Stanley

Searched the electrical forum but couldn't find much. It would help to get a link or two. Need to do some troubleshooting of the ignition system. Unraveled a harness, found some corrosion and other surprises. Don't want to do a big electrical job, don't feel qualified, but looks like I might get stuck with it. Got and read some troubleshooting books, and watched some videos about soldering and crimp connectors. Seems easy enough, and maybe it is, but wondering what to do when I get to one of the many stock multi-connectors. If I find a burned or corroded one, or if I accidentally mangle one while trying to "fix" it, are they still available ?

Bigger motor so you need more gas. Use richer (thinner) needles or modify the needles in it now (probably N-27's, but maybe not) by putting them in a drill press and polishing with sandpaper. Go easy at first, test and measure before removing more material. Or get modified (larger) nozzles from ZTherapy. APT sells needles etc. for British SU's. Maybe SM needles will work, with bigger nozzles. The British needles that work (more or less) in Hitachi SU's are made for bigger nozzles. APT, and also official SU sites have some literature. At higher altitude mix needs to be leaner, because the air is thinner, especially in hot weather.

About 12 years ago I found a camera bag in a dumpster, it contained several lenses, filters, and a Nikon F, made in the sixties. Looked it up online, it's famous, got the user manual. Took it to a camera shop and had it cleaned inside and out, there was some mold. They had a nice telephoto lens for it that wasn't expensive, so I bought it. It's a hell of a nice cam and takes great photos. I've never owned a high-end digital cam (I've got a cheap waterproof one I use for work, crawlspace photos etc.) so the "F" is my best cam. Only thing, the battery it used is NLA, and the current replacement makes the meter less accurate. You can still find Nikon F's around, online and in camera stores, for less than the cheapest digital cam. To me audio equipment with tubes sounds better than digital, so .....

That little plastic switch with the roller ball: I doubt if Nissan engineers designed that part for the Z cars only. If not, it might have been used on other models, maybe into the eighties, and new replacement or junkyard parts might still be available that could be cannibalized for that switch only. It's a long shot, but maybe. Wonder if there's a cross-reference that would let you take a Z car part number and see what other vehicles used that part ? Could be on other makes besides Nissan, too. If it's badly corroded, might be impossible to remove the corrosion without wrecking the little teeter-totter thing. I messed one up.

I have similar problem. Rt. turn signal intermittent. Half the time the indicator light is steady and the rt. turn signal doesn't work, otherwise the indicator flashes and the TS works. Where is the TS flasher relay ?

Sending it back. Called Bosch today, tech support had to look it up in old catalog, nothing online (spec was online at Bosch site couple of years ago). Correct spec is 1.3 ohm primary, 6.5 K ohm secondary.

I pulled the stock resistor too, the 1.8 ohm reading was "sometimes" and it still ran crappy with it.. Put in a new 1.6 ohm RU13 resistor, also a new distributor rotor. Have a new cap too but ran out of daylight and needed to make a run to Santa Monica. What happened blew my mind. Not only did it start and run way better, but the gas mileage was better, about double what it was. The mileage had gotten real bad recently, about the same time it got hard to start. I was sure the bad mileage was fuel system related. I can't believe that cleaning the contacts and installing a couple of cheap electrical parts could make that much difference, but I like it. Still some corrosion in the system, getting about 0.5 ohm resistance from the wire that goes (I think, not betting money on it) from the ballast resistor to the tach and back to the negative side of the coil, maybe that's OK but I'm starting to suspect corrosion everywhere. I need to google how pros do crimp on connections because one I did couple years ago fell right off yesterday. Barely pulled it. The new red Bosch coil has discoloration but not leaking. Need to contact Bosch for the spec, can't find spec. on any Bosch site, but found primary 1.3 ohm, secondary 5.5 k ohm listed for the 00013 at Summit. If that's correct it's way off. I tested it with 2 different meters and got 1.5 for the primary and 13.7 k ohm for the secondary, so maybe it's shot..Using PS20 anyway.

Crane spec. of PS20 has 1.4 ohm primary resistance, but no spec for the resistor. I've got PS20 on there now, but the ballast resister that came with it is shot. If the coil tests OK I can keep it, but I don't know what size resistor to put. Trying to look up resistors, hard to find specs., but if I know the required resistance I can go to the (independent) parts store and they can get it. The stock coil per 72&73 FSM's is 1.5 to 1.7 ohm and secondary 9.5 to 11.6 (K?) ohms, with a 1.6 ohm resistor. My very old, so maybe stock ballast resistor shows 1.7 ohm on the meter, FWIW. So that adds up to 3.1 to 3.2 ohm. Maybe the aftermarket setup needs to match that to save coil or points. 1.4+1.6 = 3, or 1.4 +1.8 = 3.2 ohm, if it makes any difference.

Red coil 00013 got here yesterday from amazon, had a small circle of brown stuff on the shiny part just below the cap. Guess I better sent it back. Don't know if I should get another one or try something else. Read that the Brazil import ones were OK, but maybe not.

Innova 3300. Also couple cheapies but don't use them anymore. It's small and has and elastic wrist band on the back, which is very handy. Also some little plastic covers for both ends of each test lead to keep them clean. No back light. No continuity tester but don't think it's necessary since it's got ohms. Smallest ohms reading is 0 to 200, reads to .1 ohm which is OK for automotive I guess. Might need better accuracy for audio and other electronic stuff that use tiny resistors. Need a box for it. Also need to make a long wire with clips on the ends to check resistance and figure out what wire goes where (under dash to engine bay, etc). Don't know much about electric stuff, but the meter allowed me to diagnose broken ballast resistor (measuring resistance is the easiest thing to do with a DMM).

