electrical ghettoness from previous owner

[datsunson]

just got this z and it doesn't run. the previous owner told me he drove to work one day, and we he went to leave, it wouldn't start. so i popped the hood and found this and shook my head in disgust. i think these are relays(question 1) guessing he was trying to bypass something for a temp fix? the one on the left looks a lil toasted

next, there are some wires just dangling by the battery

[sblake01]

The first two pics are your fusible link holders. They actually look like they've melted(!) since they're supposed to be mounted with screws on the relay box that they are dangling next too. You've got a mess on your hands there!

[datsunson]

what rating links are suppose to go in there and what runs through these? it's a 77 280z at

[sblake01]

Red-50A, Black 80A.

[datsunson]

thank you! i'll mess with it tomm

[RogerZ]

boy that is ugly. Hard to believe someone would know so little about electrical connections and still be able to make something work.

[datsunson]

i hate doing things for the first time, takes so long. i'm thinking about fixing the harness, solder and heatshrink all problems. what are the gold electric boxes above the fuse box in passenger footwell? got a few more questions on what some components are w/ pics

[zbane]

I can help with the first two, not the rest however.

The first photo: The circled item reduces the buzz from the radio that is caused by varying current.

The second photo: Yes, that's a light.

[sblake01]

Z Bane gave you the first two. The third one, I have not a clue, nothing like that in my 78. The fourth one is the terminal block that connects the green wire and the red wire from the transistor ignition unit (in front of you fuse box) to the green wire and the red wire from the distributor. As far as the fifth picture, I don't think that's a good idea. You would need one 80 amp fuse and three 50 amp fuses and heavy enough guage wire to carry the current and those plactic holders would most likely melt.

[datsunson]

i've got 4 of them, one for each link w/ 50A and 80A fuses. the casing is metal w/ 8 gauage wire. still no?

[hls30.com]

The third one is an factory resistor I believe it is part of the flasher circuit-if you take it out and the blinkers don't flash...put it back

Will

PS, I would replace the cut up wiring with oem parts so that the factory troubleshooting guides work and are followable. Most of the cut up parts are available at the pick and pull, if you have trouble finding them in your area, I am sure some members(myself included ) would help you find the appropriate pieces as we visit the yards...I probably have most of that in my collection of 280Z parts...

Will

[TomoHawk]

You really should stick with the fusible links on that car, although the connectors look pretty bad. I'm surprised that it didn't catch fire from trying to run all that much current through "alligator clips?" He (PO) could've at least used spade connectors. Never use wires in place of fuses.

I think that you could consider the fuse link conversion (http://www.atlanticz.ca/zclub/techtips/fusiblelinks/index.html )

That one little black thing below/behind the glovebox is the tachometer resistor. (pg BE-5 of the FSM)