Onion

Here's some photos. Coil. The white wire on the top left goes to the Holley 390 CFM carb. The wire attached to the ground terminal on the coil goes to a kill switch and back. The red is hot. No idea what the black sleeved one on the hot terminal goes to or does. Distributor. Another one of the distributor. Under the distributor cap. Wiring leading to the Sorensen Magnition box, right next to the alternator. One more.

Anyone? I installed all the connectors but that blue/white cable thing is still not taken care of as I don't know which it goes to.

3/1973. I need to stop forgetting to include that in my posts.

I'm trying to figure out what in the world the previous owner of my Z did with the ignition system. I'm also trying to figure out why my tach doesn't work (probably the ignition). I've got a PerTronix Flame Thrower coil, and a PerTronix Ignitior. All this then leads to a box labeled "Sorensen Magnition". A google search hardly gives me any info, but does hint at it being a very old system from the '70s. Can someone help me figure out what to do with this mess? What is this Sorensen Magnition thing exactly? I've read about the MSD 6AL ignition on here and it seems to be quite popular, am I right? Any tips on getting my tach working with the current ignition, other than stuff from this thread, which I've already read? Thanks - kind of clueless with ignition stuff.

I've seen them on here for around $200 shipped because of shipping costs. I'm trying to minimize expenses and would like to just pick it up myself. Anyone in South Florida have an R200 for sale? I'm currently in Miami.

I know what you mean about Harbor Freight, but I've had no quality and reliability issues with my crimp tool.

This seems like a good tool, and its pretty cheap. http://www.amazon.com/Tool-Aid-18900-Professional-Ratcheting/dp/B0002STTSY/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1367444928&sr=8-1&keywords=ratcheting+crimp+tool I've had this one for a while, and its fared me well. http://www.harborfreight.com/ratcheting-crimping-tool-97420.html

You can sort of see it on the last picture, but there are two blue/white wires on the connector. The connector fell apart and the wires fell out of place, so I don't know which one goes to what. How could I tell which wire goes to what and what to plug it back into? I can't really trace the wires as they go through a sort of harness. Any advice on that? Thanks Matt, I'll try that.

I ordered a new 9 pin connector set with the spade connectors included. Whenever that gets there I'll rewire that part of the car and see if it still works. Also bought DeOxit D100 to get all the gunk off my connectors. In the meantime, more small things. Zip-tied the rad overflow tube to the radiator so it doesn't flop around. Put the ignition kill switch back now that I know it didn't cause the problem with the burnt out connector. Hot glued the cables to the strut tower bolts so they don't move around. The 30 amp switch. Also topped off the oil, checked the coolant which needs replacing, and let the car run a while to charge the battery up. Need a new shifter boot as its not sealing properly.

Here's a place for you guys to get original style electrical components for our cars. I had some trouble finding a place to get some replacements from, so hopefully this helps some people. http://www.vintageconnections.com/ The prices are pretty good, too. Just don't buy the crimping tools from them, they're overpriced.

There you go. http://www.vintageconnections.com/ The site's awesome, its got like every single original electrical part for our cars. Only catch is $5 minimum purchase not including shipping.

Think I found it...

Since I'm poking around down there, what do you guys think of this? http://www.thezstore.com/page/TZS/PROD/12-4653 I'll check the alternator output and see how that goes, hopefully it was just the corrosion causing the issues.

I inspected the connector more closely today and it literally just fell apart in my hands. I'm thinking of just cutting the wires on either side and then using spade connectors to wire it back up and still be able to disconnect for whatever reason. Does anyone know what gauge the wiring is under there? What gauge should I use for the patch? Is 16 gauge fine? Thanks in advance.

Nope, the lights were off, both times. Same for the blinkers. I was just sitting in the driveway in neutral and gave it some gas. I'll do the wiring work tomorrow and do what I did the last two times and feel around to see if the wires heat up at all. Hopefully it works. Thanks a lot for your reply. NewZed, I'm 100% sure I didn't knock anything when pumping the gas, there's nothing dangling under the steering column or dash or anything. Edit: I'm bought DeOxit D100 as TomoHawk recommended and I'll try to get some gunk off the connector and see if it makes any difference. I'll go on from there and maybe just bypass that connector.

