SteveJ

What components in the charging circuit have you replaced lately? Also, for better quality answers, edit your profile to add the year of your car, or put it in each post with a question.

Unless your accessory relay contacts are stuck closed or someone re-wired the accessory circuit, leaving the rear defogger on couldn't drain the battery. As for testing the electrical system, use a multimeter with a 10A range for an ammeter. There is a Klein Tools MM200 at Amazon.com for a reasonable price. You can easily learn how to use an ammeter by searching online. Please note though, that a bad voltage regulator can cause the battery to drain when the car is off. If you look in the EE section of the FSM, you can find the location of the voltage regulator. If you need more of a visual, go to rockauto.com and find the voltage regulator for a 260Z.

You didn't say you needed those, too. Zeddfindings

Search here for TABCO. Unless you're buying fiberglass parts, pretty much all of the body panels will be from them no matter who sells them.

Dave, As you are waking up your Z, you might want to download a copy of the service manual from the link in my signature.

Even with an inertia switch, the fuel pump should have some kind of cut-off when the engine is stalled.

Like this.

FYI, if you still have a voltage regulator in the car, you can wire the (a) fuel pump relay like the factory did. Nissan used two sources for the coil on the fuel pump relay. The first one was from the solenoid for starting the car. The second was from between the alternator and voltage regulator. This way the fuel pump would no longer get power if the engine wasn't turning. If you have an internally regulated alternator, you should look into an oil pressure switch for the fuel pump relay.

Enrique & oranngetang gave you good advice on checking the hazard switch. The turn signals go through the hazard switch. That way, the hazard lights can overrule the turn signals.

You might want to get to know the guys at the Z Car Club of Northern Virginia, too. It might be difficult to get to their meetings for you with DC traffic, but they have other activities where you can meet the members.

The tape will insulate the sender. It needs a path to ground via the engine.

Dave, welcome. I suggest you go to the top right of the page and click on settings. Then you can edit your signature and put the year of your Z there. That way if you post questions, people know which car you're working on.

Distributor cap: Rockauto - Don't they deliver to the Islands? If you don't have a CC, don't they take Paypal? Wiring Harness: Z Specialties. Give Oliver the build date (month/year) that you'll find on the door plate.

Well, someone is blowing smoke up your backside. An ammeter does not have an appreciable current draw.

The headlights for the 260Z have a different connector from the 240Z, so you would have to modify the relay kit that Dave Irwin sells (through MSA) to work. As for not working on the low beam, that is likely a problem with the high/low beam switch located in the turn signal switch. Dave Irwin (Zs-ondabrain) will clean and rebuild your switch for a nominal fee.

Interesting. Does the electric fuel pump use the stock wiring? The battery in my 73 kept running down until I disconnected the harness for the fuel pump. It connects between the alternator and regulator. There is also a thread on here about the issue. IIRC, Dave Irwin started the thread. It's from a few years back. Also note that the 74 has a different plug for the voltage regulator. It's a round plug that is unique to the model year.

One thing to note here: If you change a 73 or 74 to an internally regulated alternator, you will energize the relay for the electric fuel pump all of the time. This will run your battery down, and if you are running an electric fuel pump, it will not shut down in the event of an accident. Sometimes it's better to run the stock configuration.

The Microsoft's virtual machine is pretty easy to use. If you want to use FAST, you really should try it. Heck, if I can remember, I will try it for you this weekend.

It was only part of his cremains, and the vessel failed to reach orbit. I still anticipate a hydrocarbon powered vehicle to move my dead body around.

If not, you could always create a WinXP virtual machine. Microsoft offers one for free. I used it at work to create a virtual machine on a Win7 computer so that we could run old software that was only XP compatible.

What are you talking about as far as what you want the "modern security system" to do? The ignition kill switch is usually fine as long as the thief doesn't hotwire the car under the hood. Killing the power to the fuel pump may be more effective. The thief would then have to figure out how to hotwire the fuel pump. IMHO, that would be more of a challenge. Just be warned that many security systems will drain the battery, so if you don't drive your car often, expect to find a dead battery from time to time. And just to clarify, Bryan was referring to Zs-ondabrain, aka Dave Irwin.

I met a guy last month who said that his Z would heat up at speed. He had recently bought it, and it came with a box of spare parts. Within the box was the Woodruff key. Once that was in, the fan would turn at speed, and the car would cool.

Ztherapy has the answer for you...http://ztherapy.com/products/videos/video.htm Just be careful. Bruce might call late at night for your credit card info. Of course, it might not be that late since you're on the same coast as he is.

I went to Caffeine & Octane. There were a few early Z cars there. Mine is the one on the right.

Oops, my bad. It's the green/white wire. Now that you found the problem, fix it. For my car, I used a 9-pin connector from Vintage Connections. He has the parts you need, including crimpers. Unless you are skilled at crimping wires, get extra terminals. Replace the damaged wires/plug. The problem is that the fuse is oversized for the wire gauge. The way to drop the load on the circuit to below what the wire can handle is to use LEDs. Just replacing the parking lights will drop the load to about 3 Amps or less. That will prevent the wires from melting.