Hardwyre

Okay. Tried the thick white wire that I think originally was the battery wire. 15.8 volts. Tried the yellow original sense wire. 15.8 volts. Tried no sense wire at all. 14.8 volts. When the car is off completely, the white wire and yellow wire both show battery voltage of 12.7. Going to have Autozone order in a gold (new) alternator instead of using a reman.

Well son of a.. so all this time, I had the sense wire connect to the black ground. I have no... So I tried connecting it to the white wire which appears to go directly to the battery through the fusible link. The problem is, now the battery is charging as high as 15.8 volts at the battery. I'm going to try wiring it to the proper yellow wire now and see what it does. Can I have damaged the voltage regulator by having the sense wire connected to ground? I'm surprised the first alternator worked so well for all those years.

With the car dying when I pull the battery wire... could that be because I'm using the Z's pulley (rather large) on the CS144 alternator?

Thinking of the battery, it does seem to dump down to about 12 volts when the alternator turns off. If the battery was doing okay, it would have some charge up into the 14's until it had a chance to dissipate. I'll get the battery check or try swapping my room mate's to see what she does. I didn't realize I could just jumper the sense to batt; but that is a great idea as well.

'96 Cadillac Deville alternator (CS144 clone; Autozone non-gold) swap into my 1976 280Z done back in 2009 worked flawlessly until a couple months ago. Followed these instructions: http://forums.hybridz.org/index.php/topic/67531-ac-delcogm-alternator-swap-part-2-cs144-installation/ In February the alternator started dying completely. Exchanged it under the lifetime warranty at Autozone. Put in the new alternator. First thing I noticed was that when the ignition was on, but the car was not running, the CHG light on the voltage gauge wasn't as bright as it was with the first swapped alternator. It used to be very bright, as bright as my speed "Brake" light. Now it's dim, to the point you can't see it during the day very well dim. The big problem I'm having is that at idle, the alternator will just stop charging for a couple seconds, then start, then stop, repeat. It'll still try to stop charging even a bit over idle. I have to be cruising to get it to stay on reliably. I've tried exchanging this replacement alternator for another replacement but I'm having the same issues. The first alternator from 2009 never gave me problems until it died a couple months ago. I am using a 4ga wire from the Battery terminal on the alternator directly to my Costco/Kirkland battery, which is the same battery that was eventually paired with the first swap from '09. I believe I'm using the Sense and Light leads from the alternator through the Z's original harness, but not using the Field wire for anything. On the Light wire, I have no resistor because the voltmeter has the charge light built into it (which is dim when the car is switched on without running). I'm also using the original Datsun pulley. Thoughts on where to start? Is there a way of measuring resistance on the alternator and seeing if it's out of spec? The dim charge light makes me think something in the alternator or similar has too much resistance. Oh, also, if I pull the battery terminal when the engine is running, the car dies if the alternator switches off (as expected- except the alt shouldn't be shutting down).

I have a '76 280Z that I'm looking to put an air dam on. I am particularly interested in this style: http://www.thezstore.com/store/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=TZS&Product_Code=50-1411&ShowShip=1 I live in Vancouver Washington (98665) so it anyone has one locally, I'd love to talk with you. Thank you. Also looking for the clear corner light lenses to go with it instead of the orange lenses if anyone knows where to get those.

Good point, thank you: 1976 Datsun 280z. L28 with an unknown cam from previous owner. Megasquirt 2 on a v3.0 board with latest firmware. EDIS ignition in wastespark though GM NDIS coils. Innovate LC-1 Wideband. Attached is the recent tune and datalog. Looking through them, I think I have a lot of noise on my sensors. I've noticed that my idle does this constant rise and fall, and looking at the logs, I'm wondering if it has to do with my map sensor being all over the place. I've heard about putting a restriction in the tubing, so I'm going to try that tomorrow as well. I did try adding a 4.7uf capacitor to the TPS and it seems to have taken out some of the spikes, but I think on this log, I had the lag set too low so it also erased some of the stabs I took at the throttle. Can anyone take a peak at my tune and logs and see if there is anything I've missed? Does anyone have any mods for cleaning up the sensors? Megasquirt MSQ MSL.zip

