Installing a new fuse box/harness 76 280Z

[midnight-z]

I have a 1976 280Z with a cpu fuel injection

I am going to get started on my Z electrical issue :disappoin

the previous owner of my Z was a cheap azz when got the low mileage motor out of a identical donor he decided not get the complete engine harness and had it circumcised to save $50

and he did a twist and tape job :pirate:

the car was running good despite the work done then I replaced the fuse links and cleaned the engine bay soon after one of my fuses burnt out and smoke came from the fuse box and all my insterments gauges stoped working except

only volt and tack and fuel work

The fuse known as fuel gauge collaborator keeps frying

a week later the car did not start ever again since spring 2009

my car won't star or turn over or click so

I put a new alter , belts ,plugs, spark wires dizzy cap rotor and starter

:mad: I'm tired of this crap so I finally got a new modern blade fuse box with a 20 foot color coded labeled harness

a EZ wire 22 curcuit box beacuse I want to replace the engine and add elct windows and hid lights someday

I piled up a huge stash of goodies and odd pieces I was missing this whole year so i wana get the car runing when the Iowa snow melts in January

I want to do the entire car harness wires and rear light harness and upgrade the head lamps to a H4 lights color rice :bulb:

I have the black dragon harnesses in my stash to do it

so i need some advice kinda like the guy with a 73 Z doing the same thing

my z has fuel injct and cpu and large amount of wires and relays

Were should I start ?

I would like to do and exact replica of the harness

like cut the plug conectors and solder the new wires up to it????

basically chop it up to sections and solder them up with new clean connectors?

and would the amps for the new fuses have to be the same as the old ones??

[FastWoman]

I have no idea where you would start, but..

Yes, the fuse amps have to be the same, and the wire for each circuit has to be the same gauge or heavier.

The best advice I can give you is to use new connectors from this source:

http://www.vintageconnections.com/

Whatever connectors you can't find can be reclaimed from the old wiring harness with a bit of care. (It's tedious!) Make yourself a little tool to undo the catch clips on the individual connectors in the connector assemblies. The tool should be a stiff, flattened wire that you shove into the clip to release it. The connector will slide out with the wire from the back of the assembly. Hopefully you can buy new connectors to be crimped/soldered and inserted into the assembly. If not, carefully hold/secure each old connector, and spread its metal tabs, removing the wire. This can sometimes be done by jamming a small nail down the wire path, and it can also sometimes be done by spreading the tabs with tiny wire snips "clipping" between the tabs. Clean it in Tarn-X, and rinse in distilled water. Crimp a new wire into the connector, and sweeten with solder, being careful not to get solder into the mating part of the connector. Reposition the catch clip, and re-insert into the connector assembly.

Good luck! I'd love to see pics!

[dcompson]

Wow your job sounds difficult. I am in the process of replacing a fuse block which was cut out of my stock wiring harness. (77 280z) I found a fuse block from a 77 in good condition, and i have laid out all of the wires. Now i just need to match the wires and start joining.

Would also love to see photos.

Good Luck.

[ZCurves]

This sounds like a ton of work. I would say that your idea is good, but the successful execution of it might create even more issues. A while ago, I saw that there were some new OEM wire harnesses available, but they are $700 and up. I would think that you would be better off looking for a harness from a '76 and then solder new injector clips, etc. on. I am almost certain that if you posted to this Club and several of the others on the web that you will find your '76 harness.

As for the HID Headlights, I am also going to use the Black Dragon kit for my HID's, but I have found that the Black Dragon kit has too short of a run from Headlight Bucket to Bucket, so I will be extending the harness between the two. The kit is well made, so there should not be any issues for the OEM harness since it will do all of the heavy lifting for the HID's. I would make sure that you have a beefy run to the battery that is equipped with a Fuse or Breaker.

Good Luck!

[midnight-z]

Thanks alot I was wondering about the amps of the fuses and connectors

My dash harness is in great condition I think I will keep that the way it and just add on t several wires to it

the main problem is the engine harness was cut and twist and taped job it was miracle that the owner drove it from idaho to chicago then I bought the first one I saw since its rare in this Iowa region

the kid that drove cross country said if the car doesn't start to wiggle the fuse links but it always started and to be safe I replaced them

I will clean the connector from engine harness to fuse box and I bought new injector clips off ebay

I will hold off the on Hid and will do a H4 conversion first until I have $$$ for a Hid kit

I have bulbs and houses, black dragon harness ready

My heater hoses are dried shrivled and Mankey I replace those too ! and repaint my console center and replace the gauge lights with leds while the dash is off

I also want to add some heat and sound protection while I can with an adhesive matt

on to the fire wall

while I talking electrics has anyone done 4 speaker setup on their Z?