Captain Obvious

I've not messed with the GM three wire upgrade, but I thought it was pretty bulletproof. I thought that the sense wire needed to be connected though.. If it's disconnected, the alternator will try to put out more voltage to increase the sense feedback? What happens if you run a jumper wire directly from the sense to alternator output lug? Does the voltage stay at 16.8 or does it drop down to a more reasonable level?

Yours being a 78 isn't the reason it has vacuum pots. It has vacuum pots because it has air conditioning. The non-AC cars don't use vacuum for any HVAC controls. Everything is mechanical with cables, no vacuum. It's not a year thing, it's a feature thing.

What he said. They look great, very bolstery. But that width is going to be tough to deal with. It's been done before, right?

rossiz, Weird that your clock isn't accurate. I'm sure it's crystal derived inside the device and that's usually about as accurate as a cheap local time source can be. While I was looking through the Retro documentation, I did see some stuff about the clock... I didn't see any way to "turn it off" completely, but it does appear to be configurable whether it's the "primary" display or if the current radio station is the primary display. It's also configurable whether it's displayed while the radio is off or not. The default is clock ON while the radio is off. So you can't get rid of it completely, but you can maybe minimize it's impact?

I'm sure you know this already, but you shouldn't need any diodes or capacitors. If you've got 12V between ground and the yellow "constant" yellow wire, that thing shouldn't be losing it's memory. And it shouldn't matter at all what is going on with the "IGN/ACC" red wire. You should be able to make and break the connection to the red wire at any time, as many times as you want. As long as you have a good constant source of 12V (or something not too far from it) between the black and the yellow, it should maintain memory. But you're right in that it just might be an issue with the radio design itself and for some reason it's not tolerant to a quick "turn on, back off, and back on again" kind of situation. I would have expected Retro to have tested for that, but I have seen that kind of weird corner case before causing undesired effects. Some things to consider... First, what type of meter are you using for your investigation? Most digital meters update way too slowly to catch short transient voltage changes. Your constant +12 might actually be dropping out and your meter might just not be fast enough to display it. Second, I took a look at the wiring diagram for 71, and originally there wasn't any "always hot" connection to the radio. The original radio had no volatile memory to be maintained, and the only power to the radio was a blue wire that went hot only in ACC. So if you've got a constant +12V source at your radio, it's something that you or a previous owner spliced into somewhere. You had said earlier in the thread that your constant +12 was a light blue wire that the previous radio was hooked to. I think that's a non-stock addition and you might want to look into that a little more. Where does the switched (ACC) 12V source come from? Is that connected to the blue wire that went to the original factory radio? Just some stuff to think about when you get back to town.

Thanks Jim, I know the early year info is a little sketchy... Hopefully I've got something for that.

I don't have any vacuum controls for the HVAC, so no worry there. I did. however, take the opportunity to replace my BEEP-BEEP warning buzzer with my polite "Ding-Dong" bell chime from an Integra. I even installed a latching push button switch so I can reach up under the dash and disable the chime if I want to sit with the door open and the key in the ignition. Just have to remember to re-enable it again when I'm done. I mounted the ding-dong right next to the dimmer. PWM dimmer on the left, I'm holding the Integra chime in the middle, and the original beeper-buzzer on the right. (Note that the dash is upside down.): Also note that in that pic, I had not yet incorporated the ON-OFF switch on the chime. Here's the switch: I've got it all mounted up, but didn't take a final pic yet. I'll snap and post one when I get a chance.

Good luck with the hunt and if you can't figure it out even with Retrosounds help, let us know. So what year is it that you're working on? I'll take a look at the wiring diagram, but want to use the right one.

They are power mirrors, but I'm not using the power capabilities. I have the wiring harness rolled up into a ball and stuffed behind the glass inside the mirror housing. Maybe someday I'll go through the effort to run some wires out to the door and wire them up. And maybe someday I'll go through the effort to paint them. I'm still trying to make my car work perfect. I haven't gotten to the look perfect part yet!!

Yeah, I think 16.8 is too high. Is this something that just started, or has it always been like that? Also, is this an internal or external regulator?

