well, if some of you guys dont know. the big 3 is something us car audio guys do to get more power from the alt, to the battery and back to the amps. even if you dont have a car audio system you should still concider doing it. easier power flow = less stress..less stress = less part replacment. these upgrades include the battery to alternater wire, the battery ground to engine ground, and engine ground to chassis.
my question of which is how am i going to do my power to alt wire. usually you just run a cable from you're battery to alt. does the 280zx 1982 2+2 fastback have the regulators built into the alt.? i connected my dead battery to the alt output with 4 awg wire and started smelling wire. i dont think it damaged it any but the battery was dead so it wasnt very high volts. if i do need a new alt then ill get a high output because i think the z cars are only rated at like 65 amps? anyways how would i do this upgrade without cooking anything.

 

the 280ZX alternator is internally regulated.
They are 60amp alts.

 

i connected the wire from the battery to the alt output stud and started to smell burnt wire. like a burnt voice coil.. why would that? the battery was also dead so i dont think i hurt the alt.

 

You messed up thats why.

 

how do you figure?
any other suggestions?

 

well... are you sure the wire didn't touch the housing on the alt and that the wire did go to the positive side of the battery?
I doubt it was from overcharging but you can check the gauge with your engine running. oh, and trying to charge a dead battery off the alternator isn't good for the alt. If you can, charge the battery first with a plug-in charger.

 

my bad, i didn't mention the car was off. its not running at the moment, i need to buy new injectors and a starter. but I'm pretty sure it wasn't touching the ground, i ran it along with the original stock wire too. like 8 AWG wire. now its 4 AWG. the factory wire looked as if it ran into the cab tho? where can i find a wiring schematic?

 

A Haynes manual, FSM, or www.xenons130.com . Touching car wiring w/o wiring schematics =

 

i don't need schematics unless I'm dealing the with ECU or rewiring the whole car, everything else can be traced to one thing or another. its just the time to do it that i don't wanna spend lol.
all tho schematics are sooo much nicer to have you just cant find them online.
at least i cant.. not free...
its no biggy i got it.
i connected it again with a 20amp fuse and the fuse didn't pop so i connected it to a full battery and its working fine.
it was either my imagination or its because this plug on the alt was undone..
whats this plug go too?

 

one wire tells the alternator to charge. The other lets your BAT light in the dash turn off if it is charging.

 

Guilty

 

yea, because i unplugged the wire and i get that smell and when its plugged in the smell goes away? i have the wire connected now and its doing fine.
thank you bleach, you've been really helpful

 

oh ya, that's the "smell generator"
you have to plug it in to turn that part off... lol

 

lol be careful about talking about loud bass some of the old guys will bash u for it and hire thugs to steal ur subs, if its too loud ur too old lmao ROCK ON!!!


never known it to be called the big three but definatly rockin 4 gauge for my big three.

 

old guys? I think they all left.

I'm the oldest one on this forum. Well, then there's Rod but he's hardly ever around

 

do you know which color is tell alt to charge and batt light on that plug?

i am gonna swap for a 90amp alt and i am going to have to solder in a newer nissan 2 wire connector

 

no I'am the oldest..... and have had a z in my garage for 23 yrs. & have logged in over 200k miles, behind the wheel you young guyes know more about fixing these cars, cause us older guys had the privilege of driving these cars when they were new or almost new....just basic ware items is all I had to deal with......... untill now!!!!!!!!! still have alot of bugs to workout, on this torbo I have now............

 

I'm probably the oldest having just turned 42-years old just a couple days ago. I've had a 280ZX since I was 16. I've had my current 280ZX since about 1988 and it is my 2nd one. However, the cars were still kind of "newish" back then and I didn't want to muck them up, plus I was too poor to really afford anything either while going to college and all that. I valued my ZX too much to experiment on it.

 

snw's the richest. I'm just saying

 

I doubt it. He has low cost of living right now. $6000 is not much. Unless he has other assets, that's his entire net worth.
Just wait till he gets his own apartment and has to pay $900 a month in rent from his Napa job. He won't be looking so rich then.

These two older guys who just posted, I hardly see you around but thanks for stopping by the forum. A lot of the regular users who post daily are in their teens and 20's.

 

39 going on 17. I post almost everyday. But I digress this isn't the reason for the post.

I haven't upgraded my power and ground wire yet. Right now the sub amp needs more airflow to cool it down. I keep shutting it down via the thermal protection. It's an old skool Fosgate from back in the day when they were churning out the serious stuff.

 

yo hammer pending on what ur amp is mounted to you might wanna try elevating it on spacers just a lil, did this on my boat and no more thermal cut off

 

That's not a bad idea. If I fold down the rear seats it gets plenty of air and I don't have a problem. The issue then becomes the amps are in plain view and I don't want anymore attention to what's inside than is necessary. I'm gonna see what I can get in some plastic standoffs at Lowe's.

 

im going to need to upgrade my alt. soon too, putting a kicker ZX2500.1 in push around 2700RMS on two 15" L7 running in a slot ported box at 3cf per sub @ 25Hz. should be loud. just finished my speaker pods for the rear, now to start on the ones for the front =]

 

whats you're sub(s) and amp(s)? what ohmage are they at? if the ohms are too low on a amp thats not stable for it, it will heat up the amp and fry it after a while. if not right away. PM me if you need any help.