Weird Things Happen... and Finding Stuff in One's Garage

April 13, 2016, 3:50 am

≫ Next: Mission Possible: Buying Up Parts (Before They Are Gone) and Freshening Up the Car

≪ Previous: First Visit to WORX Auto Alarm

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During my trip on the 5th to Chiba Prefecture to visit Worx Auto Alarm with my friend Dino,  a slight sprinkling of rain hit the car on the way over.  While I was pleased to see how well the Echelon 1043 Nano-Fil paint protection I had gotten applied during its full detail at Rapt was holding up, by the time I got home, I was too busy and tired to properly wash the salt spray (from the ocean) and dirt (in general) off the car.

So last weekend, I spent about an hour washing the car. Compared to previous car wash sessions where I would have to carve out a few hours time to ensure I would have time to give the car a quick once over after the wash to apply some Zaino using my Porter Cable orbital buffer, this time the wash was a strictly water and car wash (Zaino Z7) solution, because the Echelon coating is supposed to last a few years (and I don't want to scratch unnecessarily, right?)

Unfortunately, right as I began washing, I spotted this:

WTF? When did that happen?

So yes was not happy. I thought about if there had been any vandalism to the car, but since this was really the first time I had driven a long distance since getting the car professionally detailed, I was confused as to how this could have happened.  Luckily, it's only a sticker, and so I will have it replaced with a new one soon.

Meanwhile, once I calmed down I continued to finish cleaning the car. After I dried it, I found this in my garage:

So this water repellant (i.e. Rain-X copy) product, called Clean View Glass Coat X2 Strong, made by Ichinen Chemicals, claims to last twice as long, and become effective at 38kph. It also claims to have 2 ingredients, fluoride as well as silicon. I almost don't think it's worth it, because one of Dino's questions when he drove my car was, "what did Kabe-san at Rapt put on the windshield?" pointing to how the rain rolled off the windshield.  At the same time, I noticed for some reason that the rain did not fly off the rear window thus suggesting that other than a quick polish of the glass surface, nothing special was applied (there is an Echelon product for glass that is supposedly amazing but I don't recall paying for that...)

In any case, I figured I had nothing to lose, especially if I applied this to the rear glass.  Application is simple, just like Rain-X. The liquid seeps though the large circular sponge attached to the end, and then you apply, let dry, and buff off. Presto!

close-up as it dries.

Now I'm not recommending this product, it was something I just found in my garage and further, because I rarely take the car out in the rain, I doubt I will be able to experience it in action. Until, at least, I next wash the car and then I will report...although based on the mediocre feedback on the Minkara Japanese language car blog, I'm not that optimistic.

In the meantime, I have a few real mods and some restore work coming to my car very soon. Stay tuned!

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Mission Possible: Buying Up Parts (Before They Are Gone) and Freshening Up the Car

April 24, 2016, 2:21 am

≫ Next: So what did Dino think?

≪ Previous: Weird Things Happen... and Finding Stuff in One's Garage

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So a free Sunday today.  I had gotten a call from Yamazaki-san at Nissan Prince earlier in the week about some parts I had ordered a while back that had finally come in, so I swung by to pick them up.

Parking was tight, so I just pulled in and...

Left my car there in the middle of the shop entrance lol

In tinkering with my car, I am noticing that some things are starting to show their age - for example, some interior parts have some scratches that can't be removed or have some lettering that has faded, etc. So, before Nissan decides to stop production on some of these parts, for the last few months I've begun ordering those parts which, once they are gone, would be hard to replicate or find substitutes for.

This time, I had ordered 3 parts - one small, one medium (hint for both of these - they are interior pieces) and then one relatively large one.

The two small boxes and the large flat box are the parts...nothing with "Reimax" on them today unfortunately!

The parts were ready and waiting for me.  For the two interior parts, I will install and blog about another time.  But the large piece was something I decided to take care of, while at Nissan. No technical expertise required to replace it!

This is not pretty.

As you can tell, the large piece in question is the big piece of heat/noise insulation that is found under the hood. Not only was it beginning to sag in some places from age, but as the yellow arrows above show, mine showed the scars from my experiment creating a ram air intake (where I had taped foam to insure the incoming air flowed into the airbox, and not onto the engine).

Taking the insulation off was easy, using the proper tool which they lent me.

You can see how the edges of the insulation are beginning to fray.

A few minutes later:

It actually looks pretty nice without anything there under the bonnet...race car like?

Old piece is rusty brown, new piece is light, almost yellow

I was surprised to learn that the new Nissan OEM replacement piece, for some reason, did not exactly match the shape one that was on my car. Either, my car had an earlier R33 piece on, or for some reason Nissan got rid of variances between the model years for replacement parts.

The old piece - yellow where it is different than the new piece.

The quality of the new part appears better (it appears darker and more plush?), not sure if it's the material used or due to age of the original part that was on the car.

Here is the new part, attached. Yellow circle on the section that is now gone.

Anyway not sure what to think of this. I decided to have them dispose of the old part for me so no going back.  I have to assume that, at some point Nissan decided that this new part did the job.  And, the missing section makes sense, it is above the airbox where frankly there isn't as much heat generated as the rest of the engine.  On the other hand,  when sitting still heat dissipates all over so not sure why this is supposed to be a better design.  I have to have faith that the actual material used is improved.

I will continue to research this, but since I had promised my Facebook friends to post what I did today, here it is... in my next post I will post another freshening up/parts purchase I did BEFORE this one...

So what did Dino think?

April 28, 2016, 8:42 am

≫ Next: More "Freshen Up" Parts and Some Trouble...

≪ Previous: Mission Possible: Buying Up Parts (Before They Are Gone) and Freshening Up the Car

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As I noted in my earlier post about our visit to Worx Auto, my friend and motorjournalist Dino Dalle Carbonare drove my car for the first time in the 10 years plus I've known him (and hence, our R33 v R34 debate).

Sometimes, when you've owned a car for a long time, things that are not right, seem or become normal. So, once in a while it's nice to have a professional who's driven hundreds if not thousands of new cars, give you some honest feedback. So I was excited that Dino agreed to drive my car the 2 hours to Worx Auto Alarm...

As soon as we set off from his house, the first words out of his mouth were, "wow this is tight!!" He was, of course, referring to the newly installed and still-being-broken-in Getrag 6 speed.  He showed me what he meant - no play in the stick shift from side to side, in any gear.

Although, in conjunction with the new gearbox, he found it odd that the Nissan Prince techs set the clutch release point so high up in the clutch pedal travel.  This is one (easy fix) item I will get checked out soon. Although to be honest, it hadn't really bothered me much before. Maybe it's because those of us vertically challenged guys find it easier to heel and toe, not having to push the clutch pedal all the way down to the floor?

He also loved how stiff the handbrake was. Something about the one on his BNR34 coming up loosely and almost vertical...

Soon after, he also exclaimed "I love the brakes" referring, of course, to the R35 Brembos on the car. We discussed whether, in his opinion, the increased volume AutoSelect master brake cylinder would be a worthwhile upgrade.  While it might provide more pedal travel (i.e. make it feel "softer") I think we both agreed it was fine the way it was, on the OEM BCNR33 master cylinder.

After cruising for a bit, while it seemed to me that he was quite busy unnecessarily shifting up and down due to the short gearing, he remarked how it made him feel really involved in driving the car. Reminded him of his first Alfa, I think is what he said.

Having myself and Dino and both of our respective kids on board, the car was plenty quick, although it was obvious the gearing was helping, and that, with no one else on board, the car would feel even faster.

His usual pose, he said...

He also liked the way the steering was very progressive in feel, taking the car into fast sweeping corners as he turned the wheel.  Also, unlike myself, he felt that the on-center dead zone I complain about, was minimal at best, and in fact that it had plenty of good on center feel. (I guess the NSX, which is my standard, is simply out of this world?)

For the interior, we agreed the second generation GT-Rs have such comfortable seats. Dino being as "tall" as he is, and me much shorter, neither of us felt any discomfort after our 4 hour roundtrip journey.  He also liked the LED illumination of the main gauges and 3 sub meter:

Of course, being Italian, the complaints or "observations" came on very quickly as well.

First, as I had told him when we first climbed in, Dino agreed that perhaps the car's Ohlins DFV coil-overs needed to be rebuilt. While the springs seem about right, the rebound is a bit too stiff (response slow?) for non-racetrack roads, resulting in a bit of jumpy behavior on other than perfectly smooth roads.

