SteveJ

Before you throw in the towel, follow up on my suggestion of printing out the wiring diagram. Use that, the FSM & FI bible to assess what has been hacked, etc. You may be able to just buy used wiring harnesses and undo the IPO's (idiot previous owner) "repairs". It could be a lot cheaper than hiring a mechanic. It can be tricky to find a good mechanic with a solid understanding of electrical systems.

That's a familiar story. In my 260Z, I found a wire coming off the 12VDC+ side of the coil that ran through the engine bay, into the passenger area, and all of the way back to the fuel pump, where it was taped into the connector. Needless to say, I removed it.

The wiring diagram on Blue's page shows 5 fusible links. Two sets of two, and a single one coming off of the battery. Edit: While you may have multiple problems, you still have to eat the elephant one bite at a time. First, go through getting initial power to the fuel pump via the circuit as designed, etc. When you have all of the components fixed, it's a good chance your car will be running again. By the way, the 5th fusible link I mentioned goes to the fuel injection system.

So then check your fusible links. That means pulling the links and checking resistance. Also examine the boxes that hold the links. Look for corrosion or heat degradation (melting).

First, don't lump your problems together unless you KNOW they have a common source. The best way to track down these problems is to start at one end of the circuit and trace it all the way to the other end. The point at which you gain/lose signal (voltage) is your likely component failure. (By the way, I'm glad you found the bad ground.) The tricky part is when the problem is intermittent. With your EFI, that does not appear to be the case. Find a copy of the wiring diagram. Blue has one at his site. The best thing to do is download it and take it to Fed Ex/Kinkos to get it printed out large & in color. That will help you immensely with your diagnostics when matched with the FSM & FI bible.

Search on this site. Just type firing order into the search box and see how many times it appears.

Thanks. The extra details help. This is starting to sound like the contacts on the back of the ignition switch might be going bad. It fits both scenarios.

My line of thought was that if the o-ring has to stand up to gasoline, it probably was not very susceptible to deterioration by petroleum based products.

Okay, I looked it up myself and found it. It is called the Ignition Relay, and it is in the FSM. So you have not eliminated that as the source of your problem.

I used vaseline to hold the o-ring in place.

Accessory Relay - The contacts might have welded closed. Look for it in the BE section of the FSM. If you don't have the FSM for your 77, look at the links in my signature. You MIGHT be able to disassemble the relay and unstick the contacts or tap the relay with a hammer to get them to unstick.

Where have you been buying your bits? Also, where is the bolt you're trying to drill out? Is it some place on the car you could use a propane touch to heat cycle it? That can help break it loose. As for the best type of bit, I prefer the left-handed (reverse) bits myself. Remember to drill slowly and don't apply too much pressure. If you aren't using a variable speed drill buy/borrow one.

I was thinking about your previous post before I read this one. My line of thought was that if you believe that your colortune results were good, then too much unburned fuel out the exhaust at higher engine speed might be an indication of an ignition timing problem. (Mind you, I don't claim to be an engine expert.) How is your vacuum advance? As an aside, if you ever decide to go with the ZX distributor, vacuum advances are still available for those distributors.

For the wiring harness, you could try ZCarSource. They aren't cheap, but they probably have one.

Mike, the owner, has an amazing shop. I visited there once. I don't think he's the right person to do the work, but he probably knows a body man who could do the work.

No ammeter = no alternator. That's probably the most critical. I'm at work, so I don't have my wiring diagrams to see exactly where the ammeter breaks the charging circuit. On a 240Z, you can't start the car without the ammeter (or shunt in its place). You can jury-rig almost anything electrical. Believe me, I have seen it while combing through my Z cars. Of course, if you don't do it right, you probably won't have to worry too much about your dash due to the electrical fire. Frankly, I wouldn't think it would be prudent to drive around much with gauges, anyway.

And let's not forget the importance of punctuation. "Let's eat, Grandpa." That is a statement that might come from a loving family member. "Let's eat Grandpa." That is a statement that might come from depraved cannibal.

I have a similar issue, and water drips from under my dash on my legs and on my ecu, where are the driprails? The driprails are on each side of the roof, right over the doors.

Here's one.

Thanks for the link. I always welcome history lessons, especially about WWII.

True. I think when most people consider replacing the fusebox, they are talking about the "Painless" kits. For a stock replacement, your only choice is used, such as from ZCarSource.

What is the minimum number of gridlines that Frostfighters will support? Three seems kind of low at first blush. If you lose one gridline, the current through the other 2 will go up significantly.

Two voltage regulators causes BAD things to happen. Download the factory service manual for your car. (Find the link in my signature.) Then you can look things up instead of relying upon hearsay. There is enough bad information floating around online that it is in your best interest to have the definitive repair manual on hand.

Search on this site. Somewhere someone posted a colorized diagram of the 78 fusebox. By the way, it is a good idea to put the year/model of your car in your signature. If you look at the submenu, you'll see Forum Actions. Click on that, and then click on Edit Profile. Then look on the left side of the screen for My Settings and find Edit Signature.

LEDs. You can remove the bulbs inside the instruments and use whatever color LED light you like.