Guest medley Posted January 3, 2007 Share Posted January 3, 2007 hey im new here and i have had a love for z cars since i was about ten years old. i finally got one and am converting it to a chevy 350. My car is a 78 280 z automatic car with no ac. im installing a 88 chevy 350 out of a caprice police package. i will be using an carburator. behind that i will have a 1988 700R4 tranny. i would like some help with chopping the wiring the correct way so that i only have the wires that i need to go to the engine. thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LS1 Z Posted January 3, 2007 Share Posted January 3, 2007 Noob question of the day?!?! I'll be nice. You need to get the JTR book. Here is a link, http://www.jagsthatrun.com/Pages/Datsun_Z_V-8.html Alot of your questions will be answered as well as......... SEARCH! Welcome JOEY Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest medley Posted January 3, 2007 Share Posted January 3, 2007 i have the jtr book. i have a nissan wiring diagram. there is nothing telling me the wires that i don't need. the jtr book converted a 240 and nothing is the same in my car. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
piston Posted January 3, 2007 Share Posted January 3, 2007 when i did my conversion. i took out everything connected to the stock motor and pulled it all out. all the connectors on the harness that goes on the side of the driver side frame rail needs to be cut up also and take out everything that use to be connected to the stock motor except water temp and oil pressure wire. you can redo the new wires for the alternator and starter or use the old ones. cut open the stock sbc harness and get a wiring diagram or search online to trace the wires to which ever pins its use for and which ever ones you dont need on the computer. make sure you dont need it before you cut it or delete it out of your harness. since you will be running a carb on the fi engine, i dont know how that works but for sure some reprogramming will be required. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest medley Posted January 3, 2007 Share Posted January 3, 2007 piston what year was your car. the 350 was a computer controled carburator and i don't know any thing about that yet. i was just planning on replacing it with a older carb. if you know any colors of the wires on a 78 280z that would be very nice. it appears that the diagrams that i have seems to be wrong in some things and therefore i don't trust it. thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Forces Posted January 3, 2007 Share Posted January 3, 2007 i have the jtr book. i have a nissan wiring diagram. there is nothing telling me the wires that i don't need. the jtr book converted a 240 and nothing is the same in my car. I'm just finishing up a 76 280, and the JTR manual pulled through for me. All the wiring should be pretty close to the same in yours. there is one diagram in that book (can't remember the page #) that has a diagram of the eninge and all the wiring nessesary. It was kind of a pain in the ass to follow through it all, but the info is there. As for the wires you don't need, it is easier to locate all the wiring that you DO need, and move forward from there. Hope that helps Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bschiltz Posted January 3, 2007 Share Posted January 3, 2007 Didn't Mike use a 260 for the conversion that is covered in the book? The 240-260-280 all are based on the S30 chassis and are all very similar. The JTR book gives some wire colors for each model, especially on the page Forces was talking about. It is a picture of a hand drawn engine with carb, dizzy, temp sensor, starter, and alternator labled with wires that go to them. Like the other guys said, search arround and you may be able to find pics. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
love-my-V8-280Z Posted January 4, 2007 Share Posted January 4, 2007 There is no one answer... I can help you, I have installed a 350 into a 78 Z. I have made a wiring diagram and it should help you out. I have a 78 280Z diagram also you can have. Anyway, you will spend many hours studying your diagram and your car. I can give you some huge pointers. But to just tell you what to do, no one can do that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
m1noel Posted January 4, 2007 Share Posted January 4, 2007 Medley, First, great to have another hybrid project in Idaho. Second, are you sure the 88 engine doesn't have throttle body injection? All of the 88's I am aware of do. Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LS1 Z Posted January 4, 2007 Share Posted January 4, 2007 O.K. Didn't mean to sound harsh. I pretty much agree with what everybody else said. Pull the motor/trans and engine management harness all together. The wires you will need will still be in the engine bay. My Z is at my shop and I can give you wire colors and locations in the a.m. JOEY Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HICKL Posted January 4, 2007 Share Posted January 4, 2007 If you haven't pulled the motor yet, identify the key ones when you disconnect them from the z motor. IE: water temp, oil sending unit, starter, power to the coil.. If you have those, you can pretty much figure it out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest medley Posted January 4, 2007 Share Posted January 4, 2007 Love-my-v8-280z Thanks, the diagram would be helpful. all the resorces i can will help. i have the chilton one but it seems to have some errors. the one you made would be very helpful. mlnoel where are you at in idaho and yes it is a rare quadrajet that came on very few canadian cars. Joey Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest medley Posted January 4, 2007 Share Posted January 4, 2007 Love-my-v8-280z Thanks, the diagram would be helpful. all the resorces i can will help. i have the chilton one but it seems to have some errors. the one you made would be very helpful. mlnoel where are you at in idaho and yes it is a rare quadrajet that came on very few canadian cars. Joey i would really apprieciate the colors. form what i understand they changed the wiring in 78 somewhat. Hickl i did pull the motor because it was already torn apart. i bought the car with a cracked head and the head was removed and alot of the wires were already disconnected. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
m1noel Posted January 4, 2007 Share Posted January 4, 2007 Ah, canook. I'm in Meridian, just out of Boise. Mine is also a 78. If you don't get the diagrams you need, let me know. I have a factory 78 manual, but it is pretty well used. They are still available through the dealers I think, don't know how much $. Once in a while one will turn up on Ebay. I do have one on CD I bought from one of the guys on this site. You can have it if you want. PM me with your street address if you do. Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
240zV8 Posted January 4, 2007 Share Posted January 4, 2007 i remember somthing about the 78 wiring being different than the previous 280's. But here's the general diagram with color codes so you can trace the one's to cut out, if this is what u were looking for. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
getZ Posted January 4, 2007 Share Posted January 4, 2007 Most of the original hookups on the car are reused. The starter with the fusible link can be hooked directly to the gm starter. I opted to pull out the link and wire it directly, but you should put it on a fuse. The common tie in point between mating the engine to the existing electronics is really the alternator. If you use a gm one wire alternator you can yank out the stock z regulator stuff and clean the engine bay up a bit. There is a web site with an article on how to install a gm one wire alternator, but my computer crashed recently and I don't remember what it was called. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
love-my-V8-280Z Posted January 5, 2007 Share Posted January 5, 2007 You can see its not done completely, but I worked very hard at making sure I matched wire colors. This is my car, it may help you make desidision. But send me an email address so I can send you the original 78 diagram and a copy of this one as a TIFF.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Forces Posted January 5, 2007 Share Posted January 5, 2007 That diagram is amazing, must have taken a LOT of patients. good work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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