Then, while cruising at high speed, Dino noted a slight shimmy in the steering wheel, going straight. Likely an alignment problem.  Both of these problems I plan to address soon.

Other minor niggles include, not being able to see out the back very well.  The rear window tint, while legal, may be a bit too dark (except, of course, when some idiot with illegal high beams is right behind you, as we experienced on the way back).

Something about the trunk being too small...yeah ok the tint is probably a bit dark too...

Since I don't usually drive the car at night, not a big issue for me...

While the engine is fine, there seems to be some turbo chatter. Hopefully a proper tune with a more modern ECU should fix this (so goodbye VX-ROM).  I've been researching this for quite some time so hopefully soon!

Finally, my circa 2006 Pioneer Navi/stereo is hopelessly out of date, even with the map updates (I think up to 2010?) We basically ignored it and used Google Maps off of our phones to get around.  Hopefully my new relationship with Nakamura-san at Worx can help to resolve this somewhat embarrassing issue...at the very least I need better sound in my car!

Anyway, this experience has given me a better roadmap for work I need to do on the car this year... like I said previously, 2016 will be an interesting year! Thanks Dino!

More "Freshen Up" Parts and Some Trouble...

May 6, 2016, 4:54 pm

≫ Next: Biannual "Shaken" and Ohlins DFV Rebuild, Part 1

≪ Previous: So what did Dino think?

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So as I hinted in an earlier post, the under hood insulation was not the first part I have recently purchased to freshen up the car.  A few months ago, after I got the car detailed at Rapt, I realized there were a few details that detracted from the overall "clean" car appearance.

These details are nothing large, but I guess the human eye picks up imperfections one may not be usually aware of.  For example:

So what exactly does this rubber trim do? Is it needed?

On this side too!

So normally something like this would not bother me (ok I'm lying, it bothers me to no end!). And I would try to figure out a way to repair it with the least amount of cost and effort (Superglue is a favorite...). But, the rubber had also hardened and so I wondered if it should be soft and pliable. As the second owner of this car, I know that this car was left outside most of its early life. And, despite many applications of products such as Aerospace 303 and other products to preserve and try to bring back the black, there was a permanent white-ish sheen of UV exposure that this cowl piece had.

When I inquired at Nissan Prince, I was told that I would have to replace the entire cowl in order to replace the rubber trim. So, I went ahead and ordered because it was a way to freshen up both aspects at the same time.

There was also this:

Windshield wiper arms showing wear and tear...

The yellow arrows point to areas where there are chips or wear on the wiper arms.  I had in fact previously used some semi-gloss black spray paint and resprayed the arms myself.  However I have done this twice already and it is likely that, since I don't do this painting in a controlled environment/have the paint baked on, the OEM part, designed for exposure to the elements, would likely last a lot longer.  Again, the car was left outside early on and likely, no one applied any sealant or wax to these arms (I am probably the only person who believes that ALL painted surfaces on a car need to be protected).

Anyway, since the wiper arms need to be removed in order to replace the cowl, it was only natural that, given the above thinking, I decided to go ahead and order some brand new wiper arms as well.

So it took a few weeks, but then I got the call so I went to Nissan Prince to pick up the parts:

After squeezing the cowl into the back seat (somewhat diagonally) I drove home and then life got so busy I wasn't able to work on replacing the parts...

Finally a few weeks ago (right before a business trip to Chicago) I decided to do the job, just in case the plane went down. Didn't want to die with unfinished business, right?

First, remove the wiper arms.  Begin by removing cap with small flat tip screwdriver (yellow arrow); See how the faded paint detracts from the overall appearance? (red arrow)

Then use a proper socket wrench (12mm I think).

Next, remove this soft rubber trim piece by pulling the plastic "screws" out of the sockets

I'm now thinking, this is pretty easy...

For the original cowl piece, it's held on in 4 places with plastic clips, so just pull a bit hard (watching the outside edges where it tucks UNDER the windshield molding), to reveal:

The dust on the right, I expected. That rust, I did not!

Not just several years of accumulated dirt, but also splotches of rust! I was later told by the guys at Nissan Prince that this is very, very common ("there is always rust there"), so apparently a weak point in this car's design...

So you can see how the rust isn't just in one location...

Anyway, as I was trying not to faint from shock, instinct kicked in so I first reacted by doing what comes naturally, cleaning:

That dust is from all over Japan!

To:

Not finished but you get the idea...

Then after I calmed down, I realized I had several choices.  One, I could ignore the rust, put the new cowl piece on, not tell anyone, and hope that my refusal to drive this car in the rain would stop the rust from spreading; two, I could spray on some Rust-O-Leum and pray that indeed, it actually does "convert rust to metal"; three, I could take the car to a body shop and have them deal with it, or four, I could try to sandpaper/grind off the rust myself, and apply some primer and paint.

Normally, I would choose the third option - put all the old pieces back on, and then take the car to a body shop. But with funds tight and an upcoming "shaken" (bi-annual road inspection/tax) coming up, I decided the better thing to do would be to go to a body shop sometime in the future to take care of not only this, but some other issues I've spotted, all at once.  So for the time being, I would have to deal with just this section of rust - long time readers will know I've dealt with rust on the car before - I just would prefer to let a pro handle it, of course.

Also, the cowl itself now looked like this, so re-assembly with the old pieces was probably not the smart option anyway:

Uh, this is not going to go back on well...

So the night I got back from Chicago, I first taped up the surrounding areas like this:

And used #400 grit sand paper to begin manually removing paint and rust.  I soon discovered however that the rust wasn't as easy to remove as I thought, as well as under paint that didn't show bubbling.

You can also see the old under hood insulation which was beginning to separate in some places - see how it looks puffy?

So I used my Dremel to quickly remove rust from all areas I could find, both visible and under the paint! Effective but not as "clean" as by hand. Oh well.

Luckily I had an unopened can of spray primer

Three thin coats of primer later (several hours to dry in between, of course)

After 3 coats, I debated spraying on some KR4 paint (I had a semi-used can left). However, I figured not only would the primer do the job adequately, and serve to show the body shop what I had done, I was also worried that the old KR4 paint might not spray well, and cause a mess. So I decided to stop painting and put on the new pieces (later at Nissan picking up the under bonnet insulation I asked them about this, and they told me primer alone was fine...)

New versus old

Checking out how soft and pliable the new rubber/plastic piece is:

Supple is the word!

And then I began to prep the new parts by spraying down with Aerospace 303 and letting it soak in:

The underside, which won't see daylight again until it's removed.

And the topside, which will!

Installation was the reverse of taking the part off, being careful to make sure the plastic clips went in on both sides, and that the edges were tucked in under the windshield molding.

I found out that the rubber trim piece is actually about 1.5cm too long on each side - cutting required.

I then attached the rubber piece to the front of the cowl, which helps to secure it better (as otherwise only 4 plastic clips are holding it on).

And then I just swapped out the old wipers for new, transferring the blades over.

If you are curious you can make out the parts numbers...(28886-15U00 and 28881-15U00)

Then I just bolted the wipers back on, put on the plastic caps which cover the bolts, and I was done!

(photo)

Speaking of parts numbers, here are the others for completeness sake:

So what's next? Luckily, there are no other places with that level of rust.  However Japan being a humid place, plus because I like to wash the car, I guess I will have to be careful going forward.  That being said, there is some bodywork I'm still thinking about, so maybe at that time I can get this under cowl area redone professionally.

In any case, the car looks like this now:

Ahhh Yeah! Perfect!

I hope this was an interesting and useful post! Sorry about the length...

Biannual "Shaken" and Ohlins DFV Rebuild, Part 1

May 21, 2016, 6:30 am

≫ Next: (Temporarily) Back on the S-Tunes! My Impressions...

≪ Previous: More "Freshen Up" Parts and Some Trouble...

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So the same Sunday I visited Nissan Prince to pick up some parts and replace the under bonnet insulation, afterwards I drove over to drop off my car with Ninomiya-san at his shop, BeAmbitious, in Yokohama near my house.  He is the only tuner/mechanic I've found who's been willing to do stuff most shops here in Japan won't.  For example, he had no problems (and even fixed an issue with the UK made brackets) installing the R35 brakes on my car (this was after Nissan Prince, Three-H, and even Mine's refused to install them), as well as the BNR34 diffuser install (again coming up with custom brackets).

