Good Bye! It Was Fun While It Lasted...

So not to worry, this is not about my car... but about a part that I had on my car.  And frankly this part was something I actually enjoyed having and which I think is engineered very well... the only problem is it runs afoul of Japan's shaken (biannual compulsory inspection) rules.

I am talking about the Do-Luck Roll Center Adjusters.  I did a post on this before, where I was one of the first customers to install this.

In fact it was an easy install, but it turns out their one piece design is what would cause a car to fail the shaken inspection. As a result, each time I took the car in, I would have to pay for someone to remove them and then do a 4 wheel alignment, and then reinstall once the car passed shaken.

To review - most roll center adjusters work by restoring the angle of the lower arm in lowered cars.  This one however ALSO, and simultaneously, also restores the angle of the tie rods by replacing the tie rod portion on the wheel hub by its elongated design. This means steering feel is also restored to OEM lightness, making for a car that feels OEM in steering resistance but while lowered.

However, the reason it fails on the shaken side, is because this one piece design leaves the tie rod connector on the wheel side, disconnected from the tie rod:

So I found a small box, and packed both pieces away to be sent EMS.

Off to a good friend and thus a good home in a country where those shaken rules don't apply! Mr. V, enjoy and let me know how they work out for you.

Picked Up the Car Today from NISMO! (Part 2)

Morita-san asking me to inspect the car before driving home. Photo by Ale.  Thanks! 

So driving impressions on the work that was done - as mentioned in the last post, I guess you can say it's very "OEM."  The car now feels like it was designed to drive the way it does from the ground up, with everything (power, response, ride, handling, braking) in perfect balance.

Before the Nismo Omori Factory Chassis Refresh, the car would at first literally take about 5 minutes to warm up "its legs" - like an aging athlete, and even then the car felt somewhat twitchy. Powerful and fun, but somehow not polished? Which I attributed to the 10 year old tires the car is (still) on...  I now think the rubber bushes had degraded more than I realized.  And I bet the new rear suspension member bushings make a difference too. Various guest drivers had previously commented on how well the car was balanced, but I think it's now at a higher level altogether - as if purposely designed by Nissan this way, and not simply happened to be put together well by chance (by me).

Today, the moment I got in my car, everything felt a bit smoother, lighter and yet still super communicative, and it seemed very balanced with the smooth power of the Mine's engine.  So the car basically rides smoother, and is likely a bit less tiring to drive.  Remember the car is running on smallish turbos, so the boost comes on low, and then builds and builds and builds... meanwhile shifting the 6 speed Getrag with the shorter gears, so the engine remains on boost... and then we end up going too fast, so use those massive R35 Brembos which calmly scrub off speed.

So I'm wondering - can this be improved? Remember NISMO removed the Do-Luck Floor Support Bars, and with the new rear suspension member I'm sure the Spoon Sports Rigid Collars are gone too.  Also the last time I had the Ohlins DFVs rebuilt was about 4 years ago.  So I wonder if the coilovers are operating at 100%? And yes, still on those old tires, which means I'm sliding in some aggressive corners... that reminds me, I didn't even notice the ATTESA kick in when I did so, which means it did so progressively and smoothly... like it's supposed to!

Photo by Mr. Ale

Anyway, I was having so much fun driving home, I wanted to keep going except of course, I needed to get the car into its new garage space.

So here it is. What do you all think? (ignore the boxes - containing new LMGT4s actually...lol... and the original side skirts wrapped in plastic... I need to hurry up and finish my garage project ASAP...)

Somehow the camera didn't quite catch accurate colors...although yes should probably replace the LED bulbs with something a bit more blue...

Finally! Both cars in the new garage. Along with Ale's Z parked out front in the driveway.

I noticed it too. The front end seems to be elevated a bit.

In taking these photos, you notice things -  I'm pretty sure my car never had so much lip clearance before. Which I think comes from the DFV coil-overs, which seem to have been adjusted a bit too high by NISMO...just for aesthetic purposes I'm going to have to lower the front a few centimeters. The gap between the front wheel and fender is huge!

Right? The gap seems much less here - back in 2015...

