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On my last drive of this past driving season, my engine overheated. It wasn't intended to be the last drive, but unfortunately that's how things worked out. The failure was a split in one of my engine compartment coolant lines and I lost most of the coolant. I didn't know anything was wrong until it was too late. I never noticed the temp gauge creeping up and I didn't know there was any problem until I saw wisps of steam while sitting at a traffic light. And by that point, it was too late... The coolant was gone, the engine was overheated, and the temperature gauge was pegged hot. It became clear that even though I believed I scanned my gauges frequently, it wasn't good enough. I needed a solution that got my attention. With that in mind, I decided to modify the gauge to add a warning lamp in addition to the gauge needle. The "Idiot light modification." Here's the faceplate for the temp/oil gauge. There is plenty of room on the right hand side to put an indicator light. First thing is to make sure it doesn't interfere with the needle. I put a piece of tape on it and marked the needle position at full scale and then marked where I could put an LED to use as an indicator such that it wouldn't interfere with the needle. The black dot above the "0" is where the LED will go: Drill the hole in the faceplate and insert an LED from the back side: Here's the front side with the LED in place: And here's the gauge reassembled with the warning light off: Warning light on: I haven't built the final version of the driver circuit yet, but just to test the idea, here's a video of proof of concept: https://youtu.be/itjYR885iik I will take some final pics after the drive circuit is worked out and the gauge is in the car. Here's to hoping this will get my attention if I ever have problems again!!

I am curious about “what makes this car so high priced ? “ Nissan USA ‘s program? Or not registered since the car was imported from the US ? Dust ? I do not get it this condition is attractive, BH auction declares “ barn find” , but personally I do not think this word is proper for these cars. I can not explain well , I just feel so. Many people know these cars were there and the previous owner could take care of them but did not. I feel sorry for these cars and for many people involved the Vintage Z program . And the parts ! So many new parts were installed, and so many parts were refurbished, but most of them turned “ deteriorated “ without using them . That is sad , waste of money and waste of people’s efforts. And waste of new parts. I assume this red HLS30-00630 would still be beautiful, sitting in a rich man’s beautiful garage without registered in Japan, if the car shows up on an auction it will go much higher than these two cars. Kats

I think it's an example of 'Auction Fever', Kats. A typical perfect storm of unwarranted hype ("Barn Find", 'Vintage Z', 'Famous-in-Japan owner') and timing (big hoo-ha auction connected to Tokyo Auto Salon, so all the big car guys are 'in town'...) that is hard to replicate. Elsewhere people are marvelling at the price achieved for the 10km-from-new R34 GT-R too, and thinking - probably mistakenly - that it makes their R34 GT-R equally as valuable. Truth be told, better Zs than the two VZ cars could be bought at much lower prices, but the buyer(s) likely don't really know or even care. It's often the case in car auctions, and I hate them. At least the people at a livestock auction know something about what they are buying... Yes, I feel a bit sorry for the cars too but I feel even more sorry for the KPGC10s and PS30s that went across the block in the USA over the last couple of years. Matthew 7:6 "Do not give what is holy to the dogs, nor cast your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under your feet and turn and tear you to pieces".

You tube for these cars, Every time I saw cars were moved by holding thin bumpers and body panels , it made me wonder sellers and winning bidders were going mad . Kats

Here is a video for current status.

It was meant to be

Often lately I wonder why I am doing all of this with a car? I am at the point of no return and although I am really excited about the outcome I am scared. I will not get into my fears, but here are a few updated photos. Esmit, your post still pulls at my heartstrings. The cars are cool, but our kids... I kind of just look at the cars as adventure mobiles, communication builders, and ways to keep us away from trouble. I sent my dad a picture of the car on the movable dolly and he had a great response. "It looks like it would be hard to drive." He has a dry sense of humor. On the driver's side front wheel well there was extensive rust that I had known about. The mechanic was thinking of tackling this when the car gets painted(someday), but I am so glad we got it repaired now and he did an amazing job. It was from a poor repair that was done after an accident that occurred in the late 1970's according to my records! p.s. I mentioned in an earlier post about having more than one car. I want to correct that statement for the record as I only desire my 260z; nothing else and nothing more. Well, I have to keep my Rav4 too. Ben

Oops. You're right Zed, I have ZX distributors in my 240 & 280. 280 is shot though and I'm about yo put the old one back in. Av8ferg there's a good write up from RossiZ where he put 240 carbs on his '78. More reliable and cheaper than replacing all the efi components. I can't find it now but I'll post it when I'm on my laptop, I have it bookmarked. It's worth reading.