This time, I asked him to take care of the bi-annual "shaken" - the road-worthiness "inspection" + plus tax payment required for all street legal cars in Japan and then, as Dino had agreed with me when he drove my car, to have the Ohlins DFV coil-overs rebuilt.

The shaken is something that HAS to be done, by law... unfortunately, the stringent rules means that, for any car that is moderately tuned, unless you leave your car with someone who knows a few tricks, or is required to be scrupulously honest and "by the book" (i.e. a dealership), your car will fail and be "mandated" to have expensive repairs done to make it "roadworthy" again.

Because Ninomiya-san has a long history of working on race and drift cars, he knows how to "massage" them to get them road legal.  For example, I'm pretty sure (and he agrees) the Tomei ExPreme titanium exhaust, as fitted on my car, is too loud to be road legal. And yet he apparently has a special exhaust insert which he uses to muffle the sound to legal levels. For cars that are lowered, there are ways from setting coil-overs to their highest setting, to over-inflating the tires, etc., to ensure the car has 9cm between its lowest point and the road. In any case, I can trust him to get the car to pass shaken with minimum hassle and fuss.

Also, I figured that, since the car would be with him, I would leave my old Nismo S-Tunes shocks with him (that I did not throw out), so he could put those on the car while he sent the Ohlins in to be rebuilt. Even though I don't drive my GT-R as much as I used to, as I have mentioned earlier I had recently begun noticing that the ride seemed a bit too stiff, with the coil overs not responding quickly enough.

As a refresher, here is the link to when I first had these Ohlins installed, as well as the propaganda from Ohlins  (Japan) as to what makes them better than the average aftermarket coilover. And here is what Ohlins (Sweden) says (they are now called their "Road & Track" model).  These following two diagrams, both taken from the English language website, demonstrate the difference:

From the Ohlins website -  "Without DFV, the oil cannot flow through the piston quickly enough on the rebound stroke after a bump, so the tyre is not able to stay in contact with the road.

From the Ohlins website: "The DFV valve opens, letting the oil flow quicker though the piston on the rebound stroke after hitting a bump, enabling the tyre to stay in contact with the road."

When I first had the DFVs installed, even though they were pre-used the car would glide over small imperfections... and now, on the same settings, I seem to feel imperfections more, and at speed sometimes the rebound clearly doesn't react as quickly as it should, meaning the car bounces fairly hard.

Also, since the model I have was released, there have been some improvements Ohlins has made to the DFV model. Or rather, it appears that they now offer a "rubber bushing upper mount" model in addition to the standard "pillow ball upper mount" model which is what mine are.

So I left the car with Ninomiya-san asking him to take care of everything, the shaken as well as getting the Ohlins rebuilt with those rubber bushings...

The following Friday, Ninomiya-san called me, with the shaken already done!

Another customer car that was there... a race ready Chaser.

But when I went to pick up the car, he had some stories:

First, my car on the adjustable Ohlins, set at their highest setting, only resulted in 8.5+cm off the ground.  So, he had to install the S-Tunes, which apparently cleared 9.0cm.

Second, my car was failed because the window film on the driver's side window was not clear enough(!) When I had the rear window and quarters tinted with dark film, I also had anti-UV film applied to the passenger and driver's side windows.  I did not recall what percentage of light they let in but compared to the rears the sides were relatively clear.  It turns out that the legal limit is 70%... that is 70% or more of the light has to be let through.  For some reason, the passenger side film DID let in exactly 70% and is thus legal... but the driver's side film let in only 69.5%!!!  Ninomiya-san thinks this is probably from all the usage (opening/closing) that the driver's side window which may have added minute scratches which then caused the difference.  The solution was to have the tint stripped off at the inspections center.  This however is a blessing in disguise as I will explain in an upcoming post.

Otherwise, he had no problems at the shaken center with the Tomei exhaust, or the Getrag conversion, or even the darkly tinted rear windows.

So, I paid the fees (about $1000 US for the shaken process), and drove home with the car temporarily on the S-Tunes... and it was weird... I'll blog about that in my next post.

(Temporarily) Back on the S-Tunes! My Impressions...

June 8, 2016, 6:41 am

≫ Next: Yes On Speedhunters Now... But Don't Worry....

≪ Previous: Biannual "Shaken" and Ohlins DFV Rebuild, Part 1

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So as I mentioned in my last post, I had my old NISMO S-Tunes shock absorbers temporarily re-installed by Ninomiya-san at BeAmbitious onto my car while the Ohlins DFVs usually on the car are being re-built at Labo Carrozzeria, the Ohlins distributor/service factory here in Japan.

The Ohlins Japan service factory. From: http://ohlins.czj.jp/service/

When I went to pick up the car after Ninomiya-san had gotten the GT-R successfully registered for another 2 years, the first thing I noticed was that the front of the car seemed lower than before. But, as he had told me that the car did not pass shaken until he put the S-Tunes on, I assumed that the ground clearance was better with the NISMOs than with the Ohlins.

Anyway, on my short drive home, I immediately could tell the difference - after driving around for a while on the stiffer sprung Ohlins (which were probably more stiff than usual because it was long overdue for a rebuild), the S-Tunes felt amazingly smooth and supple. Still very sporty, and in fact, they responded very well to the dips and bumps in the road.  In short, the car feels very close to OEM, in that most people might be satisfied with level of firmness combined with good ride comfort.

Although these S-Tunes are sporty enough that I went to several track days such as at Fuji Speedway, as you can see in the photo below (sorry for the low-def), hard braking meant that the car would literally scrape the front lip. So, one impetus for switching to the DFVs was a higher (stiffer) spring rate. Although, as I mentioned in my previous post, the DFV technology also results in a very smooth ride.

As you can see from this old photo, at full braking my front lip was scraping the ground! http://www.r33gt-r.com/2008/07/photos-from-sunako-juku-last-lesson-at.html

Then, pulling into the garage, the front lip scraped... meaning that in fact, the car WAS lower than before.  So I don't quite understand how the car could pass the shaken rules with the S-Tunes when it was lower than the Ohlins, but oh well.  When I called Ninomiya-san about it, he thinks it might be due to the Do-Luck Roll Center Adjusters, and while that makes sense about the height, I'm still a bit confused about how it could pass Shaken...

You can see how close to the fender the tire/wheel is.

In any case, the car needs a proper alignment so I'm not driving it until I get the Ohlins re-installed and the alignment done.  Of course meanwhile I will simply have to have other projects to keep me busy, although I expect the Ohlins to be rebuilt and ready to go fairly soon. I'm really looking forward to experiencing the DFVs when as good as new!

Yes On Speedhunters Now... But Don't Worry....

June 10, 2016, 10:00 am

≫ Next: A Most Interesting Visit To Nissan Prince Tokyo...(The Ultimate Garage?)

≪ Previous: (Temporarily) Back on the S-Tunes! My Impressions...

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This Blog Isn't Going Anywhere...

So by now, you've seen that my friend Dino has managed to convince me to begin posting on Speedhunters.  As I stated in that post, the main reason is to show everyone how great a car the R33 GT-R is, despite the lack of attention compared to the R32 and R34. What better way to reach, and educate, the masses?

And yes, I expect the haters to come out, but I also expect the fans to come defend the car as well. We shall see. No doubt this will be interesting, but it won't stop me.

In any case, what you will begin seeing is that the Speedhunters posts I do will be photo intense, as befitting the Speedhunters theme.   Since I know nothing about photography, and I have no intention of aspiring to be a "pro" like some people out there, I am hoping the "full auto" setting on my Nikon DSLR will be able to produce some nice photos.

I will continue to blog here of course, and here I will go into more detail about the mods I do and the adventures I have.  In addition, I expect there to be some posts that are not featured on Speedhunters at all, either being too nerdy/OCD or historical pieces like the one I did comparing the R34 GT-R with the R33.

For this first Speedhunters post, Dino and I actually took advantage of our trip to visit Nakamura-san at Worx Auto Alarmearlier this year.  After our visit, there was a beach nearby, so with daylight fading we found a place to park and for Dino to take a few photos. Here are some photo I took of Dino at work:

I think this shot didn't end up making it...maybe because it shows our two kids in the back seat?

He forgot to remove the extra clear floor mat covering the GT-R floor mat...

