SteveJ

I'm glad the good Captain got me thinking. (The thinking part happens rarely.) I'm used to diagnosing long distance. The most likely problem is a short around a bulb base in the dash lights. The next likely culprit is in the splices in the dash harness. You could also look at the connectors for the lights on the speedometer and tachometer since the positive and negative pins are next to each other. (Ref page BE-16 of the 260Z FSM) Bruce hit it perfectly. The short is bypassing the load on one of the branches of the circuit. To trace this down 1. Get an ohmmeter. 2. Remove the fuse. 3. Disconnect all of the gauges except for the speedometer. Also disconnect the illumination for the heater control panel. 4. Turn the rheostat to the brightest setting. 5. Measure the resistance from the outside clip of the fuse to ground. It should be high. If it is a couple of ohms or less, inspect the connector, wiring and bulb sockets on the speedometer. 6. After eliminating the speedometer as the source of the short, plug in the tachometer and measure the resistance from the outside clip of the fuse to ground. It should be high. If it is a couple of ohms or less, inspect the connector, wiring and bulb sockets on the tachometer. 7. After eliminating the tachometer as the source of the short, plug in the oil pressure/temp gauge and measure the resistance from the outside clip of the fuse to ground. It should be high. If it is a couple of ohms or less, inspect the connector, wiring and bulb sockets on the oil pressure/temp gauge. Keep doing that for the ammeter/fuel gauge, clock and illumination on the heater control panel. Edit: I missed that this circuit also can go to the radio illumination and hazard switch illumination. Include unplugging those in your diagnostics. Those are on page BE-17.

Check the sockets on the running lights. They are subject to corrosion.

One correction to my earlier post. MSA only has the 240Z relay harness. You need to contact Zs-ondabrain directly to commission one for your car. It's also well less than $350.

Light output is directly proportional to voltage. Using really neat H4 bulbs with the old wiring is p!$$!ng your money away. Blackdragon Auto has a vastly inferior generic relay kit. With the kit Dave designed, you can find replacement components off-the-shelf. If a relay goes bad in the Blackdragon kit, you will buy another kit. If you don't understand how to do wiring, the Blackdragon kit is more difficult to install. IMHO, you get what you pay for.

Go to Z Car Parts.com -- Motorsport Auto -- Home and search for the headlight relay kit. Dave Irwin designed & built them, and I have yet to read a real complaint about them.

The ZNationals Car Show pictures are up. While the event is dominated by the Z32s, Z33s, and Z34s, there was a nice showing of the early Z cars. If you are in the Southeast, or if you want to take a vacation in October, ZNationals is a nice Z event. Steve's CARtography | Combining a love of cars and photography

ZNationals Track Day photos are up at Steve's CARtography | Combining a love of cars and photography.

Yes, it does. See page 14 of the owners manual. The stock switch does pull back. Look at the parts manual at CarPartsManual.com - Online Parts Catalogs for Classic Cars. Find the turn signal switch and see if it looks different from what you have. If it does look different, I suggest you post a picture.

I think it's time to do some reading. http://xenons30.com/files/Owners%20Manuals/1970%20240z%20ownersmanual.pdf - Different year, same principles. http://xenons30.com/files/1971%20FSM%20Supplement.pdf

The Kia Sportage seals were for the doors. There are threads here that go into it.

Matt seems to have good fortune. He got the car itself for a song.

Matt, if you're worried about your SUs, get this video from Welcome to ZTherapy.com. Then some time when you're off on a weekend, see if you can take your car over to Tim McGovern's house and learn. It will be time & money well spent.

Not if we bump it.

It doesn't matter if you had the only Z there. Most of us like looking at photographs of nice cars.

It was another Caffeine & Octane day. The cooler weather made for a smaller classic Z turnout than last month, but it's always an enjoyable event. You can find the rest of the photos at Steve's CARtography | Combining a love of cars and photography

Go for it.

I'm glad to hear you got it working.

Read through these. Most of your questions should be answered. Focus on your turn signal switch. Turn Signal Repair | Fiddling With Z Cars Hazard Switch ? Brake Light ? Turn Signal Circuit Analysis | Fiddling With Z Cars

Z Nationals is just around the corner. Z1 Motorsports is hosting Z Nationals again with a track day on Friday, Oct 10, at Atlanta Motorsports Park and the show at Z1 Motorsports on Oct 11. Here are my pictures of the event from last year: Z Nationals ? 2013 | Steve's CARtography While the 350Zs & 370Zs will dominate the show, there will be plenty of S30s and S130s in attendance. Join us.

Something else to consider is that the until the 260Z, the cars were not offered with factory AC in the US. Even with the 260Z & 280Z, AC is not all that common. Aftermarket units do not necessarily cool the car down that much. There is a lot of glass in the greenhouse, and these cars will get pretty hot. I used my 240Z as a daily driver in Northern California about 20 years ago. The saving grace was that it was very dry in the summer. Driving my 240Z in Northern Texas in July? That was a sweatbox, even with the windows down and an extra fan blowing on me. So how well can you tolerate the heat?

Having a 73 & a 74, I can tell you that the center gauges are easier to remove in a 74 & later (provided you don't have AC). The FSM has directions on removing gauges. When all else fails, RTFM.

In my Air Force days, I would have to drive from Fairfield, through Petaluma, up to Point Arena. Twenty years ago, that was a pretty nice route.

260Z 2.6L engine with carburetors "early" cars (most of them) have smaller bumpers than the 280Z The stock carburetors are considered problematic by most and are frequently changed out for the 70-72 SU style carburetors. 280Z 2.8L engine with electronic fuel injection Not standard, but some have added them.

Curtis, I should be home on Saturday if you want to come over. We could take a look at my 240Z, and you could get all of the dimensions that way.

The stamped steel ones like I used to have did not utilize any cross bracing. They were getting old, and I don't know how much corrosion they could tolerate. Unless I could accurately inspect them, I do believe I was incurring more risk than I would have liked.