Saturday, June 11, 2016

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

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 Alarm earlier 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!!

Wednesday, June 8, 2016

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

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!