This one came out beautifully. I can see why it isn't just point and shoot.

So far away, but the photo that resulted looked just right! Must be a lens thing...

Dino's camera bag was HUGE. Took up most of the space in the trunk! So much pro stuff...

So yes, the fact I have these photos means that, back in April I knew something was up. Believe me I'm happy to be able to post on Speedhunters, I'm sure many would give their right arm to do so. So, I have to thank Dino for the opportunity.  But now, the pressure is ON. Not only to post, but to find more new and interesting parts to fit to my car in my quest for "balanced refinement" which as you know has always been my theme.

So if you guys, my loyal and original readers, have any ideas, please let me know! Better yet, if you know of someone or some company itching to get their product featured on Speedhunters, AND of course it works on the R33 GT-R, send them my way please! Of course will give proper credit for ideas and referrals on Speedhunters, so long as they let me!!

A Most Interesting Visit To Nissan Prince Tokyo...(The Ultimate Garage?)

July 2, 2016, 8:28 am

≫ Next: The Smallest, Quickest Mod Ever?

≪ Previous: Yes On Speedhunters Now... But Don't Worry....

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About a month ago, while still waiting for the Ohlins DFVs on my car to be rebuilt, I got a call from Nissan Prince, telling me that a few more parts that I had ordered for my GT-R had come in.

Now, I knew that I had ordered something, but basically forgot what they were. So, there was no burning desire on my part to visit them. Plus, I'd feel awkward rolling up in the Lexus... but a couple of weekends ago, I had nothing to do, so said what the heck and paid a visit.

Pretty EPIC photo actually... probably have to be a REAL F car to park a Lexus there...

I was pleasantly surprised by what I found there. Despite my 10 years of patronage, I had never seen this kind of line-up:

Where to begin? Check out this line-up!

An R31 GTS,  BNR32, BCNR33, BNR34 (and a V-Spec II too), and a Stagea RS260. All under the same roof, it's like a Nissan fanboy's dream garage!

I love the boxy shape... but then looking closer I saw something under the front bumper...

The GT AutoSpoiler!

So if you want to know why I got so excited with this: Check out from about 0:26 to the end, where they should you the AutoSpoiler in action.

That is just TOO cool....Active aero.... hmm... gives me an idea for my car!!

Oh man that is mid 1980s goodness (except for the nice Nardi wheel there...)! Boxy and square, no airbags!

Yeah yeah ok a V-Spec II. Yawn. Seen several before...

Now THIS is more interesting. I had never seen one up close before, or maybe it's because I have a family now that I'm more sensitive to more "practical" transportation!

And yes of course the 33 had some interesting bits as well:

Note the optional front bumper oil cooler intake/exhaust.

The 33 had the optional Nissan engine oil cooler and the funky bumper mounted intake and exhaust... on the later cars like mine (the kohki or Series 3 as they are called in English), the left turn signal actually had a built in cut-out, compared to the earlier cars.

Like this:

Note the cutout for air going to the oil cooler that MIGHT be installed on the left side of the front bumper.

Finally, right when I was about to leave, this pulled up:

Not a real Z-tune, but a very good copy.

For some reason the guy left his car idling, stinking up the entire place. I had to roll up the windows in my Lexus as my son was asleep in the back. Oh, and never mind the exhaust particles getting everywhere (and yes on my Lexus' paint...)

So what did I pick up, spare parts-wise?

Just 3 small things...

Stay tuned as I show you what I got, and for what!

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The Smallest, Quickest Mod Ever?

July 13, 2016, 9:46 am

≫ Next: Öhlins DFV Rebuild (Part 2) and Factory Tour!

≪ Previous: A Most Interesting Visit To Nissan Prince Tokyo...(The Ultimate Garage?)

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So of the 3 parts I got (as I mentioned in my last post), 2 require some disassembly of my car, so I will deal with them later; but one is a 15 second affair.

Just this one little piece...

If you recall I now have a brand new cowl piece, for some reason this part was missing.

A while back, I had replaced the cowl on my car, with a brand new part. Looks great, but I noticed one part that seemed to be missing. You can see in the photo above that it looked like there is supposed to be a square plug?

Anyway, took what - exactly 1 second to push it in...excuse the dirt there...

So I am guessing that, this might prevent some water from getting in there, but remind me to go back and ask the guys at Nissan if it's supposed to be round like this. Little things like this bother me.

Although from a far, you really can't tell anyway...

You may have noticed that these photos seem a bit different than those I usually post here. That's because these were taken not with my usual iPhone, but this time with my Nikon D90 DSLR, and with a fixed, non-zoom 35 mm Nikkor lens (can you tell I have very little experience with photography?...)

Anyway, with my car now being featured on Speedhunters, I've been told that I need to use a proper camera and also learn about "bokeh" and such to take the photos in a way that I focus on the subject. So was told to fool around with the camera, set it on Aperture mode, etc.  And so this is what I've been doing. Any tips?

By the way - it turned out the Ohlins had been done for a few weeks, and have already been sent back to BeAmbitious for reinstallation. However both myself and Ninomiya-san have been too busy to deal with this, but we finally did last week. My next post WILL be about the Ohlins, and very soon...

Öhlins DFV Rebuild (Part 2) and Factory Tour!

July 25, 2016, 2:14 am

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Note: The following began as a post for another site. Unfortunately, that fell through. So, please enjoy this "exclusive" post, which I've modified and added to provide more detail than what would have ended up on the other site.

1.     In the Beginning   2. Rebuild Time   3. Factory Tour.   4. Reinstall and Impressions

1. In the Beginning

Rolling on the S-Tunes...

Soon after I bought my BCNR33, seeking a more sporty ride and wedded to the idea of “close to OEM as possible,” I replaced the OEM (“GT-R” labeled!) shocks with Nismo’s street focused, steel bodied S-Tune shock absorbers, which looked great and had a slightly firmer, sportier ride. 

Like these

After a few years however, I found performance on the track to be a bit lacking.  At the same time, I began reading about rebuildable, customizable “proper coilovers” and then found that Öhlins had come out with their aluminum bodied “DFV” coilovers (incorporating their Dual Flow Valve system) for the BCNR33 and BNR34. 

Developed by Öhlins AB in Sweden, the DFV technology uses two sub-valves, one on the compression side and the other on the rebound side, to supplement the main piston.  These valves allow for high speed (not car velocity, but how quickly the dampers react to the road surface) damping, while the main piston handles low speed damping. This means, while maintaining the characteristics of the main piston (which can be paired with a fairly stiff spring, as is often the case for cars that might see the track), DFV equipped dampers respond almost immediately to minor road imperfections, thus maximizing tire traction while giving a smooth, compliant ride.

From: http://www.roadandtrackbyohlins.com

Despite the DFV coilovers being relatively new to the market back then, I managed to find and buy a used set online for a great price.  The seller claimed he had bought them new and then used them for a few thousand kilometers before switching back to something softer, only then to have his car stolen! Thus, he was divesting himself of all of his leftover GT-R parts.  Anyway, once installed they were indeed like new, and I immediately noticed the difference between the S-Tunes, with the ride being much firmer, but also, and quite paradoxically, extremely smooth.

2. Rebuild Time

Flash forward six years and several thousand kilometers later, the ride had gotten progressively worse, but I didn’t really think anything was off until on a recent journey to the back roads of Chiba Prefecture with Mr. Dalle Carbonare, when we both agreed that something seemed off, that the suspension seemed to not have enough rebound. It was a reminder that my gold DFV coilovers were long overdue for a rebuild.

Looks great, but the ride was actually not as good as it should have been.

As I don’t have the garage space to do a coilover removal and reinstall, I asked Ninomiya-san (my neighborhood mechanic) to do the work at his shop, “BeAmbitious.”  Once removed, the actual rebuild would take place at Öhlins’ authorized Japanese manufacturer and distributor, Labo Carrozzeria in Adachi Ward, Tokyo.  Turns out, as an ex-NISMO race team mechanic, Ninomiya-san has plenty of contacts in the industry, and so knowing I wanted to see how a rebuild was done, he called Labo Carrozzeria and arranged for me to visit them for a private tour of their operations.

3. Factory Tour

Outside Labo Carrozzeria, where Öhlins are built and serviced.

