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.