TomoHawk

The wiper blades I ordered from Courtesy Auto finally got to me. I tried fitting them to the Wiper arms, and they wouldn't go on. Unless you open the tab fairly wide, so the arm will get past the locking button. After I buff the other arm I will put them on the car. I'm wondering if buffing will cause too much reflection, in which case I will probably need to sand the arms to restore the former matte finish. How long do you think the rubber refills will last in storage? I would order some refills soon, and keep them for next year. I might be able to find a plastic tube I can cap on the ends to keep the air out, and give the rubbers a swipe of the rubber rejuvenator before storage.

Try astrophotography with a digital camera through a telescope. Those little digital cameras are fine for cheap, spontaneous photos, but are in no way to be considered actual photography. Because of them and smartphones like the iPhone (which supposedly has a "great camera" because you pay an extra $75 for the stuff) people think you can get "great photos" and the real art or skill of photography has been lost.Some people will argue that modern digital cameras are better, but they are only electronic devices meant to mimic film cameras. They are only as good as the optical sensors and optics, but since they don't use film, they are quite different and have their own uses.

J.C. Whitney used to sell "musical" flashers. One would play "Love Me Tender" when the light are flashing. It was supposed to get your attention. Anyway, the electronic flashers I got recently have a clicking sound like the factory relays make.

I could just cover the hole with a textured cover or a vinyl patch. If I had a restored dash, I could cut a rectangular hole and install a dimmer with a surround, maybe with a roller in stead of a knob? You would only need to feed the three wires through and connect to the old rheostat connector. But a fancy new dimmer from a newer vehicle would look too "modern?" How about this dimmer,from a Honda Accord, with the integral illumination, so you can find the dimmer in the dark car and adjust it constantly?

Use a camera

I have thePWM dimmer unit wired up and I tested it in the car. It works. I have a full range of brightness for the gauges. I installed the dimmer on a bracket I made that replaces the bracket for the hazard flasher unit. I substituted the EP34 flasher for both, so the bracket was no longer needed. I only added a small side extension so I could mount the PWM in a way that I can reach the knob from below. Now only the hole from the rheostat remains.

I'd like to try some LEDs in the map light. I think you can get a COB panel about 16 x 30mm, which ought to fit just behind the clear lens and create a good flood of light, compared to the original design. Or you could try a powerful 194 bulb with LEDs like this one, or this one.

Can you say mixed up pins? Mark up another zero for early Nissan "quality control." After a couple tries we got the lights working and the thing still shows the engine speeds too. The other tachy only has bulbs for electrical stuff and it has the connections for the bulbs correct. I will only be using the LEDs for the gauge illumination, and I will put in some new incandescents for the brake & high beam indicator, as they only go in occasionally as opposed to the illumination. The PWM dimmer is next...

I was thinking there wasn't enough of a potential difference to drive the LEDs, because the LEDs worked fine when bench testing. Even with the rheostat disconnected, and the connector shunted, the tachometer LEDs were off, with the other gauges at full brightness. Maybe there's a loose pin in the connector, who knows... BTW, I have all LEDs now in the gauges.

Toyauto, Oobaroo, NoondaH, Makesyudizzy.

One of the bulb wire has some heat shrink on it, so I think it had a nick and was repaired. The other bulb wire was not repaired.

The two wires weren't hot at all, but they had +12V on them, according to the buzzer. The incandescent bulb has no polarity, so it worked, probably finding its own way to complete the circuit. I tested the wires with an LED and some test leads, and I think the hot wire was fine, but the one going to the rheostat is getting some voltage, even with the rheostat disconnected. It's just confusing because I assumed all the gauge bulbs are in parallel, so why is the tachometer different? I checked the wires to make sure the colors were the same on both sides of the connector, and they were- IIRC. BTW- I'm using the same paddlewheel LEDs in all the gauges, but I just got some 24-emiiter paddlewheel LEDs , so I put those in the two tachos. There shouldn't be any difference in function; only the current and light output is different(slightly.)

Speaking of LEDs in the gauges... I put the tachometer in, started the engine, and the needle moved, which is a good thing. Then I turned on the lights, and the tachometer stayed dark. The center gauges had lights. I tried an incandescent bulb, which lit up, but switching back to the LED made no improvement. Then I took the gauge out and checked the wires and sockets. The contacts were fine (clean) and had the correct colors (GW to the tip, and RL to the other.) Then I got the tester (a 2V buzzer) and probed the connector. I found that both the wires for the bulbs were hot. May there's something to make it seem that way? The LED doesn't like it. I will dig into the wiring diagram, but in the meantime, may I get some help with this? Getting the gauges i is the last thing to do to be ready for the summer. I even got the PWM dimmer hooked up, and EP34 flashers for both the turn signals and the hazard lamps.

