[zlegend]

As some of you may have read, I hit an ice chunk that fell off a truck a while ago. While I was covering up the crack my car received I noticed a plastic thing hanging to the side. At first I thought something else was messed up, but when I messed around with it, I found it was just being held on by 2 thumb studs. One of them had broken loose. I looked around to try to figure out what purpose is served, but I couldn't tell. There is, or rather was, one on each side of the grille. I took out the thumb studs and with a bit of maneuvering I took them out through the engine bay. It seemed to me that these were there for no reason, they weren't covering anything, and they weren't attached to anything except the bumper. And they were blocking space the would normally allow air to get through to the radiator.

My questions are: Does anyone know what these are for, and has anyone else removed them? They are just two pieces of plastic that seem to have no relevance to the car.

 

[toykilla]

where exactly are they? under the car? wheel well?

 

[smoothz]

Without a picture, I can only guess that it's the underbody cover for the engine compartment. It comes in several pieces.

 

[zlegend]

[/quote]


If you look in the grille from the front, the are on both side of it, just behind it.

 

[jetpilot718]

I posted about this a while ago.. no one knew then either:

 

[jetpilot718]

Im guessin they are some kind of air diffusers. Mine have been off my car for months now, and no issues. I'm pretty sure they dont do too much.

 

[zlegend]

[/quote]


edit, nm, thanks for the answer. i didn't think they were good for much, but I figured it was a good idea to ask

 

[Chazzg]

I asked The Nissan body shop about these a while back. They told me that they are in fact, air diffusers, that Channel air to cool the front breaks and other parts. I wanted to remove them, but they told me not to, they said at high speeds (over 100) I would notice a difference in handling, breaking and Cooling. The Nissan designers did not just put things on the Z for no reason, it all has a purpose or function.

 

[davidl9999]

[/quote]

The only issue that I know of about leaving the diffusers in place, is when you install an Injen RD-1985P intake and use the lower hose extension (instead of putting the air filter in the more-or-less stock location). Their installation instructions have you remove the driver-side diffuser so that the air filter gets high-pressure cold air from the grill.

Of course, imho, everything *hard* that hits your bumper is now hitting the air filter and a punctured filter doesn't seem like a great idea... :doh:

 

[peptidbond]

I cannot see these parts contributing to brake cooling. They may diffuse air in one way or another, but I highly doubt they have anything to do with cooling the brakes.

Unless, that is, you use this for brake ducting, which many people have done. They are great places to mount the inlet to a brake cooling kit.

 

[jinxxycat]

[/quote]

Hey Jet...I hate these friggin things, it made getting my grill on a HUGE pita....how did you get them off. Are there screws or what? I'd love to get rid of them and it's nice to know that they are basically not functional....thanks! T

 

[zlegend]

[/quote]

Hey Jet...I hate these friggin things, it made getting my grill on a HUGE pita....how did you get them off. Are there screws or what? I'd love to get rid of them and it's nice to know that they are basically not functional....thanks! T
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[/quote]

They are very easy to remove. There are two or three plastic thumb bolts that need to be removed, you can easily get to them with a standard screw driver through the front of the grille. You cen see them if you get down and look through it. Just pop off the thumb bolts and they are ready to be taken out.

When I get some time and a nice day I'm going to put one back in and see if I can figure out where the air would be directed, to verify their purpose. Just looking at them it doesn't look like they can direct air very much at all.

 

[jetpilot718]

Jinxxy, legend is correct. They are super easy to remove. Three thumb-bolts (plastic) each. Need a sharp flathead screwdriver to pry them up.. I havnt had them on my Z for a while now, and it hasnt blown up or messed anything up..

They definately DO NOT cool the brakes.. the air has no way to get to the brakes from there.. remember your front wheel wells are covered in plastic. If anything at all, they direct air upward to the top of the engine area for cooling, which would be negligable as far as temp drops go.

 

[jinxxycat]

:thumbsup: Thanks guys! These are coming off this weekend if the weather is nice!!!!

 

[jetpilot718]

They might even be there to inhibit airflow now that i've slept on it.. like a winterization kit? In aviation, sometimes the air gets too cold for the engine to know what to do with.. during a descent particularly.. where the risk becomes shock-cooling the engine (like putting a hot pot into cold water). So similar plastic pieces cover part of the intake area on small reciprocating engine aircraft. Maybe that?

 

[zlegend]

[/quote]

Its definatly a possibility, with the alum engine. But if their going to put tires on the car that completely suck in the snow, I don't know why they would do anything else for people in cold climates like me.

But I suppose the engineers didn't know that when they were making the car. So it could be after all.

 

[zlegend]

In case anyone still cares this is what they look like outside the car. I can't remember if they are this way or switched when installed.

 

[steve350z]

clears out a nice area to custom install a set of fog lights if so desired

 

[Spdu4ia]

ripped mine out (literally), i was mad... car hasn't blown up yet so i guess they are useless

 

[toykilla]

they dont do crap! thy are bowl shaped - how does that diffuse air anywhere? If anything it increased drag at high speeds.