Upon my arrival, I was greeted by Hiroshi Shitakubo, Group Leader for the Sales Department.  After exchanging pleasantries (turns out we know people in common in the car world here!), he gave me a short history lesson on Öhlins AB and how they had begun in Sweden making shocks for 2 wheeled vehicles. He also discussed their current product line-up, including their racing, rally and offroad, and Build To Order(BTO) applications, their JDM-only models, and of course their DFV coilovers, now silver in color (due to environmental concerns) and sold worldwide as their “Road & Track” models.

One question I was curious about – the difference between the Road & Track models versus the Öhlins models with remote-reservoir tanks, such as the Flag-R series for GT-Rs.  Shitakubo-san explained that the remote-reservoir models do not have DFV technology, but they do have more fluid volume and adjustability, so in a nutshell, the Road & Tracks are more street (with the occasional track day) focused, while the external tank models are more track oriented, given their increased adjustability along with the smooth pavement of the race track. Plus, he mentioned that many GT-R owners love how the reservoir tank model “looks cool.”

Shitakubo-san then invited me to tour the factory/workshop floor with him.  On entry, he pointed out that most the workstations are dedicated to the automotive line-up, with the motorcycle section in a segregated space in back.

Shitakubo-san leading me onto the workshop floor...

Unfortunately, it turned out that they had already finished rebuilding my DFV coilovers so I wasn’t able to watch them do that.  However, I was able to witness various coilovers at different stages of overhaul, as well as new Road & Track sets being built.

The new silver colored Road & Tracks being assembled

For rebuilds, all the incoming coilovers are thoroughly cleaned, inspected and then disassembled.

Total concentration there...

All disassembled, ready to be rebuilt

Certain parts are always replaced, whether or not the wear is obvious or not.  Those parts include the various internal seals, and of course the oil. 

Where the DFV magic resides

On occasion, they will spot damage to the main piston, or other areas including the exterior, and when this affects performance they will change out those parts as well.  Never having seen the innards before, I was surprised to learn how many pieces make up the valve assembly:

Lots of pieces...

Close up of the valve

The coilovers are then reassembled to the customer’s order, which might include changed springs and compression/rebound rates, as well as the addition of optional features. Finally the coilover undergoes several QC checks before being shipped back to the customer. In my case, as you can see below, I chose to swap out the standard pillow ball mounts with rubber mounts, but kept everything else standard to the recommended Öhlin spec.

Here is a pair of newly rebuilt BTO DFVs for a Lexus IS-F (not mine unfortunately):

They really don't replace external parts for cosmetic reasons... this IS-F sees a lot of action I guess

And a close-up of new Road & Tracks ready to get shipped out.

So they no longer make the gold ones... hold onto them as collectibles!

4. Reinstall and Impressions

When my schedule finally cleared up a few weeks later, I dropped into BeAmbitious where I had the pleasure of removing my rebuilt DFV coilovers from their protective bubble wrap packaging.

The anticipation was too much...

I tore off that bubble wrap in no time!! Then starting drooling.

Interestingly, Labo Carrozzeria also sends back all the used parts, mainly to give picky owners peace of mind that they did the rebuild.

Obviously I can't tell what is worn out... but I've heard it's those rubber rings...

Here you can see how the top mounts are now rubber (compared to the old solid mounts).  Shitakubo-san told me these were developed in order to absorb the noise that normally gets transmitted via the solid mounts, even when new.  I've since learned that there might be a loss in feel but...

Old solid mount on left, coilover now hos the rubber mount. This photo also reminded me that the set-up uses Eibach springs too... quality throughout!

Once re-installed on my GT-R, I could not believe how amazing the ride was. The ride was extremely smooth, quiet and comfortable but at the same time firm and stable, with no weird body movements, whether at low or high speed.  The entire car feels very tight, but without any harshness. Loss of feel due to the rubber mounts? None that I could detect, really!

Given that Öhlins markets the Road & Track series as improvements to the OEM suspensions on high performance German cars, I think that gives you an idea of the kind of performance I am trying to describe.  If you do a search on the web, I see so many comparisons between the DFVs and other very famous brands, and almost always the verdict is in favor of the DFVs. So I'm happy I stumbled onto them.

Oh, and now, after having driven the GT-R with these rebuilt, I know why Öhlins recommends a rebuild every 2 years or 20,000 kms.

What I saw when I went to pick up the GT-R...

"Anyway, now with these as-new DFV coilovers, along the stiffened chassis and NISMO suspension links, I’m pretty happy with the handling characteristics of the car.  However, I’m not done yet as I have several projects in mind, all aimed at seeking further refinement on various aspects of the car, and not just in the handling department.  Thanks for reading this and next time I hope to showcase one of those refinements."

And so with the quote above, I ended the original post... but it turned out that Ninomiya-san had spotted something odd on the car when he was doing the reinstall... stay tuned and I will post an update on that!

Uh-Oh... Is this Serious?

July 29, 2016, 10:05 am

≫ Next: Problems Solved... With a Smile!

≪ Previous: Öhlins DFV Rebuild (Part 2) and Factory Tour!

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As I hinted in my last post, when I picked up my car from Ninomiya-san after he had installed the rebuilt Öhlins DFVs, he had some disconcerting news: the NEW transfer case was LEAKING OIL!  Since this is a brand new BNR34 transfer, part of the NISMO GETRAG Transmission Conversion Kit for the R32/R33 which I had had installed just last August, I was not happy to say the least, hoping that it would be just a matter of tightening a few bolts or sealing it up.

So I took the car back to Nissan Prince Tokyo Motorsports at the Nissan Prince dealership in Sakura-Shinmachi, about a 30 minute drive from my house.

Indulge me, still learning how to use the camera...

The technicians immediately rolled the car onto the lift, and found this:

Otherwise, was really, REALLY clean underneath!

A clear leak. They admitted they had never seen this before, and were just as puzzled as me as to what the cause could be. Maybe not bolted up tight enough? Maybe a gasket? Maybe the transfer is bad? In any case, they took a whole bunch of photos of the area and the car, so they could email them to NISMO. Unfortunately, because it was a Sunday, no immediate response would be coming.  While they had the car up, I asked about the main driveshaft, whether it was the same as the BNR34's... the answer is no, apparently it's a bespoke NISMO piece. Oh well, so much for getting that carbon fiber driveshaft...

Also, while they had the car up, I remembered that a few months back Dino had mentioned something about a slight shimmy in the steering wheel.  Turns out he was right!

Luckily it was only on this side...

Their initial diagnosis was either a bad tie rod bearing, or the bolts attaching the Do-Luck roll center adjuster needed to be tightened, but only on the left side.

In any case, as I don't need my car this week, I decided to leave the car with them for a few days so they can discuss with NISMO what to do about that transfer case leak.

So I watched them lower the car and pull up in front of their car elevator:

Before watching the door come down, and saying goodbye.

Hopefully, the phone call I get, won't be an expensive one...

Problems Solved... With a Smile!

August 2, 2016, 9:39 am

≫ Next: Can There Ever Be Enough Protection (OCD Goes Extreme)?

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So as I indicated in my latest Speedhunters post, the guys at Nissan Prince Tokyo Motorsports Factory were able to fix the leak in the transfer case, despite NISMO's apparent refusal to acknowledge any liability. And, they did so without charging me. So a word to the wise before spending lots of money in the belief that name brands will have good customer service. I'm hoping I just got unlucky, but I was in turn lucky that the dealership did the right thing.

With me trying to learn how to take photos, there were bound to be some that ended up on the Speedhunters cutting room floor. But this is my blog, so I though I'd share some here.

Clearly Mr. Dalle Carbonare has been in Japan too long, with the school boy "V" sign during photos

So at casual glance, you see a boring standard Nissan dealer, complete with EV charging station out front

Look closely and you see the sign suggesting goodies within

Here I jumped out, trying my hand at being a Speedhunter. Ok never mind. And yes Dino's two way turnsignal/daylight  LEDs are acting up

I like this shot because it shows that BNR34s only had the outside only brake lamps that lit up. So the Kohki/Series 3 R33 GT-Rs are an anomaly, as it does this also, different from all other 33s and all 32s.

Anyway, once we parked we inspected my car. Although I didn't bother mentioning in the Speedhunters post, I was more concerned about the left wheel wobble, than the leaking transfer case. I had another photo I took of the underside, simply because it was so clean underneath, with all the new GETRAG related parts. But as I discussed in the Speedhunters article, that problem was fixed, with a smile!

