lighting issues...help us!

[Valerie1043]

I posted this elsewhere on here, but I figured it belonged in electrical...

Ok, so my boyfriend acquired a retired gt-2 class 1977 280z racecar. We are trying to get it ready to drive on the street for the spring and that means sorting through all of the work the previous owners had done. It looks like the car was thrown together for racing in a weekend. We have figured out much of the car and what needs to be in there for the street and what we can take out. If anyone wants to know more about the car let me know...its loud as heck and in decent condition. The problem we are having is with the lights. We put in headlights just to see if we are getting power and to see if everything works.

We have been working on this car for 6 days now and have tried a lot to get the lights to work. At first we had marker lights and no headlights. Then we had no lights at all. We now have headlights and high beams but no marker lights. We have changed the fusable links in the engine bay, all the fuses in the fuse box...which we hope are right since there was no fuse box cover to look at, we just replaced each fuse we took out with the same Amp fuse we took out..if anyone knows the fuse placement for a 77 280z we would love to know what Amp fuse goes where and what each is for...we also replaced the turn signal flasher unit under the dash by the steering column...the little round fuse...that also did nothing. We do not have a hazard switch, which we found could be the problem...one is on order tho. We did try to link wires together in the open end of the harness to get lights to work, which did work for a little while...with linking different colored wires, we got the marker lights to blink (the hazard lights to work)...and with other links of wires we got all the lights to blink, and it has been a mess, but we were getting close. After all of these linkings and little rays of hope...we went in friday and nothing worked at all. We have headlights and that is it. What could be the problem? Did we blow a fuse we dont know about? Or could the hazard flasher unit have went?

We took apart and cleaned the combination switch and turn signal switch and that seemed to do nothing. We cleaned all the end terminals of connections and put them back. We also do not have wipers. They worked before we started playing with connections and stuff, but now we do not have wipers either.

From all the research we have done, we have exhausted our possibilities. We now do not know what to do until we get the hazard switch so the correct links between the wires can be made. In the mean time is there anything else we can check? Any help would be greatly appreciated. We are about to rip out all the harnesses and buy wire so we can just wire what the car needs. If we did that last week, i'm sure it would be done by now. Please help!

-Val

[Sailor Bob]

Have you done a search in the electrical forum? I just did one and there are a number of threads on similar topics.

I have a 77, unfortunately I am onboard a ship right now on 1/2 hour Search and Rescue Standby - going home during the winter months is iffy. However I can tell you that a Datsun 280Z shop manual will be a great help for many issues, can't go wrong buying one. If I do get home I'll get a shot of the fuse box cover.

Good Luck

[Valerie1043]

we have looked on this site and a few others that he is a member of. We have pretty much done everything that we researched and are at a stand still now. We are waiting until we get the hazard switch to see what that does. And we do have a manual that I have studied for days.... I was hoping there was something that we jsut missed that could help. But until we get the switch I am going to keep looking through threads to see if I can find any other ideas.

And if you do get that picture you would be a lifesaver

[bigoak]

I just posted this in another thread:

This is from the '77 FSM.

You can download FSM's at www.carfiche.com

[Nissanman]

Fuse box covers.

If this car has been "modified" for the track, I don't envy you restoring everything to street trim:nervous:

[LostFreak]

First I wanna say thanks guys, I'm the other half thats been working on this car trying to get it road legal. I tried I dunno how many searches on this site and couldnt really come up with anything on the fuse box and you guys come back in 3 hours .

Nissanman: Its not gettin converted back to street trim, its gonna be a road legal race car, if there is such a thing , so far it seems like the only thing the PO cheaped out on was the wireing everything else is done very nicely (i.e cage bodywork and motor)

[zanthus]

Search the forum about cleaning your combo switch. That sounds like it might be the problem. Now if you don't have a combo switch thats an entirely different problem and that sucks.

[Valerie1043]

we actually cleaned the combo switch along with the turn signal switch. things worked until I connected too many wires together and I think I shorted something out. We replaced the fuses but I was wondering if it could be the hazard flasher unit..the one under the dash by what I believe is a trunk/hood release. Do they go bad? and if so where do we get one?

I just wanted to thank everyone for the quick feedback. the fuse diagrams are a huge help. we are now just awaiting the hazard switch to see it that can help.

[wal280z]

I'm not sure how much this will help in diagnosing electrical problems in your converted car, but here's something that's helped me a time or two....

http://www.classiczcars.com/forums/showthread.php?t=13131

(scroll down to post #13 for the diagram)

FWIW, it may help if you disconnect each connector, one by one, and inspect the contacts - clean all of them, half of your problems I have seen in my car where simple maintenance of cleaning the fuse box contacts and dirty connectors (hazard switch) takes care of the problem.

Good luck,

Wayne

[Valerie1043]

Thank you...we'll def take everything apart. We have tons of time now while we await our switch, so that will give us something to do so we feel like we've accomplished something ...thanks again.

[7277]

you will need the hazzard switch installed for the signals to work. the FSM has a lighting diagram for each electrical system in the car. replacement flasher units are available for turn signals and hazzards at any auto parts store for ~$3.00 each