Its hard to imagine that the electric seats have to be in the car, but its a possibility. Id like to hear from those with aftermarket seats in the roadster. I still need to have access to the connectors before I do anything. Installing the original seats will not solve the problem at the moment. It may be the solution if my theory is incorrect - the theory being that the white box needed to be in the car and that everything will work when I hook the connectors and arms back to their original places.

 

Pic of trunk with holes from V1 spoiler filled and paint blended before wet sanding:



After wet sanding:


Its not a great job but its ok - better than it was with holes in the trunk!. At some point ill do a complete respray of entire car.

Another pic:


Its interesting how the car looks different depends on viewing angle and lighting. Its like that episode of Seinfeld where the girl he was dating looked good or bad depending on the lighting. The car never looks bad...just better in certain lighting.

 

It looks great

 

I believe this is correct. Taking out the white control box allows you to put the top up manually, but it will not allow you to put the top down. The white control box under the side passenger seat needs to be connected in order for the top to operate normally.

Maybe the solution would be to reinstall the control box and then "trick" it into thinking that all the connections are made even though it's no longer hooked up to the power seats?

These threads might also help:

https://my350z.com/forum/350z-roadst...table-top.html

https://my350z.com/forum/350z-roadst...ket-seats.html

Good luck!

 

Heel: Great info and links. Thank you so much!! I will study them thoroughly and hopefully get that pesky top to work. I think I need to connect everything (grey connectors and small arms) before it will work right.
Che69: Thanks for the kind words.

I decided to track the car at Adams Racetrack in Riverside. To prep the car, I topped off the oil (2 qts!!, I need to change it), removed the ill-fitting shift bezel (console) so I could manually shift the car, put in half a tank of gas and put in 43 lbs of air in front tires and 38 in rear tires.

At Adams Racetrack, the course is about a 50 second course, plus or minus 4 seconds. The very fast guys run 44-45 seconds and very slow run in mid to high 50s. Most cars are 47-54 seconds.

I have raced SCCA Solo2, road raced at Alfa Romeo Ownders Club events, and raced at a high speed time trial called Lone Pine Time Trials, all since the mid 1980s (). I have not raced in a few years but I was hoping for a sub-50 second time. All my times were between 52.5 and 53.5 seconds.

Here's my impression of the car on the track:
Brakes - Brembos performed beautifally...no fade, responsive, easy to modulate using left foot braking.
Handling - very predicable and easy to control at the limits. Adhesion lacked due to poor tires. Slight oversteer at speed although understeer in tight low speed turns. The car didnt seem to lean much. Better anti-sway bars may help dial in handling. I kept the VDC on.
Acceleration - Very good when the tires hooked up. Too much slipping. The yellow slip light was on most of the time.
Nismo seats did decent job holding me in place. A harness or seat belt lock would be very good to have. Headrest pushed my head forward with helmet on.

Solution for improvements - Paddle shift is pretty much requried to drive an automatic on the track. I lost much time fiddling with the gears. A transgo shift kit would speed up the vague shifting. Good competition tires are a must.

It was good to get back in the saddle on the track. Ive always loved racing. By the way, last week, a fairly modded 350z ran a 49+ and after my runs, a 2015 370Z Nismo ran 51-52+.

Here is a grainy iCrap video and some pics:


On the track






Waiting for little shift indicator bulb, and 06+ knee pad panels and hopefully sort out the console issue. Still need to get that top down to see how the Nismo body kit looks on topless car.

 

Looking good man.

 

See I called that it would look good.

A lot of the guys on here have poor taste js.

 

Well...........anyone want some good news?

After months of fretting, I took a serious crack at lowering the convertible top. And.......here is the result................

 

Looks beautiful. I think that was a good call with the wing given the other styling options you went with.

Out of curiosity, how did you get the top down?

 

Thanks. I thought you (or somebody) would never ask.

Reminder: I manually raised the top by disconnecting the two grey connectors and the two arms. Since then, I connected the white control box under the seat.

Procedure: I started by trying to raise the rear of the top manually, with a helper. Neither of us could budge the top. Then I got in the car and turned ignition to on with foot on brake and pushed the top down button. He said he could hear motors working but the top wasnt doing much (possibly due to disconnected bits). I told him to raise the rear of the top which went up easily. Then he raised the touneau cover which also went up easily. I told him to "help" the top into the storage area which also went fairly easily. Then the cover closed and locked. A bit of cleaning and the job was done.
I still need to reconnect the bits but thats how I did it.

Afterwards I had to do a quick photoshoot for you guys and then cruise it around.

Here are some more pics:

 

you need the hr hood and headlights

 

It looks cool man congrats

 

Nice work

 

I agree. The v3 looks too smooth compared to the old style hood.

 

Thanks guys...looking for 07+ hood in addition to Nismo rims, headlights, and tails.

More pics:

 

Any plans to add a cage? I thought some tracks wouldn't let you race without one. It would detract from the looks with the dropped top though.

 

Not at the moment....like u said..it would detract from appearance. Im just going to do some autocross type racing while I finish the Nismo parts.

 

Good progress,Deus.
Glad you got the top going. Keep that hood, hr just looks preggers to me.

 

Dude, gotta admire the dedication.

Been on/off following your build - and admittedly, sort of thinking "Copy Nismo 'vert?? " (but not condemning cuz what anyone wants to do to their cars is none o'my biz) - but all that said, the car looks great!

Keep up the good work and don't let anyone tell you that you shouldn't "do what you want". It's sticking to what you envisioned. Good job.

And yeah, like most 'verts, it looks BEST with TOP DOWN!

Mic

 

jhc/mic - thank you for the encouragement. Mic, I have been following your thread too comparing the earlier Z and the Nismo. I didnt want to be a poser with the Nismo stuff thats on the car which is why I added the other bits (dampers, suspension, brakes) and why I continue to look for the remaining bits (Nismo rims, front H brace) and getting the car seam welded (to the extent that I can). Things like hood, headlight and tails are a lesser priority.

The car looks rather striking in person with the top down. The nice red/black seats are easily seen, and the lines of the car look great. Im going to add a transmission cooler, something that Nissan should have added if they produced a Nismo 350Z automatic. I wonder if they did this for the 370Z Nismo automatic?

By the way, I saw a red Nismo 350Z yesterday, and almost went home to grab my car and park next to it. Would be kind of an interesting photo...:-)