SteveJ

There. I fixed it for you. I think the money depends upon the customer. I've seen plenty of posts that say the 72 is preferred because of the maturity of the platform. I think it's more of personal preference than any strong market forces. Of course, Carl Beck might have an informed opinion on this (as opposed to my relatively uniformed opinion). What is the date on the door plate? Is it still around?

It may just need a new solenoid. Another possibility is that there is enough corrosion in the wiring that the voltage getting to the solenoid isn't always high enough to get it to engage.

Get under your car and look at the U-joints in the drivetrain. Inspect for wear. Make sure the differential is not able to move around.

Here's another (1974 Datsun 260Z), though $2500 for "ran when parked" is pretty steep to me. I paid $2500 for the car in my avatar in 2008.

Offer what you feel like paying. If he's offended, it's his problem. It's not like he HAS to take your offer. Frankly, I think this ad would be a better starting point: 1973 Datsun 240Z Avoid the blue on blue 71. It looks like a turd and is being sold by a flipper.

As I said before, if the running lights work, the meters should have 12 VDC+. Of course, if the harness has been hacked, all bets are off. You could check the G/W wire to ground at each meter to verify. You should do continuity checks on the R/L wire from the rheostat back to the meters. If you have a good ground and the R/L wire is intact to all of the meters, jumpering the R/L wire to ground should give you dash lights.

Post in Georgia Datsun Owners & Georgia Z Club on Facebook. Someone might just have one.

Sorry to read the bad news, Leonard. I haven't seen you post in a while. Too bad it couldn't have been something better.

And if you can't repair the turn signal switch, Dave Irwin and I have switches available for sale. (He gets first dibs.)

In that case before you take the plunge, do the research. Join Hybridz.org and start searching on triple webers. Read a lot before you are tempted to ask questions. There will be plenty you don't understand. Your father and brother can fill in some of the gaps. As long as you keep in mind that there are no real shortcuts to learning about this, I suggest that you jump in and learn.

This is not a very good combination. I hope you have some car savvy friends or you can learn about cars VERY quickly. Triple Webers are not for the faint of heart or unknowledgable. They require a certain level of skill to synchronize.

At first I thought it might be an internally regulated alternator. When did you get the alternator?

Unplug the rheostat and put a jumper across the terminals in the dash harness where the rheostat was plugged in. It's just as easy as that.

By the way, you might want to start here: GROUP Z

It's a good coil as far as resistance goes. Unless there is something wrong with the windings on the high side, I would look at the ignition system or the battery. See if you have a significant drop in voltage at the battery as you crank. There is a chance that the coil can't build its field up fast enough, but I doubt that. As far as the voltage readings, static voltage readings are meaningless on a coil in a DC system. The voltage is lower on the high side because of the resistance of the wire in the coil. DO NOT measure the voltage on the high side of the coil while the engine is starting or running. The voltage is too high and will arc out of your leads.

I will be more than happy to take a look. Just don't try driving it around with any jury-rigged fixes. They can cause far more problems for you. For the corrosion, a thorough cleaning followed by a coating of dielectric grease may resolve the issue. Do you have covers over the links?

There are basically three ways to troubleshoot a simple circuit like this: 1. at the beginning 2. in the middle 3. at the end Number 1 won't be that effective. If the running lights work, then we know that the beginning of the circuit is intact. Number 2 isn't easy to track unless you follow the full wiring diagram and find where the G/W wire branches off between the dash lights and running lights. Number 3 implies a loss of ground. Unplug the connector at the rheostat. Check the black wire in the dash harness at that connector for continuity with the chassis. If you can remove the speedometer or tachometer you can check for continuity at the dash harness connectors for the R/L wire to the rheostat connector in the dash harness. Since the R/L is show as being daisy-chained in the dash harness, if the rheostat tested good, it's probably a grounding issue.

Actually, look at BE-17. It gives you a breakout of just the dash lights. For the 280Z, it's the top fuse on the right. In the 260Z & 280Z for some reason, it wasn't the fuse box melting as much as it was green/white wire overheating at the connector.

Get involved with your local Z club. Compared to most of the rest of the country, you're in the Mecca for the Z car scene. If you can't find someone local, you're not trying.

Look at the BE section of the FSM. It will have a breakout for the circuit. I don't have time to look at it right now, but that is the best source to figure out how to test the circuit in the car. By the way, are the running lights turning on?

How anxious are you about getting this fixed? I'm tied up for the next couple of weeks, but I might be able to help you after that.

IMHO the fuel injection system in the Z isn't that difficult to get into a good working order. I've helped a few people get their systems working correctly electrically just by reading the manual and guiding them on troubleshooting. I have never even worked on the Z fuel injection.

As indicated the alternator is putting out TOO MUCH VOLTAGE when the engine is at speed. That could be caused by a bad voltage regulator, a bad alternator, or it could be caused by someone matching an internally regulated alternator with a voltage regulator.

Yes, that is the high voltage or high side of the coil.

From that description, I doubt it's the coil. There are no moving parts, so it wouldn't decline in performance like that. Check the resistance from the positive to negative terminals. Then check the resistance from the high side of the coil to the negative terminal. The low side should be around 3 to 4 ohms, and the high side should be over 9,000 ohms.