Phantom

Side market lights, front turn signals, and tail lights are all LED. Headlights are HID. Interior lights are still incandescent. Thanks for your help. I have a 2-prong with ground wire electronic flasher coming.

Nope, it's the one that was on the car when I bought it in 1992.

Miles - did you install it on a 280Z?

RB26poweredZcar is able to run his LED lights with his stock flasher. Unfortunately for me my flasher just plain died. It had 38 years and 240,000 miles of driving on it. I have an EF32RL flasher on order which is a 2-prong electronic flasher with a grounding wire that is supposedly compatible with LED lights and another post had said that the standard EF32 would work in a 280Z. Keeping fingers crossed because right now my new $$$$ LED sequential turn signals don't work for lack of a flasher.

So I finally got my car back from the shop and it's actually a 2-prong flasher. Will an EF-32 work on the 280Z? OK - so why ask a question without checking it out. NO - the EF32 flasher is not compatible with LED lights. HOWEVER, the EF32RL 2-prong flasher that has a grounding wire incompatible with LED lights. At this point I just ordered one of Amazon and will give it a try. If someone else has a specific flasher that works please let me know.

Well crap. I had no idea that the turn signal flasher would turn into such an issue. Basically my stock one is toast. It just gave up after 38 years and 240,000 miles of driving. I would really like an electronic one to ensure compatibility with me LED turn signals but it's turning into a nightmare and I'd settle for a new stock one if I could find one. They told me that my flasher is a 3-prong and the ones I've seen out there that are supposedly for my car are either 2-prong or 2-prong with a grounding wire. Once I went to the shop I find out it's actually a 2-prong flasher so maybe there's hope but neither Motorsport Auto or Zsource have them in stock. Can't even go with resistors in the lighting circuit because of the bad flasher. One thread recommended using the Ef-32 electronic flasher but iI'm a little leary at this point. I checked the EF32 out and it clearly stated that it was not for use with LED lights which I now have. HOWEVER - the EF32RL which also has a ground wire is compatible with LED lights and I found a couple spots that indicate that it will work with the 280Z. Any one with experience here? Suggestions?

I have a 1977 280Z and my turn signal flasher is toast. Does anyone know a source for a new flasher? It is a 3-prong unit. No one in my area seems to know what to do or what will work.

Dang Gary, I didn't know about the change in ownership/quality of the Optima. I must have gotten mine just before that or lucked out. I'll have to check my records. Thank you for the excellent write-up.

Drilled holes in the end of the door and door frame. Inserted small rubber grommets and ran the wire. Some guys just run the wire between the door panel and kick panel for simplicity but that leaves the wires visible. You'll need to be sure to leave enough slack in the wire for the door to open.

Well, the Audi A8L twin turbo 4 liter V8 making 420 HP thru an 8 spd twin clutch transmission gets 34 Highway. Maybe you could de-tune it?

Because of where I've lived and that 95% of my driving was daytime driving I VERY seldom use high beams. As a result my high beam contacts tend to oxidize from lack of use. I figured that out 15-20 years ago when the high beams didn't come on and I got frustrated and did a "Take that!" and cycled them a bunch of times only to find out that they started working when I did that - every time. It really sucks though, if I'm bombing along a dark country road at night and go for high beams only to get total darkness. Heart in throat moment, back to low beams, and then a multi-cycle to get them going again. I've driven this car for so long that I've learned to not get concerned about electrical gremlins right away. Over half the time if I just ignore them and use the systems normally they'll go away. That's why I'm not overly concerned about the intermittent voltmeter gauge at this point. I had an oil pressure gauge that did the same thing for about 2 years before the sender, which was causing the problem, finally failed. Same thing with the gas gauge but that time it was the gauge and not the sender. So - anyone know where to get an electronic flasher unit for LED lights that plugs into a 7/77 production date 280Z? A Mfg & model # would be great too.

I know this is an old thread but the Tridon EP35 electronic flasher will cure the turn signal not working problem? My LED lights flash fine on the hazard switch but not on the turn signals. I'm assuming it's the 38 year old flasher and the lower amperage LED lights not playing well together? I've also seen a reference to the fact that the 280Z has a 2-prong flasher and that there's a difference between the early 280Z's and the later 280Z's. I have a 7/77 production date 280Z.

Turns out it was the high/low switch. Cycled it a bunch of times and everything is good with the HID's now. Still trying to track down an electronic flasher switch for the car as the original 38 year old one has evidently given up.

Good to know. Thanks!

Naw - we'll never ALL be happy but, if you are, to heck with all the others.

I had an issue with my '77 running richer and richer until I was down to 5.5 MPG and my plugs were wet with fuel. What I found out is that I had corroded aluminum bullet connectors in the engine temperature sensor harness and the ECU was getting an "I'm cold" signal all the time and running the engine very rich. It also had the cold start injector running most of the time. The ETS is located in your thermostat housing. Follow the wires in the harness about 18", give or take, toward the firewall. You should be able to see/feel a fat spot in the wiring harness. Cut away the insulation and you'll find the connectors. Pull them apart, clean them up, coat them with dielectric grease and reassemble and see if that helps your problem. I did that and my Z started getting 18-20 MPG right away.

