SteveJ

I can't tell you off the top of my head, but if you go to the XenonS30 link in my signature, you can download a copy of the FSM for the 72. Look in the BE section, and find the body harness page. It will identify the connections for you.

It's good to see that the addiction isn't weak in you.

Can't you contact ZCOT? I'm sure SOMEBODY in the DFW area would jump on it.

I got this email this afternoon: I guess he hasn't been out to the national convention. I received another email tonight. We're going to be set up around Turn 10 at the Suzuki Bridge.

Dana, As Mike posted, the Georgia Z Club usually sets up near the Suzuki Bridge. You can see it on the maps of Road Atlanta. I don't know, yet, where we might be this year, but I'm going to work aggressively with the Classic Motorsports people and the Georgia Z Club. (We still have two more club meetings before the Mitty.) The spot where we congregate has a nice view of the downhill after Turn 9. At the end of the downhill is a hard braking zone for Turns 10 & 11. There can be a lot of excitement there, and a couple of cars usually visit the gravel traps there during the weekend. I think my favorite racing is the vintage GTP class. You have the Audis that run away from everybody, provided they don't have a failure, a couple of Porshe 962s, and various other cars. When you're sitting on the hillside watching the action, you get a wonderful sampling of the different approaches to the forumlas from over the years. From Turn 11, all the cars are hard on the gas for a short burst before having to let off for Turn 12 and the front straight. The cars go from braking to accellerating and back to braking all in that short span. The engine sounds are a racing fanatic's dream. In 2008, there was even a showing of vintage Formula 1 cars. Of course, one of the greatest aspects of the Mitty is the open paddock area. You get to roam around and admire all of the cars up close, and you often get to talk to the people who maintain and drive the cars. I'm hoping I get better pictures this year than last, and I'm going to shoot some video, too. (Does anybody have recommendations for PC-based inexpensive video editing software? The software that came with my camera only produces HUGE files.) Anyway, Dana, send me a PM if you'd like to join the Georgia Z Club at the Mitty. Steve

Strangely, Henry was at the meeting when we were talking about the Mitty, and he didn't say anything. HOWEVER, he did mention a vintage racing event the weekend of the 20th (Eddie Radatz gave me the correct info.) at Road Atlanta. Only $5/head. I'm going to try to make it out there if Eddie Radatz isn't done working on my 74. If Eddie is done, I'm headed over to Kennesaw Saturday to pick it up. Steve

Mike, Yes, last year Robert had trouble contacting the organizers. I was there all 3 days and turnout was on the low side. I'm not sure there were 15 all weekend. Of course, Saturday and Sunday I had to drive my Mazdas because my 240's battery went dead, and my 260 wasn't ready, so you might not have noticed me there. At Thursday's club meeting I told Robert I would get in touch with the organizers. When I got today's message, I forwarded Robert a copy to try to get the word out to the club. I also started a Mitty thread in the Georgia Z Club forums and put up a calendar event there, too. Classic Motorsports Magazine didn't have a good email address for the club, so I told them to contact me. (Can you tell I'm trying to be more active in the club this year?) Steve

I'm trying to get things organized for the Georgia Z Club, and I got this message just a few minutes ago: So, who has ordered or is ordering tickets soon and would like to join the Georgia Z Club? Steve

I didn't sign up for the BRE Reunion, but HSR said they wouldn't be mailing out Mitty tickets until March. Steve

As usual, I'm counting my blessings for having moved out of Northern Virginia. I drove the 260Z to a shop yesterday to get the u-joints replaced. It rained and drizzled some, but it wasn't too bad. I'm not missing the snow AT ALL.

Well, Scott had the battery charged when I returned today. That helped a lot because I could do my debugging on a operating system. Scott also bought the MSA fusebox. It looks great but he said the old cover was too small to fit over it. Has that been the experience of others? He installed the fusebox, and I went back to re-establish my earlier findings. With the new fusebox, I only found the dome light circuit drawing power. That made sense since the doors were open and the glovebox was open. I suspected that maybe I was confused about which circuit I was looking at the previous week. (That's why I hate testing systems that I can't power up.) I confirmed current draws with a clamp on ammeter. The ammeter confirmed that there were no unusual current draws in the system. For those of you who don't work with electricity much, a clamp on ammeter allows you to measure current without breaking the circuit to add the meter. The one I was using had 40 amp and 400 amp ranges. While it is not as precise as a meter installed in the circuit, it is not sensitive to polarity, as it will just display a negative number. The brand meter that tends to be the least expensive is Extech. You can search for their meters on Amazon. Next we tackled the lack of turn signals. I found one wire pushing out of the harness, but otherwise, there were no signs of shorting or damage. Scott had replaced the turn signal switch with a reconditioned one. (The old one had been repaired once already.) We had the car on and tried the circuits with no flashing. I checked for voltage, and the circuit seemed to have 12 volts everywhere. We spent about an hour or so looking for why the blinkers would flash. (The hazard lights worked fine, separate circuit, etc.) Finally, I suggested that we just replace the flasher unit. We went to the parts store and bought a replacement. We plugged in the replacement, and all was well. What I failed to do earlier was to look at whether or not the turn signals came on steady. (The flasher unit showed 12 volts to ground on both terminals.) Apparently, the flasher unit fused shut, so it couldn't blink. So now it appears as though Scott has a healthy electrical system in his car. Thanks for the previous suggestions. I think it was more a matter of me not trying to out-think myself. By the way, Scott got a tremendous deal on a great car, and I'm looking forward to seeing the car on the road. Steve

Do you have any play in the distributor shaft that could keep the rotor from touch the contacts on the distributor cap? Have you thought of converting to a pertronix or electronic ignition to replace the points?

