Matthew Abate

Okay, all of my dashboard wiring is finished. The AILD-1 is being controlled by the OEM rheostat and dimming the lights. I’m a little disappointed that the LEDs don’t seem to come to full brightness. I ran into this issue with another PWM, but the guy who made this one said it can be trained, so I’m hoping he can help me figure out how to fix that. After messing around with a few different methods, I decided to secure it to the inside of the dash with adhesive Velcro. I made a separate harness for it that taps into one of the ground wires for the instruments and the fiber optic light module. The rheostat is completely isolated on the blue and green wires and it’s only function is controlling the PWM. The wires that used to go to the rheostat now go to a connector for that harness. Here are the instruments turned down to zero and the fiber optic light (and all the other lights) still at 100%.

I did a quick sketch of the wiring for the AILD-1 PWM. I'm waiting for a fuse holder in the mail and then I'll make a sub-harness for it.

Leaning that direction. Not at all! Super helpful. My car is an August ‘73 car so maybe I DO need 25370-E8701, but the console might not be original. My only remaining question is what did they do about the trim plate? Did they cut a hole in it? Was there an alternate one they used in its place that had a hole for the switch? Cutting the existing plate would be awkward as it has TWO impressions implying deleted switches, but you can only put one switch there. Maybe that impression is for a sticker with a Fog Light icon, similar to the sticker on the dash for the hazard switch. I also wouldn’t trust the dealer to do it well.

I’ve asked this question on two other forums and people keep telling me it’s for the defroster and not a fog light switch, thinking that I’m asking about the 70-71 cars. Those photos are to illustrate how the defroster switches differ from the illustration. Im also assuming it’s a Niles switch like most of the rest of them. I haven’t seen any Niles rocker switches for other cars, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s it was in something else, too.

No, I had a few made off the code on the door locks. The hatch, glove box, and ignition were all out of other cars, hence rekeying all of them. But the cylinder comes out without the key. I’m just using it to illustrate how the wafers stuck out before and didn’t after. The latch is what keeps it in the housing. By the way, I don’t know if it’s difficult to get the pin back in of your pull it completely, but you don’t need to do that to get the latch off.

Before I finish up the wiring for the dashboard I want to make sure I’ve done everything in there so I don’t have to pull it again. One of the loose ends I had was to rekey the glove box lock. @inline6 pointed out that it’s a breeze once you drive the pin that holds the latch in. Take the cylinder out, swap the wafers to match your key, put the spring in, and replace the cylinder. There’s only one way to put it together once you put the latch in, so then just line up the holes and drive the pin back in. Easy.

Nobody? Maybe @HS30-H or @Zed Head?

I’m looking for photographs (and a part number) for the fog light switch and trim bezel that mount on the center console in 1973 240Zs. It replaces the Z trim plate that is welded to the plastic just in front of the ash tray and to the right of the choke lever. I’ve never seen a picture of one of these, but I know that’s where it goes because it is referenced in the description of the trim plate on the Motorsport site. There are also provisions for screws to attach a switch and a hole in the console where the switch would pass through. Sorry for the blur. I don’t know if the trim plate that’s welded to the console would have been cut to make the switch fit, or if they removed it entirely and replaced it with something else. The trim plate has two impressions that imply space for two switches, but the underside of the console only looks like it can take one. Maybe it was a single unit with two switches. The fog light switch depicted in the literature is different from the illuminated yellow rear defroster switch for this car. It’s also different from the black ones that went in the earlier cars with two choke levers. This switch has the mounting tabs for the screws horizontally positioned like one version of the yellow defroster switch, but with no illumination. Fog light switch Illuminated defroster switch with horizontal mounts Illuminated defroster switch with vertical mounts Early defrost switch with vertical mounts I’d love to get my hands on the correct fog switch, but I’m guessing they’re unobtainium these days. If I can’t I’ll try repurposing a defroster switch.

