76 280Z wiring preparation & documentation

[gvincent]

I searched and found this thread in the L6 forum http://forums.hybridz.org/showthread.php?t=111179 I posted some questions and pictures to this thread but figured my questions are probably going to be better answered in the Chevy V8Z forum.

I am just starting to prepare my 76 280Z for the SBC engine swap and wanted to get my wiring in order as I went along. I just pulled out the FI harness and am not sure what connections to the ignition plug I need to re-wire.

The pictures I posted in the thread show the plug connectors and I listed all the wire info that I could find in my crappy Haynes and Chilton manuals. Terry Steenhagen was nice enough to offer to send me a CD of the shop manual but it is not here yet so I have to use what I have for now.

With the FI relays now also out of the picture will my fuel pump still work or do I need to rewire that as well? I am going to start un-taping the wiring harness on the passenger side this weekend and pull out what is not needed there as well so I am sure I will have more questions to add to this thread. I will post pictures as I go along so maybe other people can use them as well. I will draw up the wiring once it is all figured out and post it as well.

Oh, I am still looking for a motor, it will be an LT1, or old school 383 stroker or 400SBC so right now I am keeping worst case scenario wiring wise so I am guessing the LT1.

I have been posting pics as I go in my Gallery and Project car forum.

Thanks,

Greg

[Guest medley]

hey i have a 78 280z and i have pretty much finished cutting my harness down and then i began to look a what was left. i reallized that i was not going to be very happy with the fusible links and the buse fuses. i have started spring semester of college and had to put the car on hold for awhile. although i spent about a week chasing wires and different diagrams i have decided to go painless and aftermaket gauges and fab a custom dash. that is just my preference. i'm sure that there will be problems with that way also.

 

if you are set on doing it the cheap way using the existing wireing harness it is very helpful to go on ebay and buy the three pages of 11/17 inch color wireing diagrams just for your car. well worth the thirty dollars and will save you many days of confusing work. they are available for may other cars.

Datsun 280Z 1976 HUGE COLOR Wiring Diagram 11 x 17 x 3

 

Laminated HUGE 11"x40", Accurate - from Factory Manuals

[deja]

There is some good information on the 280Z here.

http://www.atlanticz.ca/zclub/techtips/explodedviews/280z/[url=http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.atlanticz.ca/zclub/techtips/explodedviews/280z/77fsm/DASH.GIF&imgrefurl=http://www.atlanticz.ca/zclub/techtips/explodedviews/280z/&h=1089&w=1476&sz=45&tbnid=5b_NU8cpmKkJ:&tbnh=110&tbnw=150&hl=en&start=8&prev=/images%3Fq%3D280z%2Bdash%26svnum%3D10%26hl%3Den%26lr%3D%26rls%3DGGLD,GGLD:2004-42,GGLD:en%26sa%3DN][/url]

But having a real shop manual is better.

[gvincent]

I have a 77 "color" wiring diagram and the colors do not match at all,

I know that my car is a 76 but it shouldn't be that different.

Are these Colored Poster diagrams available on Ebay the actual wire colors or are they just wire diagrams drawn in color, which is what I think I have already.

If I don't get the CD of the manual soon I will break down and buy another manual.

I downloaded the free one from here: http://carfiche.com/manuals020/cars/ but it is not in color and hard to read in some places, is this the real shop manual?

The color diagram I have is posted below

(Actually now it says it is to big a file to post) It is the one available from ClassicZcars.com

Thanks,

Greg

[Ansel Marrow]

I got fed up with my old wiring (turn signals went out then other things like all the lights stopped working) so I ordered a keep it clean wiring kit. Ill be re-doing the whole car after I line the interior with bedliner. The peace of mind in knowing my car will be all new wires is great. Junking the old wires (which had burned in some places, and had tons of wires leading to nothing) was a smart thing to do. You might consider re-wiring just because itll save you headaches further down the road.

[deja]

I got fed up with my old wiring (turn signals went out then other things like all the lights stopped working) so I ordered a keep it clean wiring kit. Ill be re-doing the whole car after I line the interior with bedliner. The peace of mind in knowing my car will be all new wires is great. Junking the old wires (which had burned in some places, and had tons of wires leading to nothing) was a smart thing to do. You might consider re-wiring just because itll save you headaches further down the road.

 

I heard that. I spent the first few months of owning my 280Z chasing electrical issues. I finally got the engine running right after replacing the battery, starter and alternator and rewiring most everything under the hood. The guy that made the original engine swap eliminated all the fusible links and replace them with nothing, WTF was he thinking! But there still seems to always something going on with this car electrically. I now have lost power to one of my tail lights somewhere between the fuse panel and the rear end. I am about to undertake a engine/tranny swap to an LT1/4L60E and while I'm at it I am going to totally rewire this thing. I work in the computer industry and know 30 year old wiring is a recipe for disaster. Its going to be a pain but I know in the long run I will be better off.