(continued from
part 3)
…and the Lord said, “Let there be light”…Jean-Pierre Matte - SVAO
…and generally speaking there was light, except that is, for my ‘71 240. Oh sure, there was light everywhere else, but the glow emanating from the Z’s headlights, was more akin to a small gathering of fireflies, than that of modern automotive lighting. You could say that I had entered my own personal version of the “Dark Ages”. That was back in 1985, and since then, many brave souls have tackled the Z’s electrical problem. At least 5 people have tried their hand at sorting this out. None succeeded in resolving the problems that have plagued my 240 for lo these many years.
(this could be a case of Japanese engineers copying British engineers – aka Lucas, Lord of Darkness! – Ed.) My car had at least 3 previous owners. From what I can gather, they had wide ranging aspirations, twisted ambitions or perhaps they were misguided dreams. The owner I bought the car from, once boasted of having 5 people, camping gear and beer in the Z. That little wilderness expedition over backwoods paths would explain the floorboards being pushed up several inches. Dieter did an excellent job hammering them back into their proper position. My car had at least 3 previous colours, but this and the floors and the mangled rear fenders, were things that could easily be fixed or overlooked.
On a more troublesome level, was that some of these previous owners had electrical ambitions way beyond their abilities. Look, I will be the first to admit I don’t have a clue about wiring and like matters, but at least I am aware, that I don’t have a clue. When I need some type of electrical modification done, I will seek out someone who appears to know what they are doing, more about that later. The intrepid souls who owned my car, ventured bravely forth, wire strippers and electrical tape in hand, and oh what a mess they made. Looking at the carnage they left behind, it is hard to understand exactly what they were trying to accomplish.
For certain, someone tried to augment the stock lighting with some driving lights, some of the forensic studies of my wiring, indicated as much. There was also evidence of some creative attempts at hooking up a sound system in the car. The previous owner had installed a $2,500 system in the car, back in the early Eighties, (remember them?) that was something. At least the thieves thought so, ‘cause they broke into the car twice trying to steal it. This resulted in me picking out broken glass for years after purchasing the Z. Most of the work that was done on the car’s wiring, were “band aid” type solutions, never really addressing the fundamental issues that caused the problems in the first place. The lights were such, that there were no Low Beams to speak of, the amber marker lights on most cars threw more light than my Low Beams did. The only way to drive, was to have the High Beams on all of the time. On “High” they were like a good set of Low Beams, but not as good as your average High Beams. Around 1987, I bought a Lucas Quartz Halogen Conversion Kit at Canadian Tire, thinking this might help. It was no better than the original Z’s Sealed Beam units. In denial, I blamed Lucas, the “Prince of Darkness”, and resigned myself to low grade lighting for many more years, after yet another attempt to fix it had failed.
In 1999, I gave in and brought the car to the corner Shell station, where I know the owner. A mechanic there thought the problem was related to a bad ground. Well, he tore into the wiring like a mechanic on a mission. Problem was, that halfway through, he realized that he could go no further, and could not figure out how to put it back together. He had done things like wire the front marker lights, directly into the headlight pots for power. He had disconnected the rearward half of the wiring harness, and not reconnected it, thereby disabling the brake and taillights. He just stuffed the wiring back into the car and I took it home. It was a scrambled mess. Mike, the garage owner, could see that something bad had happened here, and didn’t charge me a cent. I called George Kolosowski and he came to the rescue. After many hours, and many nights, despite his legendary colour blindness, he valiantly dove into the mess of wiring, and was able to restore things to close to what they were before. After three weeks of the being Zedless due the wiring mess, at least I could drive the car.
Back in 1994, in the early days of the club, I was lucky enough to meet the person who would years later go on to become my “Incandescent Saviour”. When I met Nigel White, I knew he was studying some type of technological discipline. Much to my delight in later years, I came to find that Nigel is an Electronics Technologist, who can design circuit boards (good for when I develop my cloaking device), and enjoys a good wiring challenge. Nigel has been aware of the pathetic state my lighting was in, and had been thinking about a resolution for quite some time. Early in May, Nigel ran the stock wiring through some relays, bypassing the weak original equipment set up. This would theoretically bypass many week points, and resistance issues in the Headlight Switch, and all should be fine.
It wasn’t. Oh, there was a marginal improvement, but not the degree expected. Nigel thought about it some more, and near the end of May, had another shot at the wiring. Ultimately rewiring everything from the headlights back to the wiring harness. He came up with some classic stuff. In a span of 2 feet of wiring, there were at least 4 splices. The connection to the wiring harness was so corroded it looked like barnacles were growing on the male part of the plug. The female end was equally bad. There were bare and exposed wires, and connections hanging by a thread. Stephen King has nothing on the horrors that I witnessed that day. Nigel cooly declared war on the situation, shredding, cutting, stripping, soldering wires, that afternoon. My life flashed before me several times, as I saw the wiring being dismantled wire for wire, before my very eyes. For my part, I did much of the grunt work, as this helped relieve much of the tension created by seeing my car getting torn apart….yet again.
Only this time, it’s different. It works now! I have real headlights, just like a “normal” car. And it only took 19 or so years. If this is starting to sound like an advertisement for Nigel White Electrical Contracting, you could certainly take it that way. He works flexible hours, and his rates are extremely affordable, and besides, many mechanics I have spoken to, admit to not being fans of electrical work. You’d be doing them a favour. And this is the sick part, Nigel actually enjoys electricals. There’s leverage if ever I saw it. Seriously, Nigel’s a great guy with a lot of talent, and as a charter member of the Brotherhood of the Damned (he has his own impressive credentials), he is always eager to help a fellow club member in trouble.
To everyone else out there who gave my wiring, their best shot, I thank you as well. You all tried to help and I appreciate it.
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