Actually in order to find the above photo, I found this blog entry where Ohlins recommends a distance of 350mm between wheel center and the fender (which results in a lowered stance like above). So something for me to do next weekend...although now that I think about it, lowering it too much resulted in rubbing the inside of the fenders. Will have to experiment.

And finally, check out the new GT shiftknob. No more scratched up BNR34 unit to remind me of you know who everytime I shifted.

Still cannot believe how beautiful that red stitching on the leather is...

Anyway, I know that I need new tires, but before that, what should I do? Detail it myself? Or try to begin fixing the interior? Hmm...and now with the new garage, there is so much more I can do! Stay tuned!

NISMO Omori Factory Chassis Refresh

So as we saw in my last post, I took the opportunity while my car was at NISMO Omori Factory to have them remove all the worn out, rusted and otherwise ugly suspension links and related parts off my car and replace with new.  Of particular interest to me was the rear suspension member - usually the bushes there harden or deteriorate with age and then the traditional easy solution is to add solid collars between the body and the member - I have not had that done yet so can't opine on whether that is the right solution, but certainly for most owners who don't want to bother removing everything to get to that rear member in order to replace the bushes, the solid mount solution is probably adequate, eliminating any weird flex.

One of my first upgrades to the car, before installing the Mine's engine, was to begin upgrading the suspension and chassis with the full Nismo suspension link set. I remember how the car immediately felt much more controllable and stable when I had the work done back in 2006 and 2007.  That means that for the past 13 years - longer than the time when the car ran on its OEM links and bushes from 1997 to 2006 (9 years) the car has been on the Nismo link set.  I don't know what the common wisdom is for when suspension link rubber bushes need to be replaced, but new ones should definitely give the car a "new car feel." I am looking forward to experiencing the brand new car feel!

Incidentally, I also have a full set of the SuperPro poly bushes, but never got around to installing them. Of course, now that I have a spare (used) set of the Nismo links...

Anyway, let's take a look underneath.

I get excited every time...

Left rear - silver is new, black is repainted

Right rear wheel - check out that beautiful "new" driveshaft!

This may be easier to see the extent of new goodness..

Of course the front is also looking great! Nice and clean...

Left front wheel 

Left front wheel, different angle - looks like I need to steam clean the oil pan!

 So a few things. One, they removed the plastic brake air guides - they were broken as the upper fin parts had snapped off.  These original Nismo ones, no longer available, cost about 19,000 yen per pair but the new dry carbon ones Nismo offers cost about ten times more! Not sure if I want to pay for parts my car probably doesn't need, given the oversize R35 brakes I now have. I guess I COULD go aftermarket here...

But damn they look good

So this adds about 150,000 yen to the price. What fool has these installed? (Thanks to Ale$$andro for the photos) 

Two, you may have noticed Omori Factory removed the Do-Luck floor support bars. The mechanics didn't really care for them not because they don't work, but because they interfere with their car lifts.  I will have to think about how to get them back on.  More importantly, I wonder how the car drives without them on. Maybe not go for them any more but look into spot welding around the door frames...They also removed, I think, the Spoon Rigid Collars (at least in the rear) - these will be an easy fix.

Three, yeah my tires are old. Will have to replace them soon.  And yes they look huge, very meaty. NISMO is pushing me to replace with the Michelin Pilot Sport 4s, but I don't know. Doesn't feel right to put on French tires on a Japanese car...And what is the current best Japanese tire out there?

Four, yes there are still many parts that need to be refreshed. Financially speaking, this is all I could afford at this time. Plus, most parts can be cleaned up or replaced at home, so I intend to do that as much as possible. To me that's part of the fun of ownership.

Fifth, I did mention in a previous post that Omori Factory did a few special extras - that's for the next post!

Final Visit to NISMO OMORI Before The Work Begins...

So yeah another update...on my way back from the Tokyo Motor Show 2019, where I had been invited to the Opening Ceremonies (not worth it...), I stopped by Nismo Omori Factory.

You should have seen the confused looks from people in the parking lot...

Today they happened to be displaying this monster machine which I LOVE.

Anyway, after Takasu-san got off the phone he called me over and we discussed what we needed to do for my car. Details to follow in an upcoming post because I have a few R33 tidbits I want to share in this post first.