Thanks for the pics showing the alignment pins. They look just like the ones used on the flat top carbs. Hope you figure out why your float valve isn't sealing...

Bummer. I was hoping that it was just a simple mistake of swapping the wires to the radio. It's my job to ask. So if the wire that is supposed to be hot at all times IS in fact hot at all times, then in theory there shouldn't be anything that you could do with the ACC connection that would cause loss of volatile memory. And hence... That's why you're here looking for help. So where are you picking up the hot at all times? And where are you picking up the ground connection? Maybe there are some clues to be had with one of those connections. And when you are measuring your voltages as you change the key positions, are you using the exact same ground point as your reference point for the measurements? There's always the possibility that your ground is floating up, not your high side drooping down.

I'm running modified mirrors from a 96 Buick Park Avenue. They were also used on a couple other GM products from similar year range. I had to modify the mounting area to better match the contour of the Z door. They aren't fancy racing mirrors, but I think they look like they belong. Here's a couple pics:

Good point about the install difficulty. I don't think there's enough room to swing the rheostat out without pulling the dash. The lower left mounting bracket is right there in the way. I had a bunch of reasons to pull my dash, so I'm just doing it all at the same time.

dmoralesbello, Yes, I'm going to use my PWM module for the LED's. You just can't get good control of a mix of LED and incandescent without it. If you were running all incandescent, a low value rheostat will work. If you're running all LED, a higher value rheostat would work, but if you're running a mix of technologies, the only way to truly get good control range is with a PWM design. TomoHawk, Yes, that's a 1/8W resistor. With the resistor in the circuit and the LED current reduced accordingly, that resistor dissipates about 60mW, or about 50% of what that resistor is rated for. I haven't measured temp rise all bundled up inside the bayonet base, but I expect the metal base to act as a radiator for any heat generated. I can't believe it would ever get as hot as the original incandescent bulb, so I'm not worried about the heat. And about your $99/dozen above... I think you slipped a decimal point, right?

Haha! I've already made a couple of these. What price will the market bear?

I haven't looked at all the years, but on everything I've messed with the ACC connection goes dead when the key is in the START position. So it sounds to me that your findings where the ACC line goes pretty much to zero when you hit START is normal. It's probably not going completely to zero because it floats and will be probably be pulled one way or the other by some accessory or other device. As far as the radio forgetting when you hit START... Are you double dog sure you have the "hot at all times" and the "hot when you want to listen to the radio" wires from the radio properly identified and not swapped by accident?

dmoralesbello, Your white install looks great. Too bright for my tastes, but that's up to the individual. As I mentioned above, I'm using the five emitter towers and I find even them to be too bright. But to each his own. About the dimmer control. You'll never get good brightness control of LED's with the stock dimmer rheostat. Just a nature of the electronics involved. If you want good brightness range, you'll have to swap to a much higher rheostat value, or you'll have to change over to a pulse width technology dimmer module. I think pretty much every car made today uses PWM technology instead of rheostats and there was a bunch of discussion about such things in a thread a little while ago:

Yup, you can cut that top emitter off with no problem. Take a look at my crude hand drawn schematic and you'll see that the five emitters are actually in five parallel paths with current limiting resistors for each path. Taking the top emitter off just removes one of those parallel paths. Here's what I did for cutting down the brightness. Start with this: Desolder the center (positive) connection and the base comes off. If the glue bond hasn't already been broken, you will have to break it. But pull/twist, and the base comes off: Unbend the negative lead and pull off the white plastic ring. Same thing goes for the glue here. It's supposed to be glued on, but the quality of the bond is usually pretty poor and it comes off easily: I shortened the length of the positive lead and attached a resistor. The resistor in the pic is 270 Ohms, but I have since changed to a 240 Ohms to make it just a little brighter. I like my dash dim, so the fine tuning of the value is left to the individual: Slip the plastic ring and the base back on, feeding the resistor lead out the hole in the bottom. Solder up that center connection, clip off the excess, and you're done. Here's what it looks like before you solder the resistor lead: When you're done done, it looks like it did before you started. I didn't glue any of them together yet until I'm positive I like the resistor value I picked, but it's a simple matter to unsolder and resolder that center connection. I'm going to get the whole project done and then glue them up. About the green lens? I wanted white, so I just removed the lenses and tossed them in a baggie. If you wanted green, I think you can get the tower versions in green, can't you? Is that "too much" green maybe?