Well, apparently there was nothing wrong. User error? I just tested everything and the only relay not clicking is the intermittent relay. I can hear the rear fuel pump running (that may need some sound proofing), the headlight relay is switching for both low and high beams. The horn relay is clicking, and the accessory relay is clicking. I have another intermittent relay, so if I’m not getting any voltage at the wiper motor plug I’m going to swap them to see if that makes a difference. I still need to check the two flashers, the choke/heater relay, and the buzzer, but I don’t have enough of the components assembled to do that yet. Otherwise it’s on to the next step of checking voltage at all of the light connectors. After that I’ll see if it starts from the key.

I thought my grounds were solid but maybe not. I can’t work on it tonight but tomorrow I’ll go around and check. Im confident about everything in the engine bay. Inside the cabin might be less solid.

Checked the fusible link this morning. It’s fine. One thing I realized is that I’m thinking of the combo switch wrong. It’s Off, PARK, Headlights. Not Off, Low, High. I’ll start over with my testing. There may be nothing wrong with the wiring. That doesn’t explain the low voltage and lack of continuity at the switch, though.

Yes. As far as I can tell it is a ‘73 combo switch. It was fine after I rebuilt it. Now I’m not getting any continuity. Maybe something wasn’t secure inside and fell out of place. Maybe I’m tired and had the multimeter set wrong.

Alright. One problem solved, two problems uncovered. 🙄 The headlight relay is all wired up. Once I finished this I started testing. I got nothing when set to OFF (good), nothing when set to LOW (bad), and the relay clicked when set to HIGH (good). I pulled out the meter and checked continuity on the relay with the wires on. s1 to B, s2 to B, s1 to s2 all connect as they should. S to L1, S to L2, and L1 to L2 all connect as they should. My continuity from s1 and s2 to the two dash harness wires at the combo switch is good for both R/b and R/w. But now I’m getting no continuity between any of the three wires coming out of the combo switch in ANY position (Off, Low, or High). That doesn’t make sense because High was tripping the relay before. Then I went to check voltage running through the relay and now I’m getting nothing at the relay. So I checked voltage from the battery (12.67) and voltage coming out of the engine harness in the cabin from the alternator and starter wires. 0.06 volts. The only thing I can think of is that the fusible link blew. I need to do kid bedtime stuff now so I’ll check that in the morning.

Well, I identified the problem causing the relay to click. I had one of the dash harness connectors to the fuse box on upside down, and since I didn’t check it against what I plugged it into, all those wires were going to the wrong things. I figured this out after finding no continuity from Steve’s diagnosis process above and trying to figure out where the red ground wire might connect to power. I pulled the connector and fixed that. The relay no longer clicks when the battery is connected, so ON TO THE NEXT!

Thanks! So to say it back to makes sure I understand, with the battery disconnected and the wires on the relay, if I get continuity then it’s either the relay, combo switch, or wiring. If there’s continuity without the wires it’s the relay; no continuity it’s the combo switch or wires. If, after all that, I unplug the combo switch and get continuity between the two signal wires at the combo switch connector on the harness, it’s the wiring. Conversely, if I get continuity between the wires coming from 15 & 16 on the combo switch while it’s set to OFF , it’s the switch. Clearly I’m too tired as this seems obvious now that you said it.

Well, I found my first problem, but it’s not with the wiring. I have the NLR-132 dual relay installed and partially wired. With the combo switch connected to the harness I hear a click in the relay as soon as I connect the battery. When I unplug the combo switch there is no click when I connect the battery. So it seems the fault is in the combo switch, but I’m going to disconnect each of the signal wires to see which one is tripping the switch in order to narrow down the problem. One question I have is should the lights should work with the key off? If not then I have another error somewhere. If so I might change that.

