Monday, April 26, 2021

So the Latest Work at Nismo Omori Factory... (Part 2) - Carbon Parts!

So as I hinted in my last post, the remaining stuff I had done at Nismo Omori Factory involved carbon fiber. And of course, being Nismo carbon fiber, not inexpensive.

But long time readers know me, I try to keep all of my mods functional first, with bling a distant secondary issue, although my OCD compels me to, for example, try to match up the carbon fiber weave on all the carbon parts I've added to my car.

Anyway - the first bit of carbon began when a certain someone from the UK had Trust Kikaku send over this:

Which I promptly installed on the front. 

But for the rear due to the official non-removable metal cap on the license plate I gave up trying to install the Nismo carbon fiber license plate frame and bought a cheap one I found on Amazon which I installed, with very limited success. Basically it was held on by one screw, and some double stick tape. Not ideal...

So I was thrilled when the guys at Nismo sent me this photo:

Of course, I am not going to ask how it was done. But as an OEM tuning shop, I am sure they have their official connections. And the thinner frame, with the three dimensional shape, looks awesome! 

But all of this is minor compared to the next two items. First, behold this:


So I had these removed, and replaced with the Carbon Air Inlet Pipe set from the Nismo catalog:

Now I know what you are thinking. Why? Aki just said he wasn't into bling... well right. It turns out that Nismo engineers realized that the aluminum air inlet pipes allowed engine heat to be transmitted to the air flowing into the turbos, while carbon fiber, coated with a heat resistant resin, would do a better job of insulating the air from engine heat and therefore, cooler air would consistently flow into the turbos.  Therefore, there is a technical reason to swap out to carbon fiber piping. Especially in the case of a non-vented hood/bonnet, heat is the enemy, right? Makes sense and if I can't tell the difference during spirited driving, then I will pretend to notice an improvement. Because bling.

Have to admit, it might LOOK better than this...


The last piece is the following - which is not in the catalog BUT IS available for sale, apparently:

Yep - this is the air inlet that was developed for and installed on the Nismo R33 GT-R Clubman Race Spec car!  You see, when using the aluminum air inlet pipes, you can continue to use the OEM snorkel, albeit Nismo claim it loses some effectiveness because it becomes more restrictive as you are forced to melt the underside where it otherwise comes into contact with the aluminum pipes, in order to make it fit snugly in the OEM position...

Underside of my OEM snorkel, melted and actually flattened in 2 places

However, upon installation of the carbon air inlet pipes, the concern is that it is possible that the ABS plastic OEM snorkel might rub against and scratch the carbon piping (you can polish out aluminum, but not carbon...):

This section rubs against each other. Maybe I can melt the snorkel more? Does it mean the carbon pipes have a wider diameter than the aluminum ones? Something to verify.

More importantly, Nismo engineers wanted to explore whether there was a way to get more air into the air box.  They claim that this new design consistently delivers more air into the airbox, at any speed.


Ok - so I was thinking what you are thinking - the OEM snorkel looks like it would actually deliver not just the same amount of air, but COOLER air since the mouth of the snorkel is located at the lip of the hood/bonnet, not behind the headlight like this Nismo snorkel.
Carbon vs ABS plastic - but shape is same to where it attaches to the airbox.

In order to verify the claim of more air flow, I took some rough measurements (not all shown here). I could also see with my eye that indeed the Nismo airbox appeared to be less constrictive as it doesn't have the support ribs the OEM snorkel does, and it also is 40mm at its narrowest, while the OEM snorkel is around 40mm at its widest.


So you can see that the CRS piece appears to have a much taller opening, and then wider in the back towards the neck, than the melted OEM snorkel arrangement.  On the other hand, I wasn't convinced that the design really lets in cool air - it seems to me that its location is not optimal for air flow - Ochiai-san told me that it should not be a problem while the car is in motion, but honestly I have my doubts.  I guess I will see how it works and if need more air, will have to figure out a solution. I assume Nismo engineers measured actual airflow differences, however.


Anyway, I've decided to try this set up for a while, and see how it works out. Ideally, a dry carbon, OEM snorkel set up with sufficient clearance to the CFRP air inlet pipes would be the best I think.  Especially if I could tie it into a cold air intake system like I had developed a long time ago.

