mayolives

Quote: What are you testing for? Are you looking for short circuits, or are you trying to find out how big of a fuse you can put in the circuit before it blows? All the above. I'm going to test with my ohmmeter for shorts and also try to determime what size fuses will work. Eventuall, I will install a fuse block to replace the original fusible link set-up. I do know some about it's history and it did run good not long ago. This car was non-running when I purchased it and had so many items removed from under the hood. I'm taking it one step at a time to not create more questions until I get it running. It has great compression, fresh valve job, new injectors and ignition system so it should run really good. I'm stall puzzled about why the links failed when I first tried to start the engine but hopefully I'll find the reason soon.

I researched the topic at Hybrid Z (2018) and found a discussion that New Zed and others commented on. This is what I found: Based on wire size alone Based On member "dmoralesbello" trials AWG 12 fuse up to 20A 60 amp in the largest wires position AWG 10 fuse up to 30A 30 amp in the other 3 positions (wanted to use 25 amp but could not find) AWG 8 fuse up to 50A Others felt that 25 amp fuses should be used I 'm still undecided about fuse sizes but seams like 25 amp is a good place to start but I'm really open suggestions and thoughts from those who know more about this subject.

Perhaps my question just above was not very clear. Fusible links are shown in many, many diagrams in my FSM. Also the fuse block shows up in many diagrams. The FSM shows the fuse amp rating/sizes for the block but does not show the fusible link amp ratings. I'm using blade type fuse holders to plug into the fusible link connections under the hood in order to do some test without blowing my new replacement oem fusible links. I don't know what size fuses to use for my test. Any idea of the fusible link ratings?

I check my alternator and starter connections and they are good. Also I purchased curcuit breakers to continue my test with. They have small male ends that would need to be adapted to the wide male ends where the fusible links plug into the car. Too much of a pain in the a## to deal with cobbing together by soldering, etc. The easiest way for me to protect the circuits and not waste my oem fusible links is to just link the curcuits together with blade type fuse holders for each of the four curcuits. I'm not sure what amp fuses to use because I can't find the amp ratings for the oem fusible links in my FSM. Where are they listed?

After looking at my Body Electrical System diagrams in my FSM for ever and a day, I haven't found what fusible link protects what circuit. These are the ones on the left front fender under the hood and have white plastic covers. Look like the black one position outside/front was in the worst condition. I sure would like to find this in my FSM or have some advice.

I believe my new alternator may have been one of the new parts I received with the car because I don't have a purchase reciept in my file. I did compare it with the old one and all terminals were in the same location, etc. Hopefully my new links will arrive so that I can carefully go about tracing some wires before giving it another try.

Quote. "All 4 were smoking? They are on different systems so that is odd." It looks like the black wire was the hot one due to the discoloration on the white plastic cover. I ordered a set of new fusible links from Zcardepot. I used the original battery cable that were in good condition. I suspect that I may have wired the new alternator wrong. Thanks for the advice. To be continued.

I'm back to work on my 78 280Z. It's from an estate and many items were removed under the hood by previous owner who wanted th "clean up" some things. I do have some history of the car having helped the owner in the past. Although it ran and passed a leak down and compression test withflying colors it had a number of things that needed attention. The major things i've done so far are installing new starter, alternator, distributor with fast xr3000 ignition module with distributor internals and matching Fast coil along with new plug wires, etc., new water pump and radiator, hoses, belts, removed all the old air cond. system parts under the hood, blocked off the ERG system, etc. I just picked up where previous owner left off and really cleaned up along with some painting under the hood. Upon attempting to start the engine for the first time the fusible links under the two white plastic covers on left side produced some smoke so I stopped trying. I removed the four fusible links and they all tested good for continuity. I suspect that I should replace them because even though they tested good, some of thier insulation looked somewhat melted. But, I still need some ideas of what may have caused this. Could I have wired the alternated wrong? I can't imagine this problem being related to the new ignition system that I installed. Where else should I look?

Yes, I've been around here for many years but never needed to post a picture and can't find a thread about doing so. I need a little help.

