datsun_turbo_JDM Posted April 6, 2016 Share Posted April 6, 2016 (Im not sure if its been asked before) So i have a 73 240 and im trying to restore it so i removed the wiring harness and was reading about EZ Wiring and Painless Wiring. the harness is ok but most of the connectors are dry rotting and was really thinking about new harness. The biggest question is would these harness run the whole car or only certain things? I just wanted to know if its been done or doable?. I would really like your feedback. Thanks for reading & feed back Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Exposed Posted April 6, 2016 Share Posted April 6, 2016 Are you thinking about a new engine harness, or the body harness? Someone correct me if I'm wrong but I believe the generic wiring harness' are more or less for your lights,horns, radiator fan(s), fuel pump, accessories, etc. so if you're looking for a new engine harness it may not be the best choice. Just a quick search on the EZ site brought me to a harness with this in the description "Radio, Coil, Dome Light, Backup/Cruise, Horn, Cigarette Lighter, Fuel Pump, AC/Heat, Radio, Turn Signal, Horn, ACC, Wiper, Gauges, Hazard, Fan, Power Window, Power Door Locks, Brake, Headlight" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
datsun_turbo_JDM Posted April 6, 2016 Author Share Posted April 6, 2016 Yeah I was thinking of both sorry for not being clear. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miles Posted April 6, 2016 Share Posted April 6, 2016 The Painless wiring harness install has been documented here for some time including a complete tutorial on how to install it. You can wire the entire car with it. Search: "painless" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
luseboy Posted April 6, 2016 Share Posted April 6, 2016 There are many topics about both the painless and EZ-wire kit. I personally went with the EZ-wire kit and am very happy with it. It takes a lot of time and patience and many of the stock electrical components are difficult to figure out. It is a partial engine harness but mostly a body harness, so you're likely still going to need to figure out the wiring for the engine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
datsun_turbo_JDM Posted April 6, 2016 Author Share Posted April 6, 2016 Miles thanks So luseboy so you did all the wiring with the EZ harness and witch one did you end up using? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
luseboy Posted April 6, 2016 Share Posted April 6, 2016 Miles thanks So luseboy so you did all the wiring with the EZ harness and witch one did you end up using? Yep, though I'm not entirely done yet (car is still in the "building" phase). I went with the 21 circuit kit as I wanted to have some extra circuits for various accessories I may decide to add in the future. It was quite a process and you're going to need to do a lot of homework. If you haven't done much wiring before you will want to give yourself a lot of time to think things through, and you're still going to need a number of other things to do it right. There is another topic going right now about the same thing called "rewiring my 260." And definitely search for older topics as there are many. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miles Posted April 6, 2016 Share Posted April 6, 2016 See this thread: http://forums.hybridz.org/topic/29786-painless-harness-to-z-column-harness-headlight-combo-switch/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
datsun_turbo_JDM Posted April 6, 2016 Author Share Posted April 6, 2016 OK so it is possible well I would like to keep in touch luseboy. Tell me how it works for you and how you wired the gauges and switches. Such as ignition and turn signals switches and if you used stock switches pics would help a lot. I seen forms mostly about painless harness but their a bit pricy. So since you have the EZ harness what would you say about the quality of the wires and difficulty of installation? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
luseboy Posted April 7, 2016 Share Posted April 7, 2016 OK so it is possible well I would like to keep in touch luseboy. Tell me how it works for you and how you wired the gauges and switches. Such as ignition and turn signals switches and if you used stock switches pics would help a lot. I seen forms mostly about painless harness but their a bit pricy. So since you have the EZ harness what would you say about the quality of the wires and difficulty of installation? Many or all of your questions can be answered by searching as has been suggested. I ditched almost all the factory components, including gauges, heater, combo switches, etc. So if you're trying to stay stock I have no insight for you. If you're going with aftermarket gauges then look at the instructions for them. Ignition diagrams are easy to come by and easy to figure out with a continuity tester. EZ wire apparently has better quality wire than the painless but I'm not so sure if that's true. I'm more than happy with the quality of the harness, it's quite nice. Difficulty of installation is an entirely impossible thing to answer. For me it took a lot of thinking and double checking and reading and studying and testing. Some people can just throw it in and it works. Some people get lost and don't know how to get back. I will tell you I put the harness in when my car was still a bare shell, then put in the dash and everything else, so that probably made it a lot easier than the other way around. If you have no experience with this stuff and aren't comfortable doing these kind of things then maybe you should re-consider. If you're hoping to have it done over a weekend you really need to reconsider, this is time consuming to do right. