I went to the shop today to check the progress of my harness bar and I had my fabricator take out my strut bar to get powder coated and I told him to check the dampers and see if he saw anything wrong. I didn't notice this (dumbassss me) but the struts are notching into the plastic right in front of the foam causing them to bend SLIGHTLY. I will attach a picture right now.

http://i1325.photobucket.com/albums/...ps78e61033.jpg
That's the tiny notch.

http://i1325.photobucket.com/albums/...ps6584a2a3.jpg
http://i1325.photobucket.com/albums/...ps84d2e03f.jpg
http://i1325.photobucket.com/albums/...ps183ac48a.jpg
That's what we are working on ride now.

Body shop never got back to me but I've had zero issues


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Second try, and still no luck. I have probably maxed out on the spacers I can add. I have a washer, a jamb nut, and a plastic spacer I made from some leftover parts from a wall mount kit for a flat screen TV. (The plastic spacers are heavy duty and like a thick ABS washer of sorts.)

First pic shows the "Frankestein" spacer stack. It provides right at a half-inch rise for the ball stud mount. I don't think I can go any higher at this point. I think I am getting close to the max clearance to the hood, and I have just enough threads underneath for a washer and the nut.

http://www.the370z.com/members/markg...38-spacers.jpg

With the spacers in and everything in place, it still is making significant contact with the plastic trim pieces, flexing the strut (inner part), and pushing the trim pieces down (and you can see the rubber seal pulling away from inner fender) as the hood closes. The following is the hood bulge I have with them installed and the hood closed.

http://www.the370z.com/members/markg...2839-bulge.jpg

The last pic is the hood with the struts removed, just as a comparison. (Sorry for the blurry phone pic. I was trying to get the same angle as the last pic.)

http://www.the370z.com/members/markg...0-no-bulge.jpg

I am not posting this follow up to take away from the effort put into making this kit available to the community. I really do appreciate the effort, time, and personal financial commitment involved. I am open to any suggestions, because this is a really neat mod, but for now I will just use the prop rod Nissan provided.

Go back and read post 186 and you will see your answer,I had the same problem with a different company,and also had the same problem with Z1's after I did what I posted in 186 all is good.

Thanks for the suggestion, but I don't have a heat gun nor do I know anyone that does. At this point I don't want to put any more money into this mod buying or renting one. Also, heating up the plastic trim to just short of its melting point to deform it to fit the struts does not sound like a solution I want to attempt either.

You don't melt it you just heat it up so it bends then cool it off.

Something is not right in terms of the installation. If you can take a pic of the engine bay open maybe I could tell you what it is. It may be the plastic covers is not seated correctly. you can also do the heat procedure by just running the car one day and allow the strut to force it into position and once you are home using a rag and press it down and then allow it to cool. By any chance are you going to zdays. if you are I will be there and I can help you install it and figure out why is it not working. chances are it is something simple that is happening. but I will do everything to make it right.

Also you can get a non-fancy heat gun for like $20 on amazon or home depot

http://i1325.photobucket.com/albums/...pse11ade57.jpg

Mine fit perfectly now. Hood closes smoothly and everything. To anyone that has problems just try tweaking your brackets a bit. A couple centimeters can make a huge difference with these things.

Awesome glad you got it fixed NitrousZ34. I figured it was just missing a small adjustment :tup:

can you go into detail on what you did. I would really like to know what the difference was. It may be because I have done a few installs that I am overlooking something that I always do but not realize it and be able to put that in my next video and instructions to help others out.

When my strut bar was off my boss said he will check it and fix it accordingly. I think what he did was adujust the bracket slightly to where the ball faces downwards a tiny bit more. I don't think I'm explaining it right. I'll ask him tomorrow exactly what he did. If others can't get it to work, I think that if they notched out part of the plastic then it could work too and help lower the strut and prevent bulge. You can also trim the plastic down around the lower ball joint so it sits on the metal, and it will be lower, flush, and look OEM.

Mine are installed. I did not use the washers. I came up with my own Idea. This spacer fits through the hole in the plastic while allowing it some movement. This spacer is 10mm in height. No contact with the Hood at all. Looks like factory Product now.

I think im going to to mine today or tomorrow since it will be nice here. I like nitrous's idea, ill try that id I have issues.