Captain Obvious

On my 77 280 there are several different ground connections to the harness, and they do not all connect together inside. Some do, some don't. The ground scheme is the battery cable to the starter bolt and then they use the engine as the distribution center from that point on. There are a couple places where the engine is connected to the body through the harness, but there was no small wire going directly to the battery (exception being for the fuel injection, which you do not have). So I can't be positive without taking measurements off your harness, but I bet the concept is the same as my 77. I bet there are couple ring lugs that connect to the engine block, and within the harness those connections star out to things like the turn signals, marker lights, coil, etc. as well as connect to the body. But there may be more than one star point. I think my 77 had two of them... One on the pass side area, and one on the driver's side area.

Very sorry to hear this. My condolences.

Thanks for the input guys. I know something would have to be done about the black rubber bumper ends to shorten or remount them accordingly. At this stage I'm just wondering what it would look like. Zed Head, that last post you sent me to has some good stuff in it. Thanks for that one. I did a little searching here for the topic and came up blank. I found numerous threads at zcar.com about the topic, but all of them were for people who installed 240 bumpers, So if I can figure out how to reattach an attachment from a previous thread, here's what the front of a 77-78 can look like with the stock bumper pulled in closer to the body. I like the look: And here's a pic of the back. Looks like not only did he take out the accordion ribs from the bumper ends, but he also sawed off and smoothed the bumperettes:

I've read a number of threads about how people collapse their later model bumper shocks before installing 240 bumpers on their 260s and 280's, but I have a slightly different question... I would like to know what it looks like if I were to move my 280 bumpers closer to the body, but I'm not yet ready to throw in the towel completely on my original bumpers. So anyone got any pics of a 280 where they've collapsed the shocks but are still running the original bumpers?

Yes, I was referencing Cheech and Chong. I think I first heard that skit when I was in my teens. It's still funny now, but just imagine how funny it is to a room full of teenage boys. "Uhhh, I think he's gonna show ya JR." Thanks for that BGM. I had no idea. I thought it was all comedy.

Oh, right. So you got that part covered... I'm Blind Melon Chitlin.

That large round hole was originally connected to a hose that sucked warmed air off the exhaust manifold. I've always called it the "heat riser" connection. It's unfiltered at that point, so the only thing you have to worry about would be critters. However, if critters are looking for a warm spot to make a nest, they could simply crawl into the other oval hole at the end. Both those holes go to the same spot which is the dirty side of the air cleaner.

I'm just looking for common denominators and the black fusible link fits that category. Strongly. The reason the headlights still work throughout this ordeal is that they have their own independent fusible link separate from everything else on the car. Rear outboard red. The reason the engine still cranks and runs is because those functions are supplied by the other two red fusible links. The black one supplies power to all of the "hot at all times" fuses, as well as everything powered by one side of your ignition relay (like the flashers and the gauges). So, I'm sure you've already checked the fusible links, but you have to start somewhere. Turn your lights on to create the problem, and then while it's screwed up, wiggle the black largest fusible link. The one closest to the passenger strut tower. And also try wiggling the harness below the fusible link blocks, as well as anything area you worked on when you did the internally regulated alternator mod.

Not any more I don't!! That was many moons ago when I was young and indestructible. At this point, if I got one of those "live or death" adrenaline rush events, I juuuuuussst might be able to roll it off my chest before I passed out from the pain.

You've clearly got a bad connection somewhere. Turn your lights on to create the problem, and then while it's screwed up, wiggle your largest fusible link. Should be the black one. Closest to the passenger strut tower. If that doesn't do anything, try wiggling the following next: Remainder of the fusible links. The wires that go to the starter. Any wire you can reach.

Exactly. I got a similar 3-4 boxes! Maybe what we need is a trading thread where I can trade some of my box contents for some of your box contents! The contents just can't be identical, can they? Maybe a thread where you just list what you have. Not a for sale thread, but a list of what you have surplus, and what you'd rather have?

Huh? Who said that?

I don't remember if that 15 emitter came from Superbright or ebay, but yes, that's the one. As for details on CANBus, I haven't looked into it.

I think it's because everyone all wants the same small set of difficult to find parts. Everyone wants five speeds, wood(ish) steering wheels, straight early bumpers, and SU carbs. Nobody wants four speeds, another squishy steering wheel, another set of ripped up seats, or a space saver spare. Sure there's always the little stuff that people are looking for, but it'll take a long time to make back $1500 with the little stuff.

Sloshing around dangerous chemicals while wearing masks. In the middle of summer. Sounds like a scene from Breaking Bad!

That's gonna make you go blind, you know.

I'll mess around with my camera settings and see what I can come up with. Maybe I could put the incandescents back in the tach and that could provide a common point of reference? Tach is pretty easy to get in and out.

I was going to mention the same thing about the seat belt anchor positions. On the original configuration, the seat rails and mounting locations don't have to handle much force in a front end collision. But if you move the belt anchor to the seat itself, you have changed all that. I'm sure the Z's are terrible in accidents by todays standards, but you could still make matters even worse.

Haha!! Chuck, you're right about that. That thing is so bad that the usual places no longer even exist! I'm not so sure about parting it out and making money... There's a guy here on the forum who recently bought a rusty car with the intention of rebuilding it, but everyone here convinced him it was too far gone to rebuild so he decided to part it out. Everyone talked about how much money he could make if he parted it out, but I think he's still sitting on almost all of it. He's posted a couple times trying to rouse interest and sell stuff, but people just aren't buying?

Haha! I've got the camera, but it's one of those new-fangled "cameras for dummies" where it takes care of pretty much everything for you. And one of the things it takes care of is the light sensitivity and shutter speed and all that crap. What this means is that when I try to take pics of the dash, it says to itself "Wow, it's really dark. I need to do whatever I can to make it brighter to compensate." And my dash lights have these big white halos around the outsides of the faces that really isn't there in real life. I probably have to spend some time RTFM and turning off some of the auto settings. I never was a photo bug kind of guy.

I see what you did there.

On the side that won't shut at all... I've seen an issue on car doors where the door won't close because the latch is already latched in the closed position and interferes with the catching portion of the mechanism as the door tries to swing shut. Happens sometimes when you're messing around with things and inadvertently move the latch to the closed position. So, sorry, but I it's my job to ask... Are you sure that the latch mechanism is in the OPEN position while the door is open? Maybe the latch is latched and wont catch?

Chuck, I was thinking the same thing. If it's that rusty in UNusual places, then just imagine how rusty it is in the USUAL places.

I was out last night with my Z for the longest dark drive yet since I did my PWM and LED install, and I love it. I wish I could figure out some way to take pictures that realistically convey how the dash looks now but I don't know enough about photography to accomplish such a feat. For your empty rheostat hole, you could put in a fuel pump prime button.

I saw that listing, and my first though was "Wow that's rusty. Give it another year and it'll melt completely back into the earth from whence it came". What's a parts car worth these days?