Pir0San

I put the dash back in the car and hooked up everything but these connectors and all of the accessories work properly. I'm still at a loss for what these connectors might be; possibly ac, heater control light, fog lights, safety interlock, stock radio?

I figured out that the first connector is for the choke switch, and the cut wire matched the red/blue wire that was next to it in the harness. I was able to pull the spade connector from the block connector and solder the wires back together. The second connector is for the rear window defroster switch, and the blue wire matches with the blue wire farther up the harness. I'm still at a loss as what the other connectors are for. I took some more pictures though: This is a female two prong connector, and the wiring is green and black/white stripe. This is a male two prong connector, and the wiring is green/white stripe and red. The final connector is a female three prong connector, and the wiring is black - green - black. I can't seem to find where these wires appear on the wiring diagram or on the supplement guide. They don't appear to go to the rear speakers either. I was thinking that maybe one of the two prong connectors were for the dome light, but the colors don't match on the light housing, plus the PO snipped the harness in the ceiling.

Thanks for the suggestion on the supplement. I didn't originally even look at it as my car was built in 8/72, but after a quick browse it looks like the connectors are the same. Maybe I can get the dash back into the car today after all.

Duplicate post

Thanks for the reply. I have a few different wiring diagrams (Haynes, Datsun FSM, Chiltons, and the links you provided), but the diagram doesn't show the color pinout of the connector specifically. I wish Nissan would have been consistent and made the wiring match as it jumps from connector to harness. Maybe I just suck at reading wiring diagrams.

I decided to pull the dash out of my Z to fix some hack job wiring done by the previous owner, and I'm confused as to where a few of the connectors go. I'm working on the part of the harness that drops from the center of the dash down to the fuse box and choke/defroster/seat belt light, and the PO cut some of the wires so things are difficult to figure out. Where do these connectors go? I suspect that this connector goes to the choke switch. It's wiring is red/blue stripe and black. The red/blue is snipped, and it looks like the rest of the wire is in the harness closest to the connector (as pictured). The choke switch connector is red/blue and red, so this worries me as the colors do not match. These connectors look like they go to the defroster switch. The blue wire is snipped, and there is no wire close by that looks like it matches it. I did find a disconnected blue wire further up the harness that looks like it might belong to the snipped end. (I used process of elimination to figure it out, these was the only connectors that had three prongs on both ends, but the wire colors don't match). I have no idea what these are, but the connectors look like they go together. The wires are both from the center harness, but from two different branches. Finally, there's this random connector that nothing matches with. I suspect that it belongs to the antenna manual switch, as the connectors are shaped the same. The pinout is Black - Green - Black. The antenna manual switch pinout is Blue/Red - Blue/White - Blue. So...any ideas?

Now what would cause the car to run poorly in the heat?

So, after thinking about what could cause a problem with the tach reading incorrectly and reading that the coil can cause fals readings, I decided to replace the coil yesterday. I bought a Niehoff coil from Kragen, and reused my old ballast resistor. It's not as hot as it was yesterday, I think temperatures are around the 90's today. I went outside to drive my Z on my lunch break, and it started up and seem to run more solid, but yet when the key was in the on position and the engine was off the tach was indicating the motor at 200rpm with the engine off. What else can I replace? Could the ballast resistor be causing these remaining problems?

I have a feeling that this has been posted before, but I can't find the thread for the life of me. My Z has been running great, no problems at all. I drove it for about 4 hours straight just over this last weekend without any problems. Today, temperatures are hotter than they have been all summer (106 today) and when I went out to take the Z for a drive, she started up but sputtered a little bit. I got on the road and went driving, but the car still seemed to be hesitating. I pulled into a parking lot, got some food, and when I came back out, the car did not want to idle smoothly. I shut the car off, and when I turned the key back to the on position, the tach was sitting at 1200 rpms without the car even being started. I started the Z, and the tach indicated the motor spinning at 2500 rpm, when it was really idling more around 600 rpm, and very roughly. Under load the car seems to run ok, it still seems to misfire, but it's really bad when I just let the car idle. What could my problem be? I've got a freshly rebuilt engine with about 2500 miles on it, a pertronix pointless system in my dizzy, and that's pretty much it that isn't stock. Help!

