Captain Obvious

I wear Redwing steel toed. And a thong.

Haha!!! I literally laughed out loud at that. Wife wants to know what's so funny... "Nothing Dear."

Well good luck with the issue and let me know if there's anything I can do from a distance to help.

Yeah, you're right. That would certainly be more secure. All comes down to how dirty I can afford to get and how much time I have. I would much rather have something inside the interior that performs the defeat. Popping the hood when I park the car is really a pain. Attracts attention at times when you don't want the attention.

Well shooting from the hip, the behavior in the videos you posted immediately make me think you're starving for fuel. There was just enough gas in the bottom of the bowls to get it to run for a few seconds, and then once that little amount was sucked dry, you might get the occasional pop when trying to start it, but there's not enough in there to sustain running. All the thought so far has been focused on ignition since that's what you had been messing with, but what are the chances your carbs are empty?

Haha!! Honestly, that was my first thought!

Perfect!

I posted this pic in another thread, but it might be applicable here as well. With the tach not installed, the coil is stone cold dead. So when you were cranking the car without the tach connected, it's no surprise that it wouldn't even attempt to start. But then once you reconnected the tach, it should have taken care of that. Here's the pic of the ignition system: When you are cranking (Key in START) position, the ignition switch sends power directly to the tach bypassing the ballast resistor. Then once you release the key to the ON position, that connection is replaced by one where power does flow through the ballast. Do you have voltage on the coil + with the key in the ON position? Are you triple sure you've got the firing order correct? Are you triple sure that you've got the ignition timing correct?

Yeah, yeah, you're right... I got no room to talk when it comes to regional dialects. It just seemed odd to me that someone from the upper Midwest was tossing y'alls around. So you'ze guys can all fuggetaboutit. Zed Head, I'm not far at all from where you spent your time here. If you get back to the area I'd be happy to partake in a few Yuenglings with y'all!! Although, now there's Conshohocken Brewing now which blows the socks off Yuengling... Might not have been open back when you were here (if you were in the area before the brewing "renaissance").

Your measurements don't really make sense... I've attached a snipped from the FSM with some of my notes to help. The measurements you should see depend on if the points are open or closed. If the points are open you should have +12 volts on pretty much everything: a) +12 on both sides of the ballast 2) +12 on both sides of the tach c) +12 on both sides of the coil If the points are closed, the readings are a little different. With the points closed, you should have: a) +12 on the ignition side of the ballast 2) Something a little less than +12 on both sides of the tach and the coil positive c) Ground on the coil negative And I like the spurious "y'all" thrown in there for good measure! :: Just trying to get my attention?

I don't think that's likely. The tach is between the battery and the coil. With the tach not installed, the entire rest of the ignition circuit is stone cold dead. No power at all and no energy to cause any damage. In other words, the points are opening and closing, but there's no power to switch.

You're from Oregon and you just said "y'all?"

Exactly. Even if you had a meter with you and knew what you were looking for, you're not going to defeat it quickly. I've in the past done things like pulled the coil wire off and put it in a pocket. Better than nothing, but I don't consider it very effective. If I were in the car stealing mood, I'd just use one of the plug wires instead and accept the misfire on one cylinder. Anyway, I guess we should consider this thread a warning to keep an eye on our Z's!!

Is that you? If I make it to Zcon, I'll know who I'm looking for?

So you have two condensers? One on the coil positive and one on the coil negative? Well like I said, I'm not sure what they would consider the purpose of the one on the positive side, but it sure won't cause any problems. I'm not so sure about the noise reduction stuff though. Most, if not all of the noise picked up by the radio is caused by the points arc. That little arc is a noise radiation source that is broadcast through the air and then picked up by the antenna. Some noise might be conducted through the wiring, but not much. Anyway, the condenser on the + doesn't hurt. And if you've got two of them, then you're guaranteed to have one in the correct location, right? And for a little electrical theory. It's not so simple as to say that a condenser acts like an open to DC... A FULL condenser acts like an open circuit to DC, but an empty one acts like a dead short. So when you first connect voltage to an empty condenser, it will take all the current you can give it (like a short). But then once it's charged up (full) it won't take anymore current and it looks like an open circuit. And since we're talking theory... I'm really sorry, but I just can't stop myself without including the seemingly converse description of a coil (AKA an inductor). A charged coil (one that has had power applied to it for a long time) acts like a dead short to DC, but one that has just had power applied to it (uncharged) acts like an open circuit. So when you first connect voltage to a coil, it won't flow any current at all, but as time goes by, it takes more and more current until it looks (theoretically) like a dead short. And if we continue to talk about this, I'm going to have to start wielding my calculus. Nobody wants that.

Scott, I'm so glad you got your car back!

Here's the FW dongle description: I think that would work very well. You'd really have to know a bunch about Z's to defeat that. Especially in a short period of time.

Man that car is beautiful. And the garage... I would eat off that floor. It ain't right! ::

What he said. Looks like you guys had a great time. It's so nice to see the camaraderie. One of the things I like about this place!

Woot! Looks great!

Stanley, I will draw a distinction between the earlier points driven cars and the later electronic ignition cars: For the earlier points driven ignition cars, the condenser should be on the negative side of the coil (same side as the points) and the function is to prevent the points from arcing as described above. If you have a points distributor and your condenser is on the + side of the coil (same side as the ballast resistor), then you've got the condenser installed incorrectly. For the later electronic pickup variable reluctor style cars (starting in 74), they started including a condenser on the + side of the coil, and I'm not totally sure of the function. Never thought about it much... Maybe the Datsun engineers felt like they always included a condenser on the coil and were uncomfortable without putting one on there. Somewhere.

Haha! You funny. No quiz for you! Yes, you are correct. The electronic ignition transistor switched coils don't need the condenser like the points versions do. They just have to make sure that their switching transistors are robust enough to handle the primary coil flyback (kickback) voltage without being damaged. Interesting though, the later Z's with the electronic ignition module still DO have a condenser at the coil, but the later model condenser is on the battery side of the coil instead of being on the low side (switched side) like they do in points applications. I'm assuming it's for noise reduction or for a local low impedance source of stored energy. But anyway, that begs the question... The original topic of this thread suggested the importance of a condenser on the coil POSITIVE, not the coil negative. But in points applications the condenser goes on the coil NEGATIVE. So what gives? Blue, was that an oversight on your part, or did I go off and explain the whole points thing in a "normal" application, but miss the mark on the original intent of the thread? I mean, it wouldn't be the first time I answered a bunch of questions that were never asked, but I usually know ahead of time that I'm doing that!

Well I'd really like to meet up with you as well! I've heard that you are in charge of getting all the ClassicZ members together? I'll look into it a little more and then bump the Zcon roll-call thread. http://www.classiczcars.com/topic/50945-zcon-roll-call/

That's excellent that he got it back! I'm so happy for him! Let's just hope that it only took minor damage during the whole ordeal. I guess I ought to put some sort of theft resistant something in mine... I've never given it much thought, but it would probably be a good idea. I like Fastwoman's dongle. Yeah, I said that.