straitsix

Wish there was more on this thread. You can clean the contactors as described somewhere on this sight, but you may eventually lose your lights while driving. Replacement switches (new) don't seem to exist, and salvage ones usually are just as weird. I am trying to find a way around the combo switch for headlamps/running lights, but no luck yet. I just shudder at the thought of a switch sending my Z to the abyss...

Mine is a ZX switch, which is a completely different planet. Sorry about my confusion. Though, I do hope you see my point about alloys and characteristics. Metallurgy is tricky, and materials in application are not created equal. Mechanical, chemical, and electrical qualities all can be manipulated through alloying. "Austenitic stainless steel" is just one crazy example... Thanks, good luck, and I hope you hit a superior specification.

I appreciate the time, effort, and thought you put into this.

Too bad for me it wasn't about the headlamp/running light circuit in a zx combo switch. Any thoughts --like that-- on my issue would be very much appreciated. --Then maybe me and the dogs can get back to driving...

Maybe "contactor tines" better describes the components I had a question about. The brass looking (I suspect an alloy) finger-like things that "spring" into location and complete the circuit when one turns the knob. Sorry about that, my experience has been that "springs" pertain to repositioning rather than helixes (ie., springs in pocket knives are linear). Regardless, the problem parts for me are the "brass things". They just look proprietary/custom to me. You have a line on these?

because I have been smelling it for fifteen years in my zx. I thought it was a connector issue, but splicing in another didn't change a thing. I believe you know your stuff, but how to get around the "metal fatigue" issue in the contactors without fabricating new ones? Also that amp issue is a factor in wrecking the contactor "pads"... Springs get tired, resistance increases, and then the arc starts welding high spots, etc. and so on... I know I would be REALLY interested in a "go around the springs" harness with alternate switch. Thing is, the night my combo switch failed, I think only the fact that I'm a welder saved me. It was funny though, when in the pitch black, cars kept "flashing" me to turn my lights on. Fortunately some saint figured things out and tailgated me along my way. I made it home, but it was a very strange trip.

and I agree that "simple" is not it. Please keep talking and thinking, and perhaps I will see the light --instead of an electrical fire? Ha, ha... Excellent point though, and thank you very much!

are in the problem part of the switch, as far as I can tell. I have them out and running through a small switch down in the dash "kick" near that weird vacuum switch (--why is that thing anyways?). Things went okay for a while, but the other functions seem to overwhelm the toggled circuit, ie. blinkers... I guess I am off the ground with three wires to the toggle, which can't be good, and explains some things I have yet to understand. Might be that four wires must be involved, but the combo switch ground feeds the other functions? Maybe an "earth" ground from the toggled circuit with allow it to function in isolation? Also the headlamp/running light circuit is "off, on, on on", so with an "off, on" toggle both sets of lights must be grouped on one side, but now I am seeing the need for four wires and things are making even less sense...

and might fail on a dark winding road. One night a police officer let me drive home with my hazards on --I guess the screwdriver modification impressed him. Presently I think there is another way, though it is more a "racer" solution than restoration. I just want my headlamp/running light circuit out of these tired old switches... The trick is simply a three wire code, and my experiment is not quite working yet. Any wizards out there?

The sun is setting on these combo switches, and if you're looking even for a salvage one, my point is made? What I want is to take the headlamp circuit out of there and run it through a toggle switch, running lights too. It can be done, but I would sure like some some electrical wizard to aid me.

My trip is the puzzle and the driving sensation. I can't imagine what a restoration must be like. I lived in Atlanta for about twenty years and Z-Car was my playground. I miss the original owners and staff as much as the place. Crazy how things change over time. Like good cars... I have a Toyota that just "sludged" at 125k. Talk about a let down.

and a computer is not what I had in mind.