chaseincats

Gah So there are not any 100% brand new alternators for these then? Thanks for the tip about oreilly's I just called and it should be at their store by Tuesday. I've had bad luck with their alternators but lets see how this one goes. The first didnt fit because they didn't line up the hemispheres so it couldnt bolt in, the second had a bearing whine and i guess this one is overcharging...

That's a reman? It says new in the product title, no?

Gotcha, I'll give it a look and report back. It might be good to grab a new one anyhow - I have an oreilly's re-manufactured one in there. This one should do, right: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00KY0CN0Q/ref=ox_sc_act_image_1?smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER&psc=1?

Is it common for internally regulated alternators to overcharge? I thought this was an externally regulated issue.

Alright, I'll give it a test the next time the gauge is looking high. Do I just put the probes on the pos/neg battery terminals to test it? I'd think that would tell me what the battery is at rather than how much juice is being thrown into it, no? I also noticed a weird phenomenon - the temp gauge will sneak up (not too high) when I start using a lot of voltage (cabin fan, headlights, etc). The temp gauge goes up almost instantly which wouldn't make sense, right? Sounds again like something electrical, again this could be due to it overcharging? When it has been overcharging (according to the gauge) in the past, I've put the headlights on to lower the voltage gauge - is this helping at all?

Ya - i quickly removed that edit after I scampered to the garage to look. How was the PO able to remove the ballast without changing to a ZX distributor (there is an aftermarket coil on there named "Jacobs p/n380672" https://www.ebay.com/i/283558856457?chn=ps&norover=1&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-117182-37290-0&mkcid=2&itemid=283558856457&targetid=595069534683&device=c&mktype=pla&googleloc=9026920&poi=&campaignid=1689799120&mkgroupid=66574332155&rlsatarget=pla-595069534683&abcId=1140466&merchantid=6296724&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI8oa58JbW4wIV6f_jBx0T7w82EAkYASABEgJD-fD_BwE)?

It's the stock electronic 280z ignition to my knowledge. The only difference is it has an ignition coil that apparently required the ballast to be removed by the PO.

Hi guys, So something odd started a few days ago. I drove the car to and from zcon this year and it was perfect (about 1200 miles in total) then I get back and of course theres some sort of gremlin that was waiting for me (but luckily it hid for the duration of the trip haha). I was driving today at highway speed (70ish) and the tach jumped from 3.4k to 4 and then later in the drive jumped from 3.4k to 6 (the engine speed didnt budge, just the tach). All of those hops were only for a split second and I've never seen it do that before. I noticed also sitting at highway speed a couple of times I felt the engine power diminish for a split second and then come back. The car will also overcharge when driving at highway speeds for 30 minutes or more (at least it does according to the voltmeter as it reads maybe 15ish volts instead of the 13ish it reads when cold (those numbers are very abstract of course since its just a needle)). I took a look at the clear cone fuel filter that sits between the pump and tank and that looks clean. I jiggled the cables by the coil too but everything seems solid. Any ideas? -chase

It's cool, don't worry about it. Unplugging/capping the fresh-air dashpot's vacuum line did the trick, thanks though!

Just gave the FSM a look and you were right about the vacuum direction. That's an interesting idea with the cable. Yep, I'm there now - will probably head to the event lot and pull/cap that vacuum line in a few minutes because the zcon cruise is tomorrow morning.

Sounds good - will do. Are either of you at zcon now btw?

Hi guys, Figured I'd keep both in here instead of making two posts. #1: It seems my 'mode (heater) door' is not closing fully. When I look under the dash via the driver side footwell, i can see that the mode-door's vacuum pod is fully closed (down/retracted/no vacuum to the pod) when "vent" or AC is selected, I still can feel a little bit of hot air coming out from the hot air vent under the dash. Is there a way to fix this or are they all like that? #2: Is there a way on an s30 to get recirculating air rather than strictly vent? The reason I'd like this is that when the AC is running, it is pulling/cooling air from inside the cabin but when I switch the AC off and just want to have the fan run (for MPG savings) the "fresh air door" vacuum pod is relaxed and the cool air in the cabin is invaded by the hot/humid air outside when I select "vent". I'd like to have the blower run with the air from inside the cabin. We have two heat settings, "heat" and "recirculate heat" so is there a way to do this for the cabin fan? I was thinking about connecting the fresh air vent vacuum pod directly to the intake manifold which will always keep the fresh air door shut - would that work? -chase

thanks for the info guys. next time im at his place ill try these suggestions!

Gotcha. The only place where dual filament bulbs should be are the top outer lights of each 280z style housing, correct? I remember that the only dual filament bulb in the whole car is plugged into the driver's side top outer bulb socket.

Alright, I'll ask him to send over pictures. But do you mean that having single filament bulb where a dual *should* be would make a change as drastic as this to the way the car functions?

Got an update for you guys: It seems the brake pedal has somehow been switched around such that when it is pressed, the running lights (side markers included) all turn on. When turning the running lights on via the combo switch and then hitting the brake pedal, all these lights brighten. We've been studying the FSM but are coming up empty here. Any ideas? -chase

right, my vacuum advance is dead. I was wondering how/what I should set the car to to compensate for a lack of advance, does that make sense?

I never set ignition timing when the car was outside of idle. Wouldn't getting timing to run at 35 degrees require twisting the distributor to quite a bit? After twisting it, wouldn't idle also be out of whack?

@rcb280z Finally gave up on trying to fix this thing and am just going to go with a permanent advance. Do you mean that at idle (800) you set your distributor ignition timing to 35 degrees instead of 10? That seems like quite a bit, no? After doing that did you have a pretty rough idle?

Thanks for this awesome write-up - I'll pass this along to my friend. It occurred to me today that I believe he does not have the firewall ground wire connected - could that be of consequence? Everything seems to *work* with it having been disconnected thus far...

The car does run and the rate does not correlate to engine speed. The flasher relays are most likely original (that said so are mine and they work fine). There are no electrical modifications to the car and the bulbs remain incandescent. I have the FSM but I wasn't sure if the switch had a ground itself down the loom as there are quite a few ground symbols on its wiring diagram page.

Will do - it's my friend's car so the next time I'm at his place I'll grab some shots.

Hi guys, Working on a 1974 260z and ran into another weird lighting problem. The brake lights work as intended with the running lights off, but when the running lights are switched on, hitting the brake pedal does not brighten the rear lights. I checked the bulbs and the brake light bulbs are indeed dual filament like they should be. The odd thing is that when the running lights are switched on, both filaments are lit, that shouldn't be the case right (assuming one filament is for brake lights and the other is for running lights)? Any ideas as to how to get the brake lights to engage with running lights on?

Hi guys, So got a weird one for you. We've been doing some work on a 1974 260z and the turn signals on the car don't blink in a standard rhythm. They randomly blink super quickly, super slowly, and everything in between when engaged with the signal stalk. I'm guessing this is a grounding issue with the turn signal stalk itself, right? I can't seem to find where the turn signal grounds out to , does anyone know? Any ideas? -chase

If you rented it from your local parts store, it should have come with at least one in their box