Hi all,

Well as you can see...there are plenty of threads and posts about the soft-top not working anymore on some ZR's. And I have also seen some having to spend over $1 300 to fix the top (motors, etc.) and up to $8 000 just to replace the top when it is out of warranty.

So I was just curious, if your top stops working, and it will take a couple of grand just to fix it, wouldn't you just fiber glass the roof?...like on top of the soft top. I mean, it is not working...minus well make it a hard top and blend it in with the body. It doesn't necessarily have to be fiber glass...just anything that you prefer.

And plus, it would stop thieves from cutting your top also.

I dunno, just a thought I guess. When my top does stop working (hopefully never ever ever ever)...I just might do it. What do you guys think? Opinions would be nice. I have never seen it done, so hopefully I might just be the first.

 

just my opinion.. but first of all i bought the roadster for the open air feel. the coupe was nice.. i like the lines of it but it was just a little to closed in and had a "Cave" type feel to it.. second the cost to do something like that is not practical.. third the lines of the roadster would make an fulgy hard top.. lol

 

+1

No matter how much you spend....it don't think that would look very good. Plus you would kill the resale.

 

I would say definitely not.

What was the point of getting the Roadster in the first place? Wasn't it to experience the joy of open-air driving?

Personally, if the top stops functioning, I would fix it regarless of what the cost is. Alternatively, I think a better option would be to open the top (manually if you have to), and keep it permanently down - giving it real roadster functionality (Z Roadster looks much better with the top down anyway). You may loose some practicality, but in my opinion, its a much better option than destroying the car by covering the top, and making it worthless.

 

I live in Seattle WA and if I could get a removable hard top made for my roadster, I would think about getting one made. A hard top would be kind of nice to have during the colder wet seasons. Of course, I would keep my soft top functional as well, you never know when the rain will hit during the warmer seasons. And yes I do own a roadster here in Seattle (don't ask lol).

 

hard top would be fugly

-Mo

 

I've been toying with the idea of making a fiberglass hardtop for the winter months. Just quickly looking at the cost of what it would take to make one, it might not be worth it. I've priced out a few of the "stock" items that would be used to secure the top to the car and finish it out. My list isn't finished yet, and for the few parts I have prices for, I'm between $900-$1K. Of course, these are more than likely Nissan prices for the parts, but it will get even more expensive since there will also be painting, electrical work, fabric, insulation, and, of course, the fibergalss and the molds.

I took a side view of the Roadster top-down and sketched in a hardtop, extending the back edge to the trunk line, and it doesn't look too terribly bad. I think it looks better than the normal top up. I could live with it for a few months a year. If I had to guess at a final cost, I would put it somewhere around $3K, but I'm not good at guessing. I'm not sure what kind of market there would be out there for these since the rumor of a folding hard top on the new Roadsters is still out there.

 

Don't worry...the new Z34 will have a retractable aluminum top.

 

3K sounds about right. If you price all the other convertables with an after market hard top, they run about 3 to 5k. It may not be worth it for those who live in sunny states, but for me I may have to look into it.