71 Orange Goon

[JohnnyBlu]

Hey guys,

 

Finally starting a build thread. I picked up this goon a year ago and have picked up a lot from this forum. Here's the link to the thread i started to introduce myself a while back.   http://community.ratsun.net/topic/65234-new-guy-intro/

 

 

Now I'm getting everything in the right place to share with you all as I get stuff done. Most recent project was refreshing the front end with adjustable LCAs and tc rods from Futofab, as well as new ball joints and tie rods.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I got tired of the headliner insulation attacking me while driving with the windows down so the badly ripped headliner got pulled down and I finally put in my wink mirror. Its been in the garage for at least 6 months.

 

 

Recently reduced my tailpipe volume by adding a long glasspack after the downpipe. Why did I wait so long to do this!!?

 

 

 

 

 

[Draker]

Looks pretty good!

 

Seems like the muffler is going to be your lowest point though. Not a fan of the stock location?

[JohnnyBlu]

it actually is all tucked up tight to the floor. the middle portion of the glasspack is maybe a half inch lower than the frame rails. muffler is in the stock wagon position, just forward of the axle. Ill grab a pic later today

[banzai510(hainz)]

bet its nice and quieter

stock location is perfect

[JohnnyBlu]

A little late but here's a photo of current exhaust setup. no more highway drone and pretty quiet idle. still loud when you put your foot into it. sounds good. 

 

Also added the rear sway bar yesterday! feels good but I really have't driven around on it much yet.

 

 

lastly, a little interior help... my driver door card was a bit flimsy/abused from the inner door handle. a quick fiberglass patch on the inside of the door card to help stiffen it back up. worked good.

Looks ugly on this side but its hidden inside the door.

[banzai510(hainz)]

I hate the DRONE!!!!!!!!!!

 

 

looks good

[JohnnyBlu]

This thread will be all kinds of out of order.  So it goes.

I've had the car since Dec 2014, and since then I have been chipping away at this never ending project. I have picked up a lot of information from all you guys on this site, and I can't thank you enough. I met a few of you at a Northbay BBQ a few months back, then missed out on the January fun run as work kept me away. Anyways... I'll try to get better about posting here. I wanted to share with you all the rewire project that I did last summer.

 

When I got it, The car had all kinds of electrical problems. I had done a few quick, janky things to keep me semi legal so i could drive it until I had the time to redo the whole harness.  I had sacrificed blinkers and backup lights to get brake and tail lights. There were all kinds of shorts and melted wires, and the mess of leftover unsed stuff from its time as an automatic.    I went with the option of tear it all out and start over. 

 

 This was the right solution for me. Before doing anything, I took some time to actually understand how the original wiring systems were supposed to work, and then made my own drawing, personalized to my application. I started by drawing each system separately, like headlights. Then I merged it all together. For the most part, I followed the same setup as original (ex being switched ground for headlights). I did make changes that you can se in my schematic below. I went with 14 gauge wire throughout, partly because I had a spool of it. A few spots are bigger wire, like from the starter lug to the fusebox and alternator to starter lug.

 

 

I tried to layout my drawing as the wirtes would run through the car, to make it less confusing to make the harness.

 

I used a small low cost distribution box that had 10 fuses and 5 relays. There were options for this; I went with bussed fuses and bused relay terminals, which worked out well. +12v runs into the fuse, then through the relay switch (30->87)and out to the load. The Relay gets closed by grounding the coil circuit (85-86). I was able to use some original switches with this set up.

 

As part of this project I upgraded to a saturn IR alternator and replaced my headlights with Hella h1/H4s. For the alternator I searched around here a bunch as well as some hotrod forums to figure out how to wire it up. The thing has 4 connections labled F L S P. L takes +12V through the lamp, S gets connected to the output chage post on the alternator. the others aren't needed in this application. the Output post goes to the big lug on the starter. Pretty simple. I used an LED light in the dash under the voltage gauge as my no charge warning light, so I added a 50 ohm resister. So switched +12V->led->resister->L terminal. I had to order a connector fro the alternator off ebay, after failing to find one in the junkyard that had a L terminal.

 

I got connectors from vintageconnections. The Crimpers he sells are awesome. By far the best value crimpers out there. can't reccomend them enough. Along with the extractor tool, you can re pin the connectors, and connect to original datsun switches.

 

I did make some changes to the original funtionality of the wiring. My 9 pin hazard switch was broken, so I reworked my taillight setup. I segregated my blinkers from the brake lights, which reduced the complicated that the 9 pin hazard switch accounts for. I used a douple pole rocker switch for hazards. Worked out to be simpler and have a little less wire running to the rear of the car.

 

I do not have a horn. Only motivated by the fact that I was already at 6 relays and my new fusebox only held 5. As is, one is hanging out all by itself, poor guy. I did not set up door switches for the dome light, because how hard is it to just switch it on? of course that is assuming you have one. It's a lot less wire to skip that step too.

 

I arranged wiring to have connections for a center console and instrument console, to make it easier to remove these if necessary to work on. I made a new center dash piece to hold a few gauges and small speaker. I had intentions on putting two larger speakers in someday, and a radio, but hasn't happened yet.

 

The biggest thing that made me successfull in this project was the prior planning. I took a lot of time to think through and plan my schematic before pulled any wire out of the car.

 

pics...