Finally, a video of someone who I know can drive properly, moving my car from its place of glory next to the Nismo R33 GT-R CRS to the exit.

So is that it for a while for work at Nismo? The car may now be outwardly cosmetically in good shape, but as indicated in my previous post there are a few more minor items I need to fix up. And because Omori Factory is actually geographically the closest Nissan OEM repair facility, I will be back...when they let me...

Bonus - did any of you sharp eyed readers spot this new sticker? The only visual proof that I've spent alot of money with them...

14 comments:

Anonymous said...

That air inlet duct design is pretty interesting, curious to know how to compares to the older R-tune air duct. I got that one and the aluminum pipe set although all of that probably has to wait until after I get it through emissions compliance work.

マット said...

Love the dry carbon bits and pieces! Congratulations!

Aki said...

anon- well if you have a 34, I think the R-tune air duct should work without issue whether carbon or alum. alum no problem for sure, as it was designed for that. unfortunately a similar air duct was never made for the 33 - although I know some people modify the 34 version - so Nismo came up with this idea.

Matt - thanks!

Anonymous said...

I have an R33, we'll see if it fits. AFAIK it should just be a difference of hole placement right?

Aki said...

Anon- thanks! Please let us know here your results!!

Anonymous said...

I test-fitted it today. Few things to note:

1. Really bad idea to close the hood if the Nismo air inlet duct is not sitting flush on the radiator core support. The edge of the duct scraped the clearcoat a bit on the back of my hood doing this. It'll probably polish out but definitely something to keep in mind. Yoshida-san would probably cringe knowing that I've already damaged his work but that's just life. Reading the instructions you have to apply foam tape to the hood for the R34 VSpec 2 models to protect the carbon hood from damage, so this is really just stupidity on my part.

2. As expected, the positioning of the holes are wrong for the R33, both of them would have to be re-drilled to make it work. You can't just leave those fasteners off either, the fit is too loose if you do this and just closing the hood lightly will cause the duct to move around. If there's interest in updates I'll try and post photos as a guide for how to get the thing to fit properly.

3. It is surprisingly difficult to install what is nominally a very simple part correctly. The OEM air duct basically just falls into place. The joint where it connects to the airbox goes all the way in so you really can't screw up the positioning of that part. With the Nismo duct it actually doesn't do this, you have to make sure to not over-insert the duct into the airbox or else it will cause it to stick up and lead the to aforementioned scratching of the hood. It is definitely a struggle to get the duct to lie flat in the right place while also making sure it's inserted correctly into the airbox. This part is shared between the BCNR33 and BNR34 (same part number) so it's definitely not that it's designed to insert into something else.

4. The duct itself seems very narrow at the mouth, I'm not sure how this flows more air than the OEM part. The back of the entrance into the duct is also closed up quite a bit to make clearance for the Nismo air inlet pipes.

Tad said...

Lovin your new additions! They are nice right!

Aki said...

Anon who got his car done at Yoshida-san's shop - thank you so much for the report! I guess the research will have to continue - someone mentioned the REIMAX snorkel as an option, however the weave is different so...

Anonymous said...

I tried emailing REIMAX but their contact form doesn't seem to work very well. I'm not sure they will be interested in dealing with some random english speaker calling but if you do figure out that their intake duct works with the Nismo air inlet pipes I'd be happy to buy one and sell the R-tune duct to a local R34 owner at a more reasonable price than what I paid.

OMGTR34 said...

Love the changes in your enginebay. One question: What are you doing with the old shiny turbo pipe?

Aki said...

OMG, thanks! Well, I tasked a friend to sell it for me, and he did. Recovered half the cost of the carbon pipe...

OMGTR34 said...

Ah too bad, my next question would have been if you would sell it to me lol. But I keep searching. Your car is always an inspiration for me. I did the speakers last and it's a huge improvement. Next will be the door insulation and maybe also at the rearpanel.

John said...

The r33 reimax would not fit with out modifications to the hood and under side of the intake it self, personally i think its too much work and with irreversible modifications not worth it

The r34 reimax is designed to fit with R34 GTR alongside nismo pipes, however this does not sit correctly on a R33 with out fouling hood….

Ed Lau said...

Hi Aki, I have the Nismo carbon air box. Would you know if the CRS air inlet snorkel is still available by Nismo? Thanks.