A couple of posts ago, my friend Ale had sent over a couple of photos of the new prototype carbon fiber air inlet Nismo Omori was developing for their show car. Naturally, I asked Ochiai-san to let me take a closer look.

First, I asked why the half shroud slam panel. As I guessed in the previous post, indeed this is to let air into the snorkel. Ochiai-san claims that most slam panels effectively prevent adequate air flow from going into the snorkel. Obviously I have my ram air idea and Ochiai-san agreed that, like the built in scoop found on the BNR34 carbon bonnet, it would help as well.  Personally, I think it's a cleaner solution but heck I'm not in the business of giving them too many new ideas... lol.

As for this piece, the large hump is indeed to clear the radiator bolt mount, and it was shaped and formed like that as it's the easiest (and thus cheapest) way to do so.

I felt back there and there is nothing there, in that the carbon fiber smoothly wraps around where my index finger is. So everything behind what is visible is essentially open space.  So the hump isn't as intrusive as I thought. In fact Ochiai-san claims that, this piece allows more air flow than the OEM ABS part which has to be melted in places to allow for the Nismo air inlet pipes.

The reason for this odd shape - on the left side the snorkel is fairly low - is to allow for the OEM bonnet to shut closed.

If you remember this version:

courtesy of Speedhunters

This was apparently designed for use with the 400R bonnet. In any case I think I like the other one better.

Thanks for showing me the engine bays!

 We then walked over to my car to check out a couple of things. First, the alarm key fob was acting up, meaning they had to push my car around as sometimes they couldn't get the car to start. Second, as mentioned earlier they had noticed the longitudinal Do-Luck brace bars got very close to the jack up points and wanted to show me - apparently the area underneath that could use some cleaning/refreshing. The Do-Luck bars make it difficult to clean under that area.

Fooled me too! Same color, ALMOST the same wheels...

My car! Like meeting up with an old friend I hadn't seen in ages!

To get the car to start, Ochiai-san and Takasu-san had to hook up their portable battery jumper...

And then I had to walk them through the confusing menu on the key fob. But once sorted, I couldn't believe how smoothly the car started up! I was so excited to hear that familiar RB26 rumble again!

And maybe my excitement at hearing the car start up is why this photo is blurry...

Anyway - it was good to know that my car is in good hands. Apparently it's been there so long people are starting to ask questions, so it's good that the NISMO project will finally begin, scheduled for November 10.

So what work - well all I will reveal at this point is that it DOES involve new NISMO parts, as well as some rust removal. Where and how - well that is for your future reading pleasure!

Bonus photo of me grinning it up inside the Omori Factory... 

GT-R Magazine Article: Using Bolt On BNR34 Body Reinforcement Parts for the BCNR33

As some friends from the ClubR33 Facebook owner's group had given me a heads up that this month's GT-R Magazine (#139, 2018/Mar)...

...had an interesting article featuring how a Japanese tuning shop, Garage Yoshida, had developed a menu of BNR34 bolt on parts in an effort to improve the BCNR33's body rigidity, I went out and bought this issue in the hopes that the content would be worth sharing here.  I was pleasantly surprised!

As I had learned in my research on the objective differences between the BCNR33 and the BNR34, Nissan put lots of effort into improving body rigidity (along with aerodynamics, of course) in the BNR34.  This month's article provided even more insight, as follows.

1) The BCNR33 and the BNR34 are, save for the extended chassis, basically the same mechanically.  Nissan developed bolt on parts to improve body rigidity of the BCNR33 over the base R33 chassis based on the input of Nissan's top test driver, Hiroyoshi Kato, during the development of the BCNR33.  It turns out that the locations of these bolt on parts are essentially the same for the BCNR33 and the BNR34, and that for the BNR34, these parts were revamped for even better body rigidity.  So, Garage Yoshida decided to offer an "R34 Body Reinforcement Plan."

2)  Some of the parts may require a bit of extra work to fit.  The basic difference in parts are increases in the size/area of the part bit that is attached to the body, and reinforcement of the part itself. For example the diameter of a tube may be similar but the BNR34 part has extra ribbing on the base, or the base has dual layers, in other words changes that are cheap (for Nissan) to implement. 

