Home Built by Jeff

In this episode I fit a 123 distributor to the 680g to hopefully get it running properly once and for all.

In this episode I revisit replacing the wheel studs and fit the sway bar and bushings.

When I ordered the studs I measured both front and rear and just got ones long enough for both. Most have suggested to drill out the centres of the holes and press the ones I have in.

In this episode I fail to fit new wheel studs, but I swap in the new fuel filler and some other bits.

I might look into that. It would be a great finishing touch.

In this episode I retrim the seats to match the rest of the trim in the 680g.

What is that from?

Haha, my luck I will never get the keys off of her ?

In this episode I make up a complete carpet kit for the 680g

Just did a search and a 240z has a 1044kg (2300lb) weight. Mine will be a bit heavier with the cage and the different seats, but not a lot. I will have to weigh it when I am done.

That is what I am looking for. The Audi is a comfortable GT car, but new cars have no soul. Old cars are so much more involving. I am actually pretty impressed with those numbers. It would be a good test to drag race the Audi and the 680 to see. Are those 280Z figures from the standard car? If that is the case, it would probably sway in favour of the Z, as my car should be lighter and more powerful than a stock 280z.

Oh it will definitely be my favourite. The Audi is nice, but ultimately it is pretty boring. I keep looking at the 680 sitting there now, looking low and sleek and it is going to be a lot of fun.

I hope so. Not sure how the straight line speed and torque will go against the V8 in my S5 but I will be stoked if it comes close. I don't generally buy slow cars, the Beetle being an exception. Even my thrashed out old Merc SUV is a 5L V8 and not slow).

I finally get it started!!! Wooo Hooo!. I had to cobble some bits together, but it starts and runs!

I pulled the part out but I didn’t spilt it. Does the black section just clip in?

I was under the impression it was more linear, rather than on/off? Either way, the 123 system I believe has a range of advance maps that can be tuned via Bluetooth so it can sort out all of that without worry about vacuum for a signal.

Outright power would generally be the same between well tuned carbies and EFI, but EFI can be tuned throughout the rev range so you can have better driveability cold starts, etc. The issue with my car though is the lack of vacuum advance so any dizzy would have to be set on a compromise static timing.

I have done some more tracing of wires and it looks like there is a faulty ignition switch which is not sending out the power to the green/(white I think it is) which is why there is no power going in to my tacho. As for the distributor, I have decided to go for the 123ignition unit as I think that will be the best for my situation. Particularly due to the fact that you can't connect the vacuum advance to these carbies.

Perfect. That is exactly what I am looking for. So currently I have power to the yellow/red wire but nothing coming in from the white/red, so that will be my task today to find out why that doesn't have power. FYI, I got it started yesterday!!!! I had to switch back to the old points dizzy and I was using the wrong coil and no ballast resistor, but it starts!!! Not sure if I will continue to mess with the electronic one I have at the moment as I pulled it apart and there is a lot of rust down in the bottom and the magnet is in 10 bits. I may have to look for a new refurbished one, or look for an alternative.

I don't have a ballast resistor in this car, but I can just run power straight from the battery to the coil to get it started. I do want to sort it out properly though. I do have a spare tacho here somewhere so I will check that to see if it works and if I have to I can swap it out.

Half of those wires are for the globes. There are only 4 wires we are interested in. Power and ground, and then the 2 wires that go to the centre terminal, one of which goes to the coil.

I will measure the resistance and get back to you, but it is exactly as you say. I have power and ground to the tach, but the centre post of the tach that should also show power (which is the output to the coil) does not.

Thanks for that, but it doesn’t really address my issue. I have already changed the wiring for the ZX dizzy. The issue is that the + signal is not getting from from the tach to the coil? Could my tacho be fried and that is why there is power in and no power out?

Ok. I have spent all afternoon chasing down some of my wiring gremlins. I have tracked back the lack of power to the + side of the coil to the tacho. I have continuity from the coil to the tacho, and I have power when the ignition is on to the tacho, but the output connection from the the tacho is not giving me any power? Does that mean that the tacho is fried? Another strange one that I traced, was there are 2 black white wires in the main harness coming through the fire wall. One of them being the wire from the coil to the tacho. I thought I had found my issue initially where I found one of them had been cut with 2 unplugged connectors on them which I assumed was from an old immobiliser. But after tracing it I found that it is the wire from the ignition to the voltage regulator? Would that work as an immobiliser? Or is it more likely that someone stuffed up and tried to immobilise the wrong Black/white wire? I hope this makes sense. Any help is appreciated.

In this episode I finish off painting the last of the bits of the 680g.