SteveJ

Heresy! Heresy! There's the proof that while Canadians are nice, they just aren't civilized. I spend much too much time programming to live without that magical concoction. I noticed online that there's a Princess Auto location in Mississauga. It's probably not too far from the electronics stores I have visited on Matheson. Sayal Electronics is nice, but I still prefer Fry's. Fortunately Canadian Customs haven't looked in my trunk to see all of the Diet Dew I've been smuggling in from Buffalo, but I do have to cut back when I'm up there in order to make my supply last. I just make up for it when I get home.

I assure you that this site are working closely with the US Ministry of Finance to closely guard you're banque accont. Just submit you address, banque accont number, and all passwords. The site is legit. Just don't expect a fast turnaround if you place an order. Mike has a busy day job, but he will eventually get the disk to you. HOWEVER...I wasn't paying close attention to your username when I first posted. If you have a ZX, the CD won't do you much good. In that case, you should go to http://www.xenons130.com and look for the microfiche. Does anybody else have a better alternative to that?

Jim, I like Canadians. I'd hang out with you guys any time. However, I'm allergic to snow, Diet Mountain Dew isn't available in Canada, and I'm too much of a Type-A person to take the slower pace in stores, etc. That forces me to limit my time in the Great White North. I will say that people in the GTA drive like people in the Northeastern part of the US. I've also noticed that stopping at red lights is optional for many in the GTA. :eek: Driving in the South tends to be more peaceful until you enter a Wal-Mart parking lot. At that point, all driving rules seem to go out the window. Thanks for the heads up on Princess Auto. Hopefully, I'll remember to look for it, provided there's time in my schedule. It won't be as much budget limiting me as the difficulty getting things through customs and weight limitations on luggage. The scary thing for me is that I've been driving around the western part of Toronto enough that when I looked up the store locations, I thought, "I know about where that is." Pretty soon I'll be saying "Eh?" "Maazda" and "prOject". I took some ribbing from a co-worker last year for describing my cars to some Canadian colleagues as a 240 Zed and 260 Zed. Steve

I suggest you look at Blue's tech tips website. It is linked in my signature. Among other things you'll find is the fuel injection bible. Steve

On my most recent trip to Canada, I took some time to wander through the automotive section of Canadian Tire. They carried multiple wire butt connectors (example here) to allow you to branch a circuit. There are a couple of places in the wiring of a Z where you might need such a product if you ever have to do wiring repairs. While you can buy them in quantity online, unless you do a TON of electrical wiring, you'll never go through all of them. So to all of our Canadian members, what parts stores in the GTA might also have some interesting parts that I can look for in my next trip? I'll probably be up near Vaughan in a week or two. Steve

I suggest that whether or not you're able to get pictures, you should download a copy of the FSM for your car. That way you can at least duplicate the functionality of the wires. Granted you should probably see out information on stock gauges for wires. The most important thing is to ensure the IPO didn't bypass the fusible links.

You can find the wiring diagrams for both the automatic and manual transmissions in the 73 FSM. There should only be a couple of circuits that are different between the two. Steve

Check out my gallery. You'll see the spacers I used in my 73. For the 260Z, I just used a couple of washers IIRC.

I think Ace Hardware carries a better selection of springs. If you can't find something there, you could look at Grainger (though it's more expensive).

Try eBay. I see wiper arms coming up there from time to time.

I have used inexpensive products found at an auto parts chain store and from Harbor Freight tools. Both kits had the different abrasives used with wet sanding, and both resulted in marked improvement in the amount of light that passed through the lenses. Caveats: If water has leaked inside the headlight or there is oxidation inside, you'll need to clean up the inside of the lens, too. The cheaper kits may not have anything to "preserve" the lens. I don't know what coatings (if any) manufacturers use on headlight lenses, and I don't know if the sanding processes remove any protection. The cars I polished the lenses on were not mine, and I have not had any opportunity to observe long-term changes. Suggestion: Cover the car surfaces near the headlight with painters tape or some other similar material. It is easy to brush those surfaces during the polishing process and scuff them. Steve

Okay, you got me. What does that have to do with a buzzer for the headlights being on?

IMHO, it would be easier and smarter to do the one that you found on the Honda website. In the fusebox, you just have to hook up one lead to the headlight circuit, like at the fusebox, and hook up the other lead to a circuit that is energized through the ignition switch. (Sorry, I'm away from home and don't have a FSM readily available to suggest circuits.) Many years ago when I found a piezo type alarm, I recall that I had to use the headlight circuit. The parking light circuit didn't work for some reason, and I never tried to track down why. By the way, I have one of those cheap Radio Shack piezo buzzers in a drawer in my garage waiting for the day when I might want to install it. If I wanted to get really fancy, I would use two relays. One coil would be connected to the parking light circuit. The other coil would be connected to a switched circuit. The piezo buzzer would be wired with constant 12VDC on one leg. The other leg would go through the normally open contact of the first relay and the normally closed contact of the second relay. That way if the parking lights were on while the ignition was off, the circuit would be complete, and the buzzer would go off. Heck, I could even make a plug and play version. You don't want to play the cost of it, though. Steve

The suspension components from another vehicle would probably require extensive modification to work well. Used components from somewhere like Zbarn could still be affordable. A good way to get an inventory of what you need would be to download the service manual. While the ones on the link in my signature are for the US market 280, I think the suspension should be close enough for your needs. You could also download a S130 (280ZX) manual to see the differences between suspension components. Unfortunately it can take a fair amount of money to keep a 35 year old car on the road, especially when it's rare for your country. Steve

The suspension is completely different. You'd be better off importing parts from the US and Japan.

Jan, that post was directed to the person who threadjacked.

You may need a new battery. Take it to a parts store and have them test it.

How stock do you want to be? Search here, Hybridz and Zcar.com for alternator upgrades. I think ZmanofWashington has a kit for a higher output alternator. It will be internally regulated, so you'd have to jumper out the regulator circuit. You can see how to do that for a 280Z in Blue's collection of tips. (See link below.)

At this point, I'd consider replacing the alternator and regulator. Also, check your headlight and parking light circuits from the switch down to the fusebox. Corrosion can cause the system to consume more power. (Essentially you're adding resistors to the circuit when you have poor or corroded connections.) It's scary to see the effects of 30+ years of use on the circuit. I've seen connectors almost melted. I've also had a fusebox melt down. If you're driving the car at night, especially with the days getting shorter, you owe it to yourself and to your Z to take care of the lighting. By the way, while Dave (Zs-ondabrain) doesn't offer a headlight relay harness for the 280Z, you may want to check to see if he will do a cleaning on your combo switch.

The reason for that can be found here.

Zombie threads cannot be killed...

Yeah, you made an alternate path to ground. I'd have to look at the wiring diagram to be sure, but my first guess is that the flasher unit was acting like a breaker and would open the circuit when it heated up. As I mentioned earlier, that opened up the short, and the car resumed as normal until the flasher contacts closed again.

Download a copy of the FSM. It's probably described in the electrical section or the transmission section. Also, I think the Haynes manual covers the topic.

Yeah, I didn't pick up on you using a diagram from Blue's site. Go to XenonS30. The link is in my signature.

You won't find the cross-over just by looking at the wiring diagram. It would exist from the isulation being bad or owner/mechanic wiring problems. The wiring diagram would be helpful in identifying wire colors to trace.