3) As these parts were developed by Nissan, unlike some aftermarket parts from various tuners, you can be assured that the parts were subjected to R&D and thoroughly tested.

So, what are these parts?

As you can see from above (and my summary below):

Starting from, left top to bottom:
A) Trunk Bar.  I installed the S15 trunk bar on my car, but the 34 one is installed differently. First, the trunk floor needs to be prepped as there is a base that needs to be welded to the floor and then painted. The trunk bar attaches to that base.

B) Front Tower Bar.  I have the NISMO titanium one, but when comparing the OEM BCNR33 and BNR34 front tower bars, you can see that, although the diameter of the bar itself is the same, again the base mount area is different. For the R33, the base bracket is simply welded on, but in the 34, in addition to the welding, the shape of this bracket is different and has ribs.

C) Center Plate.  These center plates are attached at the base of the B pillar area for additional rigidity.  For installation in the 33, the floor side is bolted on, but the pillar side apparently requires a gusset, to which the center plate can be attached. I will have to look into this, although after having the Do-Luck Floor Support Bar bracing installed I am not sure there is much to be gained in my car.

D) Upper Plate.  These connect the body and the rear upper (coilover) mount areas, resulting not in body rigidity but more vibration suppression.  All it takes to install in the 2 door coupes are drilling 2 extra holes.  I am DEFINITELY going to install these, someday.

E) Steering Member.  The BNR34 version has larger diameter piping in some areas and gussets added to the attachment points, presumably to increase steering response. However this requires removal of the dashboard and so for me, having just had my dashboard replaced, a lost opportunity. Although most people who have driven my car have praised the steering so not too worried...

Right top - F) Rear Strut Tower Board.  This is the bolt on part that results in the biggest improvement. The BNR34 board is dual layered, and so its overall rigidity has increased.  For the BCNR33, the lower part of the panel was separate, and in the BNR34 this section has become unified with the main part.  For Series 3 kohki cars, this BNR34 part is an easy bolt on, but for Series 1 zenki and 2 chuki cars, some work is required as the floor shape is slightly different and so some heating and painting are needed.  Another part I definitely want to get installed.

Right middle - G) Front Cross Bar.  The BCNR33 part has a diameter of  25.4mm, while the BNR34 part is 32mm. Additionally, the gusset and ribs are thicker, with more surface area attaching to the body.  I have installed the NISMO Underfloor Front Brace, which replaces this OEM part for both the 33 and 34. I will have to check to see if the 33 and 34 NISMO parts are the same (the parts number is different but I don't know if the dimensions are) but I doubt I will change as the NISMO part seems to be designed to improve even the OEM 34 part, and so if the 33 NISMO part is shaped the same, then I suspect the NISMO part has better results than the OEM 34 part. 

So friends, this gives me some other stuff to think about and possibly install this year, in addition to my continuing interior modernization saga! Comments always welcome and thanks for reading!

UPDATE: I just called Nissan Prince Tokyo Motorsports, and this is what they told me:

That Nissan Prince Tokyo Motorsports is where GT-R Magazine shote the photos used in the article, using the magazine's own R33 GT-R. AND, truth be told, the usage of some of those parts are questionable in the opinion of the top mechanic there.

For example, the Rear Strut Tower Board - even the the article claims it is "bolt-on" for Series 3 kohki R33 GT-R, the mechanic is claiming that isn't exactly true.  Some minor mods are probably needed to make it work properly.

The Center Plate, as well - see how, in the photo, the right side of the piece rises up towards the B pillar? This means that the rear seat cushion now won't lay flat, as you will have to literally cut out a section of the rear seat to make it fit properly again.

Of the 3 parts I was interested in (the aforementioned 2 plus the Upper Plate), I would probably only install only the Upper Plates.  Except that since it's quite tight back there and holes need to be drilled, I would likely do so only in the event I have to replace the rear window.  Luckily, I was told there are plenty of these Upper Plate pieces in stock, AND they only cost 960 yen each.

So, I guess this won't be happening anytime soon... On the other hand, looks like I've got the other areas covered already. So, time to focus on other stuff...

Problems Solved... With a Smile!

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 Ohlins on, 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!

Uh-Oh... Is this Serious?

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...