That's exactly why I was curious about the "dents" and why I asked about milling the head. I was thinking the pistons could have been fine before, but a milled head could cause interference (and timing issues later on). Steve

Did you happen to take any pictures of the pistons? How much was the head milled? Did you compensate with the head gasket thickness?

The contacts in the switch are probably dirty/worn. My recommendations: 1. Consider installing a relay for the headlight circuit. The wiring passes all of the current for the headlights through the two switches on the steering column. This is hard on the switches. The relays greatly reduce the current passing through the switches and will result in a higher voltage getting to your headlights. Higher voltage means brighter lights! 2. Get your switch cleaned. By mere coincidence Zs-ondabrain, a user on this site, has an excellent reputation for handling BOTH of my recommendations. (Dave, when do I start getting a commission?) What's even better is that he lives in your state! But wait! There's more...Okay, there isn't more. Steve

You actually wrote it yourself. You didn't check the switch for your high/low beams. A bad contact there will keep your headlights from functioning.

I'm going to order my tickets soon, but I don't think I'll try the BRE dinner. I need to save the money for parts. The Georgia Z Club usually sets up around the Suzuki Bridge. I'll probably have the 260Z there. The 240Z is my lab to work out all of the things I can screw up before I learn how to do it right. I hope to meet up with you guys when you come out. Steve

I think they've been doing that in SoCal for a while now. Tony D brought it up a couple of years ago over at Zcar.com. Yes, your Z could be tested despite being "exempt". http://www.zcar.com/forums/read/4/1912007/1912635#msg-1912635

Just bumping the message. It's less than 3 months away.

You may want to get a used wiring harness from someone like Z barn. Even if you have to rebuild it, it won't be as badly hacked as what you have. Just tell him that you need a body wiring harness (and maybe instrument wiring harness) for your month/year Z. (Look at the build plate inside the driver's door.) Steve

I've had plenty of experience dealing with electrical gremlins in a 73. Just make sure you have a good multimeter and know how to use it. Also, get a copy of the factory service manual. You'll need the wiring diagrams.

I looked at the selection on RockAuto. The listing for a 92 Civic wiper motor should be the correct type for the modification that Dave described. It is $89.89 including the core charge.

Ron, I opened the floor for brainstorming. It doesn't matter if you tell me something I already thought of. I'd rather have that happen than for an idea to be left out. Anyway, I inspected some of the wiring around the combo switch when I was looking at the car, and I did see some signs of overheating. I did not observe any insulation that had burned through or any solder joints that looked overheated. Steve

Dave, I was hoping you'd chime in. I already suggested to Scott that he contact you about the headlight relay upgrade. The parking light relay upgrade might not be a bad idea, either. (Scott is probably going to think I'm on your payroll;)) The fuse box that was in the car showed plenty of signs of corrosion. That's why I suggested the fuse box upgrade. We tested with all of the tail lights, turn signal lights, and side markers out, and the circuit was still shorted out. I'm not sure just testing with just one bulb out at a time will make any difference. I didn't test from the harness connection under the dash (Green wire with Blue stripe) to ground. That would have confirmed whether or not the short was between the fuse box and the combo switch. Another thing I didn't check was to see if the inspection lamp was on. I tested that theory with my own car. I did see a significant drop in resistance, but it wouldn't account for readings as low as what I saw on Scott's car. Anyway, it will be another week or two before I can help Scott again, so maybe I can develop a test plan to ferret out the offending circuit by then. Steve

I went to see if I could help Scott with his car. The car looks to be in pretty good shape. It spent a significant portion of its life in California, possibly in Northern California. The car does not look like it had been abused. The alternator had been swapped to an internally regulated alternator, and the car had the plug with the proper jumpers in the socket for the voltage regulator. He had disconnected the battery before I arrived, but it had been connected for a while. The battery voltage was 1.4 volts and dropped to zero when I connected the battery cables. I took the battery cables back off and checked the resistance from the positive cable to the negative cable. It was less than 1 ohm. We disconnected the alternator but discovered that the ring lug for the ground had broken when he replaced the alternator previously. (We put a new ring lung on later.) The resistance was still below 1 ohm. We unplugged the jumpers for the voltage regulator circuit with no change in resistance. I unplugged all of the fuses in the fuse box. The fuse box showed signs of corrosion. The lid showed melting that was not reflected by the fuse box, indicating that the fuse box had been changed out previously. With all of the fuses removed, the battery terminals finally showed an open circuit. We started replacing the fuses one-by-one. When we plugged in the fuse for the parking light/brake light circuit, resistance dropped dramatically. I disconnected the ground from the combo switch. No change. I put the ground back and pulled the connector going into the wiring harness. No change. I reconnected the wires to the combo switch. I inspected the brake switch for proper operation, and it worked. We pulled all of the side marker lights, tail lights and front turn signal lights. I found some corrosion in the lights, but I don't recall seeing any corrosion completing the circuit. Things I did not check: 1. I did not look for the installation of an aftermarket alarm. 2. I did not look to see how the stereo was wired in. 3. I did not inspect the back of the fuse box. Does anybody see anything that I missed (besides the back of the fuse box)? I believe Scott may be intending to order a modernized fuse box from MSA. Anyway, I'm open to suggestions. Steve