post 🙂 2. Springs 2.1 Original Manufacturer The Original Manufacturer of the factory Datsun 240Z / S30 Fairlady Springs was TORCO Ltd Japan, as seen on the labels originally attached to the Springs: Update 22.02.2018: It turns out i was wrong and the Manufacturer is “NISSAN MOTORCO LTD”, if you check the complete Label in the next Picture! (By user NVZEE ). Thanks for the Input! 2.2 RHD / LHD Spring specifications If you check the Data in the table (2.6) you might note that the front springs have different specs left and right side. Some sources say that the springs have different specifications for Right-hand-Drive (RHD) and Left-hand-drive (LHD) reasons to compensate the Driver position. That is clearly wrong – if you compare the spec-tables and partnumbers you will see that the same springs are used on the same side in both RHD and LHD cars. So the reason might be other weight distribution compensation like the Motor Position etc, i guess. Note that some “sports Options” use the same springs left and right in front. The rear springs are always the same for left and right! 2.3 Spring markings The Factory springs were marked with color stains to identify different specifications. In this picture (courtesy of Zhome.com) you can clearly see the markings on what appears to be new springs: For comparison, these are the color stains on my factory springs after 44 years. The markings are nearly invisible on the right spring, but thanks to the small color pigments still visible, i was able to identify my springs as factory EUDM Springs (Also known as optional “Euro Spec II” in the US-Market) Here’s a part of my JDM Service manual, explaining the different color marks for JDM Springs (See full list of all springs and known color marks in the complete table below): 2.4 Spring version explanation: Because differently equipped cars mean different suspension loads, Nissan made different spring rates for the different car versions. The standard 240Z S30 had two base sets, which could vary in the different markets. – Standard springs for Manual Transmission – Optional springs for Automatic transmission and A/C equipped cars (front only, rear were standard) Later cars (260Z, etc) had different springs again and additional Spring sets for the 2+2. here you can see the “standard” and “European” Spec rear springs in the original Microfiches. (Couretsy of Heiko from Datsun.ch, thanks for taking the pictures for me!). And here is the part of my JDM Service Manual explaining the front springs for the different JDM versions of the Fairlady Z (S30, HS30 and PS30). 2.5 Factory Options / Racing suspensions: European spec springs were sold in the US-Market as “Euro Spec I” and “Euro Spec II” Springs as an “sports option” due to the stronger spring rates, lower ride height and more sporty feel. The spec II Springs were only available with the European strut housing (lower spring seat mounting!). See detailed explanation at chapter 3.1.2 From another USDM Sports option catalogue the “Rally” and “Racing” Suspension kit including the springs and a complete coilover setup, which was also used in some works rallye cars, was offered: I wasn’t able to find anything about optional springs in Europe or the rest of the world, except Japan. Here’s a Listing of the Optional Springs (later sold as “NISMO”) in the JDM HS30 Sports option catalogue. Note that front springs are the same for Left and Right position!:Depending on the version of the catalogues the partnumbesr and specs vary 🙂 2.6 Complete 240Z Factory springs and options table. I made a table of all available data i found for factory and optional 240Z / Fairlady Z Coupe springs, with all the specifications i found in official documentation or by trustworthy sources, including spring specs, Colour markings, Partnumbers and which markets they were used in. Enjoy it 🙂 Click here to download the full pdf chart: 240Z S30 factory springs and options by www.JDMjunkies.ch 3. Shock Absorbers / Dampers / Struts 3.1 Strut Housing As seen in the Picture below (courtesy of Fabian, thanks!), the Strut housings were manufactured by AMPCO japan. The ones in the picture come from an 1972 USDM 240Z and has the nissan part number engraved alongside other numbers and notes: Note that i wasn’t able to find any marking on both of my car’s (1972 Euro Spec’s), but it may be that it just was invisible since one of them has fresh powdercoated strut-housings and the other one has a lot of rust and a ton of grease on it, so it may be that there was a text in the past. 3.1.1 Euro Strut housings. Euro strut housings have a distance from the lower mount to the spring mount perch both 24cm’s (or 34,5cm depending on how you measure) front and rear (Pictures by myself, from two swiss-spec cars. Also got confirmation from Andreas Carlsson in sweden that specs are same on swedish factory setup): 3.1.2 North american Strut housings: USDM (and Canadian) Cars came with a lower upper spring perch mounting position of only 21,5cm (Difference to euro is about 0.7 inch!), While the rear difference was measured by only 0,5cm which may be a measuringe tolerance i guess. (Left front, right rear) Partnumbers the same USD und EUDM Rear?? As the European springs would look and feel wrong on an USDM car and vice versa, Nissan USA sold the European spec (“sportier”) Springs as a sports option together with the European spec strut housings. The Sports option catalogue explains what we already figured out above: Here’s a comparison of the two struts. While the “how to hotrod your datsun” book, from which the picture came from, says that the difference is about two inches, according to my measurements and the picture above it’s only approximately 0,7 inches. But of course there might be the possibility of additional, even lower competition strut housings which i’m not aware off… 3.1.3 Other Market strut housings Unfortunately i have no spec for the other market cars but if someone has a genuine local market car and want to measure it and take a picture (front and rear) that would be great to complete this documentation! (Specially Australian and JP cars). This can be done while everything is installed on the car 😉 3.2 Original shock Absorber design (Strut inserts) The original shock Absorber Nissan used to install to the Z was quite different to what you see today: It was an “open” Strut insert damper design wich got installed together with the hydraulic oil directly into the strut housing. Picture courtesy of Heiko from Datsun.ch again, thanks!: From what i understoud these could be maintained, other than a “closed” shock cartridge which can not bee serviced. But the service manual clearly tells not to separate the parts and “Handle it as an assembly”: 3.3 Replacement cartridges Now i guess the handling of above original Design during maintenance / replacement was a bit tricky. So Nissan came up with complete replacement cartridges (like all...