Guys I have spoken to the owner of the vehicle and we are not going to be working closely with them. I can tell you the owner specifically told me to thank you guys as the roll bar is being pushed back 3" now, b/c they agreed about its location. Also the reason it is yellow, is b/c they wanted some contrast as black would look to functional and its their for safety and looks.

I just want you to know this car will be at sema sporting forged specialties new mesh design for the first time at the show. As for the cost, the shop is still working on that, as they just need to perfect it and see what the total cost was of the project.

If you have questions about it, I can try and get answers, just dont expect anything right away. The owners of the vehicle are very humble people and very nice, so I am sure if you guys have questions theyll be glad to answer them.

Chris, you are working with the shop or the owner of the vehicle?

I'll give em $40 and a pat on the back to do it mine. First NISMO! :rofl2:

The owner of the vehicle, the shop I dont know any details on. I dont want to bother them on that, as I am sure their are lots of details they have to work out first.

Yes, Dean and Amy are great people, and I don't think tracking it will ever happen.


One of the sponsors is a major audio supplier, and they are putting in a custom system for SEMA.

The point is, I doubt it will ever become a widespread modification since it will make the car substantially heavier if you want to maintain its rigidity.

The targa would be a styling mod not a performance mod. And there are a lot of poeple out there that would rather put money into the looks of the car over the performance.

OK, you guys got me here. I talked to my builder and he said that the roll bars are in the best location if a rollover were to occur. You guys are correct with the helmet issue if on track or drag strip, but this application is for pleasure. I never thought about that at all. Our builder did ask if we were going to track it. If we do decide to track it, then we will have to adjust the roll bars and add more bracing. As far as the rear hatchback being stripped, that is for the: SEMA theme, stereo equipment, and the modifications to make more room. Nissan created a ton of wasted space back there. Yes, a spare tire is a must. Amy can change a tire pretty quickly. lol We are keeping our donut. Yellow is a good contrast for the roll bars, but not the best choice for being utilarian. Again, this is a show car and we looking for an attention grabbing vehicle. I guess we are doing good so far. Wish us luck, and maybe Nissan will consider a targa in the future. We are always open to suggestions and comments.

Guys in all honesty everyone keeps saying structural issues, but the coupe was designed to be ready for the convertible. If it makes you feel better, I am sure an option how the 300 had it where their is a bar in the middle can definitely be done. I would love to see it like that, but this an awesome idea and a GREAT way to stand out.

Look out for this car at SEMA, and go figure my best friends now Forged Specialties stepped up and sponsored the vehicle so look out to see a brand new design on the car.

not the best angle but one i took saturday:

http://jpmcgphotography.smugmug.com/...7_43Pjz-XL.jpg

From what I was told, the 370 is more ridged due to the issues the 350 had. Now, from what was said, it now has the same rigidity as a 350 or better. We are going to test it after January. I am curious to see if this is 100% true. Remember, the modifications are inaugural prototypes. I am hoping that we will see more 370 targas out there in the next year. Ok, we will be the guinea pig. Im am no expert, I just play one in my Z

Patrick, sweet pic. Man, your camera does wonders. May I use it and put your watermark on a corner?

don't have a watermark but you are welcome to use it with a little photo credit under, that's fine :)

This is not true, the coupe is NOT designed to accommodate the convertible. Why do you think the coupe was out an entire year earlier? There is a lot more design and testing involved in building a convertible. I'm not sure exactly what the differences in the supports, but I guarantee that the coupe is NOT going to be as solid as the convertible if you just remove the roof. It takes Nissan about an extra 100-150lbs to gain the same rigidity and an additional 50-100lbs for the difference in weight of the soft top and mechanism, and I promise anybody else isn't going to be able to do it as well for reasonable cost.

I'm not saying it's going to fall apart, but I'm just trying to point out that you are removing a huge structural member in the car. I would be very worried about what would happen in the event of ANY kind of accident. Furthermore, selling a targa top vehicle would more than likely be a huge liability issue for yourself when the car inevitably cannot react the way it was designed to in certain collision events.

yea safety issues are probably what did in the targa top options for most cars. the guys who did the conversion claim that there was almost no rigidity in the roof at all but that's not what nissan said during the research for the product. still, it's on the way to being done and it definitely has a nice profile :)

[QUOTE=smashwebs;743528]This is not true, the coupe is NOT designed to accommodate the convertible. Why do you think the coupe was out an entire year earlier? There is a lot more design and testing involved in building a convertible. I'm not sure exactly what the differences in the supports, but I guarantee that the coupe is NOT going to be as solid as the convertible if you just remove the roof. It takes Nissan about an extra 100-150lbs to gain the same rigidity and an additional 50-100lbs for the difference in weight of the soft top and mechanism, and I promise anybody else isn't going to be able to do it as well for reasonable cost.