So, $100,000 and $75,000, for Nissan USA sponsored "refurbishments". I'm a fan of provenance, and "time retention", or patina, myself. Still, seems like the Safari Gold car had its patina removed, but still got the higher price. It's still a resto-restomod. Valuation is a finicky beast. This auction is a contrast to the common discussions of correctness, which is nice. Thanks for clarifying.

The Vintage Z program was not a 'factory' sponsored arrangement if you consider the 'factory' to be Nissan Motor Corporation - Japan. It was a component of the Nissan USA "Dream Garage" advertising campaign in 1996 - 1997 and the cars were restored HLS30 export models from four different 'sub-contractors' based in Southern California. Thirty-seven cars were completed and delivered, however there were several cars that did not make it to completion when the program was ended. The restorations could be best described as 're-builds' as the common notion of restoration correctness was not considered. New parts and components were drawn from existing parts stock and used on the cars regardless of the differentiation we discuss regularly on this site. Engines and transmissions were not installed in accordance with the original build and some components, like interior vinyl, were remanufactured. Two cars that I know of were custom restored to specification for Morey Sage of Universal Nissan and Keith Crane of AutoWeek. None-the-less, there are only 37 of them (38 if you consider Pete Evanow's count, 40 if you consider my count). Carl Beck has an accounting for the cars on his website. Not all of the cars have been "found". As Alan points out, several cars were "restored" by facilities outside the U.S. at approximately the same time, however they were not part of the Nissan USA program. I'm not surprised with the auction results. I have seen the price for unique, "provenance' examples soar in the last few years. I expect the trend to continue.

The early Z's used a simple vinyl covering on the A-pillars, but in 77 they switched to a screw retained plastic trim A-pillar cover. Well Datsun must have messed up some dimension somewhere because the plastic trim covers often crack due to the stress of tightening the screws. On my right hand side, I had one of the screws pull through. Cracked the plastic mounting hole clean off. My first attempt to remedy the situation was to simply buy another used pair somewhere off some forum. Unfortunately, the donor pair I bought not only had the same problem, but it was even the same screw, same location. This meant that I couldn't even use one side from my original pair, and the other side from the donor pair. It became clear that this is a common problem and it's not just me. With that in mind, I took matters into my own hands. Here's what I started with. My right side. Completely cracked off mounting hole in the lower position: It's supposed to look like this. Here's the other side where the screw boss is still intact: Figuring I had nothing to lose, I put a piece of tape over the hole on the visible side: Crosshatched the plastic on the hidden side: Taped a short length of small diameter cardboard tube where the mounting boss should be and filled the moat with epoxy: Gave it a day to cure, peeled off the cardboard, and using a dremel and some hand filing, I contoured the new boss to fit the into place on the car and drilled the hole for the screw: Countersink the other side for the screw head: Used a small brush to paint the exposed epoxy: And after the paint dried, the repair is nearly invisible: So I also figured that since I'd already seen two broken bosses, I would take the opportunity to reinforce the remaining ones which had not broken off (yet). I crosshatched the area and blobbed on a generous amount of epoxy to support the posts. And while I was looking at everything, I also noticed a couple small cracks starting to form along the edges, so I made a couple metal splints and epoxied them into place as reinforcement. After all this work, these things should be good for another forty years. Here's one of the splints next to a reinforced mounting boss: Installed back in the car, and I know it's the little things, but I don't have to look over at the right side of the car and see that missing screw in the cracked off mounting boss! Happy Happy!

Since the "6" and "0" aren't the same font... I'd say the block was not stamped at the Factory L24-3260 9901A 12/69 HLS30 00587 FWIW, Carl B.

LONETREESTEVE, LOOK ON THE ENGINE BLOCK, DRIVER'S SIDE TO THE RIGHT OF THE MOTOR MOUNT. THE BLOCK NUMBER IS LOCATED THERE. IF IT IS AN E-31 YOU HAVE A 1970. IF IT IS AN P-30 YOU HAVE A 1971-1973.