DIY: Your Z naked.... bodykit Tutorial

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Thanks to Anyone2u for the detailed tutorial... all please bear in mind these are LHD cars...

 

Taking off the rear bumper didn't seem to be as hard as most people had mentioned and it shouldn't take you more than 2-3 hours in a worst case scenario, including beer runs! :icon44:

 

BTW, just so you're not saying "WTF is going on? My bumper doesn't look like that!", I have the Vizage rear skirt mounted on top of my stock bumper. Underneath it's all the same as the stock bumper.

 

Tools Needed:

10mm wrench/Socket

8mm wrench

Phillips screwdriver

Medium slot screwdriver

Pliers

 

Overview Pictures

Below are a couple of pictures showing the rear of my car as well as a picture of the interior of the bumper once it had been removed. Just so you know what part of the car I am talking about, I decided to go ahead and put picture numbers in reference to that particular area of the bumper. Hopefully they make sense. BTW, I actually forgot to take a picture of the rear of my car before starting so I had to go dig an old one up that I could use as a reference.

 

 

 

 

Step 1: Taking Off The Tail lights/Tailights

After opening the hatch you will see three round "caps" running along the top of the tailights. Using a slot screwdriver, pop the caps off and you will see three 10mm bolts. Using a socket, remove them.

 

Step 1a: Unplug The Bulbs

After removing the three bolts, the tailight should lift out pretty easily. Just so the tailights don't get in the way, remove the bulbs from the assembly by slightly pushing the connector base and and turning it (counterclockwise, I think...).

 

Step 2: Remove The 10mm Bolt Behind The Tailight

The title pretty much says it all...

 

Step 3: Remove the Plastic Connector

This was kind of a b!tch for me, mainly because I didn't know what I was dealing with and I couldn't find one stupid 8mm wrench (plenty of 6mm, 7mm, 9mm and 10mm wrenches! ). It's under the top lip of the bumper so it's kind of hard to get a good grip on it (or take a picture of). Since I didn't have the proper wrench (and no other tool seemed to fit in there) I ended up using some longnose pliers and was finally able to turn it the required 90 degrees and you should feel it release. Hopefully the "closeup" picture of it will make it easier for you to deal with.

 

Step 4: Remove The 10mm Bolt In The Wheelwell

Pretty easy to do but the picture isn't much help except to give you a general idea of it's location. I will place the blame for the out of focus picture on beer, although the lens is supposed to be AF... :icon14:

 

Step 5: Remove The 10mm Bolt Under The Car

Again, pretty easy to do and I even got a decent picture. Sweet!

 

Step 6: Remove The Two "Pop Rivets" By The Exhaust

You may need to slide under the car to see what's going on here. In addition I changed my exhaust out but I remember that the stock exhaust was quite a bit bigger. Hopefully everything is pretty much the same. In any event, there are two flexible plastic straps on the bumper that connect to the mounting plates in the picture with the "bigger" pop rivets. Use a screwdriver to "pop" out the center of the rivet and then you should be able to remove the pop rivet. Don't contemplate suicide if you destroy them - you can pick them up for ~$1.00 a piece if you're on good terms with the Nissan parts person.

 

Great news: these are the last two bolts/fasteners/rivets holding the bumper onto the car! Grab a beer to celebrate! :icon44:

 

Step 7: Disconnecting The Top Clips

The bumper should be somewhat loose on the back of the car now and you should be able to pull the top of the bumper away from the car with your fingers. Like any parts that are attached to the car with "clips" (ie side skirts, door panels, etc) you should always exercise caution when pulling the part away from the car. There are FIVE big white clips holding the top of the bumper to the car and working from one side to another, you should feel them "pop" out. Try to just remove the top of the bumper a few inches at this point. You'll remove the entire bumper in the next step.

 

Step 8: Sliding The Bumper Off The Car.

The bumper sides actually have a set of rails that they slide on and off of the car on. Look at the picture below and it should illustrate how the bumper sides are attached to the sides of the car. You must pull the bumper STRAIGHT BACK and eventually the White Guide attached to the car will travel far enough down the "Rails" (attached to the bumper) to let it go. Slide the bumper away from the car, but don't take it off all the way yet as you must unhook the tailights and the license plate assembly.

