W180 Datsun 240z Lineage Points to M180 Engine

[Philip]

Hi,

I am new to this forum and have a few Datsun 240z's. I noticed some parts on Ebay that looked a lot like 240z valve train parts but they are from 1950 Mercedes so I am trying to understand the path from Mercedes to Datsun and I am hoping you can help.

I'll post photos in the next post on this thread so that you can see what I mean. It is clear to see that the Datsun Engines have descended from Mercedes.


Here is the path that I think the parts may have taken:

1. Mercedes 1940's-1950's: Mercedes M180 development Circa 1946 or earlier?

2. Prince Motor Company 1950's: Somehow, Prince Motors seems to have obtained the parts, licenses, design, possibly through the company Fuji Precision Industries who made the first motors for Prince in 1950.

3. Nissan 1966: The Japanese Govt. forced the merger of Prince and Nissan in 1966. Prince brought SOHC I6 technology to Nissan which was integrated into the I4 L16 engines that were fitted to Datsun 1600/510's in 1968 and the I6 L20 &L24 engines fitted to S30 (Fairlady Z in Japan & 240z in rest of the world in 1970).

 

[Philip]

 

[Giannis]

I wouldn't say that there's a lot you can do differently when designing a camshaft from scratch.

 

[Philip]

The shapes, dimensions,form and function are nearly identical.

It seems much more than convergent evolution or coincidence.

 

[Philip]

Anyone?

 

[Philip]

From British author Brian Long's book on Datsun 240z/Fairladyz:

 

[Giannis]

Damn what a find!