purpose of black plastic covers beside fangs?

Pharmacist

what's the purpose of the two removable small black plastic covers on the outside edge of each fang in the front bumper? was something like maybe a brake cooling duct was supposed to be installed but didn't make it to the production version? or are they there in case the owner decides to upgrade the car with cooling ducts or oil coolers later on?

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2009 370z Sport Touring/Nismo shift Knob/Z1 motorsports 34 row oil cooler

PapoZalsa

Check the DIY section. I believe modshack did the mod for more air flow to the air filters.

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Pharmacist

yeah, i read that, and that's what raised the question in my mind. did nissan put the removable covers to help owners with future upgrades, or was there something like an oil cooler or brake cooling ducts that were originally part of the design of the car but were left out of the production model and replaced with the plastic cover instead?

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2009 370z Sport Touring/Nismo shift Knob/Z1 motorsports 34 row oil cooler

m4a1mustang

They are there because you touch yourself at night...



It's a purely aesthetic thing... It's like the grille on the Mazda 3... Nissan didn't put them there with brake ducting in mind. It just so happened that they wanted to run this fang design, and those two open areas would really serve no purpose, so they cover it up with some fancy plastic that "looks" like a grille.

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Zsteve

like the miata doors?

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2010 LS3 C6 Silver coupe corvette

m4a1mustang

No, Miata doors play a very large role in the structural integrity of the car. It is also widely accepted in the science community that the the fabric of time and space is woven together with Miata doors.

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shadoquad

Miata Doors are unbreakable life-lasting innovations of technical magnificence.

Pharmacist

however though is that while the upper half of this cover is one piece with the bumper, the lower half is only held with bolts and clips and is removable. it's almost as if they were made on purpose in case someone wanted to add some cooling ducts

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2009 370z Sport Touring/Nismo shift Knob/Z1 motorsports 34 row oil cooler

m4a1mustang

Family Guy!!!



You've got it the other way around... the top part is the removable part (I removed mine). I tend to think that it's purely a manufacturing/cost issue but unless it's been documented somewhere there's no way we can really figure out what the Nissan engineers were thinking.

But either way it DOES make for a nice place to attach some ducting... whether it be for brakes or intakes.

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Pharmacist

i would think if it was a cost issue, the opposite would be true, it would be one piece bonded to the bumper. i believe it is actually more expensive to manufacture all the extra clips, tabs, and bolts to make it removable. either nissan has it there as an option for tuners to add cooling ducts or forced induction, or possibly they have it there for themselves in case they decide later on that the z will become turbocharged. i'll try and email nissan north america and see what they say.

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2009 370z Sport Touring/Nismo shift Knob/Z1 motorsports 34 row oil cooler

m4a1mustang

It depends on the shape and complexity of the mold to create that one complete piece. I believe the center grill surround and then the bottom part of the fangs are all one piece, then you have the two 3/4 covers of the fangs which are separately bolted on.

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Modshack

You guys are Crazy! Everyone knows they're for Beer Goggles...

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m4a1mustang

I was thinking last night, "what could I mount in the fang vents that would just look ridiculous." I was thinking about buying some of those wooden snakes to have slithering out of them.

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shadoquad

rofl!!!

370Zsteve

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SOLD MY Z MARCH 2018 - another Core OG moves on - new ride 2019 Z Corvette Grand Sport - no mods necessary but already have eyes on HFC and intakes LOL IT NEVER ENDS.