FastWoman

Gary, you'd love a home renovation project we've just taken on. It's got 1930's 14 ga wiring made of a depression-era sort of anemic copper alloy such as I've never seen. It has 4 receptacle and lighting circuits fused at 15A (correct), 20A, 25A, and 30A. Yikes! Even more remarkably, the wiring was submerged in salt water in both 1933 and 2003. It's amazing the house is still standing. I've seen worse. I remember once taking on a 70's era Cutlass with aluminum foil stuffed in the fuse panel. The wiring harness was a melty mess. But yes, I agree. You don't get more ampacity with heavier fuses. You have to have the heavier wire to go with it. My main motivation for replacing the fusible links was corrosion and rot, combined with my inability to find replacement fusible link assemblies. (The mounts on mine were broken, and they were just hanging on the ends of the wires.) The ampacities remained the same, except for the alternator wiring, which I upgraded a couple of gauges.

Goodyear makes an EZ Coil. It's a stainless steel slinky thing that goes around the exterior of a hose and forms a kink-free bend up to 90 deg. I found that 90 deg was sufficient to make the required bends, so long as the hose wasn't strung too tightly. http://www.goodyearep.com/productsdetail.aspx?id=16154

^^^ I agree. Except that a fusable link can also corrode and arc.

The Speed Racer car won?! Geesh, it looks utterly stupid.

Any box will work. Some are more weather resistant than others.

Every now and then someone will strip off all their EGR equipment. Maybe you could buy it off of someone. I know that the EGR makes a huge difference in the running of some engines. I don't know whether this is true of the Z's L28.

At least in my '78, the rotor points roughly forwards at TDC. (Does yours?) I bet the PO just put the wires on wrong.

See this thread... http://www.classiczcars.com/forums/showthread.php?t=35588 I think my MaxiFuse blocks cost something like $25 each. They're sort of pricey -- a bit of money for the bling. However, they're still working great. My car lives outside for the time being (looking forward to living in a garage), and the fuse block gets rain through the hood vent. It's not complaining. I have a piece of clear packing tape over the top to shield most of the rain exposure. This was a great upgrade. If I had it to do over again, though, I think I'd mount the fuse blocks on the firewall by the battery, where they would be better protected from the weather.

Zealous, my fan was about that close to my radiator when I upgraded to a 3-core in my '66 Mustang. That motor didn't have a fan clutch, but of course when the 280Z fan clutch locks up, neither does the L28 (effectively). Anyway, long story short, I went for a long victory drive with a car load of friends and started hearing an occasional "ting." I said, "I think I have a problem," and my passengers insisted, "No, there's no problem. Just keep driving." About when I said, "No, I really think...," all hell broke loose. The (metal) fan blade sliced into the new radiator, and steam and coolant flew everywhere. It was a looooooong tow back into town. Yeah, I'd look for a bit more spacing.

Knarf, work backwards from the fuel pump. Does it get power but not run? If it doesn't get power, do you at least have power at the connector at the firewall? If not there, do you have power at the fuel pump relay? If not, is the relay tripping? Do you have power to the relay? Etc., etc. There's no "usual" failure point. You just have to trace the circuit down until you find the problem.

Yeah, but that's with a Datsun-styled clamp, not with a worm-gear type band clamp.

... or if you want to roll your own, read deep into this thread of mine, and you'll learn all about maxifuse upgrades AND headlight relay upgrades in a '78 (probably very similar to your '77): http://www.classiczcars.com/forums/showthread.php?t=35588 The schematic for my relay modification is in post #35. Total cost was less than $10, as I recall. I have to agree that splicing into the wiring harness is completely safe if you do it well. Crimp your connections, sweeten with solder, and then heat shrink. If you do this, your connections will actually be superior to the original Datsun factory connections. If you just do crimp connections, your connections will be similar to Datsun's, except fresher. If your idea of splicing is shaving off the insulation, twisting wires together, and then wrapping up with electrical tape (or even using wire nuts), then definitely DON'T do it.