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miles Posted April 7, 2016 Share Posted April 7, 2016 Before you took the car apart, did you number each wire and make a wire list? Did you take pictures of the wire harnesses and the connections? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
datsun_turbo_JDM Posted April 7, 2016 Author Share Posted April 7, 2016 Miles I bought the car with everything removed already pretty much a rolling shell. But he did give me everything he had removed. I have a shed full of this he gave me with the car. So if any of you have pics that would be a huge help when rebuilding it back up Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miles Posted April 7, 2016 Share Posted April 7, 2016 I wouldn't count on getting pictures. I would start with downloading the factory service manual (FSM). They are available here and you can google search for them. Search for electrical schematics. Many members have made color schematics in pdf format that you can download. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
datsun_turbo_JDM Posted April 7, 2016 Author Share Posted April 7, 2016 Well I have a buddy of mine is stripping is 240z. So I'll just tell him to take pictures for me but thanks for the feed back. I still don't know what harness to go with cause luseboy says he going a different route with his harness. I was trying to use some of the stock thigs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
luseboy Posted April 7, 2016 Share Posted April 7, 2016 Fsm is available from xenons30. Many people have rebuilt these cars and there is tons of info out there on google, here, and many many web pages and other forums. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zgeezer Posted May 28, 2016 Share Posted May 28, 2016 I had a similar issue on my '70. Bare shell, missing engine compartment wiring, hacked body harness, and a "clean" instrument harness with plastic terminals that turned to powder at a touch. My combination switch and the spare were badly corroded from water intrusion into the heavy duty black plastic tote that I used for storage. [summer heat and water in a semi sealed container destroyed all white plastic terminal ends and corroded the aluminum]. I purchased a complete 24 or 28 circuit wiring package from Ron Francis wires.. I decided not to do a complete custom re-wire; instead, I purchased a '72 engine harness and stuffed it and the other two harnesses into a box and shipped them all to Dave Irwin in Washington state. What I received back was a completely refurbished harness that could be installed in a day. The expense was less than I paid for the Ron Francis wires. Here are the pros and cons as I saw them. 1. How many circuits did I need. As this would not be daily driver, not a race car, I needed more than a few circuits. As this Z would not be equipped with aftermarket hydraulics, heavy sound, power mirrors, GPS, flashing wheel well lights, 120 watt light bars or any of a host of other aftermarket power drain, I could do quite well with the 10 or so circuits of the stock Z. 2. Reliability I know there are Z owners here that consider the Z wiring scheme to be something designed by LUCAS or that the phrase "reliable Datsun Z wiring" to be an oxymoron. The weaknesses and idiosyncrasies of the Z wiring scheme are well known and largely curable, most by simple plug and play harnesses. I did not trust my wiring skill set to be adequate to guarantee my wife that we wouldn't lose lights some night somewhere between Caliente and Ely, Nevada. Remember, my use is as a driver that will see [i hope] a lot of highway miles. 3. Stock Interior I did not wish to alter the interior from stock. My desire to keep a stock appearance dictated that I would live with the Datsun combination switch. Mr. Irwin was able to add a plug and play sub-harness that incorporated a relay for the head lights. A major design defect of the Datsun wiring solved. I chose to retain the Ammeter. Perhaps not a wise decision, as Mr. Irwin could have easily modified the instrument panel harness to use a 280 voltmeter. But, again, I wanted a stock interior 4. Personal Growth I did not factor into my decision any element of acquiring new skills or taking on a new challenge. To be honest, if I were retired or 20 years younger, I would have gathered my friends, a few cases of beer, 20 pounds of carne asada and wired it like a Chevy over a weekend. Yeah, that combination switch would be dumped in favor of something from Flaming River or GM. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.