They make a liquid electrical contact cleaner that you should use on all your dash connections before you put it back together to ensure the 40 years of corrosion is cleaned off the contacts. Then coat them with a dielectric grease prior to assembly and they'll stay clean.

Sweet. If I didn't already have an HID kit I would have definitely gone this way.

Did a little more research into what Braille batteries would be good for my LS1 280Z. Actually I PM'd Savage42 and asked him. There are two. One, the B3121 lightweight AGM battery, costs $229, and the other, the Greenlight GU1R lithium battery, costs $599. Either one will be smaller and lighter than a standard lead-acid battery or Optima but the lithium battery will last 3-4 times as long, will not self discharge if left sitting disconnected over a long period of time and is even smaller and lighter. This should be enough information for those that are considering a Braille battery to evaluate their intended usage and pocketbook and make a decision.

I'll attach some photos of mine. It has 1" dome tweeters in the A pillars and 6 1/2" dual cone speakers in each door along with 5 1/4" speakers in the stock location on the sides behind the seats and a 10" subwoofer in a custom enclosure in the back. The door panels were fiberglassed up in the area where the speakers are to point them back & up a bit and the window crank clears them fine. Only thing I had to do was shorten the outboard end of the hood pull lever to clear the one on the drivers side.

Anyone have any driving time on this kit yet? I have the 300ZX/240SX rear set-up now and find it a bit weak. If you have them do you also have an adjustable proportioning valve? If so or if not how is the balance front to rear? Ebrake work fine? My front Willwood rotors are just about toast after about 30,000 miles. Bake pads were too aggressive so they are doing great but the rotor is almost gone. Not the way you want to do it. I'm seriously considering redoing the back with the TTT kit when I go in to replace pads and rotors on the front.

Years ago i kept seeing movement out of the corner of my eye when I drove my Z. When I would turn to look there was never anything there so I ignored it. A week or so later I opened my glovebox to pull out the steno pad I record my mileage in and noticed a page was missing. I found it pretty much shredded and balled up in a corner of my glove box. I'm sure you know where I'm going with this. A few days later I went out to my car to check out something under the hood and, as I lifted the hood, I saw a rat tail disappear into the air cleaner intake. I quickly grabbed a big rag and stuffed it into the intake and then stood there wonder what to do. I got a screw driver and un mounted part of the intake so I could swivel it to a vertical position and then got a 1/2" wooden rod and slid it past the rag and started making like I was churning butter. After a couple minutes of that I carefully pulled the rag out - and the wooden rod that had hair and blood on the end of it and poured about an 8" long(not including the tail) rat out onto my fender well. Picked it up by the tail with a pair of channel locks and took it out in the middle of the street and dropped a 20lb sledgehammer on its head. That sucked had been living in my car for who knows how long. Better way to get rid of rats rather than brining in a snake - especially with the kindle had in Texas.

I was in Langley, BC calling on some customers this past week and saw a new Audi dealership so I stopped in to see what the new version of my car is like. First thing I saw was that it was $100k more than what I paid for mine so it will be a long wait before I replace mine even though it has 97k miles on it. What really got me though was the drivetrain. My car has a 4.2L V8 pumping out 335 HP through a 6-spd automatic transmission with EPA ratings of 17 city and 24 highway which I always thought was pretty good for a 4,200 LB sedan. The new one, however, has a 4.0L twin-turbocharged V8 rated at 420 HP running through an 8-spd dual clutch automatic with EPA ratings of 22 city and 34 highway. Holy Crap! Essentially the same sized V8 putting out 85 HP more and getting 10 more MPG on the highway. I am definitely impressed.

Not sure if anyone is really pushing the envelopes with automatic transmissions on here. Lots of guys with autos build for drag racing but not for circuits. I know that GM has the 6L80E but it's a bit big for the Z and many european cars are now now running 8-spd dual clutch automatic transmissions. I've also seen aftermarket paddle shifter kits for the GM transmissions but there would need to be some serious work done with the electronics to make them work well on a road circuit.

Coolant leaks are fixed. OBDII connector and engine warning light wired in. HID headlights installed and working but passenger side high beam quit. Told the mechanic to cycle the high/low beam switch about 15 times. I've had issues there in the past that multiple cycling of the switch cured. Voltmeter still erratic but alternator working fine so am going to run a while as is to see if it self heals. It wouldn't be the first time I had an electrical gremlin in this car fix itself. DRL's are on hold because of the work involved to do them at this point. Adjustable proportioning valve is on hold at this point unless they can guarantee me to be done by close of business Tuesday. I have some brake work that will need to be done in the near future so I'll get it then. LED lights are fabulous. They are bright and work great except the turn signals that will need a new flasher. Interestingly the hazard flasher works fine with them. Clock works and new dash lights combined with the white faced gauges give excellent visibility at night now. Looking forward to getting the car back and taking it to the Datsuns NW swap meeting Canby, OR next weekend.