Datsun Roadster Forum-311s.org

Some things are always on. The clock for instance and modern radios. The first step is to start pulling fuses and see if you can find the draw. Not sure but I would think that 50-100 ma would be reasonable. 322 ma sounds high. A normal 45 AH battery would be pretty flat after about a week. You can also add a trickle charger to keep it topped off. A cheap second hand 12 volt .5 to 1 amp wall wart works fine.

Thanks Keith, the draw was big enough (with the red top battery) that if I drove to work in the morning, I would need a jump at 5pm to get home. Could have been a bad battery from the start though. I do keep it on a wall wart trickle charger, just the knob not being turned all the way out always did me in. I'm going to try to start pulling fuses, this weekend is probably out with halloween and all.

keith0alan wrote:Some things are always on. The clock for instance and modern radios. The first step is to start pulling fuses and see if you can find the draw. Not sure but I would think that 50-100 ma would be reasonable. 322 ma sounds high. A normal 45 AH battery would be pretty flat after about a week. You can also add a trickle charger to keep it topped off. A cheap second hand 12 volt .5 to 1 amp wall wart works fine.

November went by quick! Holiday season always goes by quick, as I work in retail and this is serious crunch time.

Anyhow, still haven't gotten to the electrical gremlins that's eating away at my battery. Meanwhile, I did manage to acquire a new gauge set!

Very excited!

I'm now hoping to get it in and finish the car in time for Solvang. No promises, because life always gets in the way.





Quad set for Volt/Fuel/Water/Oil Pressure


GPS Speedometer


Tach with turn signals

Those look GREAT! What company?

Wow, I haven't logged in for a long time.Gauges are speedhut.

New (to me) steering wheel is on temporarily, you'll notice old gauges are still in the dash. It's been hot and I've been super lazy. Maybe next weekend.

Update!

Saturday after that last post, I took the dash out to start installing the new gauges. Then I got lazy and the dash sat on the floor.

Keith Williams came by a few days later and helped me hunt down the power draw. It was the alternator wired to the wrong terminal in the painless fuse box (or the fuse box internally wired/labeled incorrectly). But we moved the wire to a switched terminal and all is good.

Last weekend I got some energy and wired in the new oil pressure and water temp sensors, and ran new wiring back to the fuel gauge sender.

When Keith was here, I complained about the clock never being right. We looked at the back, and there is a tuning screw! Tonight, I took the clock out of the dash and plugged it straight into the battery to start the tuning process. After about an hour tweaking, I think I'm within a minute of being spot on. I guess now I have to check and adjust every couple days until I get it just right. Am I just wasting my time trying to get it down to +/- 5 sec?

As far as the clock, if you're going to bother fixing it, may as well be dead on. It will be the ONLY one that's accurate more than twice a day.

So, I've been using the clock thing as an excuse to not put the dash back together the last 6 weeks or so. I'd been adjusting the clock once or twice a week, and got it real close! 2 minute drift over a week, which I think is the best I could have hoped for.

Then.... I f*@ked up and plugged in the battery charger with the clock still directly wired into the battery. I think I might have let some magic smoke out, since the clock no longer ticks.

Now I have to find another excuse to not put the dash back together.. or I might have to actually get off my ass and do some work on the car in the next couple of weeks.

I still have dash lights and the tach to wire up, then find a place for the dash light pot and high beam indicator (since I forgot to add that to the tach when I ordered it). Passenger window also got unglued from the rack sometime in the last 2 years. Sunset hasn't left the garage for almost an entire year now. Feel a bit bad about that. On the positive side, while hunting for holiday decorations in the garage, I found a box of weatherstripping that I thought I lost forever when I moved almost 2 years ago.

back to the old checklist, almost done, actually..

[*]install new fuel pump (bought a carter rotary-no space under the car for it.. I might have to reroute to the trunk.)
[X]continue carb tuning (main jets are in place, idle jets still too lean.. I'm debating whether to drill out some of the real small ones vs. ordering new ones) - with the car sitting for a while, this might need some additional attention.
[X]rear axle (upgraded to John's RX7 LSD rear end with disc brakes, also widened so I don't need spacers in back anymore.. Thanks John!)
[ ]figure out front center caps.. maybe buy some new grease caps and smash them to fit? 3d print new ones?
[ ]obtain and install soft top
[X]figure out the electrical draw
[ ]get the windows to roll up and down
[ ]weather stripping on doors and trunk installed (at least I found them!)
[ ]working gauges (so close)
[X]wiper motor needs hooked up
[ ]gas hood struts?
[ ]windshield sprayer needs hooked up
[ ]music?
[X]replace brake hoses with nismo braided
[X]remount tires that are mounted backwards (directional)
[X]rewire radiator fan properly
[X]install nardi steering wheel
[X]install new fuel filter
[X]re-run, mount, seal, fuel lines -- when the car went up to do the rear end swap, I said.. HO!Y SH!T - fuel line was loose and was rubbing against the back wheel.
* it's not broke, won't fix it.. new pump is a spare now

Did you ever get gas struts for your trunk mounted ?? or maybe for the hood as well?

Do you have any suggestions on where to mount them ?

Thanks
Cam
(RustyBucket)