240Z: Datsun Suisse SA Triple Weber setup and 1973 test report!

The recent lot find, constinsting of many datsun Switzerland items, also contained a very cool one-off thing: A set of triple Weber carbs complete with Intake manifold and linkage. But the really cool part is that it came including an internal test report by Datsun (Suisse) SA, indicating that this very setup was used by Datsun Suisse SA (DSSA) to test said setup on a company or employee Datsun 240Z.

The hand written notes are written on a DSSA “Internal report” sheet. something rarely seen alone. The date noted says June 1973The text on the front says (transleted loosely):

Test performed on 240Z, with 9’806km on the odometer
Triple webers with valve play 0.10/0.15. Cylinder head minus (1mm), “Super” fuel

On the straight between Bremgarten / Wohlen (through the Forest), the max speed is short above 200 km/h
Dietikon bis Fahrweid (down), short above 210 (km/h)
Uetliberg, fourth corner in the 3rd gear, without jerking above 40km/h
At slow speeds, acceleration is possible in 2nd gear below 1000 rpm
Theoretically, with big tires, 240km/h should be possible
Attention! Fuel nozzles are not the same in the three carbs (Backfire), probably better to mount the small one son all three carbs.
Fuel consumtion seems rather improved compared to the original carbs.
The straight road between Moudon-village entrance and Moudon industrial area – slightly downwards – allows slightly above 220km/h until village sign Moudon.

On the back you find a sketch of the setup and settings, including the following note:

Payerne, from cemetery direction village, = 190km/h at village sign.
Back = 160 km/h at the cemetery
Temperature 25°C. Only driver with full fuel tank.

Looking closer at the setup, there are three Bologna (italy) made Weber 40DCOE24 type carbs.

We were guessing the intake manifold, based on the “C/T” and then “London” cast marking we concluded that it might be a Janspeed UK manifold.

It looks like some kind of “Datusun competition” derivate manifold. I forgot to take a picture from the bottom side, but it looks pretty “rough”. Either somebody modified it a bit later, or the factory removed the casting remains really just rudimentary. At least this is what it looks like.

However the 1981 Janspeed catalogue has an additional “bridge” between ports 3 and 4. so we’re not sure. It might just be that there was a design evolution between the 70ies and 80ies on these intakes, or it was maybe a completely different brand.
Looking closer, the ones in below catalogue photo also seem to be slightly longer than the ones in the photo. but the casting seems to fit (i don’t have a detail photo of that)

It is however very likely they used Janspeed, as it is rumored that DSSA had a loose relation with Janspeed and used to test their products on a variety of cars in switzerland.

In case you’re wondering, these are the part numbers of the Janspeed Weber triple DCOE intake manifolds and next to it you can find the prices (excluding VAT) in UK pounds £:
           

UPDATE:
According to this post here: http://www.turbosport.co.uk/showthread.php?t=211869 the C/T Marking refers not to Janspeed, but to a London based tuner called “Conversion and Tuning”:

Here’s a bit of background information and the below sales brochure (With some datsun parts, but nothing Z-related) from 1971:
https://mk1-performance-conversions.co.uk/conversion_tuning.htm

As far as i know, Weber (or some reseller, maybe even DSSA itself) homologated a twin DCOE setup for the swiss market at some point, but i haven’t yet investigated in that direction and still need to find out more. I know it’s a pretty common setup over here.

It’s a nice piece of history of DSSA and the “scene” back then. I love the handwritten notes, and i’m happy to know they found a very good home, and will end up in a nice car, after beeing hidden for so many years.