Hey forum, I live in Vancouver WA. I'm hoping to find someone who has done the Megasquirt set up and tune before who might be able to come help out. I have her running fairly right now, still a bit rough on the cold idle, but I seem to be getting somewhere slowly. There's just a lot of little things that I think I'm tripping over which is making this more difficult than it really has to be. I know for one thing, I keep getting spikes in my TPS which triggers a TPSAccell enrichment, so I'm hoping that a capacitor across the leads will help with that. I've also noticed that at idle, the MAP reading is higher than when it is just off idle; I'm told that this is likely due to it having a larger than stock cam in it (previous owner's doing). Any help is appreciated.

Read through the three pages of discussion, still a little timid. I'm trying to figure out the initial timing map to start off with since I'm not entirely sure about the L28's timing nuances. Here's the build: 1976 N/A 2.8L Cammed by previous owner, unknown specs - idles at ~64 kPa at the moment at 800-900 rpm Stock injectors AFAIK (5 whitish topped, one green topped) EDIS6 controlling 3 GM-DIS coils Innovate LC1 WB02 6-2-1 header 55mm Altima throttle body MS2extra (latest firmware) on a v3.0 board The car seems to idle ~14.5 AFR at ~900 with a VE of only 21-22. Everyone else seems to have their VEs up into the 50s and 60s; so I'm worried somethings wrong. As for the timing, someone posted this earlier; think this is a good place to start? Thank you.

I have tried a couple search engines, etc, even searched here. I can't for the life of me seem to track down where to buy the rebuild kits for the 280Z injectors. Really all I need are the hoses, pintle caps, and filters.. actually, probably just the filters since my pintles are all in fairly good condition. I already have an ultrasonic cleaner and variable PWM, so the cleaning portion isn't the issue, it's just finding a source for the parts. Thinking about it, one of the pintles actually seems to be a little loose... that could result in sadness. Anyone have any ideas?

Wow, very well done. Took me a moment to realize what I was looking at, but yes, I can see exactly what you're talking about. You're correct that it did require some wiring, but I liked the idea of keeping the changes to one piece of the puzzle (in this case the relay board) vs. having it spread over a couple of parts. I had actually considered swapping pins, but I refuse to crack open the cable harness since it took me forever and a day to make the stupid thing. Also, if I decide to switch things in the future, I can remove the board, and make changes at the comfort of my desk instead of trying to solder the harness in the engine bay (I'm assuming there's going to be much fun involved in trying to get it through the firewall.) Also, thank you for confirming my layout. DiyAutoTune gave me the okay on the changes, but it's nice having the confirmation from multiple eyes.

I have to use the FIDLE for my PWM air valve since I'm not knowledgeable enough to design its own circuit. The reason for the relay board mod is to move the IAC 1A over to where the FIDLE was, while bypassing the FIDLE past the relay. This way I get IAC 1A on the relay, and FIDLE is essentially jumpered. It lets me use what would otherwise be a jumped relay terminal for a fan relay. Keeps me from having to put another relay in the engine bay somewhere. A little cleaner on the wiring.

