New Z Owner - Devon

[Vaughan]

Hi Vaughan. Ah great, another local! Thanks for the offer! Where are you based?

Hi Tim,Ilive 2 miles from Lifton if you know where that is,its about 40 mins from Exeter.Cornish boarder but in Devon

 

[Tim Jewitt]

Only thing is Tim is that these old regulators are ancient tech, and can cause all sorts of issues as was the case for me.
The conversion to a more modern alternater is very simple and a few guys here have done it.
Yes it was Superstart, if you are a member you will get a discount as well.

Yeah, I can see the sense in doing it. May well have to bite the bullet.

 

[Tim Jewitt]

Very good at shipping orders out however their shipping costs are horrific!

******, may have to do it the complicated way then.

 

[Tim Jewitt]

Hi Tim,Ilive 2 miles from Lifton if you know where that is,its about 40 mins from Exeter.Cornish boarder but in Devon

Ah yeah, just off the A30. Not a million miles away.

 

[Tim Jewitt]

So I bought a battery charger today, opened it up, and the instructions said it would not charge unless it sensed a minimum of 6V from the battery, and that if a battery is reading lower than that then it is probably knackered. Mine is only reading 0.25V. So, presume I need a new battery?

 

[Nigel Brook]

Very good at shipping orders out however their shipping costs are horrific!

Are you reffering to Superstart or Zcarparts.
Had a couple of items from Zcarparts. Shipping not too bad. Anyway for a small item weighing next to nothing an adaptor is'nt going to cost that much.

 

[Aceman]

Looks like your alternator, car seems to be running at total loss.
If it was just the regulator you would be getting a varying voltage with revs.

Saying that, when our regulator went, we got nothing. Not a peep. Multimeter registered complete zero regardless of revs etc.

Ours was a solid state one too (supposedly more reliable!).

We instantly thought alternator, but a quick swap over of the regulator and low and behold, life!

Worth eliminating this cheaper repair first (although it seems one of the more sensible reliability upgrades to go for the alternator with built in regulator). We, on the other hand, just now have a garage full of regulators and original alternators so plenty to swap over and keep us going for years!!

 

[blot]

Hi Tim,Ilive 2 miles from Lifton if you know where that is,its about 40 mins from Exeter.Cornish boarder but in Devon

Oy! I started this meeting up lark, I'm starting to feel left out! Serves me right for getting a ZX! Haha.

 

[Sean287]

Are you reffering to Superstart or Zcarparts.
Had a couple of items from Zcarparts. Shipping not too bad. Anyway for a small item weighing next to nothing an adaptor is'nt going to cost that much.

I was refering to Zcarparts. Their FedEx and Postal rates are not very good compared to what I can get here in the UK. I had to pay $95 for FedEx shipping a box weighing less than 2Kg. I could have shipped this myself on an express courier two day serivce for less than £20.

 

[Tim Jewitt]

Right, I think I must have read everything on the internet about Z alternators and voltage regulators but am still stumped. My car has an ammeter in the dash, not a voltmeter, and what the Haynes manual tells me is an ammeter shunt mounted below the voltage regulator. My voltage regulator has the rectangular plug, not the round one. But there is also a cable that seems to go through a connector and ends at a little cylindrical thing on the left hand side of the voltage regulator in the picture below. None of the regulators I have seen for sale have this little cylinder and none of the info I've found online seems to mention it or what you do with it if you do the alternator conversion. So my questions is what is it, and what does one do with it, whether replacing the voltage regulator for one that doesn't have this or doing the alternator conversion?

Thanks in advance!

 

[andrew muir]

Its a condensor (capacitor) useually fitted to suppress interference to electonics, Think I have had one fitted to my alternator. Will have to check if it is still connected.

 

[Mr.F]

Ammeter and shunt on 1973 / 1974 2 seater 260Z for UK market and up to 07/75 on 2+2. The shunt didn't appear before and never appeared again...
Voltmeter from 08/75
As far as I am aware ALL UK Zs had the rectangular plug on the regulator.
System will work with or without the capacitor(s) connected. Radio reception may be buzzy without...

 

[Tim Jewitt]

Gotcha, thanks chaps.

 

[Tim Jewitt]

Just phoned Mike to order a pair of replacement heater hoses as mine have perished, and chatted through this charging issue at the same time. Extremely friendly and helpful guy who is probably going to get tired of hearing from me over the next few months, haha. Thanks Mike!

So I think I am going to do the alternator upgrade. Can anyone just confirm if this alternator is correct before I buy:

NISSAN DATSUN 280C 280ZX NEW ALTERNATOR | eBay

 

[Tim Jewitt]

Ah, some ******'s bought it!