panel fell off... what's the purpose?
 

Howdy,
I ran over some roadkill yesterday that knocked a panel off the underside of my Nismo. It's a 5 1/4" wide by 3' 2" long sheet of thin plastic with the part number of 75895 1A30A. In this diagram2010 Nissan 370Z Floor Fitting - Diagram 5 747301 it's in the upper left hand corner.

Unfortunately all that was left was one of the 8 or 10 plastic rivets that hold it on. I'm hoping my dealership will slap it back in place for next to nothing during my next oil change, but my question is... what does this plastic sheet do? When I look under the car it doesn't seem to protect anything. It just bolts onto the larger engine cover Ideas?

The functional purpose of that panel is protection, if you bottom out or hit some object sticking up in the center of the road surface. Not protection for the plastic panel it's attached to: protection for your engine (front of oil pan, etc). The stiffer plastic panel will distribute the hit more evenly than the flexible larger panel does.

The dealership should be able to easily replace the panel if there was no other damage, although they may need to order in the panel and/or fasteners that are missing. We're talking 2 minutes of labor.

the panel also protects three clips that hold the center of the bumper up. my rectangular piece well off ann so did the three fasteners under it. that was bad!!!

Oh I didn't realize it was that far forward (I don't have a Nismo). If it's over those 3 clips, it's over the lower front frame rail, as opposed to under the front edge of the engine. Does make you wonder why it's there. There must be a reason I'm failing to see though.

its there so you scrape it instead of the bumper. its meant to come off before the bumper. you wouldnt want to scrape off the clips that held the bumper on. so this protects them.

When I was doing the oil cooler install my best theory was that it was there just to smooth out the undercarriage airflow. Without it there is a noticeable cavity.

actually that same piece fell of my nismo 2 weeks ago, and i did some research... it's an aerodynamic piece that keeps the bottom stable...also that piece alone cost 350$ to replace...

Yeah, I saw a ~$300 part price tag as well. give me a break. You can buy an entire 4x8 sheet of HDPE for $100. I figured it was a typo on the price sheet and that maybe that price was for the entire under engine cover. ...but I guess not.

lolz, even when i called nissan parts.. the guy thought it was a mistake. but he confirmed it.

At least his didnt fly off at 145mph taking out his rear oxygen sensor harness! And I thought that the 02 sensor was expensive. WTF

thats almost what happened to me.. it flew off going at 140mph ..

its there for aero, and its protecting clips that if they fall off the bumper is very unstable. trust me!!!!

If its there for aero and two people already had it fly off at 140mph then epic fail on nissans behalf. Either way if it happens again then im gonna make my own out of abs. BTW my friend that owns a body shop got mine for $190 (not that im proud about paying that for a piece of plastic).

Go to dragonplate.com and see what a sheet in that size would cost.

Carbon fiber laminate could be less than the plastic from Nissan.

i dont think some of yall are getting the point. this peice takes the brunt of the force during scraping. its better if you scrape off some clips and then eventually this piece INSTEAD of scraping off the clips that hold the bumper on......

it serves an aero purpose because its covering a gap thathouses clips that hold the bumper up.

Just got back from the dealer. $20 in plastic fasteners is all they charged me. No labor :^) Thank goodness it fell off in my driveway!

You can get a metal one from one of the vendors here for just a little over $200. Nice with a opening for the oil plug. If I cracked the plastic one, I would go for the aluminum one and forget about the factory one.

it doesnt fit the nismo. no one has a replcement for us yet. but thx

Take a picture of the bottom. i bet just the front bolts needed to be drilled out in the correct spots for the front. Or better yet, if anyone is changing their oil, take a high resolution picture of the factory plastic panel.

No, the NISMO undershroud is COMPLETELY different in shape...and ALOT more expensive. Try nearly 6 ~ 7 times more expensive without the piece in question included....or even the $30 of hardware.

Go back and check out the Nissan Parts Zone link the OP attached. The factory lower spash shield on the NISMO covers the entire area under the fascia, whereas the NON-Nismo's have the L-shaped fender liners to complete the area under there.

anyone find a reasonable replacement for that little sheet? Mine came off recently...

