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This is honestly so awesome, I have a roadster as well and I was thinking about putting the V3 Nismo wing on it and just had to see how it came out on yours. It's honestly amazing what you did with it!
This is honestly so awesome, I have a roadster as well and I was thinking about putting the V3 Nismo wing on it and just had to see how it came out on yours. It's honestly amazing what you did with it!
Thank you kindly!
I wanted to give an update on the car. The original undertray broke so I removed the remanence for the time being. The problem is that made the bumper unstable. The other day I ordered a bright red undertray. It should be in tomorrow when I will install it. One of the things I like about it is that it has a little door that you can unbolt in order to do an oil change.
The paint is getting a bit tatty. The Southern California Sun is causing the clear coat to flake off on the hood and the trunk. Also I got a bit of curb rash on the right front and rear wheels. Looks like I will have to break out the paint gun and touch that up.
The car gets a lot of looks and comments. It is quite an attractive car and I'm proud of the way the project turned out. It drives beautifully it's even more fun because it is a convertible. Nissan should have produced this car but that's okay because I did.
***UPDATE*** I replaced my undertray with a bright red powdercoated metal undertray from TollBooth *****. It firms the front bumper immensely. I like that it has a little door for doing oil changes.
The driver window is acting up again. If I roll the window down or up and keep holding the button, the motor keeps running, even if it is all the way down or all the way up. I discovered this problem when I lowered the top and when the windows rolled down, the driver window motor kept running until i disconnected the battery. Any ideas to fix this?
No help with the window motor question, but that undershroud from TBW looks pretty good. Did you get it powdercoated or was that an added option?
I got my undershroud from Zspeed for my ZR and the undershroud for my M35x from TBW after my first oil change of removing all that plastic crap under there. lol. The craftsmanship looked good and essentially a copy of Zspeed.
I did a number on a ZR way back; TT, Brides (top functionality with power seats removed took some figuring out back then lol), roll cage, BBK, everything. Had a blast.
I always adored the Nismo and wanted to do it with my ZR. Seeing it now, I don't care for the rear with the drop top but still love the original coupe version. Regardless, I have nothing but the utmost respect for you and your vision. What an accomplishment and I sincerely wish you and your awesome ZR the best!
UPDATE..... today my driver window finally completely failed. It had been slipping for a few weeks and I have not been able to lower the top because the motor would just keep running and I would have to disconnect the battery to get it to stop. I went to AutoZone and found a complete brand new Dorman brand motor with lift for $275 plus tax. I'm sure the dealer would have charged me six or seven hundred dollars to install that but I did it myself and that made me feel a little better.
When I got the door card off and pulled the motor I found that the motor kind of came apart and just didn't look very good. I decided to replace it completely including the lift so that it wouldn't have to do this again and because when you take the top down the windows have to work.
There are plenty of videos on YouTube to show how to do the job but I would like to add a couple of things just to make sure it's clear on this procedure. Taking it apart it's pretty straightforward but when you put it together you want to bolt the lift and the motor to the metal panel. You also want to have the window at the very top of the frame and have it taped in place with duct tape. You also want to operate the motor so that the lift is at the very top. There are access holes in the metal panel so once you Bolt the metal panel in place it's easy to bolt the lift to the window. This took some trial-and-error for me to figure this out but this is the best way to do this.
Then once everything is in place you close the door and do the reset procedure on the motor. After you do the reset procedure then everything should be working correctly. My window operates very quickly up and down and it does not go all the way up and then do the halfway down thing like something was pinched. It works 100% perfect and it's much faster than the passenger window. I highly recommend spending the $300 and getting everything brand new so you don't have to dive in there again. It's nice to drive around with the top down again and for the first time since I've owned the car actually have a properly functioning driver window.
I will get some pictures of the Nismo door cards when it is lighter out.
I got the dreaded 0345 code with the SLIP and that other light - Bank 2 Cam Position Sensor (CPS), which is the driver's side. The car ran oddly and even stalled once. It was also very hard to start. I bought a cam position sensor from AutoZone and installed it. I had this happened to my Bank 1 sensor last year, I believe. These are common sensors to malfunction.
Replacement was not to hard, once I reviewed youtube videos.
1. Disconnect battery.
2. Remove intake tube from throttlebody.
3. Disconnect throttle position sensor.
4. Remove hose that connects from the head to the intake tube.
These last 3 steps give you room to access the 10mm bolt that holds the CPS. The CPS is connected with a green and black connector. I pulled the sensor while still connected so I could manipulate the connector easier.
5. remove 10mm bolt and remove sensor.
6. push the green part towards the sensor and then pull back on the black part which disconnects the connector from the sensor.
The sensor cost $80 from Autozone. Installation is reverse of the removal. The car ran great after I replaced the sensor.
SO I have 4 problems to address. The first problem is the check engine light came on a threw code P0430 (catalytic converter Bank 2). My car has 199,000 miles. i have heard of Nissan owners replacing the cats and O2 sensors without success. Any suggestions other than replacement of these parts?
My fuel gauge reads inaccurately. I removed both sending units and cleaned them and it helped for a while, but the gauge reads inaccurately. Any other suggestions other than replacing the sensing units?
My turn signal "speaker" and headlight on "speaker" works intermittently. Where is the speaker located? I have discussed this in another thread but came to no real conclusion.
