H4LIGHTS

Did the seller give you an asking price for the car?

For future reference: Remove and replace one wire at a time. It helps eliminate any errors, yours or the PO's out of synch distributor/drive gear, etc.

If you do play fast and loose you might have something to lose.

Noted. But since I do not know you it is hard to tell what part of your thread is sarcasm when you state you are using 25 cent relays and; "what can I really loose?" I went to a car event last evening and watched a car burn. Attempted to start, loud pop, profuse smoke everywhere. The owner after exiting the vehicle and standing by the old school Toyota four door with his wife, GF, significant other(?) finally realized after a few moments that it would probably be a good idea to remove the baby from the car seat in the rear.

Twisting wires together does not make for great connections. It's OK for breadboarding the project but for the final install proper crimping or nice hot solder joints would be the preference. And please, no masking tape! Electrical tape at the least and preferably cold shrink or hot shrink electrical tape on those joints. Wire gauge really depends on how much current you are planning on passing through the circuit. Actuating the relay should not require anything very heavy but if the bulbs you are planning on using are high wattage, erring on the side of safety is better than making a heater circuit out of your newl loom. Sorry if giving advice on how the job should be done correctly touches a nerve. Maybe others can use the information when they decide to upgrade.

(hopefully, only) Your headlights at night on an unlit winding road on a moonless night at speed. Think about at least using a weather resistant relay since I'm sure you are going to locate these outside of the passenger area. It's amazing what the relay portion internally looks like on a cheap versus a quality known good name brand relay. (Lucas is not included on my quality name brand list) Make sure you do a professional job, ( correct gauge wire, solid insulated mechanical connections throughout, routing and loom attachments as safely as necessary...) keep it weather tight and fuse the circuit. Most of the inquiries I get after the fact are from folks that have done a cheap half-arse'd job and complain about their results, but still want a cheap half-arse'd fix.

If the testing station will allow it go for a pretest if you are at all worried about failure. Better to fail in a pretest than to fail and be marked as a gross polluter in the Cali system. Remember: Visual and Performance inspections both count equally.

You may be reaching a point where a dyno facility may be helpful in narrowing down the culprit of the 'hesitation'. Gas analysis and the ignition pattern(s) revealed on a scope while running at the magic 4500 rpm. [i'm betting rich mixture and ignition advance allowing for after burn. I've been behind Z's with a bluish flame traveling in the muffler/tailpipe] But if it is truly missing the dyno will help in localizing the area needing repair or adjustment.

That may be OK with sealed beams but with an H4 / replaceable bulb assembly, not a great idea. Even with a later 280Z with the inner fender shield you still have the issue of dirt and moisture. Even with sealed beams make sure to use dielectric grease on the three prong connectors. Keep us updated on how that works out.

When I was around 6 years old I found a plain white envelope out in front of our house with money in it, around $40.00. I took it into my mother and she checked with the neighbors to see if anyone had lost it. Turned out it was my friends grandmother who walked her two grandchildren to the park and the local elementary school and went right by our house most every day. The mother of my friend thanked me, the grandmother accused me of theft. She was very old and the money she had lost was for her 'prescriptions'. That still never dissuaded me from doing the same thing, this time a found wallet many years later, and making sure it made it back to its owner. Karma. Let's hope I've built up a reserve over time.

My personal favorite is the Narva XB3 for street applications. Originally designed for motorcycle applications, 60/55 watt in H4.

You have installed them?

Nissan used to make big rubber plugs for the cars sold outside the US but still had the stock rear apron. I put them on a 260 that I removed the shock bumpers from to fill the oval-ish holes. They were sourced from Nissan in the UK. I'll try to find the part numbers.

Hella makes good housings. Make sure you are getting the optimal voltage to the H4 bulbs (a relay harness helps in this regard). Use a good quality bulb. I have my favorites but do not want to turn this into an infomercial. Check alignment of the headlights to get the best visibility and the least annoyance to other drivers sharing the road with you. FWIW: All HID 'kits' are illegal and really do not work well in a standard H4 housing. There is just way too much stray light. All of the current 'kits' are sourced from China and the quality of components plus the spurious base modifications to the tube show really low QC. Some of the components exhibit famous brands and DOT compliance. Big grains of salt here. I have in the past tested a few DOT HB2 legal fluted lens housings and the coarseness of the fluting along with the more enclosed shadow cap do make them a better candidate for such a 'conversion', but still not the best way to go. From aerial views of all 'kits' the beam is bright but not well disbursed nor have the depth (range) associated with a quality product. Do not misinterpret what I'm writing. I love HID's, in OE applications. I've driven a lot of cars with them and they are addictive, especially the bi-xenon applications on Mercedes and Porsche.Great coverage on the low beam and unbelievable range and visibility on high, Truly set up for Autobahn. Over driving your headlights? Unlikely. Good luck. If you find something that you think is good post pictures.

That engine picture looks questionable for such mileage to me.