I got a used 2003 Track Ed 350Z to run out on the road course tracks for non-competition Driver Ed. events. For those who track their 350Z's and have stripped their interiors, what did you do to attach the window controls and door latch to the naked door? There is a screw that I used to reattach the latch to the door, but it does not seem to sturdy; like it can be easily broken if not careful.

I bought Sparco Pro2000 track seats and the shoulder area of the seat is slightly too wide and "presses" into the door panel when I try to close the door. The door wont close unless you use a little force. I removed the door panels and now the window control are just dangling there, so I am looking for advice. With the door panels removed the doors close as usual and there is no clearence issue.

Do I just cut holes in my door panels to get the extra clearence I need? Or is there something I can do to securly mount the window/mirror controls and door latch to the door? I'd rather not cut holes in the door panels in case I ever decide to sell it.

Let me know. Thanks I appreciate the advise.

 

can you take pictures of the door skins w/o the interior trim? i'd think there would be something that you could attach a bracket to. find that thing, fabricate the bracket, and have at it

ahm

 

I think from other threads in this forum I read that you have Cobra Suzuka seats. Is that true? Do you have any clearence problems with the shoulder area of the seat pressing into the door panel when you close the door? Looking at the seat specs, I see that the Suzuka seat is one inch narrower than my Sparco Pro2000 seats in the shoulder area. Did you buy the 350Z specific rails from Cobra as well? Any problems with them?

I got the Sparco 350Z specific rails and talk about a major PITA! The passenger Sparco rail didn't even line up to the stock mounting point in the floor pan (front left). I had to take it to a metal/fab guy to correct -- cost me $27! Then when I installed the seat and Sparco manual slider to the passenger rail I had troubles with the front right not lining up! Arrggg!

The driver side Sparco 350Z rail lined up and they obviously spent more time on this side, but after I got the seat and slider mounted to the rail and put the seat in the car; everything lined up so that was good, I hand tightened the bolts to test and try on for "size" and I notice that I now sit taller in the car than stock! I went and grabbed my helmet and put it on and got in the car and now I no longer fit in the Z with my helmet on (I'm 6'2")! I was pissed! So I had to disassemble the driver side seat and take the Sparco rail to the metal/fab guy and see if he could reduce the height if the rail to get me closer to the floor pan! I cost me $90, but he said that he was able to reduce the front by one half inch and the rear by 1.5 inches. We'll see as I pick it up this coming week.

I went this way because I won a $500 gift certificate door price from a local tuner shop, but with all of the problems I have been having with the Sparco rails and the seats being too wide, I would not recommend this route to anyone looking to install track seats in a 350Z. I hope the Cobra rails and Suzuka seats fit better.

 

Here is a pic of the door panel (taken off the car; the dark part to the right is just a shadow) and the "naked" door.

You can see from the 3 indentations on the door panel that is the range with the seat all the way forward and all the way back. All indentations would be the same size if I had left the seat in that position and the door closed over night. Those indentations are perminant as the door panel seems to be made out of plastic when looking at it from the back-side.

 

I was thinking of cutting a hole in the door panel to allow for the extra clearence my seat would need and then maybe getting a fiberglass kit to form the inside to hide the door guts. That would be the first time I would have ever attempted something like that so I am not holding my breathe for show quality.

I circled the two bolts I thought I could use if I could get a thin bracket fabricated to hold the window controls to the naked door.

The latch area though would require more intricate fab work (even more dollars spent) to make a bracket that would make that whole mechanism more sturdy (and feel like you aren't going to rip it off the door when you try to open it from the inside).

The driver side controls are even longer and I haven't even looked at what might be able to be done there. Right now I am leaning towards cutting holes in the door panels and trying my hand at creating a fiberglass insert to hide the guts of the door while still giving me the clearence I need.

Man! Nothing is ever easy!...

 

I personally still have my door panels in the car, but I have seen one car at the track that had the panels removed. His solution to your problem was very simple. He just took some strap metal and formed it around the door handle box and the window control box and got some short, self tapping screws and fastened it all to the bare metal. It will take maybe 5 min and cost under $5