Finally, I have the radio buttons on the 2008 Nismo steering wheel, but I cannot figure out a solution to get them to work on my 2005 car. i have the 2008 stereo. Can I make a harness and connect the the steering buttons to the stereo? Has anyone else done this? Suggestions?
UPDATE - My drivers window failed again a few months after I replaced it with a new Dorman brand regulator. I removed the door card and pulled the motor and regulator. It looked ok initially. Then I took the motor apart and found that grease got on the area of electrical contact (I dont know what its called). I cleaned the grease off and installed the regulator and it works great. Problem solved...that was a while ago. I hear a rattling in that same door so maybe something got loose.
Last week, I replaced the brake pads of the Brembo brakes using Autozone Street/track pads - $77. This is their top of the line pads. I sanded the rotors, back of the wheel, and the hub, so all contact surfaces are clean. This eliminates and shimmy when braking hard. I didnt realize the can of worms I was opening...here's why.
I noticed the inside edge of the tires were extremely work, but the rest of the tire was in good condition. I needed new expensive tires for my Nismo rims plus a front end alignment. Tires ran about $600 for two!! I had the alignment done...it was toed out. Problem solved, right? Wrong!! More can of worms. The tire/alignment shop showed me the control arms. The inner bushings were destroyed causing metal on metal contact of the control arms and the frame. Also the compression arms needed replacing. I was annoyed that they did the alignment knowing that these parts needed replacing. They quoted me $1000 to replace the parts and do alignment. Soooooo.....
I went to rockauto and ordered two control arms and two compression arms for $245 shipped. They came THE NEXT DAY! Yippee! I got to work and sprayed PB Blaster on the bolts I was going to remove. I heard the compression arm bolts and cause the arm to stick so I really blasted it.
The next day I went to work. The control arms are easy to replace....Inner bolt, anti-sway car end link bolt, strut bolt, hub ball joint bolt and off it comes (obviously take wheel off..jack stands...blah blah blah. The compression arm is not as easy. There is a subframe that comes off with 10 bolts that sandwiches the far end of the arm in place to the frame. Remove a plastic undertray (little one, not the bigger front one) with 5 10mm bolts. Then buzz off the 10 bolts and drop the sorta heavy but bulky subframe. No, nothing falls down like the engine or anything else. Then undo the ball joint of the compression arm and pull off the compression arm. I used silicone on the far compression rod bolt so it wouldnt stick in the future if it needed replacing again. Bolt everything back up and done. But....one more problem before we get another alignment...
The tie rod end ball joint rubber covers were both cracked and the grease leaked out. Back to rockauto for two ball joints - $30 shipped. It took a few days for these but retail auto part stores wanted $70+ for these. One ball joint came off easily. The driver's side had to really be pounded off. Installed them and assembled everything. Got the car aligned. The alignment guy said my drivers side camber was just baaaarely out of spec - slightly too negative. Not sure why. Anyway, the car drives beautifully with the new suspension pieces. I guess I didnt noticed the metal to metal contact but it feels much smoother and precise now.
Still need to fix a lot of little problems: some squeaks, no sound when turn signal on, fix the horn, air bag light, replace drivers side fender liner, paint, wheel touch up.....ah well...it never ends. Still love the car!
UPDATE: I fixed the airbag light. The resistors that plugged into the airbag connectors fell out. I reset the airbag system and the light went off. The turn signal click was sort of fixed., I fiddles with the piezo electric buzzer and it works better, but not 100% of the time. I fixed the horn. The springs inside that horn were floating around under the steering wheel. The PO of the wheel must have done something. Anyway, it works now. The windshield washer system works. I replaced the ugly radio antenna with a much shorter one. I fixed the rattle in the driver door. The vanity mirror light wasnt working. It works now.
The car feels so much better to drive.I tried fixing the gas gauge a long time ago but its back to where it was which is not working well at all. I am not sure what the long term fix is for this.
The car needs to be painted still.....ugh.
I may try for some improvements. Performance-wise I am thinking thing such as 5/16" plenum spacer, possibly a bit freer flowing exhaust, maybe an intake. In the looks department I am thinking brighter LED DRLs where the front amber reflectors used to be. Also, maybe LED turn signals on the mirrors. Maybe some LED back up lights and license plate lights. Some of these give the car a more modern look. Id like to hook up the steering wheel radio controls. I dont think anyone has done this on a 2005 or earlier Z, have they? Any other ideas?
I removed one of the front LED DRLs that I had installed a while ago and recently hooked up but didnt like the low light output. I CAAAREFULLY cracked open the light using a razor blade and flat blade screw driver. I removed the guts so I just have a clear lense and the back of the housing. I saw some bright 8" LED strips at PEP Boys for about $20. If they fit in the housing, that would be a pretty painless way to have a nice set up DRLs without paying well-over $100 at some of these other places. Ill keep you all posted.
It sounds like you want to keep cost down, but the switchback LED strips from Diode Dynamics look like they have decent light output and they will have one consistent strip of light (as opposed to multiple "little" lights). $105 for a pair of 6 in strips.
With respect to cost, I know that LEDs don't cost very much and when companies charge hundreds of dollars for their LED strips, I find it hard to pay it, knowing how cheap they are to make.
The LEDs from Pep Boys look like OEM 370Z lights with the individual LEDs visible.
Anyhow, I prepared both lights and tapped into 12-volt power at the windshield washer connector.
01-20-2017, 08:23 PM
