KGC10 2000 GT-X arrival

amorphiss · **Posted:** Fri Nov 04, 2011 3:55 am

A few months ago, I posted that I was buying a '71 KGC10 from JDM Legends. Well, it finally arrived.

Here is how she looked when it arrived by truck:

Fast forward a few days, and I was able to get some temporary tags from the DMV to drive on until I can get the car to the DMV over for the vehicle verification. Few pics from the first few miles of driving:

It runs pretty okay, albeit with some low rpm hesitation and the carbs seem to be leaking some fuel after shut off (Mikuni 40's).

Unfortunately, I ran into some troubles with the car on that first day. It seems I am having some electrical gremlins. While driving around the neighborhood, the tachometer and turn signals stopped working and the car started running really rough and eventually stalled out. I couldn't restart it and the fuel pump won't turn on when I turn the key to on anymore. I had to push her home.

Looks like a huge chunk of the electricals aren't working: gauges, power windows, fuel pump, turn signals.

The headlights, brake lights, backlights for the gauges, dome lights, starter motor, ignition, heater/blower all still work. I checked all the fuses under the dash and they are all still good, so I'm not sure where to go next with troubleshooting. I'll probably try cleaning up the grounds and some connections and see if that makes any difference. Anyways, that's it for now. If anyone has any ideas on things to check, it would be greatly appreciated!

kgc10 gtx · **Posted:** Fri Nov 04, 2011 5:37 am

kev · **Posted:** Fri Nov 04, 2011 8:25 am

Welcome to the club

I think you're on the right track with cleaning grounds as a possible solution, but I wonder if maybe you got a bad ignition barrel (there are some plugs behind there, I'd try making sure they're nice and snugged up tight...)

Drop me a PM with your email address, I can send you the wiring diagram if you need.

DeRuX · **Posted:** Fri Nov 04, 2011 9:30 am

Glad it got there ok. Can not wait to see it sometime. It looks awesome.

Nakazoto · **Posted:** Fri Nov 04, 2011 3:35 pm

Such a gorgeous car!
Might sound obvious, but double check all the wires at the coil. I was driving my Fairlady Z from Dallas to my parents place when I first got it and it had a stumble that progressively got worse until it finally died and wouldn't start again, turned out it was just a wire on the coil had rattled loose.

Cheers
David

Eric · **Posted:** Fri Nov 04, 2011 3:51 pm

You must feel like a really happy man if you drive around a car like that on a good and sunny day with the windows rolled down

Too bad you had to push her home afterwards..

Nismopunch · **Posted:** Fri Nov 04, 2011 5:56 pm

Congrats on the buy! Hopefully you find it is just something silly causing the problem and its an easy fix so you can enjoy what is left of the sunny days over here haha

kev · **Posted:** Fri Nov 04, 2011 7:11 pm

Eric wrote:

Too bad you had to push her home afterwards..

Pushing a Hako, is still preferable to driving some other cars :lol:

Norcal510 · **Posted:** Fri Nov 04, 2011 9:36 pm

Ahh yes!!

Congrats on the new arrival, the car looks to be in great condition. Im sure you will have it sorted out in no time. I also had a few issues with my car when it arrived but mainly due to the elevation from Utah to CA.

I plan to be in Scotts Valley w/my C10. If you are free maybe we could meet up.

Kyusha_Z · **Posted:** Wed Nov 09, 2011 12:34 pm

lol nothing to be ashamed of, pushing a Hako is JDM.

Nice car. :tu:

aclever1 · **Posted:** Thu Nov 10, 2011 10:36 am

Congrats on the new car. I saw it a few time at JDM legends and it is a beautiful car. sorry to here about the electical issues but on an old car it's fairly standard. She just wants you to get familair with her before you drive her wheels off.

UtahSleeper · **Posted:** Thu Nov 10, 2011 10:55 am

Nice ride and good luck. Judging by her condition, your only real work will be mechanical and not body as we see on so many of them.

Johnny45 · **Posted:** Fri Nov 11, 2011 7:59 am

kev wrote:

Eric wrote:

Too bad you had to push her home afterwards..

