350z Emblem Replacement

OK, so this is one of my first mods to my 2005 350Z, and I figured some of you guys would benefit from the process being shown.

Step One – FIND YOUR ENEMY!

Yep. Very good. You found it. Chrome is bad, right? RIGHT! I much prefer the Matte/Brushed aluminum look.

Step Two – Get a grease pen (I used red), and outline the old emblem. Marking very darkly near the ends of the “NISSAN” plate.

Note: The new emblem does not have alignment pins, where the stock emblem does. Mark it now so you can align the new symbol correctly!

Step Three – Compare your emblems! Bright shiny chrome one=bad, brushed aluminum look one=good.

Step Four – Get out some fishing line. Work it under the double sided tape holding the old emblem off. GET GLOVES! It requires quite a bit of tension to start pulling through the tape. I found it easier to start at the top then do the sides and bottom. Moving the fishing line back and forth and you go through it also helpful, but can lead (in my case) to shredding /breaking the line. Get at least 20lb line. I only had 15lb line and wished it had been stronger.

Step Five – Once the backing has been cut through with the fishing line, slowly pull the old emblem off your trunk. It should look like this:

Step Six – Get that old adhesive crap off the paint! I used my fingernail and some simple green. Someone mentioned using Goo Gone, it may work better. Don’t use anything that may damage the paint. Afterwards someone recommended a popsicle stick or plastic/teflon scraper, try it.

Step Seven – clean the surface -WITHOUT- wiping off the grease pen marks!

Step Eight – Peel the backing off the new and improved emblem, and align it with the grease pen marks. Once done it will look like this:

Sexy, no?

Another shot of the finished product: