Did all the 280Zs have the floor temp light thing above the vents?

My car is supposed to have "Federal" emmissions, and there's no floor temp sensor, so the indicator light is useless unless there's another use for the light, like a fog-light indicator? If the floor temp indicator was removed, the panel would look unbalanced.

thxZ

Edited July 28, 200915 yr by TomoHawk

I am new to the Z scene. What is this light for? What is it indicating? This thing only lights up for a few seconds when the car is starting. That's all.

Thanks

TomoHawk, here is a picture of mine stock from 11/765 production for a 76.

That's what I have.

draztik-

The right hand light indicates you are low on gas, and the left one says "Floor temp" I think, to indicate the exhaust/muffler is getting hot, and the floor is getting hot too.

Edited July 28, 200915 yr by TomoHawk

That's what I have.

draztik-

The right hand light indicates you are low on gas, and the left one says "Floor temp" I think, to indicate the exhaust/muffler is getting hot, and the floor is getting hot too.

TomoHawk, have you read pages EC-16 through EC-22 in the FSM? It explains the function of the floor temp warning system. The system was only on California cars from my understanding. Does the lens on the light actually say 'floor temp' or is it a blank as Michael's appears to be?

Edited July 28, 200915 yr by sblake01

mine does

Mine says Floor Temp, but it's not that noticeable, like the low fuel indicator. And yes, only the CA cars had the sensor and the other stuff. Mine has the relay under the passenger seat, but it I don't think it's connected. I don't know why it had the lamp in the vent panel, because it was never to be lighted.

TomoHawk, what that would indicate to me is that your car is a California car. Having the relay and the light, even though you may not have all of the parts for the system would seem to indicate that. Otherwise it wouldn't make sense for that stuff to be there. Who knows what prior owners have done in the last 31 or so years or whatever portion of that you didn't own the car. Does your car have a catalytic converter?

mine does

I assume that you mean that you light says 'floor temp'. You more or less implied that in you earlier post. As I said in my earlier post, that section in the FSM will explain the function of the floor temp warning system. If you don't have an FSM you can download one here:

http://www.xenons30.com/files/FSM/77_datsun_280z.zip

There's no evidence that there was a catalytic converter on the car. AFAIK, it was always a Florida car. I could be wrong about the relay under the passenger seat- it could be for the a/c or something else. I don't think there was ever a sensor by the muffler area either.

thxZ

Well that's JMO. I'm not sure what 'evidence' you'd see if the cat was removed and that section was compeletely replace with pipe. The non Cali cars I've seen have a 'blanking plate' where the floor temp light would be as in Michael's post. It could just be the opposite. That is, somewhere along the line the blanking plate was lost/damaged and it got replaced by a floor temp light which just snaps in the same spot. Does your floor temp light plug into the harness?

I don't think so.

Another thing to give the car away as a California car would be the altitude sensor, which mine doesn't have either.

Edited July 29, 200915 yr by TomoHawk