Hey All,

So call me an idiot, noob, or down right stupid, but after much deliberation I've finally decided that I want to perform a Targa Top modification to my 350z.

I need any ideas, comments, and or advice people would be interested in posting.

This is my first forum I've ever joined and I joined today, so if there is a better spot I should post this thread please let me know.

My current plans are as follows:

Purchase these extra frame supports for the underbody. I'm not sure any of the others from Gtspec would help. If anyone has any other recommendations in this area please comment.

4 point mid chassis
Rear lateral arm brace
Front lower tie brace

http://www.gtspec.com/catalog/produc...2003-2008-350z

I then plan to install a 4 point or 5 point roll cage. I haven't picked a specific one out yet, so recommendations are encouraged.

For fabrication of the top my original plan was a design I came up with using Nissan parts from the actual convertibles, but I'm about 90% sure I'm not going that route now due to the insane cost of special ordered parts.

As of right now all I've got planned is welding small homemade steal plates to the frame just above the windshield that will be inserts for hood pins. Simple mini door latches of some sort were also an original idea, but with a few hours of searching I couldn't find any product that looked too appealing. There has to be hundreds of different products out there thought, so if anyone wants to throw out an idea let me know.

Thanks in advance.

 

The last cat I can recall mentioning something like that was......Anthony. Tread carefully down that road, sir - pancakes and such.

Good luck with your project. In for results.

 

You're not the first to attempt this as I've seen many attempts, including shops and none have come out oem clean. Good luck, much luck, odds are stacked against you.

 

I remember Anthony Giambri trying something like this. It would be cool but very expensive as someone on here or another forum I recall doing it. Not to mention dangerous. I figured it would probably be easier if your car was a convertible already instead of hacking up the roof and adding supports on the bottom. But good luck.

 

I would definitely recommend starting with a convertible, ESPECIALLY if you plan on doing any type of auto-x, track, or drifting with it. It's may not be easier to make a completely custom top, but that's all you'll really need to do. Chop the top off a hardtop and you'll run into chassis rigidity issues quickly.

 

A 4 point rollbar will do nothing for the chassis , but help if you flip the car, the 4 point mid chassis bar is the only one mentioned that will help at all, and it will not be enough.

Start pulling up parts breakdowns on the difference between the vert and hardtop, you need your hardtop braced like a vert.

 

Why pursue 1/3 an open car when you can get a ZR for cheaper?
So much time and money with no solid outcome or resale. Silly.


Edit-In for orig pics and progress, I can be open-minded.

 

As an engineer, I'd say the things you're planning to buy won't do anything structurally to offset cutting away part of the top of the car. If you cannot see that, you've got no business making major structural modifications to a car.

You'd be way ahead to start with a roadster, add part of the roof from a coupe, and build the stuff to fill in the gaps.

 

Here's a quick pic that might give you a ideal how it would look if you was to accomplish this great [IMG]<a href="http://s459.photobucket.com/user/nalayar/media/meana350Z012taratop.jpg.html"task I'm always optimistic so good luck! Hope you prove everyone wrong then you can go in detail how you done it.

 

Here's a pic to give you an ideal how it would look if you were able to accomplish this difficult task,but I'm always optimistic so good luck hope you prove everyone wrong and if you do you can go in great detail how you did it.

 

I didn't want to tell the poor guy it's a stupid idea and a waste of a lot of money. I wanted him to figure it out himself. And I wanted to stay positive and help him out saying it would be easier and cheaper if he had the roadster instead of the coupe

 

let him do it so we can point and laugh later on

 

Mr. Sparco,

Do you have names of shops, people, pictures, contact info? So far in the last six months all I've found is this picture and a very short discussion about cutting the top off, the other links are similar projects with little to no discussion.

http://www.**********.com/forums/175...-top-350z.html

The car looks fine, but the execution seemed poorly planned. I don't think they designed a way to put the top back on before cutting it off. Help get me some more specific details or examples of these so called previous attempts.

http://www.**********.com/forums/175...a-top-z33.html

http://forums.nissansportz.com/topic/33270-targa-tops/

 

Not sure why the link came up with stars but it should say: "**********"

 

fml "three fifty zee dash teck"

 

if you would have read the rules, you would know that you cant link to another forum

 

terrasmak,

What are the other gtspec parts made for then if you don't think they help with the chassis twisting?

 

winchman,

What kind of engineer are you? I'm not buying a roadster, so if you don't think that any of these gtspec parts will help what would you recommend for extra frame support? Welding is an option, but bolt on is obviously easier so that is why I was drawn to gtspec's products.

 

For what ever reason I can't view the image, so can you try to repost it and email it to me?

libeera@yahoo.com

 

Sorry I'm a noob, I just realized you can quote people to make responses easier.