About the wheel wobble though - turns out I also didn't have to worry. The Nissan techs figured out what was wrong that caused the wheel wobble - turned out that the bolts (circled in red above) holding the Do-Luck roll-center adaptors in had loosened up. So, they tightened them up, on both sides for good measure.

Here is a close up of the Do-Luck roll center adjuster - you can see the red circle contains what other roll center adjusters look like, but the rest of the part is designed to allow the tie rods to be raised back up to OEM spec. This results in lighter steering, with less stress on the steering rack.

So now that I have the rebuilt Ohlinson, with a laser wheel alignment, all wheels balanced, and the roll-center adaptors solidly bolted on, how does the car feel?

In a word - amazing. The roll center adjusters keep the steering light, but with everything squared up and tight, the feel through the wheel is amazing. I still feel a slight dead spot straight on, but even so it's much less than what I recall from before. So, it's been a long journey with many mods and parts but I am finally very close to what I believe to be the best handling, feeling wise, my car is capable of (despite the wide tires and relatively heavy chassis - it will never be like an NSX, unfortunately).

I did drop a hint in the Speedhunters post, however, about what I want to do soon to further improve the handling. The only things stopping me at the moment are time and money, which hopefully I can figure out a work around to...

Meanwhile I may have some other stuff on the horizon. Stay tuned and thanks as always for reading this blog!

Can There Ever Be Enough Protection (OCD Goes Extreme)?

September 22, 2016, 5:28 am

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Although my most recent post on Speedhunters gives a more concise story, I thought I'd show in detail the effort made by Ishiguro-san from Yes!PPF in the application of paint protection film to my car.

Background: A few months ago I had washed my car to clean up the salt and rain that had gotten onto my car during my trip out to Worx Auto Alarm.

After washing, I decided to take a quick drive to "air dry" what water I couldn't reach.  Since I had just picked up my Lexus from Yes!PPF at CREF and was happy with the work they did in installing a clear bra on the car, I stopped by to see what they could do for the GT-R.

Unlike the Lexus IS-F, (which is sold in the USA and thus data on the bumper shape, etc. is readily available), this GT-R, not having been sold overseas (with limited exceptions), would require a custom job, as the worldwide Xpel database does not contain pre-measured templates by which the film is cut to shape.

Having called ahead, Ishiguro-san was ready with his clipboard, tape measure and sticky paper as soon as I arrived.  Since the bumper and the bonnet are in near perfect shape, these two are the areas I asked for an estimate.

Apparently not many Japanese cars park where I did.

Interestingly, the number and size of inlet scoops didn't really seem to matter.

Sticky paper to get an accurate reading of how much film area is needed

I have to admire how he squats and keeps his balance there...

Amazingly, we agreed on a very reasonable price.  So then it was just a matter of arranging for me to drop off the car...

Flash forward a few months, and I finally have some time to drop the car off in the morning.

WOW. That DR30 sure is gorgeous...although I was told that most R30 owners aren't too keen about the RB26 Skylines lol

So the plan is to have the newly painted front bumper and bonnet (hood) protected.

And here is their booth - they had just come back from some show, so they were embarrassed by the mess.

I was pleased to learn that, they used the top line Xpel Ultimate film, which apparently has some self-healing qualities! Unfortunately, they would not let me go full Speedhunters-mode while they installed the clear film, however they were kind enough to take some photos FOR me during the process, as here (so ALL photos below are Copyright Yes!PPF):

Looks like an initial clean/wetdown

I was particularly happy with how this hood lip was covered -  frankly it looks BETTER now, with more gloss, than before

I bet getting all that water solution out is satisfying...

Love the attention to detail, how the curves were handled!

This bumper has GOT to be a nightmare, with all those holes...

You can see the precision cut where the intercooler cut out is.

Love the way some extra is left, to wrap around the inside of the bumper's wheelwell

This has got to be the toughest part...

Lining up the two cuts, just perfectly!

This was unexpected, how they decided to go ahead on the black part of the intercooler surround!

Look! Can't tell the film is there!

So now, except for the front lip spoiler (which has some cracks and chips; although there was film applied to the center, I'll eventually get repainted to perfection), the front end is protected from the inevitable road debris and rock chips... yes it happens even here in Japan!

Whether this means I actually drive my car more, remains to be seen, but for now, a little bit of protection makes me feel better!

Hakone Run with Friends... and What I Learned

September 23, 2016, 7:23 am

≫ Next: Titanium Bolts Engine Cover Dress Up Project (Part 1)

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By now you've likely seen my latest Speedhunters post of my trip to Hakone with friends following getting the car protected with paint protection film; to me in addition to having fun, I was appreciative that my friend Dino showed me how to "shake down" the car and analyze its driving dynamics.

Thanks to his experience and skill, as I mentioned in the Speedhunters article, I now know how the Mine's VX-Rom tune is old school - there is the flat spot upon acceleration, lack of ignition retardation when coming off throttle, and too much turbo drop between shifts. Never mind the excess fueling that causes everything to run rich, for the sake of cooling off the cylinders.

The Ohlins DFVs are superb; with Speedhunters being sponsored by another damper manufacturer obviously I couldn't list the brand, but those of you who also read this blog know how good these DFVs are.

There was one other item I didn't mention in the article due to space.  The brakes felt like there was a lack of vacuum assist - both when cold and after warmed up - so I am wondering if there is either a fluid problem, excessive brake pad wear, or if a larger master cylinder is required after all. This, I will have to investigate further.

Obviously I did take some photos, but since I'm generally a terrible photographer, most of the good ones I took ended up on the Speedhunters article.  Luckily, my friend Russ is a naturally talented photographer and he was kind enough to share the following photos.

So taking photos from different angles (like on your stomach) can be good I guess!

Here I had just noticed one of my backup cameras dangling due to double stick tape failure.

Here is Miguel's 2002 Honda VTR SP2. Simply awesome, many tasty bits!

And yes, the sound was phenomenal! LOL.

Also, be sure to check out the other photos Russ took during the road trip, on HIS blog.  Thanks again Russ, it was great to see you and catch up!

Anyway, in my article I hinted at dealing with something that had always bothered me ever since I bought the car. I do have some other stuff I need to do first, but stay tuned as I may decide to jump right into this big mod!

(actually, truth be told I drive my IS-F more, and having just been given a GS-F for the day I'm itching to do some mods immediately to the Lexus... uh oh...)

Titanium Bolts Engine Cover Dress Up Project (Part 1)

October 7, 2016, 11:58 pm

≫ Next: Titanium Bolts Engine Cover Dress Up Project (Part 2)

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As many of you know, I am quite active in ClubR33, the invitation-only R33 GT-R owner's club Facebook group. It's a great bunch of guys and because it's closed to the public (we screen potential members before we allow them access) we can focus on, and be proud of, all things R33 without worrying about the usual detractors we often see in more public forums.

Anyway, one of the nice things of belonging to a group like this, is that we can embark on projects which might not be worth doing by oneself.  For example, after we discovered that, someone was selling colorful titanium bolts on eBay for RB26DETT engine bays, but at a premium, I wondered if the Club could do better - could we, for example, have the OEM engine bolts replicated, but also in titanium? And in attractive colors? Would it be expensive and not worth it?  I mean, this DressUpBolts guy is smart, by limiting the dimensions (both threading and the heads which area all Allen head) of the bolts he offers, he has enormous economies of scale.


In any case, I put out some feelers on Alibaba, the e-commerce site that connects the world directly to Chinese factories, and found a dealer who not only was willing to do the job, but impressed me by taking the photos of the measurements I took of the following bolts (these are just a few):

This is the bolt for the RB26 front cam cover.

Same bolt as above.

This is the bolt for the CAS. Note the captive washer

This is my homemade jig I use to measure bolts. Here, I found that the bolts for the coilpack cover (green circle) are M5, while the CAS bolt is M6.

and coming back in a few hours with the following:

They got everything EXACTLY right!

Anyway, I was pretty happy with how these guys understood how picky I was. I wanted exact replicas of the OEM factory bolts, and I wanted them removable by the same tools as the OEM bolts as well.  Hence it was very important to get the dimensions correct, not just of the thread but of the heads as well. The only compromise I made was on the CAS bolt. Instead of a having a Phillips head, the factory only felt comfortable doing an Allen head. But I realized that I usually use a socket wrench for this bolt anyway so in the end I capitulated.

