The silver areas on this eBay bracket are the places where it needs to be shaved....a lot. Skipping this step will deem the kit impossible to use.


The bracket is only 0.5" to 0.625" thick. You can see in this picture I had to grind a bowl into the bracket about 0.3" deep. The hole in the middle is the mounting spot for the shock upper ball joint. If you don't grind this bowl, the upper ball joint hits the fender and won't allow the door to open up.


You can see how deep the bowl must be grinded by how little thread is left for the ball joint mount. The grinding must be in the shape of a bowl in order to provide stability and strength to the bracket. It would be much faster and easier to just grind the whole area, but then the bracket would be way too thin and the door would sway a LOT more, possibly causing the bracket to eventually break.




The lower portion that was grinded in the first picture is directly behind the shock. Grinding that lower region gives clearance to the shock while opening up. If you don't grind that area, the shock is pressed very hard against the bracket when opening, even bending it some when fully open. That would eventually lead to shock failure.


You can clearly see in this picture the upper ball joint had to be severely grinded as well. About 40% of the ball joint's mass had to be removed in order to not bang into the fender. The simple fact that the ball joint could be grinded so much attests to the poor quality of the pieces. You would think the outer ball joint shell would be just thick enough to house the ball joint itself. This company used a ball joint housing much too large, probably because it was cheaper.....or, they didn't care if it wouldn't fit.













Before installing the kit, I warned the customer it looked cheap. The shape and design is very similar to the VDC, and the customer agreed to pay for a trial fitment...neither of us knowing if it would really work or not. After the initial fitment, I told him I didn't think it would work. We needed about another inch of clearance between that upper ball joint and fender. I proposed a theory to him of how it MIGHT work, after measuring how much I could grind at the bracket and ball joint. Luckily, I got it to work and the fitment with the door closed is like OEM.

The kit costed the guy $400. I had to spend 5 extra hours over a VDC in order to install it. In the end, the customer saved $200 when compared with the price of the VDC. He ended up with at kit that appears to work fine, but in reality has weakened the strength of the bracket, and has truly poor quality components. It is not worth it.

 

the doors dont go straight up like 90 degrees like the blue one we just saw a couple posts down...
that sucks...

 

Should have spent that $2000 on some wheels.IMO

 

+1 on the wheels. They would have been a better choice.

The Z is no lamborgini and vertical type doors make it look pretty silly.

Verticle style doors really screw up the look or the car and make the Z look like a want to be super car.

 

you need a racing body kit and nice rims to back the Vertical door up...
like TOP SECRET for example their Z deseves the vertical door

 

Yes, yes. After my setup with asthetics on my baby, the lambo doors are going ON!

 

the vertical doors should be a coupe de grace only. You need a 12 sec z before you pop those on. A master of road and track; or atleast fool people into thinking thats what it is.

 

Yeah, not really a fan of those doors. To me it just does'nt look right on the Z especially if its a complete stocker...Good heads up though.

 

I agree with you guys. A stock Z with lambo doors does look a little out of place. To each his own. At least he paid in US currency.

 

I'm gonna put in the lambo doors for convienience. Some idiots at skool park too damn close. I usually park in another spot but if another car parks there while I'm in class, with lambo doors I can at least get INSIDE my car. Plus I wouldn't scuff up the speaker with my long legs 'n big feet 'n all =(.

 

The lambo doors definitely give more clearance to get in being that the doors don't open as far and of course go upwards. However, if you're thinking about getting the mod to increase convenience, you may want to consider a few other facts.

The doors always require extra attention and care, no matter which kit you get. If every person was required to get a "vertical-door use certification" before they got into your car, then there would be no problem. In reality, the majority of people who attempt to open and close your vertical doors won't know enough to make sure they use it properly. You musn't try to open the door too far, like a conventional door, or else there's a possibility of damaging the bracket or inner frame. You musn't push the door down too hard, especially let it fall on it's resting bracket. That can cause similar damage. The door must be guided closed while pressing down slightly, or the latching mechanism or it's surround could get damaged or scuffed. And it definitely takes some gettting used to in order to close the door from the inside while sitting down, as it required much more strength than normal. There aren't any custom handles or bars to help pull the door down when sitting.

These are all things almost nobody considers before getting the doors installed, and are forced to face once they're on. All in all, it attracts a LOT of attention as most of the general public doesn't even know this mod exists, and when they do see it they're in awe. However, the last thing I'd call it is convenient.