ZSpeed has been working on the entire aluminum under-shroud for the Nismo. Still hoping to have it by the end of the month.

You could get the Non Nismo base model one and fit it on there easily! Just as the Nismo converts have done. At a hugh cost savings.... :ughdance:

I've been waiting for that one too.

likewise...

Yea I posted a thread a few weeks ago about this same thing when I saw that I was missing this piece. My buddy who has a body shop brought it to my attention when he noticed stress fractures from the wind, since it was so flimsy without it, in the paint on my bumper/lip. This plastic piece would also give the lip support from the wind at higher speeds. We ended up cutting some thing metal strips and bolting them on to give it some support. Its worked so far but we kinda look at it as a temporary fix until we can get a new piece. The Nismo piece was like 1000$ or something like that when the regular 370Z piece was 200$

Check out this thread for more information on some of the comments: http://www.the370z.com/nismo-370z/48...front-lip.html

be weary of slapping on strips of metal under the car. they become sharp projectiles if they fly off!

LOL......very true. Just gotta take an extra step to make sure that it won't just "fall" off!

The same piece flew off of my nismo cruising at about 105 mph...It kind of pissed me off that they designed this so badly. I'm going to measure a piece of aluminum and just cut it to specs...Then im going to find a way to fasten it properly instead of using these stupid plastic clips...It almost seems like a scam

same thing happened to me. except, i was driving the legal speed :icon18:..........and a few clips mustve dropped because i heard an incrediblly loud scrape before i stopped and found the thing hanging below my car. damn you nissan!

Over the last few weeks, my plastic panel has continually come off. If you are lowered, and scrape, the clips seem to eventually come out.

The first time, I was on the highway, going around 80-85, and I heard a loud flapping noise, almost like a blown tire or something. I pulled over and found the plastic piece hanging on by one clip. The next day I went to the dealer and bought a handful to replace every once in a while as they fall out.

The problem has become more frequent and my plastic clip bills are going up :) I am guessing the more I scrape, the more imperfections there are on the under body and somehow air is getting into the cavity and forcing the panel out.

The second time the issue happened on the highway, I was headed to LA, going around 85 and heard a LOUD popping noise from the front, like something had knocked up from the road. I pulled over, and the piece had dropped again. The noise was the clips ripping out.

On the Nismo model, I definitely notice a serious aerodynamic issue without the plastic flap. If I go over about 80 - 90, or if I am driving into a strong head wind, a loud vibration noise comes from the front bumper if the flap is not in place. When I get the car on a lift again, I will investigate more, but I thought I would add my story to help.

it sucks. mine flew off on the way from LA back to the bay area. scared the living crap out of me. buy this:

http://www.the370z.com/nismo-370z/48...ml#post1618993

Well, it finally happened. On Saturday, I heard a LOUD Bang, and looked in my rear view to see the panel flying down the highway. The poor driver behind me obviously freaked out, swerved across two lanes, and almost hit the plastic.... I love Nissan right now.

Now if I drive over 65, the entire front air damn produces a crazy loud vibration. Time to pick up the metal underbody panel.

Has anyone else had luck with the metal piece?

If you mean the Z-speed one, it's pretty great. The latest versions of them also supposedly clear big swaybars and oilpan mods better than the version 1 I'm currently running (which was able to stretch anyways, just not ideal).

did my first il change on the z over the weekend, and originally i was just going to keep the plastic tray off. i put it back on due to the belt being so exposed.

i just didn't feel comfortable running the car without the tray.

+1 On the ZSpeed Undershrouds.

Another, unspoken, feature about Joe's shouds is that in the event that you do hit something and it damages the undershroud, all you have to do is hammer it back out in most cases. The OEM Undershroud will explode and shatter when it comes into contact with anything substantial.

They are a bit heavier that the OEM, but for the cost trade off, I think it is well worth it.

They are, but the weight is so close to the ground, if anything it's lowering your CG by .002" or whatever :)