Because the factory however required a minimum order of 100 bolts, this is a project I would not normally do on my own. But, with several like-minded members, this was a go! And, the pricing would be much lower than the generic aluminum and titanium bolts we had seen on eBay.  So we placed our first order and a few weeks later received this:

Nice huh! Color is "burnt blue"

We were thrilled - these came out much better than we had anticipated. But then, there was overwhelming demand - while an earlier poll had shown that only a dozen or so members expressed interest, once people saw this photo there was more demand than available bolts.  Luckily someone then pointed out to me that, we were missing one bolt, the third short bolt found in the middle of the RB26 front cam cover. Oops.  But just the excuse I needed to order some more and have enough for everyone.

And, based on demand, we (the admins of the Club) decided that we needed to make these bolts even more special.  The way to do that, would be to have one or more of the bolts laser etched with "ClubR33." A small detail that reflects the Club brotherhood!

So I placed another order, and in addition to the missing bolt and the engraving, ordered the bolt set in two anodized (actually "nitride") colors, gold and black. This time, the wait took longer, but the results were definitely worth it.

Nitride Black

Nitride Gold

Here are the new blue ones, with the laser engraved club name

Bagged up for the members, ready to be mailed out!

So far, so good. But I wondered, how good would these bolts look on the engine of MY car? Check in tomorrow to find out...

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Titanium Bolts Engine Cover Dress Up Project (Part 2)

October 9, 2016, 2:00 am

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So as I described in yesterday's post, we (ClubR33) had ordered custom titanium bolts for the engine's Rb26 front cam cover, the CAS, and the coil pack cover - some 18 bolts in all.  In "burnt blue,""nitride gold" and "nitride black."

Of course, as I send out the bolts to the ClubR33 members who ordered, I wondered how the bolts would look on my car. So I took advantage of a rare break in the rain and took the follow photos. Enjoy!

Installation Examples:

Burnt blue coil cover bolts

The bolt on right has "ClubR33" laser engraved.

Here is a close up

Nitride Gold

Frontal shot

Better shot to see the coilpack cover bolts

Close up of laser engraving for Nitride Black bolts

Here you can see the OEM bolts (circled in red) vs the black titanium bolts.

So which do you like the best? For some reason, I am drawn to the black ones. Understated, but with purpose. The gold is too flashy for me, but I think of the 3 colors I like them the best (overall finish, and color quality).  The burnt blue is attractive, but honestly the coloring is quite susceptible to scratching (not important under the hood, really), and the coloring is not consistent (actually that is good, no one will have the exact same set) and so for someone with OCD like me, sticking to a solid color may be the way to go. I guess I will just have to experiment...

Weight Savings!
And of course, for those who may be skeptical of the whole exercise, these bolts DO have a practical purpose. Being titanium, they ARE lighter than the steel bolts they replace.

So a 26 gram weight savings for the RB26 cam cover

Since there are 12 bolts in total, we would have 9x3 = 27 grams of weight savings

And 3 of these on the CAS. So 5x3 = 15 grams of weight savings.

So in total, we would have 26 + 27 + 15 = 68 grams of weight savings! LOL. As you can see, no one can deny that they do not have an actual purpose, although I am sure there are more cost effective ways to drop weight from the front of the car!

What do you guys think?

A Recent Video Review of the BCNR33!

October 11, 2016, 1:13 am

≫ Next: Minor Mod: Nissan Sports Horn

≪ Previous: Titanium Bolts Engine Cover Dress Up Project (Part 2)

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Well it was bound to happen. Someone saying nice things about me, this blog, and of course the R33 GT-R.  Thanks to Paul and Derek from Let's Drive Japan.

"Full disclosure"-  I know both of them but I really had no idea they would be reviewing the 33 so early in their series (although, I was meaning to suggest they do so soon in their series).

What I found interesting was Derek's immediate analysis, compared to the BNR34. He's right, the BNR34 is "more refined and softer" - as you may recall from reading this blog, that is exactly what Nissan wanted, as they felt that the BCNR33 was fast enough, but it took a skilled driver to get those results.  And having driven a stock BNR34 myself, I was surprised that it felt more like a luxury car (in terms of smoothness of ride and the level of power assist) than a sports car, at least at around town speeds.

I suspect that this car they drove was fairly stock. Perhaps I need to extend them an invite to drive my car?

Meanwhile, well done boys, keep the videos coming!

Minor Mod: Nissan Sports Horn

November 13, 2016, 7:53 am

≫ Next: Inaugural Club R33 Brisbane Member Meet

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Truth be told, this wasn't something essential that had to be replaced. However, for my next Speedhunters post, I am trying to demonstrate to those readers how OCD I am, and so I am going with several engine bay touch-ups which I hope to share with you soon.

One item, though, that I discovered during my engine bay clean-up was the dirty/oxidized condition of the OEM horn, which is actually two horns - one for high pitch and the other for low pitch which together generate the following sound:

So this is what it sounds like, normally.

During my "engine bay refresh" I discovered that the horns, while they still work without issue, looked horrible.

The "lo-tone" one on the right, I sprayed with Rust-o-leum paint as an experiment.

As the above photo shows, I initially wanted to "save" the OEM horns - and while I could have, by for example spraying each with anti-rust Rust-o-leum paint, I decided, why not go with quality aftermarket?

So of course I did some research, and found someone in Japan who was even more OCD than me:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLAzOtSblbBAYpk_TAVkeaD09ybypoMzM2

This guy tested over 70 car horns, mainly aftermarket.  As a result, I decided to stick with a Nissan aftermarket part, the "Nissan Sports Horn." The one I found was offered as an accessory for the Z34 Fairlady Z car.

So I ordered and a few days later...

Each one comes wrapped up like this.

As you can see, much larger than OEM.

And the horn elements are encapsuled in a nautilus shaped black plastic

Installation was NOT plug and play, however.  Not a major issue, but unlike the OEM horn, which is grounded though the bolt connecting to the frame, the Z34 horns require a wire to be run from a lead - here I've shown with the green arrow where I had to run a short wire lead.  In other words, the Z34 has 2 wire clips, one for the positive terminal (which are the same as can be seen below) and then one for ground.  All I did was ground using a wire.  Then, it was a matter of slightly bending the brackets for each horn to ensure they fit in the space behind the grill without rubbing on anything.

Interesting, grounding by way of the bracket and bolt does NOT work with the Z34 horn. At least when I tried.

I should mention that Nissan apparently offers this "Sports Horn" (aka "Euro Horn") for every single car in their line-up, so installing the Sports Horn doesn't give a unique sound to the car. Just a different sound.

So what do people think? Yes, not one of my best posts, but I think when you see the before and after photos of what I've done, you might be impressed.  Patience my friends as I get around to taking Speedhunter quality final photos...

Inaugural Club R33 Brisbane Member Meet

December 10, 2016, 2:37 am

≫ Next: Final Mod for 2016! Modernizing the Front Lights (Part 1)

≪ Previous: Minor Mod: Nissan Sports Horn

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So yes folks, even on vacation I do R33 GT-R and car related things. Case in point, last week when I vacationed in the Gold Coast, Queensland Australia, I realized it was quite close to Brisbane... and that Club R33 had several members who live in Gold Coast as well as Brisbane.  

So I reached out, and then suddenly a Club R33 GT-R owners meet was on!

First however, I wasn't going to show up in some econobox. Being Australia, I figured I should rent something ADM... something not only made there, but uniquely Aussie. So I ended up getting this:

Holden Commodore SV6! This is the last Commodore series to be made in Australia, from next year they are all imported!

Dual Exhaust hints at performance

Healthy looking V-6 engine, rear wheel drive!

Unfortunately, I could not believe how cheap the interior was, for a "Premium" level car - fake and poorly done carbon fiber everywhere, pleather... and the entertainment system blanked out and then rebooted itself once...

Anyway, on the appointed day Mark was kind enough to pick me up at the hotel I stayed at in Surfer's Paradise, to lead me to the "Hungry Jack" at "Upper Coomera" wherever that was.

I felt like I was home all of sudden...

One thing I noticed... Wow the 33 sure has PRESENCE on local Aussie roads!

Anyway, we soon arrived and we found the others had already arrived.  Since I had my Nikon DSLR, I immediately started taking photos. I'll let the photos tell the story...

Here, Mark checks his phone to make sure we are at the right spot, given that there was a 944 in the mix (more on that later).