Tidy! My plan is to add some more white accents to the interior. I don't think I'm going to convert everything, but there are plans to do more to go along with the seats. This is a fair weather sunny day vehicle for me, and I'm trying to get my interior temps down some. The white seats already make a noticeable reduction. The Fiero community has one company who has the market cornered on quality replacement seat covers. I'll give him a plug here... Mr. Mike (http://www.mrmikes.com). You can get cheaper stuff on ebay, but Mr. Mike's quality is highly respected. Unfortunately, due to the shrinking market, the choices are relatively limited in both color and fabric. He offers leather and vinyl, but the only cloth offering he has is "stock" GM. I'm sure your choices are much wider with the 350Z seats. I was also looking into early Miata seats, but from what I've heard, the early Miata seats look better than they feel. The consensus is that they look the part, but really don't preform well. At one of the recent car shows near me, there was a whole bunch of Miatas and I talked at length with owners of several different years and they confirmed that belief. 90-98? (First generation) Miata seats aren't top choice while the second and third generation seats are supposedly much better. I was looking into second gen Miata seats, but decided to break the analysis-paralysis and go with the Fiero seats instead. Mr. Mike also does Miata seats, but at this time, he only does first gen. My seat install was one of the few times that I was wishing I was working on an earlier year without the catalytic convertor bump-out. Was a royal pain, but I only had to do it once. So make sure you take copious pics of the 350Z install. I like the idea of a Nissan product in a Nissan.

I've spent a bunch of time working on the LED conversion, and here's some of what I've learned so far. For the discussion, I'm going to call the style you posted at the top of the page "paddlewheels" because I think that's what they look like. I've found that the paddlewheels have very good light dispersion inside the gauges. The only problem I have with them is that I think they are too bright. Other people can't seem to get enough brightness, but I guess I like my dash lights dim. I've found that the five emitter tower styles are not as bright as the paddlewheels, but are still too bright (meaning that I don't think you would need to resort to ten emitter towers). But I also found that the tower styles created a "hot-spot" where the forward facing emitter shines it's light. My solution was to modify my five emitter towers into four emitter towers by razor knifing the top emitter off of the assembly. Now my towers broadcast to the sides only and do not broadcast directly towards the gauge faces. I think the light diffusion and dispersion is much better. In fact, once I cut off the top emitter, I find that the towers and the paddlewheels both seem to have about the same quality of light dispersion. My final hurdle at this point is dealing with the brightness. I've actually spend considerable time trying to come up with an alternative that is less bright and what I think I have decided to do is use my four emitter towers in the gauges and to insert a current limiting resistor inside the BA9S base to reduce the brightness. I've got a bunch of bulbs done and am almost done. It's a pain, but I should only have to do it once. Ever. And yes, I also disassembled all the gauges and popped out the green lenses. Don't forget about the HVAC assy. And I warn you... It's not a easy as the gauges because they glued stuff together.

They are all the same with the exception of the final year (1988). In 88 they changed the way the "listing" seams are done. On earlier years they used metal rods inside the seats to pull the seams down (just like the Z does), and on the final year, I think they used Velcro instead. I'm guessing that the Velcro method was cheaper to produce and easier to install. It matters because you won't like the original fabric cover and will probably want to have the seats recovered. I'm not sure if the available seat upholsteries work for the Velcro types. Not wanting to turn this into a Fiero seat thread, so if you do want additional details, PM me. I should probably make a thread about my install.... Here's a pic of my reupholstered Fiero seats in my Z. They are way way way more comfortable than the stock seats. Much more supportive in all the right places, and good side bolstering on both the back and the base:

Yeah, those look very nice. Thanks for the pic.

That is exactly the case. There's no such thing as a free lunch.

Haha!! You mean like this?