 

Step 8a: Clearing The Fender Liner

I thought I would add this precautionary note to just in case someone runs across this. You must pull the fender liner out from the rear bumper BEFORE you can slide the bumper back very far. In addition, you may have to pull down the top corner of the bumper where you removed the 10mm bolt (remember that crappy out of focus picture I posted...) when sliding the bumper back as that hole may get "caught" on the white rim of the white plastic fastener on the car that the 10mm bolts to.

 

Step 9: Disconnecting the Tailights

Chances are, the reason you are removing your rear bumper is because you are putting a new one on or you are going to do some mod to the tailights. If that is the case then you might as well remove the tailights from the car now. Even if you are not, sometimes the little electrical connectors are a pain to work with. Just for that reason, I decided to remove the tailights from the bumper as it was only two screws (phillips head) per tailights. Check out the picture! Now that is some quality photography there - beer (and auto-focus) must have kicked in! :icon17:

 

Step 10: Disconnecting the License Plate Assembly

I believe that this is the License Plate assembly harness, but even if it's not, it's still a quick "how to" on removing the electrical connections. Just keep in mind that when you remove the License Plate Assembly, you are disconnecting the hatch release as well. Not that anyone I know did this, but if you happen to place it inside your hatch for safekeeping, along with your keys/remote, and shut the hatch, it could be a slight problem. Not a big deal if you have an extra remote and can pop it that way, but just a little fyi to keep in mind.

 

OK, so that should do it. I haven't reinstalled my bumper yet, but I'm sure that it's just as easy as reversing the above steps. That said, we all know that that never ever really happens! :icon39:

 

BTW, if I missed a step or you have some usefull advice that will help others, please feel free to post it. Thanks and good luck! smile.gif

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This write-up covers my LED clear corner install and is written with intent to assist you with any of the following things on your 350Z:

 

Installing clear corners or LED clear corners.

Front bumper removal for any reason.

Splash guard removal (replacing bulbs etc.)

 

I should state first that this install is really quite easy on the Z. If it looks somewhat cumbersome here, don’t worry. Just give it a try and you’ll see what I mean.

 

Tools Needed:

 

Since a picture is worth a thousand words, I will let this pic do the talking. What I forgot here is a long-handle Phillips screwdriver I used (I’ll explain later why that its useful. By the way, the socket you see is 10mm and the wire taps are 18-22 gauge size.

 

 

Process:

 

Alright, so here we go! All steps numbered in order.

 

Tip: If your new corners have LEDs in them, before you do anything else, test them to make sure they are working fine. Otherwise you will just waste your time! Place power wire on the battery’s positive (red) terminal and the ground wire on any unpainted metal under the hood. The bolts for the strut tower brace are a good ground point. They lit up? Great! Now we can proceed.

 

1. Raise the front end of the Z and use jack stands to keep it safely there. I set mine at approx 10â€

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I did a search for a DIY/"How-To" guide on removing the stock side skirts and didn't find anything with pics, so I decided to make one as I removed mine. As others had mentioned in the threads that my initial search brought up, it's a pretty simple process that should take you about 10 minutes per side.

 

Tools: You really only need a 10mm socket (deep one if you got it), a small screwdriver and maybe a pair of pliers.

 

Overview The picture below shows the approximate location of the fasteners that secure the skirts to the car. There are six (6) 10mm bolts and four (4) "Pop Rivets" along the bottom and ends of the skirt.

 

Step 1. It's probably easiest to remove the "Pop Rivets" first. There are two in the front (location #s 7 & 8 from the above picture) and two in the back (#s 9 & 10). To remove them, stick a screwdriver in one (or more) of the four slots and "pop" the center cap out. Once it's out far enough, you can remove the pop rivet.

 

Step 1a. For some reason (more than likely just to be a PITA) Nissan decided to use one of the Pop rivets underneath the car at the front of the skirt (#7) so you kind of have to remove that one "blind". The other three (inside the wheel wells) are simple.

 

Step 2. Removing the remaining 10mm bolts is very simple. If you have a "deep" 10mm socket this will make life a little easier as the handle to the driver will be below the bottom of the skirt. You can also use a phillips screwdriver if you have one the right size.

 

Step 3. Now that all fasteners are removed, you can start to peel the side skirt away from the car. Just like removing a door panel, you want to get the right angle and slowly pop the clips that hold the top of the skirt to the car. Start at the front of the car and slowly move backwards. The back three clips are a little different than the front ones, but pop out the same way.

 

 

That's it, you're done. BTW, here is a final picture of the inside of the skirt that may help you understand how the skirt is clipped and bolted to the car. Hopefully this helped someone. smile.gif