Nacks

Hi, Spot on wa5ngp. The gauges run on about 7 volts. I'm 95% sure the regulators are in each of the individual gauges. It's been a while since I last had one apart. Then again, if they're both doing it in unison, that would indicate just the one regulater. Hmm. Pull a gauge out, there'll be a set of contacts in there that might not be making contact properly or is just plain old. Just be really careful if you open the contacts up to clean them, make sure you don't bend the arms of the contacts as this will affect the spring tension and mess up their voltage setting. I've had success with almost-worn-out emery paper eg. 800 grit. It slides easily between the two contacts and cleans them up really well. Try to get the contact faces as smooth as possible to minimise arcing, which in turn will wear them out faster. Assuming they're not beyond salvation anyway of course. I'll have a look at a couple of gauges I've got here and see which one's got the regulater in it. Watch this space. Good luck.

Yep, Arne's absolutely right.

I don't recommend that everyone do this for their old car unless they're already having trouble with the starter circuit and they can prove, through diagnosis, that a relay will cure the problem. It was a simple solution in this particular case that stopped Spieg16 from selling his car. That's a pretty good result I reckon. Sure, the ignition switch might have been the problem but people who've come to me with car trouble, when faced with either: a) replacement of a relatively expensive component that MIGHT fix the problem or paying for the labour to find and replace the cause, or fitting a much cheaper alternative that WILL fix the problem and stop it from happening again, will go for fitting the starter relay every time. They just want their car to work. I fitted a starter relay to my car about 8 years ago and it's still going strong. The relay draws about 0.5 of an amp instead of the normal 20-30amps. I don't expect to have starter problems caused by voltage drop or ignition switch, as my ignition switch has about 2% the load through the Start contacts as it did prior to fitting the relay. I've also fitted a relay to my thermo fans, and two to my headlight circuit and EFI fuel pump circuit. I love them. They beat the hell out of wasting my time locating something that's probably caused by old age anyway. Plus they take the load off expensive components or allow me to fit components that weren't around when my car was made eg. 100/90watt quartz halogen headlights and twin thermos. I've seen so many posts that suggest replacing an expensive component with little or no consideration given to troubleshooting the fault, ESPECIALLY with regard to electrical problems eg. "my battery is going flat" and responses like "replace the alternator/regulator/fusebox/battery/insert-expensive-part-here" with only a basic description of the problem. All I can suggest is to get a second opinion before you spend the money on something that may not fix the problem. Please don't misunderstand this post. I'm absolutely not interested in flaming anyone, trying to win a pissing contest, pointing the finger or trying to provoke an argument, I've just lost count of the number of people who've said to me stuff like "my battery went flat so I replaced it, then it went flat again, what do I do now?" without talking to me first. I simply just like helping people and if I can contribute, I will. As does everyone else I hasten to add. Nacks

Hi, no worries, glad to be able to help. I haven't been around too much lately sorry. I presume, from your last post, that it all went well?

Hi, "i guess my questions is...whats the max voltage i can send to the battery? before its too much. also does anyone know how to test amperage from a voltage tester? all the settings i put it on read OL except for DC volt settings" The alternator's current output is self-limiting eg. a 55A alternator won't put out more than it's maximum 55A. Your regulator SHOULD limit the system voltage to 14.4V DC. Anything higher than that will do cute things like boil a battery dry with acid subsequently leaking on to the paintwork, plus it'll kill the battery stone dead. It'll also blow headlight and brake light globes and possibly hurt your instruments/gauges, electric fuel pump, wiper motor etc. etc. As for your tester, most voltage testers will only pass a couple of amps maximum but your alternator is capable of generating at least 35A, maybe up to 55, so I suggest you limit your concern to the output voltage and try to see why it isn't charging. You'll sort out any current output issues (assuming you don't have a faulty alternator that isn't capable of generating it's maximum current output) by first fixing the voltage regulating issues you've mentioned. It's also very easy to blow an alternator by running the car without a battery connected so I certainly advise against trying that. Sorry I can't give you any specific advice on what to connect to what, your Z probably has a different charging circuit to the ones I've seen here in Australia and me making suggestions might fry your wiring or even blow your regulator or alternator. Your best bet's to take it to someone who knows what they're doing. It's really easy to turn an inexpensive operation into a very expensive one by blowing electrical components. Hope this helps, Nacks

