Thursday, July 9, 2020

Update from NISMO... They Called Worx AutoAlarm And...

So this past Saturday afternoon, after two days of updates from Ochiai-san on the progress NISMO Omori Factory's Uchida-san had made on cleaning up the mess caused by Nakamura at Worx AutoAlarm, I was treated to some more interesting news from Ochiai-san.

He texted me to let me know that he had called Worx that morning in an effort to get some clarity on how and why Nakamura had spliced into the electrical harnesses for the alarm install in the peculiar (non-obvious and unusual) way he did.  He was hoping to figure out how best to remove the alarm, but alas from the get go things did not go well.

Even before mentioning my name, even though I think most small shops would be thrilled that Nismo Omori Factory was calling to inquire about their past work, the response was rude and unprofessional from the moment Nakamura answered the phone.

This irked Ochiai-san, but keeping his cool he asked Nakamura about his past installs, only to be bluntly told he didn't keep records or notes of any of his past installs ("Records? Why would I need records? It's all in my head").  In fact he told Ochiai-san that the mechanics at Nismo were complete amateurs and they should follow each wire back to figure it out themselves - never mind that the reason for the call was that we were hoping that professional courtesy would prevail and that Nismo wouldn't have waste time doing just that.

Of course when Ochiai-san expanded and told Nakamura that it was my car they were calling about, Nakamura got even more agitated, refusing to have anything to do with me and my car.   I guess my critiques and complaints had gotten back to him. He's lucky I've decided it's not worth suing him.

What was funny of course was that Ochiai-san (the most laid back guy at Nismo!) admitted to me that talking to Nakamura had really pissed him off - and he told me he now understands why I was complaining about Worx so much when I described what needed to be fixed.

In fact, Ochiai-san was so upset that he did some checking around and found that apparently Worx's and Nakamura's reputation is extremely negative.  So I was informed that NISMO will never have any dealings with Worx/Nakamura, and of course if any other customer asks for a referral for an alarm, Worx won't be on the short list. If pressed for details I've told Ochiai-san that it's ok for him to tell others what they found in my car...
Meanwhile Uchida-san had made significant progress - super clean!
Anyway, on to better and more positive things.  As all this was happening Uchida-san was diligently continuing his quest to clean up the stereo wiring.  Ochiai-san sent me the above photo which shows that in the end, Uchida-san was able to bring all the speaker wires together and use OEM connectors so that I can use those adaptor kits for Nissan stereo wiring to install a modern 1-DIN stereo without much hassle. Awesome!!

Next, a small bump in the road - even though I had bought an extra HVAC unit to replace the one that was now integrated into the shift surround panel, it turned out that the connectors in my car did not match the extra unit!  I learned today that the wiring connectors for kohki (Series 3) cars are different from the zenki (Series 1 and 2) earlier cars, which are identical to ones on the BNR32! I knew the parts numbers were different, but why change the connectors? So weird...
I bought this HVAC (with the bonus OEM radio/cassette deck) from Yahoo Auction assuming it would work 
Admittedly, I didn't test it to see if it would work in my car before handing over to Nismo Omori Factory
HVAC unit from my car on top with yellow sticker. The one I got on Yahoo Auctions with the black label.
So an expensive lesson on another area where the Series 3 R33 GT-R is different from the others.

In any case, to resolve the problem they did what they had to - which was to remove my old HVAC unit from the modified shift surround (because this HVAC part is no longer available new). When I looked at it previously, it appeared to be in there pretty solidly, but with the right tools...
I can almost hear that "CRACK" as the plastic separated
Unfortunately, looks like the sides of the unit and the front fascia have also been modified
And yeah sorry guys I don't think this can be re-used... will take a closer look in person however
 So what to do with the damaged fascia - remove and use the near pristine one from the incompatible older unit!
Super clean, and should fit on the newer unit
So that solves that issue quickly... which reminds me that before I took the car to Nismo, there was an odd clicking/whirring sound coming from behind the center A/C vents, when the key was turned to "ignition" but the engine wasn't started.  Turns out that this CyberNavi part was zip-tied behind the vents...
Apparently a relay from the CyberNavi...
...and when they tested after removing it the sound went away! So some good news! I'm not needing to replace the motors that control the vents, and it appears there was no damage done.

Finally some mixed news - I had instructed Nismo Omori Factory to remove the Morel speakers up front, and replace with the old Pioneers in the rear deck, just so I'd be able to listen to music when I get a 1DIN deck - an amp and high end speakers can come later!  Unfortunately, when they tried to remove the Morels, it turns out that the speaker wires were directly connected to the speakers, without using the clips or connectors (!). Who does that?? This is a GT-R, I'm not sure any improvement in sound quality can be noticed by a direct soldering install.

Since I plan to replace these speakers (and it's something I can do myself) I told them to leave it all as is, but to make sure that the wiring to the speakers, both front and rears are still functioning, I asked them to use the OEM radio-cassette deck to check - which of course was possible because thanks to Uchida-san we now have the OEM connectors for the speakers and deck.

And the result:


Ok so the sound quality isn't great but that's ok for now...



Unfortunately the tape deck doesn't work (would truly be period correct if it did!), but not a problem of course.

So what's next? Stay tuned...

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Man, I leave pretty meticulous documentation on anything complicated. It's really dangerous to assume that you will understand what you did more than a few days from now. If I gave that attitude to anyone I would be out of a job in no short order. When we worked on making an EFI harness for a car it was so complicated that everything was meticulously labeled, arrogance is extremely dangerous when you're working on something more complicated than a stereo install.

Direct soldering is never advisable in automotive applications for wiring. Putting aside maintenance concerns, solder is highly vulnerable to vibration and strain causing the joints to fail. Crimps allow for strain relief of the wire and properly done are much stronger.

With the hilariously low frequencies at play in speakers (20 kHz is nothing in the world of RF) whatever differences may exist in impedance matching/insertion loss between solder and crimp connection is likely below the threshold of hearing. Your dad would probably know more than some lowly BSEE though.

Aki said...

Thanks for the comment! Well, with this guy I'm not surprised but I would agree very poor practice in general.

And thanks for confirming that direct wiring isn't a good idea - especially for automotive use, especially in the audio space!

Finally - yes in fact my dad is a PhD in EE (maybe you know him? email me if so) but unfortunately I'm not as academic as him. lol.

Anonymous said...

I sent you an email recently about turbo selection - in the end I decided on GT3-SS due to the smaller turbine a/r, at 0.54 it's between the OEM 0.49 and original GT-SS' 0.64. Specs are light on it but in the end I figure it is probably going to be the smallest aftermarket turbo out there, ball bearing or not.

Aki said...

Smart choice I think, as I believe response trumps overall power, for driveability!