Its been said in many places that the z, has almost no supports in the roof line. Most of them around around the doors apparently and lower in the vehicle. Its been said all BY NISSAN, that instead of making the car, and then modifying it for a roadster like they did for the 350z, they built the car, the coupe from the go with all the supports so that they convertible would not gain a huge amount of weight and still be almost as rigid as the coupe.

I am not calling you a liar, but I am not making this up and I have read it in a ton of places when the convertible was about to come out. It was specifically from Nissan saying they thought ahead this time pretty much.

that is true but the rear bulkhead layout and structure is completely different on the 'vert version. also the windshield is different and has structural members that go all the way down to the bottom of the car

We don't have an answer for you about the year earlier. I am not sure what the difference in the supports are either, but how can you guarantee something when you don't know the differences? I'm not attacking you. I am sure you do know way more about this Z34 than me and my wife put together. This seems to be a huge unknown for us, and everyone I spoke to. Our builders say it is the same if not better than the z33, from their research. What exactly is the difference in the underbody? Can anyone tell us? Is the z34 more rigid than the z33? From what we understand it is. Nissan did make structural improvements to the z34. If we are wrong, let me know. So, removing a section of the roof will naturally diminish some structural aspects, but will it be diminished so much as to revert even lower than a z33? We don't know for a fact. There goes the test. We want to prove it is as strong as or stronger than a stock z33. If it is not, then we will stand corrected, but we feel secure and safe with our builders that it is. When it is proved without a doubt it is - line-up t-top and targa fans because a ton of tops will be coming off. lol:ughdance: If it proves it is not, then we can always add 100-150lbs of reinforcement to compensate so it will be. Then, we all will know what it will take to have a targa top. We are here to find out the facts, and have fun. Win - win.

As far as selling the car, which we will never do. Ok, maybe one day we will. We still would feel safer in a targa than in a convertible. I am not a lawyer by any means, but I think “as-is” speaks for itself? I do agree that it will not react the same way a stock car would, but does any car react the same as a stock vehicle with any huge modification?

This is a huge modification- maybe over the top. All your points are very logical and noted with respect, and we are not poo pooing them at all. It is the unknown or the lack of raw data that is troublesome for us all. We are willing to spend our money to be the guinea pigs and really test this modification out, and have that raw data we all need. Even after that, this modification will always take away some safety features of this car. Is it worth it? Heck yeah! We are just some Z fans pushing our car to the edge - don't most of us do that anyway? ~ Dean and Amy

I have to agree with Chris b/c I have heard to that nissan designed the z34 with teh convertible already in mind.

Also I am on ztargas page, and man if I had the money I would be next in line. Any idea of when your shop will have pricing info?

We need to test this modification out and make sure there are no "bugs" in the design - which we can't see any yet (besides the helmet and roll bars.) Then, a price could be given for this mod. We will keep everyone updated on our site.

i would love to get this done....... if its a resonable price im considering doing this

I said anybody doing this needs to make sure they fully check into this and make sure that the assumptions they are making are correct. Even if the roof line effectively carries zero force for 100% of your driving, it will ABSOLUTELY do something in the event of a crash, particularly one where you are rear ended into somebody. Having the car buckle in under your seat could be a huge problem.

It's not so much the weight you add, but the added thickness of structural members increasing the ability of those bottom rails to resist bending moment, as well as the added compressive force in accidents since the roof would no longer be there. In short, of course there is the possibility Nissan builds them the same, but my intuition tells me that they are not structurally identical since their weights are so different. There is no need to have that extra weight of a large structural member when you can resist those bending forces with several times smaller & lighter members simply by putting them up higher...i.e. in the roof (where the convertible can obviously not do).

Anyways, I said I'm not sure what, if any differences there are and don't think I ever claimed that I knew. I was just suggesting something from a structural engineer's point of view that you may have not considered, ultimately just trying to ensure your safety in the event of an accident.

I LOVE that targa top. I'd do it to my car. But relying on a statement from Nissan that most likely doesn't fully explain whether they have thicker frame rails on the convertible could be a deadly gamble. Example: They may be talking about the frame in general is the same, but maybe the bottom rails are larger in the convertible (I can't imagine this would be a big change in mass production).