Hey Hybrid. I thought I might share this and see what you all thought. '76 280Z. MS2-extra on a v3.0 board. I have a 2-wire Bosch PWM air valve (0-280-140-516) that I intend to use for idle air control. The Z is also equipped with an electric radiator fan. In an attempt to clean up the engine bay, I figured if I can run the fan straight from the MS module, I could eliminate a few extra pieces in the engine bay; mainly the thermal switch (which the previous owner poked between the radiator fins), the fuse, and the relay. Talking with DIYAutotune, one of the easiest ways to get a fan is to just use one of the IAC outputs as a spare since I'm not going to be running a stepper motor. IAC 1a sources +12v on pin 25 if you added the IAC jumpers on the bottom of the 3.0 board per these instructions: My linkhttp://www.megamanual.com/ms2/IAC.htm Well, when running a PWM valve, on the relay board you remove the relay and jumper the 85 and 87 pins on the socket, resulting in a direct connection. Well, I would have to run a relay inline for the electric fan, why not just use this "empty" spot on the board instead? Looking at the board, I'm thinking I properly tracked all the traces. And this is what I came up with: After figuring the traces, I schem'd out this: I'm suspecting the main fuse may not like the extra load from the fan, but we'll see. I'm thinking of placing a capacitor across the fan leads. I have a 35v/3300uf cap and a smaller 25v/1000uf. I wonder if either of those might be large enough to keep from having a big surge when the fan kicks on. Any ideas? Think I should just run a fifth fuse for the fan at the board wired directly to the 12V Batt pad? Humm... just pulled some huge 200v/820uf caps, but the others would work better for capacity's sake. I hope this works because I like the idea of having the relay on the board and one less piece of clutter in the engine bay.

Hello Hybrid! Just about to start jumping into installing my MS2 v3.0 set up. I've currently got setting on my desk a gray-labelled EDIS-6 module, and a F5SU-12029-AA (4253) coil pack Ford Mondeo. I have few questions. I've seen people also using various other coils packs (such as the Caravan packs), and it sounds like the dwell on the Ford packs is pretty low. What is the best multi-coil pack to use? Is there a more recent coil pack that would be better, say from a newer vehicle that is commonly found in the scrap yards, that could probably be adapted to the EDIS module? Also, is there any concerning differences between the colors of the EDIS labels? I know not to get the "hybrid" module with the vacuum tube, but I can't seem to find any differences between the grey, orange, blue, etc colored labels. Does anyone have any input on what the variations are? And on an unrelated note, I'm very pleased with myself, so I'm sharing a picture of the throttle body spacer I made from high temperature polyester resin for my 55mm Altima TB ($24 pick-n-pull). It's probably unnecessary since I'll eventually be switching to the cable throttle I got from the same car, but that's going to be.. eh, maybe I'll do it tomorrow and the spacer was just made for shiggles. My computer geek side is screaming "Mod it! Put blue LEDs in it!"

Could you post some pictures of your ECU mods? I'm a much better visual learner. Also, now that it's been a few months, how has the reset issue been?

Having the -/+ question does help, thank you. I currently have a single coil 6AL + Blaster Coil 2 + 8910 Tach Adapter, but I'm really excited about putting the Z in a distributorless dress while cleaning out some of the engine bay components. Figure if I can wire straight into the tach, I can get rid of a few wires and boxes. Anyone know if there is a thread outlining all of the stuff you can remove after an EDIS + Megasquirt upgrade? I'm sort of figuring most of the stuff on the left side of the bay can go (junction block, drop resistors, pretty much anything that connected to the ECU harness). Also still need to track down which wires are good for switched 12+ which stays on while cranking.

Hey, could you take a picture of your modification there please? I'm wiring up a stock '76 tach and I keep hearing about this diode mod. I have a stock ford EDIS6 coil pack. Where are you pulling the V- from? Are pins 1/2/3 at the coil plug and the respective pins 10/11/12 at the module plug the negatives? Is it like this?

Is it a new board or have you been able to connect it before? I lost two days when I made my first MS2 v3.0 recently because the instructions on the site only BRIEFLY mention that if you're using a raw board, it might not be pre-flashed. No further instructions other than, "connect with mini-terminal and type 'S'." What I had to do was just go ahead and flash the initial firmware. After that, everything under the sun said it connected and loved me. I really wish the MS Manual sites (MS/MS-E) would include a link in their connection test instructions to the firmware flashing instructions for those of us who DO start with raw boards (like, say, everyone who has a disassembled kit.)

