OR/WA state need help from you

[aldren260]

any one from PNW that can re wire up my 260z, purchased it from owner that swapped a 280z carbd motor in it and installed after market speakers. im new to the Z scene and clueless when it comes to wiring. 90% of the exterior lights work: head lights, turn signals, taillights (except the R brake light). dash lights and dome lights also in working order

im located in tacoma

problems:

messy wiring set up

spliced cut wires all over

heater not working (possible wiring issue?) only blows cold air

right brake light wont turn on when brakes are applied (not a bulb issue)

only gauge that works on the dash board are the fuel/volt gauge

i need some professional help or some one that could fix the issues for me, ill pay for your time and labor. or ill be forced to sell the Z and pick up a new ride

thanks

Edited January 7, 2011 by aldren260

[aldren260]

more pics

[Bruce Palmer]

Well, I suppose you can tell from the overwhelming number of people jumping on to offer assistance that this would be one of those ulcer causing projects that come along every now and then. Repeat after me, labor intensive, labor intensive, labor intensive......

Matching up someone with the skills and the desire to do it is going to be the trick. If that person might be close would only be a bennie. I'll run this by the 510 guys and see if there are any takers.

[SteveJ]

problems:

messy wiring set up

spliced cut wires all over

You could contacting vendors of used parts, such as Zcar Source or Zbarn for pricing on a dash harness, body harness, and possibly a taillight harness. Expect that to run a few hundres dollars.

heater not working (possible wiring issue?) only blows cold air

That is not an electrical issue. The only electrical component is the fan. However, the heater core could be blocked off from the cooling system. It could be clogged. The valve could be stuck closed. The clips on the control cables could have come off.

right brake light wont turn on when brakes are applied (not a bulb issue)

Was there an 1157 style bulb (dual filament) in the socket?

only gauge that works on the dash board are the fuel/volt gauge

If the speedometer isn't registering, that's an issue with a cable. If you are talking about the dash lights, that could be burned out bulbs, bulbs not seated into sockets, or sockets not seated into the gauges properly.

i need some professional help or some one that could fix the issues for me, ill pay for your time and labor. or ill be forced to sell the Z and pick up a new ride

thanks

Get acquainted with your nearest Z Car Club and find out where they take their cars to get worked on.

[Bruce Palmer]

You know, re-reading your description and some of the responses, I'm going to say your situation isn't as dire as you might think. You have a lot of stuff working so the visual messy is probably what needs to be chased and remedied. Check a local auto electric shop. As we all know these systems aren't very sophisticated.

Having an old car, you need to start accumulating some rudimentary electrical tools, a meter, and a connector assortment. Someone like a Tacoma Screw Products can certainly fix you up but there are others I'm equally sure/

That heater thing as has been stated, isn't electrical. You get hot water from the engine to the heater and the valve is open you should have heat. The valve is open and you don't have heat, the heater core is plugged. How many of you guys have ever seen an absolutely plugged heatercore?

Back to this, do you have access to a wiring diagram? Get one, learn the color codes for wiring color get a meter and go snooping. Find out what goes where and don't start cutting wires. Just checking what needs to go where and if it doesn't go there see to it that it does..... Then when you can say everything is hooked up where it needs to be the problems should be lessened one at a time.

One case in point is that rear tailight socket that isn't working. Is it corroded? Not all that uncommon on these old pots especially northwest cars. They make stiff wire brushes you can reach into those sockets and wail on the corrosion, then hit it with some dielectric grease and a new bulb and see what you have. If that doesn't work start working your way forward looking for a broken wire somewhere in that circuit. Ignore all the other wires you may be sorting through just the appropriately colored wires going to the socket.

That's half the battle when chasing electrical gremlins. Identify which wires may be the culprit for a certain problem and IGNORE the rest. They may turn out to be the culprits as you chase additional problems.

[Zs-ondabrain]

All great advice. I just responded to a private message from Aldren. Basically, let me finish a few small jobs around here and let me know what your schedule looks like for the week-ends and we'll start looking at the issues, one at a time.

Like Bruce said, sounds like most of the issues work but the mess makes it look overwhelming. we'll emilinate the extra wires, tidy up a bit and start getting it back to road worthyness, one issue at a time.

Dave

[Bruce Palmer]

Well, there's the answer. Dave's a Z guy and already plays around corraling electrons in thos funny little copper tube thingies. And he is in the Northwest.