Nismo Body Brace Kit on a Roadster
 

Has anyone tried installing the Nismo brace kit on a roadster? Z1 Motorsports has some rather vague statements indicating that their may be fitment issues but their description seems loose enough to indicate they haven't tried it.

Any pioneers out there?

Well I've got my bracing in and will be installing it this weekend. I'd wager that 2 of the 3 braces will not be an issue... the third which connects the frame rails under the roof storage area might be an issue.

Nissan has a bunch of computers and hydraulics and crap down there ;) Pictures to follow if I'm successful.

That's right through the roof storage area isn't it?

Cool...

Now before someone else beats me to it...

:worthless:

Can you take some pics of the gear before you install it???


K

Based off installed coupe pictures I've seen it should be right under the leather draping... there's a large foam block in the coupes which is removed and replaced by this bar, that same foam block is present in the roadster which gives me hope.

And yes, the thread is worthless without pictures, but pictures are worthless if it clearly doesn't fit ;) If someone is actually going to go through the trouble to make it fit, they'll probably go off more than a rank amateur's dimensionless photos.

That being said, I'll probably end up taking them regardless.

Hopefully this will dampen the rear hip wiggle which I doubt is present in the coupes.

Have you done any suspension work yet? My coilovers almost eliminated all of the disturbing rear end activities.

Yeah, I went with the nismo shocks and springs as I was not interested in a drop, but wanted things stiffer. That absolutely changed the characteristics of the car but what I'm talking about is the high frequency shimmy which occurs when hitting mid corner bumps. It's too quick of a vibe to be suspension related, it's really just some fame shimmy.

hum... I did not want much of a drop when I changed to the coilovers either, I only have an inch drop.

I do know the shimmy that occurs in mid corner bumps, I hated it from day one. It is almost if not completely gone in my car after the coilovers...

Well good news and bad. The bad, the third doesn't fit, pictures will follow. The good, the front brace seriously plants the tires, eliminates a significant amount of front end push and in general feels like a stiffer sway bar was installed.

With only the lower rear brace installed, the rear shimmy is gone and the car is much happier putting down power exiting corners. Overall, even with only two of the three, there's a significant increase in the confidence and composure of the vehicle.

Can't imagine what the third would have done.

i was told the roof brace will not allow you to open your roof! and if your roof is open you cant close it!

why have the roadster if you cant open it!

lets see the pics!

Don't make me hold up the signs again...

:pics:

hey, :worthless:

Yes yes, I've been wrong here. Realistically they'll be up friday...had alot to prep for seca. Managed to win the lotto running over a razor blade and losing a tire, had to have ps2's shipped from reno. After thursday I'll be able to weigh in on track impressions of the two nismo braces and all three gt spec braces.

Alright so here's what everything looks like

The uninstalled braces which we all know and love
Attachment 26640

Install of the front brace with slight relocation of the z1 motorsports 34 row oil cooler

Attachment 26641
Attachment 26642
Attachment 26643

Clearance Problems with the midbrace...
Attachment 26645

looks good on this side, though I should note the lower bolt holes which were supposed to be presented were painted over by that flexible panel joining goop or simply missing. Rear bolts were present.
Attachment 26644

fails big here
Attachment 26646

rear brace
Attachment 26647

GT Spec front 4-point *almost* kills your front jacking point
Attachment 26648

4 and 6 point fronts
Attachment 26651

Side triangles on the 6 point replace a heavy steel factory brace
Attachment 26650

The two cat humps hang *extremely* low. ~2" of clearance midcar with this brace on a claimed .75" drop from Nismo springs... no more speed bumps in this car...
Attachment 26649

Didn't scrap under the extreme front loading of the Seca corkscrew, though from the pictures I probably had centimeters left at best. The brace is immediately below the front door panel gap.

Attachment 26652

looks good dude! they do stick out a lot.

Thanks. I'm going to talk with my chop shop guy, have him fix that up. Cause the car is perfect otherwise. The amount of stiffness afforded by those gr spec braces is unreal. Incredibly crisp turnin, completely planted over mid corner bumps. The cowel shake, which was minimal before now shoots through the windshield lighting fast (the frequency of the wave has increased considerably.

Very happy customer, highly recommended.

whats the link to the nismo body brace? i like the idea of stiffing it up but dont what the underhang...as im dropping it a lot on hipermax 3, hotchkis sway bars, spc front and rear rolling on 20"

Nice action shot!

To be clear, the grey braces are nismo, the blue ones are gt spec. I picked
the nismo from Z1 motorsports and the gt spec from import parts pro... Both are sponsors here.

Thanks for the pics! :tup: So to be clear, if I have the coupe, all 3 braces from the nismo kit should work no problem, AND (news to me) you can install both the 4 point and 6 point braces from GT SPEC? Finally, with the smaller (25 row) oil cooler kits, will clearance be an issue with the front brace? Thanks a lot!
Ed

Hmmm ...... something else you can buy frm me Ed?

Pm sent! :tup:

Correct, all three nismo braces will fit from what I know, you can use both gt spec front braces together and I would doubt clearance with the smaller cooler would be an issue... Clearance was just barely an issue with the 34 row.

Careful with the gt spec 6 point though...it provides incredibly significant stiffness but it's too low to be streetable. Mine sits in the garage until I hit the track. It's a damn shame, but that's how it is.

Right on, thanks for the info!

Hey sarmyth,

Thanks again for the earlier info, got the nismo brace kit all installed, and definitely a noticable difference already even on the street. However with the rear underbody Nismo brace, my stillen CBE sits about 1/8" off the bar, very close to touching. I have an FI Exhaust on order to replace the Stillen, and was wondering if that's the exhaust you are running in your pic there. I'm worried about clearance issues.

Just ordered the GTSPEC 2 and 4 point braces, really wanted the 6 point as well but I cant be taking it on and off all the time for the track. Plus I'll be dropped 1" once the Swift's are on, so from all accounts this would be a big no-go with a 1" drop. Wish GTSPEC would redesign the brace for pple with TP's or even HFC's which would negate the need for the big drop down to clear the stock cats.

Thanks again!
Ed

I am running FI's tubes so you shouldn't have any problems.

As far as the GT Specs though,

With a 1" drop you'll be in the exact same situation as me as I've got a reported .75" drop on Nismo springs (though they dropped me closer to 1.5"). So a big no-go, it really depends on if you traverse speedbumps =p Most of the time if you take a very sharp angle, you will not scrap going into parking lots ;) I haven't "de-tracked" my car yet and I did bottom out with these on the highway where they'd ripped up the pavement... very scary sound at speed.

And from what I understand, the bumps in the brace *are* for people running HFCs. If they were design for those running stock, they could have picked the brace up by a bit more than an inch and still had adequate clearance. I decided to just pull the brace after track days as I now have other track specific items which I run, but you should be able to have someone chop it up for ground clearance if you desire.