Thanks, looks like I'm getting some Elliott 277, like C.O. I will probably have a bunch left over, though I'm redoing more of the harness than the original plan. Also found this at wirecare. https://www.wirecare.com/category/braided-sleeving/split-tube-wraps The F6 woven wrap looks pretty good. Probably a lot better than what you'd find at the auto parts store for about the same price, and easier than wrapping it.

Didn't have to run without it. Found the original ballast resistor in box of parts. Tried it yesterday, but car still wouldn't start. The coil was reading about 2.5 ohms, a little high, so ordered a coil and resister just in case. Today checked the original 44 year old ballast resistor, couldn't get a reading until I worked it over with fine wire brush and Deoxit; after that it read 1.8 ohm, OK per FSM. So I removed the resistor that was in there and installed the ancient one. Also worked on the contacts on the PS20 coil, after that it read 1.6 ohm, so OK. Didn't need a new coil. Also used Deoxit on all connections including the socket on the coil for the power wire to the distributor cap, there was corrosion in it. Hooked it all back up and the car is running again. More power at low end, too. About the ballast resistor that came with the PS20 coil: when I first installed it, about 6 years ago I noticed the contact prongs were loose in the ceramic body. I seemed odd, but I foolishly thought it was OK, since it was new. Today I looked at the underside of it, the resistor was broken completely. Possibly vibration, but I think it was previously cracked or weakened by just the motion of placing wire connectors on it. Suggest use a Standard Motor Products RU13 or similar instead, not expensive and way better.

get a 3 ohm coil ? Damn, good idea but I ordered a new 1.4 ohm coil yesterday.

Need to pick up a new ballast resistor, it's about a twenty minute drive each way. Is it safe to temporarily attach a jumper wire across the resistor, or will it fry my coil and points ?

Don't have to worry about matching the rest of the harness, it's not stock, just regular electrical tape, starting to come apart. Anything will be an improvement (famous last words). Ballast resistor was shot. 50 ohms resistance is bad, right?. Came with the PS20 coil. Maybe too much vibration.

Looks like part of a UFO. But if it's the back of a Z car intake manifold then it's the water inlet / outlet for the manifold heater pipe. It's probably BSPT like everything on the balance tube, engine water hose barbs, and fuel pumps. Possibly metric. Don't know because mine has a part of a rusted out "aftermarket" connector stuck in it, even the mechanic couldn't get it out (with the engine in the car". Mcmaster-carr has a good selection of BSPT. MSA has something for that, they called it a "water valve" saw it on the site yesterday. Maybe it's for running a water tube around the back of the engine. Nice photo.

That loom tape sounds pretty good. I'm only doing the coil to distributor harness part for now, keeping the job small since I'm busy with other stuff. Would like to replace any wires that carry some amps like the lights though, in the future - don't trust 40 year old rubber insulation. But for now, the new part will intersect a larger existing harness, so if it matches the look of the old harness that's a plus but not a big deal, main thing for looks is getting it wrapped neatly. Found my DVM yesterday and tossed a bunch of junk from my truck during the search, so that was good. I used to have a basic auto electrical manual, Haynes I think, that would make the trouble-shooting easy, but it got moldy and I guess I tossed it. Would go get another one but my car won't run. The truck has no wipers and it's raining.

I remember reading somewhere that friction tape is bad. Datsun left me stranded. It had been intermittently hard to start. Then yesterday it died on the road. It would start and idle OK, engine would rev fine, then it would die, tach dropping instantly to zero, no sputtering. Lights OK, cranks well, was running great at 4000 rpm. So I'm pretty sure problem is corrosion or an open between the ignition switch and the distributor. So I'm going to have to check out the wiring in that area. I'll probably have to replace some wiring and connectors, which means removing the old material that covers the wires. I want to replace all that wiring from the coil to the distributor - it looks really beat-up. So if I don't wrap it with friction tape, then what ? Also, regarding that big ceramic resistor by the coil: does it's connection to the inner fender provide a necessary ground connection ? Because it looks loose.

Still works about half the time. Some good ideas in the recent posts, so I'll check when I have the time.

I seem to remember reading that the earlier SU's, the 4-screws, had equal length valves and ears on both carbs. If so, you'd just be going back to that.

Front carb needs fuel level to be about 2 mm lower than rear carb to get equal fuel height at the nozzles, due to tilt of the engine, so they used longer valves. Otherwise the front float has to be bent oddly (P.O. did that to my car). which could make setting the floats even harder than it already is. The float needs to be sitting just right in the bowl or it can hang up on the side. IIRC, the ZTherapy video mentions using washers if you don't have the long valve, haven't tried that though. But if it works, it works.

When an air filter catches a particle, that particle restricts air flow at it's location, so the incoming air takes the path of least resistance, a clean area of the filter. When the filter is very dirty, there's no clean area, so incoming air is sucked through dirty areas, bringing dirt into the engine with it. That will happen with paper or K&N. My friend had a Nissan SUV that was dying on the freeway. Stock filter had probably never been replaced. Filter was packed with dirt and lots of dirt had made it past the filter and collected in lower part of the filter housing. I guess a lot also got sucked into the engine. We shook the filter until about half a coffee can of dirt fell out. Guess cars on the freeway kick up a lot of dirt. So maybe if it's a paper filter change it frequently; if K&N clean frequently. I got those pre-filters for my round K&N's, might keep them clean a little longer.

Nissan Thermostat probably won't make much difference, but I've read that they're more reliable. If you put one side by side with a Stant it's easy too see the difference; they are made to a higher standard of quality. I got one a couple of years ago at Nissan parts counter in Tucson. They had the various heat ranges.

Siteunseen wins cheeseburger for correct guess.

And go to local Nissan parts department and get a real Nissan thermostat for it.