SteveJ

The headlights for the 260Z have a different connector from the 240Z, so you would have to modify the relay kit that Dave Irwin sells (through MSA) to work. As for not working on the low beam, that is likely a problem with the high/low beam switch located in the turn signal switch. Dave Irwin (Zs-ondabrain) will clean and rebuild your switch for a nominal fee.

Interesting. Does the electric fuel pump use the stock wiring? The battery in my 73 kept running down until I disconnected the harness for the fuel pump. It connects between the alternator and regulator. There is also a thread on here about the issue. IIRC, Dave Irwin started the thread. It's from a few years back. Also note that the 74 has a different plug for the voltage regulator. It's a round plug that is unique to the model year.

One thing to note here: If you change a 73 or 74 to an internally regulated alternator, you will energize the relay for the electric fuel pump all of the time. This will run your battery down, and if you are running an electric fuel pump, it will not shut down in the event of an accident. Sometimes it's better to run the stock configuration.

The Microsoft's virtual machine is pretty easy to use. If you want to use FAST, you really should try it. Heck, if I can remember, I will try it for you this weekend.

It was only part of his cremains, and the vessel failed to reach orbit. I still anticipate a hydrocarbon powered vehicle to move my dead body around.

If not, you could always create a WinXP virtual machine. Microsoft offers one for free. I used it at work to create a virtual machine on a Win7 computer so that we could run old software that was only XP compatible.

What are you talking about as far as what you want the "modern security system" to do? The ignition kill switch is usually fine as long as the thief doesn't hotwire the car under the hood. Killing the power to the fuel pump may be more effective. The thief would then have to figure out how to hotwire the fuel pump. IMHO, that would be more of a challenge. Just be warned that many security systems will drain the battery, so if you don't drive your car often, expect to find a dead battery from time to time. And just to clarify, Bryan was referring to Zs-ondabrain, aka Dave Irwin.

I met a guy last month who said that his Z would heat up at speed. He had recently bought it, and it came with a box of spare parts. Within the box was the Woodruff key. Once that was in, the fan would turn at speed, and the car would cool.

Ztherapy has the answer for you...http://ztherapy.com/products/videos/video.htm Just be careful. Bruce might call late at night for your credit card info. Of course, it might not be that late since you're on the same coast as he is.

I went to Caffeine & Octane. There were a few early Z cars there. Mine is the one on the right.

Oops, my bad. It's the green/white wire. Now that you found the problem, fix it. For my car, I used a 9-pin connector from Vintage Connections. He has the parts you need, including crimpers. Unless you are skilled at crimping wires, get extra terminals. Replace the damaged wires/plug. The problem is that the fuse is oversized for the wire gauge. The way to drop the load on the circuit to below what the wire can handle is to use LEDs. Just replacing the parking lights will drop the load to about 3 Amps or less. That will prevent the wires from melting.

1. Examine the connector for the headlight switch. You want to look at the green/yellow wire. 2. Clean the fusebox to remove corrosion. Search this website on methods. 3. Replace incandescent bulbs for the parking lights with LED bulbs. Superbrightleds has replacements. Search on replacements for 1156 and 1157 bulbs. I did that a while back. Search for a thread called Sold on LEDs. However part numbers have changed since then.

Here's a link to the rear differential ratios: http://www.zhome.com/ZCMnL/tech/GearRatios.html.

To answer your last question first, no, it won't. Are you pulling back on the lever to apply the choke or pushing forward? Your description sounds like you are taking off the choke. What do your plugs look like? Are they fouled?

Mike is pretty much a solo act. I went to his shop about 7 years ago when I lived in the DC area. It was very nice. I've purchased parts from him a couple of times, too. I've recommended him in many threads on here.

That's quite an extreme stance, Wade. I am also an electrical engineer, and I learned how to measure current in a high school shop class. It's not rocket science. Start at the highest scale and slowly move down. Most inexpensive multimeters have a 10A range. That is more than sufficient for a car that is off.

I borrowed some bumper mounts from a friend and fellow member here and got another friend to fabricate some for me. I haven't checked them out fully to see how well they will line up, though.

The 73 does not have fusible links arranged in that fashion. The 260Z was the first to have a box for the fusible links. The 73 has a single link coming off of the starter.

Is it asking too much to try the tests that we suggest? It would help to know 1. How much is the current drain when the car is off? 2. Did you check for anything I did in post 16? 3. What are the voltages at the battery per post 18? You're going all over the place. Be systematic and it is easier to track down the problem. Edit: I saw your post on the antenna. Check the FSM for wiring information. Also unplug the antenna and as one of your tests to eliminate the drain on your battery. A bad antenna motor/switch can drain a battery, too.

No, unless you or previous owner put in an electrical fan. That's more of a sign of a bad regulator and/or alternator (undervoltage condition). You can test the VR as I described above. The FSM tells you how to test the alternator in Section EE. By the way, do you have good tension on your alternator belt? Test the battery voltage with the car off. Test again with the car at idle, and test again with the car at about 2500 RPM. Tell us what the voltage is. I suggest fully charging the battery out of the car before running this test.

No, if you had an internally regulated alternator with an external voltage regulator, you would have already been experiencing an overvoltage condition. You should consider hooking up an ammeter at the battery and quantifying your battery drain. Common conditions for a slow drain include: 1. Replacing the alternator & regulator with an internally regulated alternator in a 73 or 74. Without adding a diode in the right place, you will likely energize the coil for the fuel pump relay & drain your battery. 2. A bad voltage regulator can cause a voltage drain. Unplugging the voltage regulator and measuring the current flow at the battery would tell you whether or not that was the cause. 3. A bad door switch or glove box switch would leave the dome light or glove box light (respectively) on. The glove box light could be tricky to detect. I have see this with a dash cap. The cap kept the door from closing fully, though it seemed to latch. Since the button on the switch was not fully depressed, the light stayed on and ran down the battery. 4. Circuits added to an unswitched source can run down the battery. This can include an amplifier, the memory function of an aftermarket stereo, a remote locking system, etc. 5. The cigarette lighter is constantly powered, so anything plugged into that could be draining power, too. A less likely culprit would be a malfunctioning horn circuit. If the horn button was stuck and someone just disconnected the horns, the relay would still be energized and could drain the battery. If you don't know how to use an ammeter, see this link: http://www.allaboutcircuits.com/vol_6/chpt_2/4.html.

Yes, look at my previous posts.

I do believe you're talking about the voltage regulator. It's not a relay. You cannot bypass it unless you also install an internally regulated alternator. And since you have a 73, if you did get the internally regulated alternator, you would also need to disable the relay for the electric fuel pump. Just saying... It would probably be easier to replace the regulator. Hopefully, you don't have a problem with your alternator that caused problems for the regulator.

If your car doesn't have a voltage regulator, it has an internally regulated alternator. A voltage regulator is a small box with wires coming out of it mounted om the right side of the engine bay near the alternator. Google 260Z voltage regulator and look at the images. I even saw one picture of the VR mounted in the engine bay.

Does it have an internally regulated alternator? The 73 & 74 had the power for the fuel pump relay coming off the alternator but before the voltage regulator. Replacing this with an internally regulated alternator would keep the coil for the fuel pump relay energized all of the time. This will cause a slow drain on the battery.