SteveJ

Neither are factory options. A sunroof invites leaks. A vinyl top invites rust as water is trapped against the body.

Buy it from her.

Gas cap: Motorsport! Gas Cap, 70-76 240Z-260Z-280Z - The Z Store! Nissan-Datsun 240Z-260Z-280Z-280ZX-300ZX(Z31/Z32)-350Z-370Z Parts Black Dragon Automotive - Parts & Accessories for Datsun 240Z, 260Z, 280Z, 280ZX & Mazda RX7 240Z gas cap | eBay Search the site for threads on waking up a car that has been sitting for a long time, too.

See, that wasn't so painful. The interesting thing is that most of the bullet connectors are wired so that the male end is ground and the female end is hot, so you don't accidentally ground the hot wire. Exceptions that I can think of are the brake light switch and the transmission neutral switch. This is actually a good cautionary tale.

Oh come on. That's part of the sharing process. Heck, I once burned up a wiring harness when I forgot to secure a battery properly. Most of us have done something bone-headed to our cars. It's more of an issue of whether or not it came back to bite us.

Brad, This page should have some answers for you, too. Datsun L-series cylinder head timeline

The 280Z car's wiring can be modified to utilize an internally regulated alternator. It is well-documented in Blue's tech tips. You have to know what you're dealing with first, though.

Kyle, Just getting a new voltage regulator isn't the answer if you purchased an internally regulated alternator. You can easily do the voltage test in the EE section, even if you cannot adjust the voltage regulator. Keep in mind, though, that you CANNOT test the voltage regulator with an internally regulated alternator. I suggest that you get to know your car better before you attempt to take it out on a rally.

If they are in great condition, you might be able to sell them to someone trying to do a restoration. I wouldn't bet on that, though.

Good point, Mike. If the black/white and green/white wires aren't both on the positive after deleting the ballast, the car will start, but it won't run. Oh, and since the tach was changed to a later year tach, you also have to bypass the tach on the positive side. It looks as though the OP did that.

I am not stepping into the middle of the block vs loop debate. There are plenty of threads on here and over at Zcar.com on that subject. As for internally regulated vs external regulator, who are you going to trust? A parts guy reading a generic list or me & the FSM & the parts manual? If you installed an internally regulated alternator when you have an external voltage regulator, your charging system will NOT function properly. Also, you should load test the battery if it got drained. By the way, the official change to an internally regulated alternator was in 78. What is the build date of your car?

1. Have you downloaded the FSM? It has directions on testing the charging system. 2. Did you test/replace the voltage regulator? Unless your car has been modified, the voltage regulator is external to the alternator. 3. You can get another heater core from Black Dragon, but you may need a new heater ©0©k as well.

I found out about another car show nearby today. I took out the 260Z and enjoyed the ride. The pictures are here: Dawsonville Car Show April 2013 | Fiddling With Z Cars If you like old Detroit iron, you'll like these pictures.

One way to test the coil: 1. Disconnect the wires from the coil. 2. Measure resistance from the positive to negative terminals. (primary) 3. Measure resistance from the center post to negative. (secondary) The resistance of the secondary side of the coil should be several thousand times more than the primary side. If it's significantly less, the secondary side of the coil is bad. The primary side should probably be about 1.5 ohms or so. If it's less than an ohm, the primary is bad. Also, post clear pictures of the rotor and the inside of the cap. If they are worn/bad, you won't have a good spark. Finally, you can download the 1980 FSM and read pages EL-24 to EL-26.

I traced the blue wire some. That circuit goes to several places. It would take some digging to be sure, but now I'm thinking it's for some feature involving the air conditioning.

However, that is only if you tap into it downstream of the flasher relay. (That's why I mentioned the power from that circuit could be intermittent.) If you tap into the blue/yellow wire, that is upstream of the flasher. That wire will have 12VDC to chassis even when the hazard lights are on. Since that is also connected to the wire that goes to the brake switch, my warning still applies. I realized in my earlier post I wrote "turn signal flasher" instead of "hazard flasher". I wish I could get the words accurately from my head to the keyboard.

Not necessarily. It is also logical that the timing is off. An inductive timing gun could tell if whether or not you have a spark and if the timing is correct. Are you sure you had the engine at TDC on the compression stroke when you inserted the oil pump? Now, when you measured either side of the coil to ground, you got 12 VDC. That sounds correct. You were doing your measurements with an inductor in the circuit.

If you use the wire off the turn signal flasher, it is not always hot. If you use the downstream wire on the hazard light, it could be intermittent. I would advise against tapping into a wire that serves an important function. It's not worth the risk to cause a short and lose that function. That is why I recommend the cigarette lighter. It is not on a switched circuit for the S30s. Of course, the good Captain found a nice alternative for the 76-78 cars as he described in another thread.

Yep, you have an 11/74 build date. This is important for you to know. For example your gas tank is more like a 75 gas tank than a 73. That means you have to look for parts such as the sender, filler, vent hoses, etc. that will work for a 75.

You can see the definition pretty well in the black, green and white Z cars from the pictures I posted here: Caffeine and Octane March 2013 | Fiddling With Z Cars. Be sure to let your browser zoom in.

I looked on the 75 wiring diagram. The wire off of the defroster fuse does not branch off for that circuit like the later 280Zs.

There is a lot of mutual respect among the frequent posters here. That is why I post here more than other boards. We also tend to be nicer about saying "search" or RTFM. I hope we helped to give you the answers you were looking for.

There's always this guide...SCC Technical Assistance Program- Sport Compact Car Web

Have you gotten your car running, yet? I have a sneaking suspicion that there are more important issues for you to attend to than trying to reduce weight. Make sure the car runs right and all of the components (especially soft hoses) are in good order.

A voltmeter will read 12VDC from a positive wire to earth. Most circuits in the Z are wired as positive, fuse, switch, load, earth. You have to make sure that switches are closed and fuses are good for measurements. For testing earth wires, you can measure resistance from the downstream side of the load to the chassis. Also, touch your leads firmly together to get an idea of the internal resistance of your meter. Subtract the internal resistance from what you measured in the wiring. If it's more that a few tenths of an ohm, then you will need to inspect the harness and the contact point between the wire and chassis. For the wiring, I think BE-4 should be close if not exact for your car (except for any mistakes made by the documentation team for Nissan). In that wiring drawing, the power for the hazard lights and brake lights come off the same fuse. The brake light circuit does not go through the hazard lights as it does on the North American 240Zs, but the turn signal power does. There is a 20A fuse in the fusebox for the brake lights/hazard lights. There is a green/yellow wire attached to that fuse. It should be the fuse on the lower left where the cover is marked STOP. From the fuse, the green/yellow wire goes to the brake light switch at the pedal, while a blue/white wire branches off to the hazard flasher. From the brake light switch, another green/yellow wire goes back to the brake lights.