Yep, mine too!

OH NOES! It's blackbird! For real though, this would make an AWESOME movie.

My Z just rolled over 700 miles...on the rebuilt engine. The whole car has about 146,000 miles on it now.

Roy, thanks for the heads up. I ended up pulling an R180 3.54 out of a 280zx, about 3 months ago.

I finally got my rebuilt engine back in the Z, and it runs awesome. I've got a new problem now though. I shattered the old type b tranny that the car had in it when I got it, so I swapped it out with a rebuilt type a tranny. I installed a new clutch kit with the new engine, and now I realize that the throwout bearing collar is not the right length (it is too short). This is causing my clutch to engage only when the master and slave cylinders are fully adjusted outward. If anyone in the Sacramento area has a throwout bearing collar from a type b 4 speed, I would be willing to purchase it from you, for a reasonable price. Someone please help! The clutch is really the only thing that is keeping me from getting the car back out on the road and getting the engine run in.

I'm looking for a Victor Reinz head gasket for my L24, and I can't seem to find them anywhere here in Sacramento. If anyone has any ideas where to find them, or if anyone has one they are willing to sell, please let me know!

I ended up using the old cam and rocker arms on another head that I had, that were in good condition. Thanks!

Thanks for the input. I was assuming that it would be a bad idea, but I wanted to check with you guys. I got a pretty high quality HG from my rebuild kit, and after I torqued it, I realized that I probably should have used the old one for the measurement. Are felpro gaskets really as bad as everyone says?

I'm doing the final assembly of my engine before I throw it into the car, and I just have a couple questions before I fully take the plunge. I had new pistons installed into my block (flattops with valve recesses, bored .020 over), had the block decked and had the bottom of the head shaved slightly to ensure a good mating surface. The new pistons protrude out of the cylinder bore slightly past the deck of the block. I understand that this is alright, as long as you run the correct thickness gasket. I am using a gasket out of the master rebuild kit that the machine shop gave me. I have put the head on and torqued everything together, and then spun the engine over by hand and did not feel any valve to piston contact. I would like to put some modeling clay on the top of the piston and then torque everything down, do a full revolution, and then see how far down into the clay the valves go in order to make sure that the valves and pistons are not too close. Would it be ok for me to reuse the head gasket even after torquing it and untorquing it about three times, or is this a bad idea? I'm really afraid that if I do it wrong, I'm going to be out the money spent on the engine, and I just want to make sure it's done right. Please help!

I finally got my lower end rebuilt! I decided to take the plunge and spend the money to get it done. The engine was a little worse off than I thought, it needed to have another crank installed because it was worn and the harmonic balancer messed up the woodruff key notches, and I needed to have the block bored. I ended up having them bore it .020 over, resize my rods, install another crank with oversize bearings, put in new freeze plugs, and pretty much put the lower end together. They ordered me a master rebuild kit with ITM pistons, a new oil pump, all gaskets, valve seals, new timing set, and pretty much the whole kit and caboodle. The lower end is set up and ready to go, except for the timing stuff to be put on and the front cover to be installed. I had them also pressure test my head and resurface it to make sure it would be totally straight. The head came out great, with only a light surface. I've got a problem though. When I bought the head, the machinist had punch marked the back of the rocker arms to indicate which cylinder they went to, but he marked both the intake and exhaust rocker with the same number of punch marks. The machine shop didn't separate the intake and exhaust rockers, so now I'm not sure which order to put the pairs in. From what I understand, the camshaft wears on each rocker differently, so if you swap rockers back and forth, it could mess up the grind on the camshaft. Is this something that I should worry about? I don't want to get everything together and just have to rip the head off again just to swap the cam and rockers. Also, what process would you guys recommend to break in a new engine? I've read some of the threads here on breaking in a new engine, and there are mixed feelings on how to break in a new engine, and there were even mixed feelings when I asked the different guys at the machine shop. The guy who did my block recommended I take the car on a 100 mile trip or so when I get the engine running, and to vary the speed as I drive. I asked him about if it was bad to let the engine idle, and he really didn't say too much about it. He advised I stay out of stop and go traffic, and that I not jump on the engine too much, but to give it some throttle to help the rings to seat. He also advised I use engine braking, and not to lug the engine. After 500 miles, he advised me to change my oil, and to change it again at 1000 miles, and then every thousand up to 3000 miles. After that, he said it should be fully broken in. One more thing, what is a good base adjustment for my carburetors? I know that they were running rich before I dismantled the engine, and it seems that the base setting is 2 - 2 1/2 turns. Any suggestion? What would you guys recommend? I'm going to hopefully have the most part of the engine put together tonight, and I can't wait to hear it run. Here's some pictures, I'll hot link to them so as to not slow this thread down. Pic 1 Pic 2 Pic 3 Pic 4