I'd used Metal Kings for about 7 years, in my experience they didn't wear out the rotors and, when they got hot, they just got better and better. First usage from stone cold was pretty ugly though, but after that, they were great.

Is the fusebox heating up? If the fusebox IS overheating, you might have some high-resistance connections in the fusebox itself. If that's the csae, the fuse would be melting due to high temperature, not blowing due to high current draw. The headlights will still work as they're on a separate circuit.

One more thing, do you have anything else hooked in to the tail light/dashlight circuit, like a stereo? That MIGHT be tipping the fuse over the edge and making it blow too.

It doesn't sound like a classic short circuit to me, considering the circuit works fine, with all globes running, for around 15 minutes before the fuse actually blows. What sized fuse do you have in the fusebox? If it's too small for the load that's put through it, it'll blow. The external lights will draw nearly 2 amps of current in total, add around 1 to 2 more for the dash lights and that tells you what sort of current a normal tail light circuit draws. If you're running a 5amp fuse, it'll be running pretty close to it's maximum whenever you've got the tail lights on. If you have a 10 amp fuse installed and it's blowing, there MIGHT be a problem. Your external globes should be 5 watt, you might want to check them to make sure you don't have higher wattage globes (eg. 18 or 21 watt) installed. The higher wattage globes will draw more current, which could be blowing the fuse. In Australia, the stoplights and taillights use a twin-filament globe behind a red lens. One filament's a 5watt and the other's an 18 or 21 watt. The turn signals are a separate, 18 watt globe behind an orange lens. I'm not sure how the rear lights are run in the U.S. but you might want to check the globes and make sure they haven't been installed incorrectly, using the brighter, higher-wattage filament when you flip the taillight switch. If you know someone else with a Z, compare their rear globes to yours and see if there are any differences.

You could always fit a floor-mounted dip-switch, they're unobtrusive and work perfectly. Pretty much any old Ford or Chev one would do. They've all got three terminals on them, one for the feed from the headlight switch and one each for high and low beams. Thought this might help someone in the future.

I use a relay on my starter motor circuit, there was a problem with voltage drop and the relay fixed it right up. I've also got one on my EFI fuel pump circuit. Basically, anything that draws a lot of current could benefit from a relay. Wipers, heater fans and turn signals wouldn't (IMHO) really benefit from a relay unless they're exhibiting problems ie. wiper motor running slow and you've eliminated all other possible sources of the problem.

I just checked the King Springs catalogue, the part no's are different for the 240Z and 260Z. Guess I'll just add them to the pile of Z stuff I've got

Well, I've given all four struts to Toperformance to have the adjustable platforms and progressive springs installed. Just waiting to get them back, should be ready early next week. Bang for buck, I haven't found anything that matches this setup. I've asked them to adjust the dampers to suit the spring rates. I can't wait. Watch this space for pics. By the way, anyone interested in a set of used King springs, 175lb front/180lb rear linear rate units? I'd probably want around $80.00 for them.

I didn't ask them at the time, my guess is that it doesn't have any castor/camber adjustment. I was thinking about asking them if they could offset the hole in the top plates so that I'd have at least SOME camber adjustment, same way early Commodores for example do it. I guess doing that would affect the castor a tiny bit though. Yeah, adjustable camber would be pretty cool. If you're really keen, you might be interested in these? http://www.ground-control-store.com/products/description.php/II=151/CA=93 They're $299.00USD but I'm not sure if that price is for one unit or one pair.