First Time Ever All Fluids Change/First Visit of the Year to Nissan Prince Tokyo

So even though I've owned my car for over 10 years now, there is still a first time for everything - so this was the first time I had ALL fluids in the car changed out at once. 

Anyway - because I need to drive the car a bit for an upcoming project, and because it's been literally just sitting in the garage for a while now collecting dust, I decided it was time to get at least an oil change done.  And, given how disgusting the coolant was during my engine bay freshen-up project, I also realized I hadn't had the coolant changed in a long, long time. Maybe not since I had the Mine's engine installed? No, say it isn't so...

Absolutely disgusting. Hope the insides of the radiator and engine aren't like this either...

So, I called up the guys at Nissan Prince (specifically Nismo Performance Center Tokyo, at the Nissan Prince dealership in Sakura-shinmachi) for a Sunday appointment to "replace all fluids."  Oh, and since my BNR34 otaku friend Alessandro happened to be free that day, I invited him along as he had been asking me for a ride in a tuned GT-R.  Oh, and he loves going to NPCT as well, being there almost every weekend hunting down parts for his GT-R before they disappear from Nissan stock. Maybe one day he will talk about his experience in my car.

It turned out that taking the car in now was a good move. Because as I got on the expressway, there was a weird shimmy in the steering wheel between 80-100kph...

Anyway, we got there safely and after parking the car, Alessandro got busy and took the following photos for me...

Can you see the dirt? It was drizzling that day, which,
combined with the dust on the car and the exhaust soot, left its mark on the car!

I then went inside and asked the following to be done:

1) Oil change - I had found several liters of (unopened) Motul 300V (5W-40) in my garage, which they had no problem using.  I usually ask for and use 15W-50, but as it's still cold in Tokyo... and bringing my own oil, which I bought at discount, saves me money!  Oh, and for filters, given a choice of Nissan or NISMO, with a price difference of only 300 yen or so, I went with NISMO. Yes, slight brand whore...oh and yes shame on me last time I changed the oil was when I tried out that NISMO motor oil, back in June 2015! (but probably about only 1000kms back).

2) Brake oil change. Remember my drive in Hakone with Dino, Russ and Miguel? At the time it seemed like either the pads were gone or the fluid was boiling too easily. A quick confirmed plenty of pad life left, so new brake fluid was needed. I brought some Endless RF-650 (DOT 5.1) for them to replace the old RF-650. Last time I changed it was...probably 3-4 years ago? Yikes.

3) LSD oil change. I recently heard the OS Giken Super Lock LSD, which is normally very quiet, start making some noise so figured it was time for some new fluid, having never changed the oil since I had it installed more than 6 years ago. I had stock of the OS Giken 80W-250 oil, for exclusive use in this LSD.  

4) Power Steering fluid.  Although I only asked for Nissan OEM, they went ahead (after checking with me) and used NUTEC ZZ51-kai. Which turns out to be AT fluid.

5) Engine Coolant - I told them Nissan OEM was fine.

6) Air Cleaner - I decided to get a new one as the last time I changed mine out was about 20,000kms ago. NISMO of course.

7) Front LSD - this was done when the Getrag was installed last year so I demurred.

8) Clutch oil - I asked them to use whatever RF650 was left over after the brakes were done.

Finally, I also asked them to check to see if the leak they had previously found in the Getrag, was back.

The following weekend, I was back to pick up the car:

Hmm. That doesn't quite look right.

Oh yeah, that looks good. Even the red oil plate looks good here...

Good news - the Getrag leak was confirmed gone, and the shimmy I had noticed was because the two front tires had lost their weights along the way and had to be rebalanced. Alas, as I drove away, I realized I hadn't seen the coolant listed on the invoice. Somehow, there had a been a miscommunication. So I turned the car around... oh well...

Finally this past Thursday, I left work early and took the train to the dealership. First time I had dropped by this late, actually.

No sporty vehicles in sight...

Of course I quickly found my car.

Yamazaki-san had made sure that, in addition to the coolant, the ATTESA fluid had also been changed out.  I have never had this changed out since owning the car, and he told me that the schedule to replace is 60,000 kms or so.

And while I was paying, I asked a bunch of questions about some upcoming NISMO parts. Stay tuned!

The view out the office window. Can you spot the blue R33 lurking in the corner?

When I walked over to talk to the mechanics to ask about the coolant (how dirty it was - they had to flush it out a twice!), I noticed a Bayside Blue BNR34 being worked on, with a totally bling part in the engine bay:

C'mon! Does the carbon part work any better than the aluminum? No, but still...

 There was one last item that I had noticed when I had attempted to pick up the car on Sunday - the gas pedal was a bit "loose" - turns out that the throttle cable had stretched a bit so that was adjusted as well. Amazing how that detail can make the car feel so much more solid!

Yamazaki-san moving my car out of the pit for me to drive home.

And so how does it feel now? In a word, refreshed! Amazing how a simple fluid change can really liven things up. (And actually, I just realized that, my car was registered as a new car in February 1997, meaning that this month, my car is 20 years old!)