Did we ever discuss the effectiveness of color on gauges? My Zed has green domes over the bulbs in the gauges. All the aftermarket gauges I've seen (on hotrods) have white light (with with faces.) I know blue gauges are bad because blue is hard to see in the dark. GREEN is in the middle of the spectrum with blue on the one end, and red on the other. That suggests green is 'OK' to light gauges. Personally, I don't mind green, but I will just use the plain white LEDs for this summer, with the middle gauges being green, because I look at them much less often, and maybe color the them all green after using white light for the summer. I haven't found any discussion regarding gauge color (yet) but if you know of a good one, please share it.

Oh yeah, that Jo- ertz guy.

Between the air dam and the valence would then be a good compromise, if the stuff is strong enough to stand up to a tow. You could probably extend the arm back to the chassis somewhere, and forward enough to clear the bodywork. YThen a little extra bracing to keep the body from being 'tweeked.' It makes you wanna go back to the strap idea, or a big hook out of the roof, like the F1 cars? Is this a rule for hot-laps, or just racing?

NV Zee- RUST is good word- if you're talking about paint?

That's a good job. Can you bend the loop down, for more clearance, or maybe add a 1inch spacer. Clearance to the loop, so you don't scratch things trying to put a metal hook in the loop. In the back , I can only suggest building a triangulated structure to locate the loop low enough to clear the valence. Something low like a muffler hanger.

When I saw the hook coming out from the headlamp, I immediately though that if the tow guy is off a few degrees or more, then the fender/headlamp will get pulled off, or the front will get "banana-fied." IMO, you need to put the bracket down low, near the bumper arm mounts. Is there any requirement for accessibility? Suppose you go off into a shallow pond or mud bog,. You could get in deep enough so the bumper is covered, in which case, you'd need a tow point that's accessible to the average tow truck.

There is just to much nicely-formed sheet metal on the front & back to be able to easily attach a bracket.

The more I think of hacking or welding to the car, the more I think I will get some straps that can be attached to the car. You only need to attach the bolt on the one end to the chassis and have the strap hanging out a slot or hole somewhere in the body.

AFAIK, it only had the tie-down eyes: two on the underside of the front frame rails behind the radiator support, and two on the back next to the bumper shocks. These were put in at the factory for shipping to the dealer, and the dealer was supposed to take them off before the consumer drives away. Mind you, the "tow hooks" of this topic aren't for long-distance towing, such as towing to a racetrack or a car show 100 miles away. They are more like "rescue hooks" so the car can be towed out of a sand pit or some scrub if you go off course when racing.

Higuys, You are required to have a tow hooks or straps if you go racing, or possibly even hot-lapping, so I was thinking of how you would install them on the Zed. I think on the front you could attach a short strap to the bottom of the center radiator support (in stead of the tiedown points, to center the tow-point and avoid damage to the lower valence panel) and feed it under or through the grill. You'd have to put on a zip-tie or something to keep it in place or keep some tension on the strap so it doesn't hang down or even fall on the ground and drag. But on the back, you don't have that much of the frame exposed to put on a strap or even an metal bar. If you have the rear bumper off, then you can make use of the bumper mounting points. What other creative ways are there to add a bracket or strap to the back of the car?

I set up the test rig for the Toyota PWM dimmer and it worked. I tried it with combinations of incandescent and LED bulbs and I got the best control (0-100% brightness) using the combination of bulbs, as we discovered works best with the stock rheostat. The module didn't get warm or let the magic smoke out, so I can only try in in the car. I think you will need to run 1 witre from a 12V source (the headlamp switch) You only have to figure out what mix of incandescent & LED bulbs will illuminate things correctly. The test rig diagram: This photo has a mixture of bulbs, with the control set to full-on. The dimmer is from a 1990s Toyota Corolla or Celica.

I don't think it's impossible; it just requires some time, effort, and resourcefulness: I have some clear translucent label material that I use for making decals for little things, and I could easily print a gauge overlay on it, and make a faceplate from some scrap plastic. Cut a hole in a cardboard box to for the plastic face to fit into and wire some LEDs, or even a turn or brake lamp bulb, to backlight the imitation gauge face. Then if the experiment looks like it has promise, you refine things to retrofit into gauges, hopefully.