Sunday, March 23, 2008

Another Visit To Mine's

After getting my car back from the biannual Shaken (車検)nothing wrong apparently, just pay alot of taxes and they let you be - but what the heck, I went ahead and had all the fluids changed.

And what a difference - the transmission feels SO much better now - more more snick-snick accurate. And not as much grinding in 4th!

I drove down to Mine's - Nakayama-san and Nagahama-kun had promised to take care of one last detail which I wasn't happy with - the imperfectly painted engine covers on the new engine. So I got to Mine's at exactly 1500, then spent the next 90 minutes or so chatting with Nagahama about what was going on at Mine's. Some exciting projects underway!

So the car has temporary standard covers on now. Will insert pic here tomorrow.

Also, I mentioned to Nakayama-san that the car seemed to get a bit hotter than expected during the runs at FISCO, especially given the Toyo Al radiator. He recommended thinking about a way to get heat out of the engine bay by getting a new bonnet. I think he was talking about these kinds of thing.

Jun (113,400円)


Or
Aeromaster (35,000円 primer; 51,590円 painted):


Electra (388,500円!) 3.8kgs, though. Not worth it, but pretty:


I've also seen some on Yahoo Auctions that look like the Nismo Z-Tune bonnet for 66,000円. but it weighs 8kgs. Another version has one opening only, but weighs 7kgs.


I wonder what's the best deal?

4 comments:

Unknown said...

Do you recall what brand that last hood pictured is? I like these "Z-tune" hoods, however, I cant seem to find them in the more authentic "Z-tune" shape. Most notable difference I see is at the leading eadge corners of the vent, the "Z-tune" has more rounded corners. The "ebay" versions tend to have very sharp corners and just seem more aggressive looking. Thank you for sharing all this by the way

Aki said...

Yikes, that was 12 years ago! So sorry can't remember, but if on yahoo auctions a "carbon R33" search is usually what I would do, and these kinds of items would pop up. I do recall it being someone in Japan (and not an import from China). Apologies for not being more helpful...

Anonymous said...

Any chance you still know where the Electra hood can be found or if still avaible to order? On my wishlist since the longest time, btw love reading your posts man motivates me to continue my GTR journey!

Aki said...

I think unfortunately if you cannot get from Electra then Yahoo Auctions is your best bet... you can also try Trust Kikaku as they have English speakers...