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I will report back to what I am getting out of these wires later this evening. I will also double check the connections and clean all terminals carefully. I will inspect all wires for fraying and damage. I may have a spare MSA alternator in my parts bin. I could just swap that in to see if I get a different result. Car has never really had any real electrical issue since I purchased it in 2008. Had a light stalk issue once, but that turned out to be a bad connection that Dave helped me troubleshoot. Good times.

There is no lamp on a 71. On the original 71 alternator, it would be a field wire and alternator neutral on the T plug going to the external VR. Since the car is modified, the field wire is jumpered to the ignition wire, and the neutral wire is jumpered to the battery wire.

I don't know 1971 but on a 1976 the charge lamp lights when the key is turned on aa a circuit and bulb check. It grounds through the alternator then tunrs off when charging exceeds battery voltage. It should be battery voltage with the key on and the plug unplugged.

The signal wire should have battery voltage. The ignition wire should have no voltage with the key in OFF, and it should have battery voltage with the key in ON.

Thanks, and that is interesting. Google Translate serves its purpose well. Is there a Japanese Wikipedia? Any thoughts on where that "new" N42 casting comes/came from? There is a disconnect between ATK Vege (which seems to be a combined company, looking at the logos and the descriptions) and the KSS that comes up through that Japanese ATK link. 1936 versus 2003. North America versus Japan. From the web pages - https://atkvege.com/about-atkvege/ About ATKVegeATK North America is the largest private label Crate Engine Remanufacturer in North America. Partnered with our sister company, VEGE de Mexico, ATK VEGE has a history of Remanufacturing that dates back to 1936. https://atk.co.jp/company/ name KSS Co., Ltd. Representative President and CEO Keiji Okawa Established August 2003 Capital 3 million yen

Japanese company. Try searching in Japanese: https://atk.co.jp/rebuild/

NO I have not done that yet. I will pull that plug and check the quality of those fittings this evening. Had to run to work this morning despite my need to fiddle with cars. What kinds of voltage signals should I be getting from those two wires?

12.3 volts while running tells me that there is a problem. However, diagnosis is not complete. Have you verified the signals for the sense and ignition inputs? Those are the two wires going to the T plug on the back of the alternator.

Don't overlook the winding wire. At the T plug on the back of the alt. One Sense wire, One Lamp wire. The Lamp wire needs good connection. I've had the spade connector get loose and lose conneciton. No charging.

I think that the poor painting is probably becuase they are rebuilt engines. It's interesting that there is so little on the WORLD WIDE WEB OF DATA about ATK. Not even a Wikipedia blurb. https://atkvege.com/about-atkvege/ https://www.lkqcorp.com/?s=atk https://www.lkqcorp.com/blog/2011/12/14/atk-vege-engines-yamato/

yup, that is what I am thinking. 12.3 volts while running is telling me my alternator is clearly not working. Well that is what I am thinking.

A good battery will be about 12.6-12.8 volts; 12.2 is very low and indicates it might not hold a charge. A good alternator will read 14-14.5 volts.

That's good info. The OP was in Lithuania. I wonder if Tony D's explanation was half right except that maybe Nissan produced modified castings for sale to rebuilders or for their own rebuilds. Tony D suggested that the ports were welded and machined but the casting sprue suggests that they were cast that way. I'm no expert but I don't think that you could cast molten aluminum over old castings and get a good bond, besides trying to match properties and the post-machining involved.

