Captain Obvious

The design concept is three pulses per crank revolution. Right now it's just using a signal generator on the bench for proof of concept, but if I get energetic, I'll put a variable reluctor front end on it and connect it up the pickup coil on a distributor. In theory, it should work with points. All the math is set up for six cylinders and three pulses per crank revolution. I can get those pulses from either points, or the VR pickup in the later distributors. In theory. Haha!!

You got collets for the lathe? You might be able to run the bolt through the collet (head inside the collet body and threaded end sticking out). If you can do that, you can set your compound on the lathe for the angle you want and cut your point easy-peasy. You can do the same thing with a regular chuck (instead of collets), but collets are easier on threads because of the wide gripping surface. Chuck jaws have a tendency to dent the threads. They work, but it's easy to mess up the threads. However, if you've got an unthreaded shank on the bolt, it may allow a land to tighten down a 3 or 4-jaw. I doubt I have pics of that kind of operation, but I'll take a look.

Haha!! Yeah, if I put in some provision for vacuum advance, I've re-invented the electronic ignition controller for the n+1000th time!! Completely remove or lock down the mechanical and vacuum advance mechanisms in the distributor and do it with a little module instead. I'll let you know when I've reached the point where I'm willing to put this thing on my car and take it for a drive. Haha!

Wow. That needs to get back to O'Reilly's corporate. I don't do a lot of business with any of the stores, but that's pretty cool.

It looks like the top side of that sheet was uncoated (but rusty). Is the underside coated with anything? Paint? Tar? I'm thinking that maybe between a rust hump on the top side and maybe some coating on the underside, you're measurement is a couple thousandths too thick. It would only take five thousandths less to make that a 1mm thick sheet. In the end, however, I don't think it matters... People will (should) use what they can get, and although I haven't checked, I suspect finding 1.0mm thick sheet isn't the easiest thing to do in these parts.

And on a related note, I've whipped up a little electronic gizmo prototype that applies the mechanical advance in an electronic manner. Reads an input pulse train and effectively outputs a pulse train advanced with respect to the input. The curve looks like the stock curve with a couple adjustments to the numbers to make the math work out easier. 10 degrees advance up to about 1200 RPM Then 1.3ms of delay from 1200 up to 2500 RPM (which mimics the advance slope of the stock curve) And then caps off at 19.5 degrees above 2500 RPM Not sure there's any real value in what I did, but it was an attention diverting academic exercise. I think just that is worth something right now.

Thanks for that. So I'm assuming that 34 degrees was total timing? But on the dyno at WOT, that would be all mechanical, right? No vacuum. And our engines top out at just over half that for the "base" mechanical. Sounds low.

A wise man Eddie Murphy once said... "Every time they cure something it come back stronger."

Sweet. Now you're the resident drawing expert. I love it when a plan comes together! So what's up with the wing bolts and hex bass thingies? You got a pic? You can chuck hex up in the lathe easily... Just sayin'. And I can probably teach you how to cut metric threads. Probably. Old dog.

lmgtfy

I neither scoffed, nor expressed the sentiment of "temerity" in your work. Nor did I suggest you were selling anything or shouting "ain't I great". In fact, I myself took a different approach to my headlight relay upgrade design. And if someone were to ask ME "What makes your approach so novel or better than the other hashed out options that have been out there for years? What makes you think that your mousetrap is better? ", I would have a sound technical answer for them that would not include accusing the asking party of scoffing, expressing temerity, or the rest. But whatever. As for previous solutions? https://www.google.com/search?q=headlight relay site:www.classiczcars.com https://www.classiczcars.com/forums/topic/50416-75-280z-headlight-relay-upgrade/ http://zhome.com/ZCMnL/HeadlightRelays/JudkinsRelay.htm https://forums.hybridz.org/topic/91938-headlight-relay-for-260-280/ http://www.zhome.com/DaveRelay/DaveBuild/DaveInstruction.htm https://www.classiczcars.com/forums/topic/60198-240z-led-headlight-wiring/ http://www.danielsternlighting.com/tech/relays/relays.html

Well that's progress! It shows it COULD work right. Sometimes? Maybe? That's good news, right? So that full glow is "System Check Indicated". What does that mean? Does that mean "There has been an issue detected. Push the button to run a system check and we'll give you more information" ?

What makes your approach so novel or better than the other hashed out options that have been out there for years? What makes you think that your mousetrap is better? I think it won't work. The relay you're trying to energize with the current coming back from the filaments? I think that relay is going to sit there and buzz when you switch to high beams.

Looks fantastic!!! Bet you're crawling the walls!

HAHA!! I've met her... She won't take your crap! Enjoy the performance improvement plan!

Good point. I would certainly take the opportunity to replace the electrolytic caps and hope for the best. My statement about component level troubleshooting was beyond doing just that and going deeper into it. OP could probably pick up ten units off ebay, etc for the same cost as having someone troubleshoot and fix the old one. Hopefully ONE of those ten units actually works!

I'm very disappointed in myself for not suggesting something along those lines earlier.

Woot!

Agreed. Looks great! Next batch, get the hole centered. Back into my cave now. Haha!

Great progress. I'm assuming your A/C doesn't work. I'd bet the system is pretty much empty. On edit... But of course, it's prudent to try it though! Might get lucky!

Your test result sounds suspiciously like the AFM's built in 180 Ohm (ish) resistor. Are you sure you're measuring the correct terminals for the temperature sensor?

More great pics. Yeah, those blue blobs are tantalum caps and are probably fine. As for the rest of it, it looks pretty straight forward (easy for me to say, right?). Pair of analog multiplexers/demux, a counter to spin them through their paces, and a bunch of logic gates (AND/OR/NAND, etc), and a crystal to drive the whole thing. I'm guessing it's just a big ol state machine that cycles through eight states when the "start" button is pressed. Some analog conditioning on the front end for each channel, input mux connected to those to funnel it down to one signal as the counter counts to eight, a bunch of logic for the decision making, and an mux on the output side to direct the result to one of eight output transistors to drive each of the bulbs. Block diagram is pretty simple. So even though it's probably not that complicated, as long as replacements are available on ebay, I wouldn't get into component level troubleshooting.

Awesome pics! So the blacks are definitely the common connections. One black to the switch and one black to each side of the display cube. Looking at the traces on the circuit boards, each black to the side of the display cube is the common connection to four of the bulbs. So a total of three blacks. 1) Bank of four emitters on one side of the cube 2) Bank of four emitters on the other side of the cube 3) Switch It's also clear that the cube is a dumb device with no decision making entities inside . It's simply a box of bulbs and a switch. All of the decision making is done in the "Warning Module - Amplifier" box. All that display cube does is turn on a bulb (or bulbs) with power supplied from the warning module. So getting back to the original issue that @Car54280ZX is having... The problem is NOT in the display cube itself, but most likely resides in the warning module over by the glove box.

Haha!! Exactly! I sometimes think I can do some stuff. And then I watch threads like this.

The only color that makes me question the LED thing is the niveau ruite-sproeierreservior. Blue LED's weren't common in 1981. The rest of the colors could easily be LED. Can you take pics of the backs of the connectors on your display module so I can see the wire colors? I'll find that FSM page again and see if I can make heads or tails out of it.