Zewald, that's great! I'm happy you're running again! Knarf, the fuel pump relay and the fuel pump CONTROL relay (two different relays, both controlling the fuel pump) are located inside of that black steel box on the inside of the passenger side fender -- the same steel box that the two fusible link assemblies are mounted to. You can get inside the black box by removing the black plastic cover on the backside. The starter doesn't have a separate solenoid. It's just part of the starter. If you haven't found it yet, you can download a free factory service manual for the '78 Z. Better still, if you look for it, you can find a used paper one on Ebay or Amazon for $80. It's a lot easier to use than a file on a computer. Something like this, except for a 280Z, not a B210: http://cgi.ebay.com/1978-Datsun-B210-Factory-Service-Manual-/350440614543?pt=US_Nonfiction_Book&hash=item5197e36a8f

I think the weak links in the headlights are the switches. Zs-Ondabrain (Dave) refurbishes them. He also makes some relay kits available through MSA. Generally speaking, the harness wire should all be fine. There are a few trouble spots. For instance, if you trace out the heavy white and white/red supply wires, you'll find them factory spliced inside the wiring tree. Those splices can get corroded after a while. They're done with crimps and wrapped with electrical tape. The alternator output wire is also undersized for the later alternators. Most of the electrical connectors in your engine compartment should be looking pretty crumbly and corroded by now, but those can mostly be replaced with new connectors from Ebay. Most are Bosch style 2-conductor connectors. Your throttle position sensor is a 3-wire Bosch and is available in wrecking yards off of more recent cars like Volvos. I don't know where you'd find another AFM connector, but that should be in much better condition anyway (less engine heat exposure). All your other connectors should be pretty solid but could probably use a good cleaning/lubing. You might consider upgrading your fusible links to maxifuses, as those get pretty crumbly too.

Wow! Beautiful work. I love the blue/white combination.

Dunno about the filler tube. Mine (on a '78) seemed to be made of nitrile rubber or some similar high performance synthetic rubber -- pliable, no oxidation, and as I recall, not even any indentations from the band clamps. I was quite surprised. I did reuse mine. I hope that decision won't bite me back. You definitely don't want the fiberglass, though.

I just tighten until the clamp presses into the rubber by the thickness of the band. I don't know if that's a good guideline, but I've never had any problems.

Do you have a copy of the factory service manual? It lays out pretty clearly where all the vacuum lines connect. The part in your picture is the BCDD ("boost controlled deceleration device??"). It's a doodad that drops your engine RPM gradually when you come off the pedal, by introducing additional air. If it's like most BCDDs, it's defunct now and has no available replacement. The good news is that it's not really that necessary. What Zed said about your fuel pump cutting off. I found on MY car that if the mixture is off, the idle can become unstable. Perhaps that's part of your problem. Or perhaps your idle is just too low. You can adjust it with the big screw on the top of the throttle body. Another possibility is that your fuel pump shutoff switch shuts off at too high an air flow. You can open up the AFM, loosen the potentiometer arm, and move it JUST A TINY BIT to pull it a bit off of the fuel pump shutoff switch. You can also try screwing in the idle mixture adjustment screw on the lower outlet side of the AFM (possibly behind a rubber plug). That will richen your idle mixture AND simultaneously draw more air past the AFM vane, thus pulling the potentiometer arm away from the fuel pump shutoff switch.

Yeah, all we watch is the news and Netflix movies. This car warriors stuff sounds pretty awful. I presume they either mod the car beyond recognition or wreck it? Either way it would be sad to watch. But that seems to be the vogue, doesn't it? In way too many movies, there will be a fine classic car in somewhat of a co-star role, and inevitably they end up trashing it. It's always hard for me to watch. I try to imagine that they're kit cars.

Very cool, Dave! It's a beautiful install. I think the PERFECT system would also have some sort of transponder for security. I think some security systems have digital transponders that enable the ignition when the driver sits in the car. That would be the ultimate package. I can see how a lot of people would want to do this mod, and I think the $170 price is reasonable. Not my cup of tea, though. I'm old fashioned, and I enjoy turning the key. Maybe someday everyone will have remote control and pushbutton starting, and then my key ignition will gain a bit more of a unique "cool" factor -- sort of like the genuine hand crank windows.

I don't remember the way the '75 is wired. It was long ago that I owned one. My '78 has two relays in that circuit. One is the fuel pump control relay, which shuts down the fuel pump if the engine dies. It's a rather complicated relay that could only be replaced with an OEM part. The other is the actual fuel pump relay (which is controlled by the fuel pump control relay). It's a very simple relay that could be replaced with a Bosch-style SPST relay, available at any auto parts store for maybe $5. (You'd have to change connectors.) I'm hoping it's the simpler type that's giving you headaches.

Outstanding! I look forward to seeing photos!

For the 240, 260, and 280... plastic interior panels!

Or for older folks... 62 = too old 41 = too young 53 = just right

I don't think that shock absorber is that critical an item, but I could be wrong. I recently realized you can completely disassemble the AFM using the screws on the waffle side of the AFM. The screws appear as little bumps, liberally covered in some sort of adhesive. You can loosen/remove the adhesive with carb cleaner or paint thinner. I've never had reason to take the thing apart, so I can't attest what would happen -- whether there are any exploding parts or such. From what I can tell, it appears the vane hangs on a couple of bearings pressed into the main body.