So I think my computer might be fried. It has been finicky for a while now and nothing seems to help. It will continuously crank over but not start ... HOWEVER ... the two relays under the dash next to the steering column, I found by accident if I unplug one while cranking it'll briefly fire up, then die... and the same is true for plugging it in while cranking. While towing it home, I put it into gear, turned the ignition on, and slowly let out the clutch. It fired right up and actually kept idling at about half of what it does, and was extremely rough like it was miss firing badly. As long as I kept tapping the throttle, it would keep idling, but when it finally died, it wouldn't start anymore. I don't have another computer to test it against, and I have no idea why barely touching the connector at the computer seems to make it die. I'm just about ready to burn the whole thing and try to swap in a MegaSquirt until I can afford an LS1 conversion. Anyone have any idea where to start troubleshooting this?

I went through the EFI bible and the shop manual and did the test groups #1 and #2. Here's the results I came up with. The car: 1976 280Z Modification: Chevy alternator mod, MSD 6AL ignition with tach adapter. Test group #1: Results (Expected Results). [bolded red tests are the ones I'm curious about mostly] 1. Cont/NonCont (Cont/NonCont) 2. Switch ~1/2 - 2/3 throttle distance (~2/3 throttle distance). 3a. 182 ohm (~180ohm) 3b. 156 ohm ("Small resistance") 3c. 101ohm (~100ohm) 4. ~2.58kohm @ 61`F (2.25k - 2.75k @ 68`F) 5. Skip 6. 2.18k @ 61`F (2.25k - 2.75k @ 68`F) 7. 65ohm (Continuity) 8. 48ohm (Continuity) 9a-d. <1ohm (Continuity) Test group #2: Battery Voltage was approximately 12.2-12.4 with the car off and the dome light on. 1. 11.8v (Battery voltage) 2. 12.12v (Battery voltage) 3a-f. 12.2v (Battery voltage) On a side note, I've noticed from time to time that my tachometer will suddenly drop ~500 rpm with absolutely no change in engine performance. I.e. I'll be cruising at say 60mph, and the tach will start to "switch" between 2500 and 2000 rpm (approximately). The engine 'feel' does not change at all; no loss of power, etc. Any ideas?

So I've been working on changing the interior in my '76 280Z. I've removed all the panels in preparation of putting in sound deadening, so now the computer sits open to air (Still mounted in its box however). I was trying to leave radio shack one day and the car stalled. I checked spark, fuel pressure, all the troubleshooting steps and figured my injectors weren't firing, so I went to the computer, tapped it on the side, and the car fired right up. I've found that at times, especially when idling, if I tap the computer housing, even lightly, it can result in the car stalling. When this happens, I either have to tap the housing again, or fidget with the main connector to get it to start up again. Let me add that the car will crank over all day long when the computer is acting up, it just won't fire up until I convince the box to play along. I have tried using contact cleaner on the main plug and connector, I even opened up the computer, separated the boards, and examined them for shorts, bad solders, etc, and didn't notice anything wrong. I'm at a loss as to what it might be; has any one else had this problem? It looks like the computer is solid state, and hitting bumps in the road doesn't seem to affect it. I'm just sort of unsure what is happening. I don't want to put the kick panel back over it until I solve it incase it decides to cut out again. Any help is appreciated.

Thank you, I actually found that mine had a crack in the inlet pipe and I was able to fix it with some solder. But I will check back with you if something else happens to it.

Car: 1976 280Z Fuel Injected Magnetic pickup dizzy MSD ignition It looks like at one point, there were two wires that came out of here. There is one wire grounded to the thermo housing, but the other wire is just not there. The shop manual doesn't make any mention of the water temp switch. It spends a whole page talking about the sensor, but not the switch. I've heard some people questionably state that it has to do with the points distributor, but they didn't seem entirely confident. So my question is, is it important?

Does anyone have one for sale on the cheap, or maybe a leaking one that I can try to fix that I can pay shipping for. I live in Vancouver WA. They're about $70 new from what I've been finding, but if anyone has one laying around, I'd prefer to keep the money in the community.