Side Note to you two: I am impressed by the fact you guys would actually undertake this project. You guys have done an amazing job and it's going to be an awesome finished project :tup:

Thanks. We want to make this project as safe as possible. But, for right now we are going to have a little fun and "represent" at SEMA. There still is a TON of work to be done. We just added the Forged Specialties' prototype wheels. They don't even have a name for these bad boys yet. Thanks Chris for hooking us up with them!

all i have to say is thanks guys

This is a project that I would really want to keep an eye on.

And I'm not talking about you Project so keep'm dry.

:bowrofl::bowrofl::bowrofl:

its looks nice with the top off but i havn't seen a pic with the top on. Any pics?

:iagree:

Thought of another concept though... Hard top convertible like the S2000, but you can actually fit in the car in this case.

Wow thanks for all your time and money into this project (the shop as well). I cant wait to see this completed and go into production.

Me too, hey what is going on? J/K, Revolution Kustomz, our builder is working on the tops. Since this is a prototype, it usually takes longer to figure things out and this targa conversion is taking longer than they planned. It may look good on paper, but when it is fabricated it may have to be altered. I have already seen them do a fantastic looking job over just because it didn’t perform flawlessly. Sort of like a lot of homes that have issues or crazy things that the designer did not catch. At least they can alter what they did right there. Whoever wants the next targa, it will take about ½ the time.
Revolution Kustomz are creating a hard top as well as a folding soft top for emergencies when we are riding solo. They both will fit in the car. One huge request was to have the hard top inside the car. At nights we want to lock the hard top on for security. One major reason we did not care for the convertible (no offence to the vert peeps out there.)
They still have a ton of work to do with this project. And when I say project, I mean the entire car. From adding Airtech suspension, the entire hatchback with: speakers, amps, subs, fiberglass, air brushing, fiber optics, dressing up the engine bay with their water transfer painting and lighting, the alarm system, real-time digital rear view camera, and a lot of easy stuff like installing our new wheels and tires, to installing head unit and 2nd monitor for the rearview camera. I’m glad I am not them. But as they told me, “nothing’s impossible, it just costs more money.” Lol
I should have some more pics in a day or two. They have been keeping us updated with pics all the time. I’ll post them to the site. I have to make a new photo album due to the fact the slideshow is too slow.

Dean, they do realize SEMA is only a month away, right? ;)

I am all for an Elise type soft top.

Yeah, oh they know. I started freaking out yesterday. Kenny, co-owner assured me it will be done. It is really less than a month for us because we need to park the car on the 31st, and we need 2-3 days for driving.
The Elise soft top is beautiful. They won't have time to complete that, but it's no biggie.
I updates all the mods last night on the site. (link is located up top in the header.) I still have a lot of work to do on the site. That picture gallery has to go. We have way too many pics and the slideshow takes forever.
Anyway, we are totally open to suggestions on the car (I did mention to Revolution Kustomz about the rollbar and helmet issue, thanks you guys), and I am open to suggestions on the site as well. www.ztarga.com I'm the same way with the www.zdayz.com's site. Good, bad, and ugly, send it our way. That's one of the best ways to improve.

This car is going to look great, what are they doing on the center consle, you said an extra monitor?

My only suggestion is to make all the rails and latches look like Nissan it's self made this car.

Yeah, where the factory Bose head unit is located now is being replaced with a touch screen JVC head unit with DVD and all that jazz. So, that is one screen that can play music videos. Now, above that where the storage nook is, we are going to utilize that pocket with a real-time view on what the heck is behind me.

You know what? That is about the only thing that I don't care for this model Z. Right now, which I have maybe put a total of 10 hours on the car if I'm lucky (Amy has been driving it the most), anyway WE really don't know what the heck is behind us when we look. When we look for vehicles and we have to 2nd guess ourselves, something’s wrong. We just can't see enough, for safety. There is that safety word again. lol Also, the 2nd monitor will look good. Heck, maybe I will have them keep it on when the car is parked and the radio is on, like for shows. That way viewers can see what the camera sees. i.e. "Hey sweetie, go to the back of the car so I can see you in the monitor!" Anything for kicks, right?

I've have given a lot of stupid suggestions, and Revolution Kustomz told me that they want it to look as if Nisan built it in their factory. They have said about 4 times to me- that they want it to look like factory. There are no parts in the targa that are not Nissan, so far. The entire latching mechanism is coming from a donor z32. Man, I can pop that latch without even looking at it. All those z32 owners with t-tops know exactly what I am talking about. If you never owned a t-top, then it is the same feeling as popping the back on a bra strap. “I’m good.” It just brightens up my day. :tup:

Sorry, I got carried away. :icon18: I have not had a bra on since my weekends in college. Those were the days. ;) J/K

that is going to be one sick Z... any idea how much the targa top is going to cost

def a big fan