Sorry, I forgot to include the info. Its a 1973 240Z. And yeah, I'm sure it leads to that switch. As far as the alternator, I've got no idea, but the previous owner didn't mention it. Are there any telltale signs or easy ways for me to differentiate an aftermarket one compared to the stock 40 amp one? For things in the electrical that have been changed from stock, the previous owner put in an electrical ignition and a Holley carb. I'm sure there are other things that have been modified because there are a couple dead ends in the wiring harness, the AC doesn't do anything when you turn the switch, and the wipers used to turn on randomly.

I revved my car sitting still maybe 3-4 times to maybe 7000 RPM (hot cam, so not redline). On the 4th rev, I got some smoke coming out of the steering column. I popped the steering column cover off and found out that a connector had melted and burnt. I'm not sure what its called, and what the two bad cables are, let alone how to fix it... Maybe some of you more talented electrical guys on here can help me? I disconnected it and tried to start the car just to see if I had to push it back into the garage or not, and it did start. However, the headlights don't turn on, the dash lights don't turn on, and the blinkers don't work. Here's what the connector and the damage look like. Also, the car's having an inspection sometime this week, or early next week, and I need it to pass, so if this is a hard, long, and tedious fix, is there any bandaid fix I can do to make it pass and then fix it properly once I have the time?

Thanks PLATA. Not many Z's around, full stop. Update! Popped the Z on jack stands only to find that the black undercoating is starting to chip, peel, and fall apart. This is going to be a project for another time, but I'm going to scrape all of it of the underbody of the car and then spray it flat black again. Next order of business... I gave her the berries again, but without the ignition kill switch that I had wired. It smoked again. I popped the steering column cover off and found out that a connector had melted and burnt. I'm not sure what its called, and what the two bad cables are, let alone how to fix it... Maybe some of you more talented electrical guys on here can help me? I disconnected it and tried to start the car just to see if I had to push it back into the garage or not, and it did start. However, the headlights don't turn on, the dash lights don't turn on, and the blinkers don't work. Here's what the connector and the damage look like.

Not the classiest shift knob for our cars, but this is the knob I had on my Mustang which got wrecked. I miss the car a lot, so I slapped on the old shift knob for the memories.

Well things went a bit south today. I gave the car a couple revs with the new switch installed, and I had smoke coming out of the steering column. I guess that the ignition puts out too much juice for the wiring to handle. I put everything back to stock and I'll crack the steering column open tomorrow to see if any of the wires are toast. If they are, I'll patch in some new stuff. Kind of a fail day today.

I wired up a switch to the electric ignition as a safety feature. Now I can just flip the switch (its hidden) and the car doesn't turn over if I try to start it. Also gave myself a nice little buzz when I tried starting the car with the switch in my hand lol.

That's a +1 for the Arizona Z Car intake with the MSA 6 to 1 headers. Here's a video of my car, you'll get to see under the hood in detail. The throttle linkage grinds slightly on the intake so I just got an angle grinder and ground it down a tiny bit to prevent it getting jammed or grinding on it. Hope this helps you. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jJBiiJpv11U

I'm gonna go for the obvious and say missing axle, lol.

Gogriz, I'm surprised they even had a Datsun at a Nissan dealer. What did you pay for it if you don't mind me asking? Seattle, unfortunately, I don't have a stock seatbelt and I really don't want to shell out the cash for a stock belt that I'll only be using for a couple weeks. I'm not going to be driving it much, I'd just like some sort of restraint system to avoid getting a ticket, and because its probably better than nothing. My speedo bounces a lot until I hit 30-35 mph, where it still bounces a little but not as much. Thanks.

I'd love to come up to AMS, but my car's in Miami and I'm in Jacksonville. I'd be willing to do the trip, but that's my last week of class and I've got finals. I'll see if I can make it all the way up to North Carolina for ZDayZ, it looks like a fun meet.