So close! I have three steps left before I can wrap these dash harnesses and put them into the dashboard for real: installing and wiring my NLR-132 headlight relay, installing and wiring the AILD-1 PWM, and testing everything. I can test everything except the dash lights and headlights now, so I’ll probably wait on the relay and PWM because I’m not certain where I want to put them yet. This was not crazy hard, but it did take four or five times as long as I estimated, plus my body is killing me from laying on the seat rail braces. These cars are not spacious. I kept up my system of labeling the terminals with what’s on the opposite end of the wire, so if I do discover any issues they should be fairly easy to diagnose. I checked all of these wires so many times I can’t imagine I have any errors, but who knows. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ I’m having some trouble with terminals staying in the colored connectors I scavenged from the old harness. I guess I mangled them too much getting them apart. I’ll see if I can fix that when I pull the harnesses to wrap them. For a minute I couldn’t figure out where to mount the buzzer. I ended up using a threaded hole on the left side of the dashboard frame. The buzzer looks like it’s supposed to be there, based on the way the bracket is bent, but I have no idea if it’s correct. I think those holes were fire the heater or stereo originally. Whatever. It works.

So close! I have three steps left before I can wrap these dash harnesses and put them into the dashboard for real: installing and wiring my NLR-132 headlight relay, installing and wiring the AILD-1 PWM, and testing everything. Details in my wiring thread.

Heyo! Who ordered deez spaghetts? All of the dash components are wired up except for reinstalling the old rheostat (more on that later). After I do that, the next step is to put the dash into the car and terminate the wires you see hanging out on the ends. Those go to the fuse box, AC, multi switches, relays, and other harnesses. I decided to pull the home-made PWM setup I had and reinstall the OEM rheostat, because I found a nice little PWM unit meant for a Porsche 928 called an AILD-1 that’s controlled by an old-school rheostat instead of using a pot installed directly on the circuit board. I haven’t figured out where it’s going to mount yet, so I’ll make a harness that inserts the AILD-1 between the rheostat and the dash harness but keeps the original terminals. That way if for some reason I decide to go back to incandescent bulbs I can just pull the PWM and connect everything as stock.

I am very tired and sore. What I thought was going to be a three day job ended up being two weeks… because I am a perfectionist. 😕 The installation of the left door window was no big deal, but I wanted the glass to be as clear as I could get it, so I spent six (!) days working the scratches out of what was a B+ window when I pulled it out of a wrecked car a year ago. I used a combination of diamond polishing pads and cerium oxide, which works well, but there is a learning curve. The right side should only take a day now that I know what I’m doing. It’s now a solid A grade, but I came a little too close to the Nissan etching, so that’s less crisp than it should be. All told there are two 1/4” scratches and some light swirls that I couldn’t get out without risking distorting the glass. Not bad. Acceptable I guess. Installation was not hard, although I should have brought a second set of hands. I have some alignment issues with the rear corner sticking out and not sliding back enough without help from outside, but I don’t feel like dealing with that right now. New seals, new hardware, and tons of grease.

I just bought one from Jenny. Thanks!

No. They’re bent opposite directions and have different part numbers. I suppose I could bend a left one for the right side, but I only have the one for the left so it’s a moot point. Better to get the right part if I can.

Anyone have these for the right side? Please DM me with a price. RH Door handle rod and adjuster nut (80698-E4120).

Way to burst my bubble. regardless, I got it on the cheap.

Scored a little sump’n sump’n from Japan. Not an original, but not one of the ubiquitous vinyl replicas, either. New Old Stock (with a small mark on the back), leather, and less $ than the JDM wheel in rough condition I was considering. I had just received an email that RS Watanabe Falcon steering wheels are shipping again, but that would have cost me twice as much. For those who weren’t aware, you can see how much flatter these are that the USDM wheels. These have the same hub and spoke dimensions, depth, and outer diameter as the JDM wheels, just padded leather instead of the thin resin-impregnated wood with finger grooves. There were two more at the time this auction closed: one NOS in a different box, and one used; both more than this one. There’s also a NOS JDM 70-71 wheel without the horn icon for an insane amount. 💸💸💸