wires

ok, all of you guys are smart when it comes to Z cars, so most likely you can help me out with this problem. i got a new stereo for my car (1986 300zx N/A) and i cant figure out how to put the new wires in, the old wire harness for the stock stereo is gone so i have to crimp the old to the new, i know which ones are the speaker wires but i cant find the batt wire and the ign wire, thanks

well they should be floating around in there somewhere.. did you have the old stereo hooked up before or was it torn out before you got the car? the easiest way to find the wires would be to use a multimeter and test the wires.... find a good spot to ground one lead of the multimeter to the chassis and start poking the wires with the ignition turned off as soon as you hit one that's 12v, use that as the battery wire, just try and see if it's fused (i think 10 amp is the correct fuse) mark all the wires back there that are 12v solid, then turn the ignition to the on position and start testing again, same thing. now for finding your ground wire, you'll want to turn everything off and put aside the power wires. you'll wanna turn the meter to ohms and start testing wires with one lead still grounded... as soon as you find a wire (should be a black or green one) that the meter reads a low resistance (0 is preferred, but probably won't happen, in any electrical system) and that's your ground wire.

i should have taken pictures of my install, but that was a long time ago when i did it, and it was just a gongshow as the previous owner had fucked so many things up i had to rewire all the speakers.... great fun

it was torn out when i got the car, i tried all the wires but i still cant find the ign wire, do i have to do something to the new stereo? i found the batt wire and the ground, so its the damn ign wire

or if you dont have a (multimeter) you can use a test light instead...

just ground the test light ( do not use a self powered test light ) then with the ignition off poke the wires until you get one that lights you can check them all there should only be one that lights and thats your memory wire for the stereo now mark that wire . now do the same but with teh ignition on and that will give you the second power wire you need..

now to find your ground wire just hook the clip rfom the test light onto the power source and touch the wires until you get one that lights up when you find that wire then you found your ground wire ..

make sure when your putting wires together and crimping that you dont let any of them touch worst case scenario you can fry your stereo which would suck but most the time its a fuse ... good luck on it

alright, well i'm pretty sure you can just find a wire that uses the ignition as the switch and is a 12v signal. don't take my word for it because it could be a different voltage that's used purely as a signal voltage (most likely 6v if it's not 12)