The mutual admiration has begun...

And in particular, Rhys and his ex-Targa Tasmania car!

Ok, I hate those "replica" wheels. Cast and heavy, unsprung weight places undue stress on suspension components. But, I understand these are temporary which is good...

Full welded in CAMS 6 point roll cage. Total fighter plane cockpit!

Ok now this is getting interesting.

Loved this custom catch tank! Nice detail on the vents!

Very clever placement of the oil cooler. Love the custom brackets!

And of course, the all important ClubR33 sticker. Required for all serious BCNR33 owners.

Mark's car. Love the number plate!

Interior is mostly stock, including that GINORMOUS Series 1 steering wheel.

Now this is cool, I loved it! Apexi N1 dual flow exhaust. Looks almost OEM from afar, but sounds amazing!

Glenn's car. OK, I was impressed. Super clean! And yes I even checked the BACKSIDE of the Enkei wheels... no brake dust!

Love the color of the engine covers? Me too. Glenn tells me it's a Holden color, "Prussian Steel Grey"! And yes I noticed the wrinkle paint on the surge tank too.

I was interested in these stickers. Apparently no longer in stock at Nissan (I checked here in Japan). Hopefully I can get one of the Club members to scan them and we can reproduce one day...

Clean + Sticker = extra 100hp!

Tox's car. Looks ordinary from here but note, the tracker on the front grill for track days...

Also running those Enkeis! Except none of the OCD clean that Glenn displayed.

This was AMAZING. Anyone know what this is?  I've seen it only in old Nissan Skyline option catalogs. It's the base Unit for the "Holographic Marker"

Upper left - the unit is called the "Holographic Marker" - the Unit sends out two beams, orange and green - and when viewed in the dash mounted "Combiner" - orange shows where an obstruction is, while green is 10 cm away. Supposed to help in parking...unfortunately Tox doesn't have the Combiner so we couldn't see how it worked.

Timm's 944 was impressive too. His brother Tom's 33 is "undergoing treatment" so they arrived in this.

Have to admit, very nicely done. Most of the paintwork was done when the engine was out of the car.

As Rhys left early, we asked Timm to take this memorial photo.

As there were a few members who could not make this meet, I hope they will do so at the next one, whether I am there or not.  Actually, it's my hope that people read this and start organizing their own events, so that we start having Club R33 meets all over the world!

How cool would that be? R33 FTW!

Final Mod for 2016! Modernizing the Front Lights (Part 1)

December 30, 2016, 7:30 am

≫ Next: Modernizing the Front Lights (Part 2)

≪ Previous: Inaugural Club R33 Brisbane Member Meet

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So as I couldn't have my last post for 2016 lead with a photo of a GM product, I decided to close out the year with one last post with a legitimate parts mod for my car.  Normally, I would try to post this onto Speedhunters first, but given my inability to handle a camera properly, plus given the subject of this post, I was sure there would be lots of people pointing out the inaccuracies behind my understanding of automotive lighting, so I decided this blog would be the better forum. Oh, and having this post be the first of a two part series doesn't exactly help either, especially when I currently have no idea how it's going to look when all done!

This is the photo from the Speedhunters post that got me thinking about an upgrade

Anyway - several years ago, I jumped on the LED bandwagon and purchased two generic “T10” bulbs for the R33’s front parking lights.  Immediately, they gave a brighter and whiter light.  And then honestly I forgot about them until I saw the above photo. Given advances in LED technology, both in color and brightness, I decided it was time for an upgrade.

Currently, aftermarket LED parking, lamp, OEM Xenon and OEM high beam H1 bulb means 3 different colors... will it be possible to get all close to the same shade of white, while not diminishing lighting performance?

For me, part of “really paying attention to the details” in parts for my car begins with gaining knowledge through research.  And lots of it.   So I began reading up on automotive lighting and LEDs, with the goal of replacing the parking, low and high beam with the brightest bulbs (legally) possible.  Unfortunately, brightness (measured either by wattage or lumens) is not the main factor most sellers of aftermarket bulbs advertise. There seems to be a fixation on color, commonly measured in Kelvins (K).  I found most aftermarket bulbs are in the 6000K to 8000K range (i.e. bluish white to purplish white) in an attempt to get that “HID” look.  But “whiter” does not necessarily equate to “brighter.”  And for me, for safety related items it’s always function over form, although in the context of modernizing, I DID want a bulb that was whiter than a standard halogen bulb.

So the challenge was to find the brightest AND whitest bulbs possible.  This meant finding reliable sources that give objective figures on characteristics such as brightness.  

X-treme Ultinon series from Philips - the 130 lumens T10 bulbs are extremely hard to find!

I finally settled on these bulbs for the headlights (HID - D2S) and parking lights (LED - T10).  Not only is the brand reputable (with warranty, etc.) but the packages both list the lumens and Kelvin figures and coming from the same manufacturer, my bet was that the Kelvin rating was consistent across both bulbs. 

Unfortunately, it seems that at the present time, no major manufacturer makes an H1 bulb (whether halogen or LED) with a Kelvin rating of 6200K.

 

So, I took a chance and bought these "H1 bulbs" with a claimed color of 6000K and brightness of 80 Watts off of Yahoo Auctions Japan.  I figured that as OEM was rated as 35W, these should be more than twice as powerful.  There are actually many other designs now with cooling fans and fins, but because I wanted to keep the watertight seal in the back of the headlight housing, I chose to gamble on these which have the same dimensions as equivalent halogen bulbs.  So, my focus at this point was on the BASE of the bulb - this would have repercussions later.

The first step was to gain access to the rear of each of the headlight housings.  Even though this is a car born in simpler times, access was not as easy as it could be, although still simple compared to modern cars (at least my daily anyway). Or so I thought.

Green arrow - twist counterclockwise to remove the parking lamp bulb. And yes, I see all that dirt there too!

I was able to remove the airbox on the front left, which gave me some access to the front left headlight cluster.  I decided to swap out the parking lights first.

The existing LED parking lamp. You can see that only one surface, the yellow face, lights up.

Lit up, the LED casts a bluish white glow. Which turns out to be a weak purple as you can see in the leading photo above.

Here is the new Philips LED - it looks very futuristic and cool!

Lit up. Not only a whiter light, but in all directions. Can't tell from the photo but it was blindingly bright!

Success! See how much brighter the left front bulb is!!

My fingers are small enough that I was able to access the existing LED lamp, but it didn't help when I tried to remove the outer cap to access the headlamps. 

That's because there is this anti-tamper Torx screw at the base of the cap.

But after showing the above photo to some friends in ClubR33, the invite-only Facebook club I am a part of, they educated me as to which Torx wrench I'd need. So, I immediately ordered a special Torx wrench set, after which I was able to swap out the OEM DS2 bulb for the Philips bulb.

Front left bulbs (so right hand side of photo) are not just MUCH whiter than the ones of the right front (left side of photo), but the color appears to be the same for both the low beam and the parking light!

Note, I did consider using an LED to replace the HID bulb, but given the possibility that the light disbursement from an LED bulb might not work effectively with this old school HID and its reflectors, I stuck with HID (for now). I think that was the right decision.  I was pleased with how the light appears to be the same whiteness.

I haven't taken the car out on a dark unlit road yet, but a quick visual check at night, out of the garage lighting up the house across the street, revealed no major difference I could see.

So the last step was to replace the H1 hi-beams with these LEDs.


However, I discovered that the headlight lens assembly only allows a BULB that is shaped EXACTLY like an H1 bulb to pass through. So despite my ensuring that the LED bulbs had an H1 bulb BASE, these bulbs themselves could not be fitted. Back to the drawing board. And no, I'm not going to modify the headlamp housings in any way.

Some online research suggests these bulbs outperform the equivalent top model from Philips in terms of brightness and sharpness of light!

Luckily, a few hours on the internet and more advice from friends in ClubR33 and I seem to have found a solution for the H1 bulb issue - stick with a halogen bulb, just a high performance one which hopefully has not only better light output but a cleaner, whiter appearance as well to match.

The other issue was that, even with my small fingers, I could not access the bulbs directly from the housings. So, I will likely have to remove the headlight housings to do any kind of swap.

In what is a first for me, as I write this I don't know how this will turn out. Early in the new year, I will finish this job and post the results. Stay tuned, and Happy Holidays everyone!