Zed Head

Black/white is switched power from the ignition switch. Black is the intended ground wire and should be opposite the bump on the plugs. Maybe someone de-pinned your connector to clean it or put a new plug on and screwed up when they put it back together. FastWoman may have the right idea, get out the volt/ohm meter and see where those harness wires go. You'll need to know anyway even for an alternator swap.

I overlooked the part about Pin 2 being the black wire on the harness plug. I just looked at both FSMs, 76 and 77, and they both show Pin 4 as black/ground. Pin 2 should be power from the alternator, a white wire. I have attached a drawing from the 1977 FSM (Page BE-22) of the regulator side of the plug, just to confirm the wire colors, plus it shows where they come from. A for Alt, L for Lamp, E for Earth, Ig for switched power. I thnk that F and N come from the T plug on the Alt. It is upside down compared to Steve's Post #2 drawing. You can see that it matches the 1976 wiring diagram.. L signifies a blue wire in the drawing, so you can see that they don't match wire colors across the plug for every wire. Blue in the harness goes to W/R on the regulator for example. There is definitely something odd if your car's harness has a black wire at the Pin 2 position. Any chance you could take a picture of this odd connector? If you decide to go with the internally regulated alternator, be aware that the yellow wire also powers the brake light warning switch circuit. Your battery will slowly drain if you don't cut it, and wire it to a switched source. Edit - Forgot to say that I already converted to an IR alternator so can't compare plugs.

E represents Earth or Ground. If you have a voltmeter, you could see if Pin 4 on the harness connector has power when you turn on the key or is grounded, key off. According to the diagrams, it should be a ground wire. What you've described so far is as if the wire to pin 4 from the harness has power to it when the key is turned on. It's possible that someone had a short in the past and the wires melted together in the harness, or that insulation has frayed away over time inside the bundle. If you connect your voltmeter positive to Pin 4 from the harness, and the voltmeter negative to ground, then get power when the key is turned on, there is a short somewhere along the Pin 4 circuit. It might be burned at the other end also. My 76 has some wires stuck together in the main harness from a short sometimes in it's past (before I got it). The ground wires run right alongside the power wires in the harness. The ground wire got hot and almost took the whole harness out. Edit - my clairvoyance is acting up again...

I almost hate to get involved in the fusible link discussion but it seems to me that the "red = 50 amp link" data that is on the Atlanticz site is incorrect. Everything that I have seen in the FSM (the wire gauge information, from smallest to thickest), the labels on the actual fusible link holder in the car (Br matches Br in the FSM), and on the Nissan representative's own web site (Courtesy Nissan) suggest that "red = ~30 amps." I have not seen the atlanticz page data verified anywhere else. Edit - I also just noticed, on the atlanticz page, that it calls out red as 0.69 mm^2. This might well be a 50 amp link. But it's not the red that Courtesy sells, and it's not the Br that the FSM calls out. Also on the page, it is suggested that Br (Brown, page BE-2) is actually BR (black with red stripe). More confusion. "Pink" is called out as 30 amp. From the Courtesy Nissan web page - Black = 1.25 mm^2 Green = 0.5 mm^2 Red = 0.3 mm^2 The attached image is from the 1976 FSM showing that the numbers are the same as the FSM but what was Brown is now red. Also attached is a picture from the fusible link holder on my 1976 car. B (black) for accessory, Br (brown) one for ignition and one for headlights, and G (green) for ignition. The Courtesy Nissan page for reference - http://www.courtesyparts.com/kb_search_result.php?chassis_id=59&keywords=link&Submit_Button=Go&cat=1 So, on the atlanticz page, either green is not 40 or red is not 50. Or Courtesy Nissan is selling the wrong gauge fusible link wire. Thanks for listening. I know that this has been beat to death over time, but these logic errors just bug me.

I listen to my fuel pump to tell the state of my charging system. It even tells me when my blinkers are on.

Page EE-30 in the FSM has a pretty good drawing. It has been suggested in other threads that you try cooling the module down when the problem occurs. If cooling it allows you to restart faster than waiting, that's a pretty good indicator that the module is bad.

Thanks for the information Carl. I wil be saving this thread for future reference. I wonder if hogie had a 240 mm (2+2) pressure plate with a 28 mm sleeve similar to ktm's situation in the other thread, but somehow the PO got it bolted together? hogie, if you want to be sure that your slave cylinder is not bottomed out, holding some pressure on your pressure plate fingers, note that on my car, I can pull the slave cylinder rod back and remove it from its spot on the fork without unbolting anything. There is enough unused travel in the slave cylinder to do that. If your slave cylinder was bottomed mechanically, you won't be able to do that.

Is that the typical place to measure the sleeve/collar? The 1 13/16" collars I mentioned, also measure out to 28mm (~ 1 1/8") using Carl's measurement points. One more data point. It looks like hogie has all of the parts for a 280Z coupe clutch. What are the measurements on the original parts that didn't work?

The pictures that Carl posted in the link that Dizeazd gave are very useful in showing that there are at least four collars out there. But there are no measurements associated. Here are some measurements from parts that I know, for reference (I still have these parts for some reason) - The dimensions for my 1976 4 speed 2 seater (225 mm clutch aka 8 inch) is 1 13/16 inches from the bearing surface (where the clutch fingers touch) to the tops of the ears (where the fork rides). This collar was used with a pressure plate that measured 2" from mounting surface to the tops of the fingers. I drove this around for quite a while before I replaced the clutch when I replaced the transmission with the 5 speed. I have the collar and pressure plate from the 1978 280Z that apparently drove fine when it was parked. The transmission had all the signs of never having been removed. It too had a 1 13/16" collar, but the pressure plate measured 1 3/4". The 4 speed 1976 transmission is the FS5W71A which has the identical bell housing to the 1978 5 speed FS5W71B. So there is a 1 13/16" collar dimension used with both a 1 3/4" and 2" pressure plates heights, on an L28 with either and FS5W71A or ...B transmission. I would guess that your new pressure plate is the latest 280Z style. If you have the later 5 speed, the 1 13/16" collar should work for sure, maybe with any transmission. Thanks for giving me a reason to go dig through my old parts. I did not even realize that my pressure plates were of different height. I had just bought the clutch set for a 78 280Z when I did the trans swap, put it all in and apparently got lucky.

