This is from page 16 of the 1977 Owner's Manual. I assume 78 is the same:

 

 

And here's a shot of the interior of my old 260. It doesn't have that hole at all. And prior to the 260, the whole dash and console area was completely different.

 

Here's the 260:

:
 

I contacted the Ebay vendor (very nice guy named Dan) and here's his take on the light:

"It came from a 76 coupe, and it goes on the console between the rear defogger and fasten seat belt lights, right in the center....It's true, they're not that common at all, but they're out there. Sometimes people will use the blank for some other retrofitted component...It's also possible that this was a CA only thing, or maybe one of those variants between 74.5 and 76 when lots of minor changes were happening with the S30s." 

The fact is that the light does in fact fit perfectly into that slot.

I think I figured it out...

 

74 had no fuel warning lamp.

75 had the lamp between the defroster and fasten seat belt lamps.

76 moved the fuel warning lamp up to new position to the right of the map light.

 

So my belief is what you have there is a 1975 fuel warning lamp. In 75 they used both lamps up by the map light for the catalytic convertor warnings

 

Take a look at pages BE-42 and BE-96 of the 75 FSM.

Also take a look page 29 of the service bulletin the described the differences between 76 and 75.

 

Captain Obvious, I think you got it! Thanks very much.

Are there any actual photographs of this anywhere? I couldn't find any.

Finally found a pic of the warning light! It comes form a 1975 260Z depicted in an Australian forum. Don't know if it's one of those " overseas"  market special versions or if it came stock in all '75 260s but it's certainly stock in this car.

I assume it was provided in all 75 cars regardless of the destination.

 

OK, so we got the "What" detailed out... Now how about the "Why?"

 

I'm happy to be able to remove the blank plate I have in that spot and place that "FUEL" light. I realize that it will be redundant but I rather have the non-functional warning light than the blank plate.

 

Out of curiosity, why is it you're doing this? I mean, it's obviously a "style" choice kind of change, but it just seems funny to me to replace a perfectly good blank block off plate with a non-working redundant indicator lamp. More power to ya. but just wondering...

Out of curiosity, why is it you're doing this? I mean, it's obviously a "style" choice kind of change, but it just seems funny to me to replace a perfectly good blank block off plate with a non-working redundant indicator lamp. More power to ya. but just wondering...

Staying true to the Topic Title?    Mystery fuel warning light

I'm always bugged by block off plates in car dashes replacing switches or lights that are available in other models. It's usually because you bought a cheaper model without many of the features of the fully accesorized ones or (in the case of the Z) because cost dictated that Datsun wouldn't re-design a dash or console properly when re-distributing their switches or warning lights from one year to the next. I fully realize that it will be a redundant warning light (I will wire it up to the other one on the right of the AC vents) but to me it looks and feels better than a blank plate covering a slot where something was intended to be.

Other explanation: simply my OCD !    

Haha! Well as I said. More power to ya! I'm just glad there was a spot for my PO to put my antenna toggle without having to really kludge something together. If it weren't for that unused plate, I'm not sure what he would have done.

 

So you're still running the original radio with the switch in the faceplate?

Haha! Well as I said. More power to ya! I'm just glad there was a spot for my PO to put my antenna toggle without having to really kludge something together. If it weren't for that unused plate, I'm not sure what he would have done.

 

So you're still running the original radio with the switch in the faceplate?

Actually, my antenna switch is on the far right at the bottom of the center console (on the flat part).

Edited September 25, 20159 yr by dmoralesbello

Here's a shot of my Canadian model 76 fuel warning light for reference.

Sent from my iPizzle ringy dingy device....