Greetings friends!!! Been a while and I have been having lots of fun with kids and fishing and what not. But the Z car has been on a roll lately. I replaced the carbs with more carbs. and I finally have it back to running like a champ. In fact it is running and revving like it used to. Happy days! The peasants were happy! Having said that. I took her for a spin the other day to keep fresh fuel running through the system and just generally keeping it running. Old cars hate to sit. As you all know. Important factoid: I keep my cars on a battery tender any time they are not running to preserve the batteries. I pulled back into the drive way and light footed it and stalled it. After a bit of laughter, I tried to start it and had the annoying clicking of a dead battery. Which is strange as I keep the car on a battery tender all the time. I hooked up the charger for about 2 hours and then the car started fine and I Pulled it in. Now the plot thickens. So something was up. My thoughts are that the battery is about 5-6 years old and it is not unusual for a battery to be DOA after 5 years in the Houston heat. I left it on the battery tender all night and in the morning I disconnected it and it read 12.2 volts. Which seemed a tad low. But maybe not. So as I am oft to do, I started overthinking the issue and that leads to, (more times than not), spending money. Since I was using the original starter that came with the car still (it had never let me down), I talked myself into thinking that the solenoid may be going bad (even though those are usually working, or not, no clicking issue), so now would be a rather handy time to replace that old grimy and dirty Z starter for a shiny new gear reduction starter :) And since I bought a new starter I decided to go ahead and buy a new battery as well while I was at it. Surely that would solve the issue. Well a week later and both were procured and installed. First let me say the gear reduction starter is the coolest sounding starter EVER. Sounds like you are about to start a 1000HP Big block Chevy. LOVE it. Car ran beautifully and started each time. Fast forward to today. I was going to drive in to work in the old gal to bless those in the NASA area with something besides a black or grey SUV to look at. Again this morning I disconnected the batter tender and it started just peachy. But I started to think about many things. There was no reason for my battery to really die before. I had replaced everything BUT the alternator. So just to verify, with the car running, I whipped out my multimeter and checked the voltage of the battery. (I checked it by attaching the multimeter to the positive post and the negative post) With the car at a rock steady 900 rpm, the battery read 12.3 volts. When I revved the engine it read 12.3 volts. It would flicker to 12.4 volts. Now I am thinking my alternator may not be charging. It is my belief that a running car should put out north of 13 volts from the alternator. I am running an old MSA 60 amp alternator kit. My plans going forward are to start up the roadster and see what its alternator puts out while running as a sanity check. Any comments?

Over on hybridz there's a thread of an N42 with round ports and the bung on the plug side of the head. The thread does mention ATK which this engine has a ATK sticker on it. HybridZIdentify this N42 head - round port???Alright L series engine gurus - need help. identify this head! Its a N42 head, but it has external oil squirters for cam and ROUND ports! And one bracket on the side that is not common on L series...

Its been about 4 days and it still keeps time, so I guess it was the bad cap on the working one that didn't keep time.

Any recommendations for quality parts: 160 degrees F thermostat maybe Mishimoto brand Alternator belt. Mechanic says the one installed could be sliding and i should get a tighter fit. Pcv valve

Yes it is. 918 Orange is the new Black. Lol

Awesome. Thanks!! And your prolific use of pics and documentation has helped me on numerous occasions. Keep up the good work!! I'm currently working on a set of carb air cleaner attachment hardware stuff based on a sketch of yours from years ago. 😊

Colour matching is really important.😎

Hey CO, #6521 did originally have a condenser in all four locations listed above. Funny that two of your four pics above are of my car. The pic above with no condenser on the alternator, was from about 10 years ago when I pulled it to do some engine detailing. Prior to the detailing it did have a condenser there, but it was not connected. At the time I just left if off when I re-assembled alternator. Here's a before & after pic. Mystery solved, Lol.

ALSO, the original painted block has no paint on the waterplugs! (AND many other contact points, see pic in above reply) Who sees more differences.. (Besides the sensor welded stud near the sparkplug 5 hole.)

I asked myself if it's normal that there is paint within the oilfilter cavity, but my 1979 N42 has it also.. BUT.. There should NOT be any paint on the contact surface of the oilcardridge !! 😀 so that new engine is a fake?? Blue paintwork also does not look as if it's 40+ years old! (I got a new painted block in my garage under a cover and was painted new in 1990.. it does not look that fresh! AND It was under a thick cover all these years! )

Here a pic of my euro N42 head and N42 engineblock.. (Year is 1979.) @Zed Head I often see those gasket and oilseal sets for the L24-L28 engines, they have round, square and diamond shaped exhaust outlets so i'm not surprised to see those round ones. (The diamond called one is a hexagonal exhaustport.)

Looks like N42 to me. I might be incorrect