I don't recall the numbers exactly, but I do remember that it was L24-120xxx. Both blocks started off with 120xxx, and I think the one I'm getting rebuilt ends with 893 or something like that.

So, I've finally decided to get my engine in my Z rebuilt. I've decided not to use the numbers matching block, but instead a block that I got for free from ebay. The block has a higher number stamped into it than my Z's original motor does. My Z was built in 8/72, so I'm assuming that the block I have now is probably a late 72/73. I'm looking to buy some rod bolts from ARP, but I'm unsure if they are 8mm or 9mm bolts. Anyone able to shed some light on the subject?

I have that new diff mount installed in my Z. Works like a champ.

The pertronix install is fairly easy, did you see the guide at zhome.com? Link:http://zhome.com/ZCMnL/tech/ZXPertronix.htm

I know I'm resurrecting this thread, but I have a question about my differential. My original 3.36 r180 differential was howling and making a horrific clunking noise (like someone was hitting the bottom of the car with a bat), so I replaced it with a 3.54 r180 out of a 280zx. I used the halfshafts from the r180, and bought a new differential mount while I was at it. The new differential doesn't whine, but a week after I installed it, I noticed a clicking noise coming from the passenger side rear upon acceleration from a dead stop. I thought it might be a bad u joint, so I pulled the right side halfshaft and replaced both u joints. The problem still exists, and I have no idea what it could be. I see on here that someone said that it could be suspension bushings that need to be replaced, and I was thinking the same thing. The clicking noise was accompanied by what sounded like a stress click, like the suspension was flexing. This is fine and all, but the thing that concerned me was that when I had the differential out and the Z on jackstands, I was playing around and spinning the rear wheels. They were not connected to the halfshafts, so I assume they had no resistance on them. The left side wheel spun freely, and would spin somewhere around 20 revolutions, but the right wheel under the same force would spin maybe 5 or so. I'm assuming this could be either a dragging rear brake shoe, or bad wheel bearings. I don't think it's a dragging brake shoe, because my rear brakes were improperly adjusted and wouldn't engage when pressing the brakes. Would bad wheel bearings cause a clicking noise upon acceleration from a stop? Last question: I replaced the differential mount, and clunking was gone for a while. Now when I shift fast or when I let off and stab the gas, I hear clunking from the rear end. This sounds exactly like what the old differential would do, and the noise was gone when the differential mount was replaced. All bolts seem to be tight, and the mustache bar bushings are old, but seem to have some meat left on them. I did notice that the differential strap was a little loose, and had a slight tear in it. Is there any way to tighten up the differential strap? I'm at a loss for ideas right now, and I don't want to start tearing pieces off of my Z and replace them for no reason.

I recently replaced my rear end with another r180, and now I am hearing a weird click noise coming from what seems to me to be the right rear tire area. I don't believe it to be a u-joint or differential mount problem because when I did the swap, I replaced the differential mount, and used the halfshafts that came with the new r180 differential. I jacked the car up, and tried to see if there was any slop in the halfshaft u-joints, and I didn't notice any. I made sure everything was bolted snugly, so I really have no idea what the sound could be. I have a feeling that it could be bad wheel bearings on the right side. When I had the car on jackstands and I was replacing the differential, I had spun both the right and left wheels while the halfshafts were off, and it seemed like the left one would do twenty rotations whereas the right one would do maybe two or three. Could this be a bearing problem? I was also thinking it could have been a differential problem, but I'm hoping it's not. When I pulled the differential, I drained the gear oil out of it, and it seemed to be less than desired. I did check the drain plug for metal shavings, and the gear teeth for chipping, and no problems were found. Could the bearings on the differential be going bad?