Quote From Sed Head (above) "I've never had a spark plug get stuck or stripped a head thread. Seems like a solution with no problem. Anyway, many plugmakers and automakers recommend keeping the threads clean." https://ngksparkplugs.com/en/resources/5-things-you-should-know-about-spark-plugs Thank you. An old dog learns another new trick. I've been using anti seize, the silver stuff that always ends up where it's not wanted, on NGK spark plugs for a cazillion years. Of course I've never read what NGK had to say about not using it, but I will change my ways today!

Your distributor looks like it's in rough shape and needs attention. Good luck finding that magnet. I searched from here to Japan and only found it to be "nla". I located a good 78 280z distributor along with the GM, HEI parts. It's an easy install and it all worked well. There are rebuilt 280z distributors out there, for not a bunch of dollars, if you do some digging.

Flipping it was my first thought. But the male hi tension plug's height will not allow flipping it. You can flip it front to back but when doing so the pos & neg terminals are even closer to the bottom of the bracket because of the "cut out" area only being on the front of the bracket. You would think that Holly (Fast) could have put a little more thought into these parts and had come up with a better mounting bracket design. This aint no social crisis, just a little bump in the road that I can deal with.

SteveJ......The orientation that you suggested is just how I will mount it. But the positive and negative terminals are so close to the bottom side and also the body (fender) area. I thought about using 1/2" spacers under the corners that will put a little distance between it and the body and be sure each terminal wire is well insulated.

I've installing a FAST xr3000 ignition conversion in my distributor. Straight forward install. No big deal. Also I have a Fast 191 inductive coil. I plan to use rivnuts to mount both the module and the coil to the fender near where the original coil was located. (280Z) The inductive coil has a goofy mounting bracket that puts both + & - electrical connections very close to the mounting bracket where it will mount on my fender. It's a good looking piece and I'd rather not modify it but the those connections bother me. Any ideas for mounting it without cutting on the bracket?

I may have answered my own question. I just read a post by Zed Head about my coil subject. Looks like Oreilly part # 23-0257 or Rock Auto's NGK # 48776 are my best choices. Both sellers have them in stock. I've always liked NGK stuff buy may just take a short drive to Oreilly and get what I need instead of waiting for Rock Auto's delivery. Thank you again Zed Head!

I'm still putting the non running 78 280Z back together that I bought a few months ago. Many parts were missing under the hood including the distributor and coil. I located a new (re-man) distributor and still need to get a coil. I have seen a number of discussions about the better coils to use. My engine is bone stock. What coil should I use?

Yep, There they are. Propably as easy to find as unicorn's teeth. Thank you for the research.

zKars ouote: "I can go look if any of the rails I have contain these clips to show what they look like." I photo of a clip would be nice.

I stripped down another 78 280z a fews years ago in order to have it painted and there were clips on that car's trim. When I look at the underside of the uninstalled trim piece that came with this car, I see several darker areas, about an 3/4" long, where the clips originaly sat on the trim. When I try to install this trim over the drip rail, it's much too wide to hold in place, from one end to the other. Perhaps the trim could be flattened a bit to help it pinch the drip rail and stay on, but I'm reluctant to do this and end up with a wavy and dented trim piece. But if I can't source what I want, and as a last resort, this may be my only option. I do have some time to locat the clips due to the long list of other, under to hood items that need my attention. Thanks for the replys but I'm still lookin'!

I'm putting the 78 280z back together that I purchased from an estate. One of the stainless trim pieces for the drip rail was not installed on the car. I don't have the "clips" that fasten the trim to the body. I'm not sure what they are called because I haven't found any reference to this trim in the body section of my FSM. Any idea where I can find these clips. If I remember correctly, they are made of spring steel and each side trim piece has four or five clips.

I had the same experience a few months ago. A retired friend had just started to drive for Uber so out of curiosity, I went to the uber site to see what the deal was. Within a few hours my phone had emails from Lift asking me to become a driver. A part of me also thought nah, this is crazy. How could they know!

How are you trying to remove the old bushing? Do you have a pilot shaft bushing puller? It's the proffessional way to remove what's in there. EZPEEZE !

zKars, You would need to hold a gun to my head in order for me to reuse any of those old head bolts. Bite the bullet and get a fresh, new set. They won't break most banks. They are about a hundred bucks for a set of OEM bolts!

I have always liked "nipple" talk. Thank you for the help again.