Yes, I had a blast or two on the way home, relishing how easy the car is to drive (and now with full confidence that everything is properly lubricated, balanced and cooled). In fact, in some ways, the GT-R is easier to drive than the IS-F; for sure, the steering is both more communicative and lighter, for example, and the Ohlins do a far better job than the stock dampers on the Lexus. Yes, the GT-R rides better than the Lexus...

With more power, the GT-R feels lighter and more nimble (but strangely, not smaller - I think primarily due to the seating position), but this is to be expected. Surprisingly, I prefer the brake feel of the IS-F (also Brembos) so perhaps it's time to look into new pads on the GT-R?

In any case, lots to do to keep improving the car... I promise my next post on Speedhunters will demonstrate that!

NISMO's Competition Series Motor Oil - Just Overpriced Motul?

So this past Saturday, I stopped by at my go-to Nissan dealer, or more precisely, the Nissan Prince Motorsports Division (which is basically a sub group of select Nissan dealer technical advisors and extremely experienced ex-race mechanics who really know all about Nissan's sports cars.  Oh and they are R32 and R33 GT-R owners too!).  Since purchasing my car back in 2006 until I moved out of Tokyo, I had all of my servicing (except for the MINE'S engine, of course) done by them. So they know me and my car, but more importantly I trust them!

When Nissan Prince Motorsports Division was located at Nissan Shinagawa
- note my Shinagawa number plate vs my current personalized Yokohama plate!

NPMD used to be located at Nissan Shinagawa but is now at Nissan Kamedo, which means an extra 15 minutes of driving for me.  But it's always nice to drop in for a nerd RB-centric chat, although this was only the second time I dropped in since they had moved to Kamedo 3 years ago!  This time, I was picking up some parts for a future project I had ordered on my first visit a few weeks ago, and it was a busy day so they let me park in one of the work bays.

In addition to these 3, there was a dark grey R33 GTR outside when I pulled in.
FOUR R33s together is rare, even here in Japan!

Well hello younger (normal tune) brother...nice wheels you got there.

Since I had some time to kill, I decided to see if my friend Thomas Mangum was correct about NISMO's Competition Oil.

There are three grades of engine oil in the Competition series (5W40 for theVR38DETT engine, 15W50 for tuned RB26DETTs, and 0W30 for the VQ35DE/VQ35SHR), and one grade of gearbox oil (75W140).  Here is the link to the line-up website.  All were developed in conjunction with MOTUL, who as fans of NISMO Racing know, have had a relationship with Nissan since 2003.  Interestingly, NISMO also has a separate, Motul based 10W60 grade oil (found in their catalog only, no dedicated website like the Competition series), designed especially for the RB26DETT engine, but for street use/ non-tuned engines.  Apparently all of these replace their long running "Veruspeed" oil series.

Anyway, a few weeks ago I had gone to Zama to pick up a few things from Thomas. Naturally, we took some photos:

Oh and check this out, I found an old photo from 4 years ago!

From: http://www.r33gt-r.com/2011/06/new-feature-guest-blog-r33-gtr-owner.html

In 4 years, our cars sure have changed... but that's a topic for another post!

Anyway, when I met up with him, Thomas, who is a stickler for this kind of stuff, threw me a half used bottle of Motul 300V Competition 15W50 and sniffed, "You can have that, I only use NISMO oil now."  I had to laugh, it's the same thing, just with the NISMO name on the bottle (and thus 150% more expensive), right? I mean NISMO doesn't make their own stuff, they just rebrand tuning parts made especially for them by famous specialists (e.g., it is widely accepted as truth that ARC makes the NISMO intercoolers) and charge a premium for the name.

But Thomas swore to me that his car's engine "felt better" and that it felt "slicker, more responsive" than before when he used Motul 300V Competition 15W-50.  When I asked him to clarify - does that mean the engine feels better lubricated, he replied, "I don't know if the words 'more lubricated' is right - it felt as though the engine just came on boost faster, and much smoother."

So when I was at NPMD on Saturday, I asked: is there actually a difference? A measurable difference between the NISMO Competition oil and the MOTUL 300V?

Courtesy of: http://minkara.carview.co.jp/en/userid/338959/car/239984/2458609/parts.aspx

First, it turns out that NISMO already has a 10W60 grade oil especially for the RB26DETT, as I mentioned earlier.  However, the NISMO Competition 15W50 is designed for some tuned RB26DETT engines - this oil is what NISMO recommends for their S1/R1 crate engines, much like the Competition 5W40 oil is THE oil (GT-R logo included) Nissan designates for the R35 GT-R (as well as the NISMO S2/R2 engines).  But all the tech could really tell me was, "it has different, better stuff in it."  Fair enough, he's not a chemist, so let's see what NISMO themselves say in their online catalog.

The English translation is pretty good but not completely accurate. I think it should read like this (go ahead and compare with what NISMO has in the catalog):

Concept Behind the Base Oil:
This is an ester based oil with polymer esters mixed in.  We used know-how from Motul's Double Ester Technology in order to compensate for poor low temperature viscosity performance, a weakness of complex ester oils.

