Thread: hardtop transplant

how hard could it really be ? i have found a few hard top nx1600's with the tops always in good condition, and i have read about that nx2000 track car that they did it on, might cost something in a body shop but i have friends that work on race cars and are welder fabricators, go from the a-pillars all the way back?? give me some insight.

I would just put all the sr20 stuff on the 1600, it may be alot harder than you think to get the roof to ever line up correctly again. Also you will have less rusting issues with the 1600 hard top due to not having t top drains that suck and rust out the rear rockers and a pillars. I do love t tops though.

Just my .02

I looked into it a couple years ago and most body shops wanted about $1000 not including paint. This was doing it right, drilling out the spot welds and splicing it into the factory panel locations. You might be able to do it cheaper using the old school hotrodder "cut of the old one at the pillars with a saw and weld on the new one" technique.

Yeah but if he has a rusted nx2000 and a clean hardtop nx1600 he could do the swap himself and just use all of the nx2000 parts.

If you want to do it to have a stiffer chassis you could just get a nice cage for the price it would cost to properly install the roof.

Yeah I agree, using a clean NX1600 hardtop and making it into a 2.0 car would be a lot easier.

Spot welds are simple stuff you just need the mig and the $20 bits if the hardtops don't have rust A pillars which they might

im gona look for a clean hardtop 1600, is it really too much to just want a good looking hard top 6speed ve'd nx ? thanks for the replies. its really hard to find a clean 1600 tho around here at least, people just dont care about their cars and let them go to crap.

Yeah also these cars are a few years old and with how often people buy new cars there are alot of people that dont take care of their cars because they are just gonna buy a new one in a few years anyway.

Make sure you check all the usual rust places. 1600 or 2000 they'll rust in the same places. No use in picking up a rusted POS if you want a nice looking driver.

Mike Kojima recently had a roof transplant done on a 300zx. Swap is way easier. Hardtop NXs don't grow on trees but look at what he had done.

Project Nissan 300ZXTT