Pushing a Hako, is still preferable to driving some other cars :lol:

You took the words right out of my mouth!

You have my newest dream car right there! Of course, a GT-R is technically better, but I'd be afraid of wrecking it and having the yakuza paying me a visit soon...
Not to mention that a GT-X is a lot easier to drive on the road (or so I hear).
Either way, treat it nice (but not too nice!)

derek · **Posted:** Sat Nov 12, 2011 10:52 am

is this the one that eric had to replace the inner a pillars?

http://www.jdmlegends.com/blog/?p=2555

4G63BT · **Posted:** Wed Nov 23, 2011 6:33 pm

this is one of my favorite oldschool hot cars...how i wish i could own one here in Philippines...it it happens i think i would be the first owner of that version here...i need you Santa Claus!! this xmass....

xs10shl · **Posted:** Thu Nov 24, 2011 10:09 pm

Wow, theres enough C10s in the Bay Area now that we could have an all Skyline class at next year's Palo Alto concours. Congratulations on your purchase!

wookieballa · **Posted:** Mon Nov 28, 2011 7:13 pm

thats sucks about the elctrical problems, if you need a full wiring harness im sure we can all find one on the auctions, and help you get it! i see them on there most of the time, dont recall the going price, but i HAVE seen wiring harnesses on YAJ.

hope you get it squared away!

amorphiss · **Posted:** Wed Nov 30, 2011 9:23 pm

Norcal510 - sorry I missed you in Scotts Valley. I would love to meet up next time you are down here! Definitely shoot me a PM next time.

Anyways, I started digging into the electrical system over the past few weekends. Turns out the fusebox was in very bad shape. The fuse holders were all very badly corroded, and hence had high resistance, causing them to heat up and melt the fusebox. 5 out of 8 of the fuse holders had fallen out of correct position due to the plastic melting. All but one of the fuses in the fusebox were also too high of a value.

See:

I decided to spend a few hours with pliers, emery cloth, and jewelers files in an attempt to fix the fusebox up a bit. After doing that, I once again had turn signals, fuel pump, and gauges! Much better!

I started testing all of the various electrical systems of the car to make sure the fusebox wasn't getting hot and found that putting the transmission in reverse would cause one of the fuses to get very hot, and no reverse lights would work. So I took apart the reverse lights and found that the passenger side was wired backwards: 12V was connected to the ground and ground was connected to 12V. It looks like the wiring had been spliced a few times back there. Somehow this didn't blow the fuse, but caused some kind of weird current loop that made the fusebox get very hot. I fixed that and we now have reverse lights:

At this point, the fusebox seems to be holding up and the car is able to be driven around. Here's some proof:

I'm getting a replacement fusebox from Rubber Soul as I'm not very confident in the one that I repaired, but the car at least is drivable for now. I also decided to throw on my new steering wheel just to do something fun on the car instead of electrical repairs:

You can also see the nice replica GTR knob that my wonderful girlfriend bought me to replace the ugly aluminum Impul knob that the car had when it arrived from Japan.

That's all for now! I also received some rebuild kits for the Mikunis and would like to attempt that job over the winter sometime.

kev · **Posted:** Wed Nov 30, 2011 10:24 pm

Have a search of my Hako thread, a electrician friend recommended a mix of baking soda and hot water to get the corrosion off the fusebox terminals. I can't remember the proportions, but am pretty sure I mentioned it in the thread

amorphiss · **Posted:** Wed Nov 30, 2011 10:53 pm

kev - Thanks for the tip. I did see that part of your Hako thread, and also was recommended through JDM Legends to try a vinegar solution for the same application. It didn't seem too easy to submerge the fusebox while it was still attached to the harness, and I figure if I am going to go through the trouble of removing it, I might as well replace it with a new one, which is only $35 or so.

wookiebella - I have seen a few of those wiring harnesses on YAJ, but I have no idea how to determine which one would work on my year and trim, etc. Is it common over there in Japan to swap in brand new harnesses? Are they reproduction, or are they new old stock? I may take you up on that, as it would be really awesome to have rock solid wiring!

KGC10 2000 GT-X arrival

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