Allowable Torque: Set to Approx 70kgf-m (around 600ps).
-This is a high performance engine oil, developed during tuning car races and drifting events for turbo charged engines such as the RB26DETT and SR20DET.
-  This has high shear stability in order to prevent the oil film from breaking at high torque at low speeds.  Even with the extreme increase in torque found in NOS injection a high degree of reliability has been proven by way of sufficient durability.
- To provide for reliability without sacrificing the engine output as much as possible, a special multifunction polymer was used which increases both shear stability and detergent dispersion. With this, not only is there oil film protection but this also improves the lubrication of the turbo bearings which tend to coke up at high temperatures.

So the catalog's English is a bit more optimistic sounding, I think. But what is really interesting is in the small print, as usual, not just for this grade but the others as well.  For example, Nissan Motor Company does NOT guarantee any of the Competition series oil, because it's designed for track use (it also does not guarantee the non Competition 10W60, but gives no reason - probably because they don't make it?).  Also, for track use, one should use the 5W40 or 15W50 blend if one has a NISMO crate engine.  The 5W40 blend, which is the "official" oil for the R35 (including the GT-R RC and NISMO GT3 variants) and cars with the Nismo S2/R2 engines, should be changed at 3000kms if there is track use or 10,000km if street use.  With the 10W60 (non-Competition), the recommended change is at 6000kms for general all purpose use.  For 15W50 and 0W30, the recommended change is at 3000kms.  For all of the oil, Nissan warns that it will not exchange any dented or slightly damaged cans, as this product is imported.

Given the small print here is what I think we can figure out.
1) Made by Motul, in France.

2) The descriptions for the 5W40 and 0W30 blends state the reduced use of detergent dispersants.  I am guessing that this is true of the 15W50, even if it doesn't say so.   This explains the recommendation to change at a very low 3000kms, regardless of use (even though the presumption is track use, I did not see that written anywhere for this mileage recommendation). Note the 10W60 which is for general use, mandates a 6000kms oil change frequency.

3) The data doesn't lie - the coefficients of kinematic viscosity (in mm^2/s) are listed as follows for all 4 NISMO engine oils:
     a) 5W40 - at 40C is 85.2, and at 100C is 14.2 (with a viscosity index of 172)
     b) 15W50 - at 40C is 125.9, and at 100C is 17.7 (with a viscosity index of 156)
     c)  0W30 - at 40C is 50.9, and at 100C is 9.6 (with a viscosity index of 176)
     d) 10W60- at 40C is 153.1, and at 100C is 24.1 (with a viscosity index of 190)

Comparing to what I found from Motul for their 300V Competition 15W50:
Viscosity (in mm^2/s) at 40C is 128.1, and at 100C is 17.8 (with a viscosity index of 154). The density at 20C is 0.88 (same as the NISMO) and the pour point is -36C (again same as the NISMO).

Conclusion: assuming the same measuring standards were used, by the numbers, a NEGLIGIBLE difference. Any difference would have to come from the additives (or lack thereof), as NISMO itself  claims.

4) For the R35, the mileage recommendations makes sense. The VR38DETT is built to a much higher level of tolerances and smaller clearances than the old RB26DETT. So track use is probably more of a heat issue than a friction issue, as it would be both in an RB26.  Thus if there is not much heat (i.e. street use only) they can get away with less detergent being used in the oil, and thus go a longer distance.

When I checked on the Japanese car blog site Minkara, I found people who had used the oil and posted their impressions.  One person said his engine is very quiet now, but the stuff turns black by 1000kms (again this might be consistent with the reduced level of detergents?).  Another said that, it could be half placebo effect, but his engine starts easier, runs better and there is less drag.

I knew none of the above technical stuff when I was at NPMD, however mainly on the fact that I knew my car was due for an oil/filter change, I went ahead and had my oil changed with the NISMO Competition 15W50 (the oil viscosity grade that MINE'S recommends for their built engines):

I guess oil changes are done with the mere mortals....

Good company though - check out that grey BNR32...

Whew. One of the world's best GT-R mechanics, Yamada-san from NPMD, working on my car
(here he is replacing the front under tray).
Love how much my under chassis cleaning efforts from a few weeks before paid off!!! SO CLEAN! Lol

My impressions?

To be honest, when I first cranked the engine after the oil change, the engine DID seem to be a bit quieter, and it felt SLIGHTLY more responsive.  Now that I've studied the numbers, I would, however, be the first to admit that this is likely a placebo effect, and probably more likely due to FRESH oil being put in!  However, any little bit helps and so even if there is a small but unnoticeable benefit I'm happy. And the NISMO explanation, sure, I'll believe it (for now lol).

Done, and ready to be driven home... Yamada-san (with the clipboard) ready to give me his report

Finally, there is a more practical reason to be happy with the switch - when I looked online, I found that NISMO Competition oil to be priced (at discount) about 20% LESS than the Motul I was using before in the past (for oil changes I do myself, of course).  And since I don't drive my car that much, 3000km intervals isn't too often...