Thanks for the reply. Maybe they stopped putting the collar in because of all of the returns for "wrong part." Edit - I wrote a bunch but most of it is covered in Dizeazd's link... One last thought, your throwout bearing and collar looks very gummed up. It has to slide back on the transmission main shaft front cover cylindrical portion to release the pressure on the clutch. I wonder if yours was jamming on the cover. Make sure the collar slides freely back and forth. I am interested because I don't want to get stuck in this situation! Still looking for the definitive measurements to ensure everything will work together. Last, last edit - Removing comments. I'm just adding to the confusion...

Do they include the bearing? I thought that a new bearing could be pressed in to the old collar. The wear on the collar "tabs" is usually pretty minimal isn't it?

I agree!. I guess my sense of humor didn't come across. It's not the first time.

"My girlfriend convinced me to head up to the pick and pull" - what an odd statement...

How much for a t-shirt? Maybe I'll buy one - sort of...

Looks like venus is drumming up awareness of his/her Z Island t-shirts, hats and coins, and the plan has gone awry. She/he has now indirectly insulted Ferrari people also. It's a slippery slope, trying to defend a poor decision.

While I remember, and in case you come across one - I have found that my spare 1978 AFM is mechanically identical to my 1976. It even has the working fuel pump contact switch, even though, according the FSM, the pins connecting to it are "useless." Having worked in manufacturing, it may be that the company gave the same part a new number, during a transition. Later products might not have the switch. Something to consider if you came across a 1978 AFM for cheap. Check for the fuel pump contacts and it might work on your car. My spare 1978 AFM has the Datsun factory label on it, so does not appear to be a reman. But, and I hate to muddy up a muddy situation, there is also the outside possibility that the 1978 has a different spring tension than the 1976. I would be surprised if this was the case but since there is little information on the factory spring tensions, it is a possibility. If we get a few rainy days here I might connect my shop vac to both AFMs and see if the voltages are the same, at the same air flow volume. 1976 is A31-060-001 1978 is A31-604-000 We will be building new parts from scratch by the time we're done here....

In theory a voltage gauge has infinite resistance. In practice, it's almost infiinite. One of the few things I remember from my classes on electronics. The current draw is tiny. So, yes, the gauge is always on and won't drain the battery. I was recently comparing ECU numbers and found that the 76, 77 and 78 Manual transmission cars all used the same ECU, #A11-600-000. But 77 and 78 Autos used A11-601-000. So there might be a wire or two to the ECU that your ECU won't handle correctly. Just something to be aware of if you run in to a problem, I do not know what the ECU differences might be. I got the information off of various other sites. The fusible links have a high temperature flexible insulation so that they don't melt externally when they go. A lot of people replace them and the mounting base with Maxi-fuses.

Is this how the "trolling" thing works? Go find a site, join up and try to start an argument/discussion? Seems pretty odd, but that's the internet. "Marketing position with ZCCA" is bait, I assume? Fascinating, but disturbing. At least you put some effort in to the avatar, although it's probably stolen from another site. How many different sites do you typically hit in a week? Amusing aside - avatar view-blocking only works when you are logged in. The avatars are visible to the general public. Some sites show avatars only to logged-in members.

I think that the right drawing in Nissanman's picture is of the bushing inside the ends of the moustache bar (the part you burn out when you install urethane). It's from the FSM and shows the top and bottom big washers, and what looks like a small ring of rubber at the top. Datsun could have produced a better picture, I don't think it represents what they put on the cars. The left drawing is the front mount. It's not the greatest either. On my 76 280Z and a 78 280Z that I had, both top and bottom looked like the one on the upper right. It probably matters little which is used, unless mrk3cobra is doing a restoration.

The right one on the top picture looks like a 280Z part. I've never seen one like the lower right, with no bumps, until now.

If you put the transmission in gear before you remove the shifter (or while it's out before you install) you can grab the output shaft and turn it to get the splines lined up, while you're pushing the main shaft lightly against the clutch disc. It also helps to lift up on the clutch disc a little bit with the alignment tool, or just push up on it a little, in to get it perfectly centered, when you're tightening the pressure plate bolts. Otherwise it will drop just a little bit from gravity, making it just a little harder to get the main shaft end in to the pilot bushing hole. The weight of the disc just hangs on the little plastic nub of the alignment tool in the pilot bushing so if you have a weak one, or a loose fit, you can get some misalignment.

Yes it does, but it didn't have any SPAM associated so what the heck. Benefit of the doubt. I'm not really up on how those troll-bit things work. Didn't check that he left immediately and hasn't been back (how do you tell?). What do you think?

Thanks, I'm just trying to add to the knowledge base. I got your first post? Woohoooo...

No wonder it's hard to find. Nice picture. I was just thinking about rigging up something similar for those odd occasions when the AAR is closed, but the engine still needs a little extra bypass air to keep the idle up, certain cold days when you hit lots of stop signs or lights. It would work like a choke, with a knob in the cabin to turn to allow more throttle body bypass. It might also be a cheap or temporary fix for those who don't want to fork out $100 for a new AAR.

Thanks. I assume it's the one on this web page - http://www.cavemanautoparts.com/parts.aspx They don't list the car yet. Must be new inventory.