Starting the New Year Right! New and Newer Nismo Logos

Happy New Year, everyone! Let's hope this is a better year for all of us.

In a previous post where I reported on what Mine's had installed in addition to their new exhaust, my friend Matt commented that the "O" on my Nismo oil cap did not match the "O" on the newly installed Nismo plenum. 

Apparently, Nismo has another oil cap  - the ratcheting one - which has the newer matching "O".  When I asked at Nismo Omori Factory, Ochiai-san immediately told me that the current oil cap they had in stock does indeed match - so I went ahead and got it on the spot during my last visit!

Of course did not do anything until today, but it was really bothering me, so I braved the cold and...

As you can see even the Nismo radiator cap has the newer logo.

Of course the Nismo Omori Factory build plate has the newer logo too

Install is easy of course. Those of you who have this know that you screw in the billet part, then the Nismo logo plate is actually a metal sticker - this guarantees you get it on straight!

So here are all of them. Note the tower bar has the old style Nismo logo...hence I call the Nismo logo with the solid red "o" the "new" logo and the regular script red "o" the "newer" logo.

Finally - no more cognitive dissonance. I want to make sure there is NO mismatch! Call it attention to detail, or OCD, but hey little things matter, especially when it is easy to make the comparison on the logos.

Speaking of which - There was one more item I picked up as well at Omori Factory.

Behold Nismo's newest steering wheel.  Another limited edition production, this one sold out as soon as Nismo announced it was for sale, and the inevitably I started seeing people trying to resell at inflated prices.   

I still think that center cap looks goofy. Ochiai-san told me most of his customers who have chosen to install this, do not bother with the center cap.

Sorry - that center cap is just plain ugly...

Yes, I like this look much better:

Still I do not understand why this comes with its own protective carrying case?

Maybe get one of those detachable bosses?

As you can see, the diameter is 350mm, so the same as my Ital Volanti

Lining it up against to compare:

Or do I keep it as is?

Now, at this time I am not sure if I will install this steering wheel, if I am honest. Why? Because while I very much like the look - as you can see here it has a deeper dish than my current Ital Volanti steering wheel - there are two small things that bother me.

First, the stitching is black, not red. When the BCNR33 was announced, one of the details that separated the GT-R from the non GT-R models was that the steering wheel had red stitching.  Thus for me, a GT-R should always have red stitching on the steering wheel. 

Second - the horn button has the most recent Nismo logo, with the hollow "O" but why is the lettering below it, just plain? Was it not possible to make the "O" here red, as well? 

WHY?

On the red stitching issue, I suppose I could always have Robson redo the wheel with red stitching, but that seems like such a waste.  On the logo, not sure I can do - maybe use some red enamel paint and a small paintbrush and VERY carefully paint it?

Or, I could simply put the wheel up for sale?

So what do you all think? Am I being too particular on this steering wheel?  Word from Nismo is that they DO plan on a second run next year, but cannot guarantee that it will happen or that the specifications will be the same.  Maybe I should just hold onto this wheel and see what happens...

It's Always the Details that Count!

 In my last post, I showed you how I changed out the ceiling lights - both front and middle - to OEM S15 pieces which came in black, versus the light grey for the R33 parts, in order to match the new Alcantara headliner I had first modified at Robson Leather and then installed at Nismo Omori Factory back in July of last year as part of a lot of extra work I had them take care of.

However, there was one small detail that had been bothering me ever since I got the headliner installed, which I had actually forgotten about, but then in the course of swapping out the lights this little problem made itself apparent, which forced me to find and then have this sent to me.

What is it? Well, take a close look. Yep, another pair of S15 sunvisors. And in this case, the only difference being the printed lettering on the warning label:

Blue arrow pointing to the mount - note it is DIFFERENT than how the current visors were mounted at Nismo Omori Factory.

Can you tell that the ones installed in the car already (top) have smeared lettering? At the time I found them on Yahoo Auctions, they were the cleanest sample I could find. Luckily this time around, I found an even CLEANER pair.  You can see clearly how bad it was in this next photo, after I removed it and lined it up with the one I had newly bought.  

After I unbolted the one installed on my car, laid it out with the one I just got.

The one on the passenger side, however, did not require replacement as it was super clean to begin with:

In fact the one that was already installed seemed to have slightly more vivid colors...

The better condition driver's side visor wasn't perfect:

Can you see how there seems to be a scratch on the mirror cover, as well as a small indent on the right as indicated by the arrows? Nothing I can't polish out and also apply a heat gun to (which is what I did to eliminate the indent).

The bigger problem was, as I indicated above, the mounts on both of these were different. Here is what the one one on the newly purchased ones looked like:

And as you can see here, the ones on the Nismo installed ones looked like this.

Took a bit of heat and some muscle, but finally loosened the teeth on wider mounts:

Then all I had to do was to undo the cover, held in place by two small indents on each side (as shown by the blue arrows):

Which then revealed two screws:

And then the sunvisor simply came off and left this hole:

The final step was to swap out the mounts, and then reinstall the cleaner sunvisor. Hard to tell how good it looks as I took the next two photos at night, under artificial light, but I think you get the idea!

Was tough getting the right lighting...

So again yes small details like this really add to making the car even more perfect! Ok nothing is perfect, but if a small issue can be fixed, then why not fix it? Maybe this year is where I do nothing major but just keep making small upgrades like this? Then again, we are already done with 2 months of 2021, better save up some more soon for some interesting projects in the back of my mind...

Robson Leather - Project #1

So as I mentioned in my previous post where I detailed my recent visit to Robson Leather, I have two projects with Robson planned. Honestly at this time I'm not sure whether project #2 will actually work, but for now I can show you project #1.

You may recall in my previous post that I was there dropping some things off. Well those were some interior parts that are no longer available new that I found on Yahoo Auctions - namely the plastic cover for the left side A pillar, and then covers for the B/C pillars.

In the box to the side of my car when I parked were two new items sent over by Nismo - the roof headliner (part number 73910-22U12) and the right side A pillar cover (part number 76911-22U00).

Roof headliner not shown, obviously

Together, these old and new parts comprise the upper half of the visible surfaces of the car's interior.  In order to modernize the car while returning the interior to OEM (which would involve removing the A pillars with the gigantic and view-obstructing Morel tweeters) I have decided to get it all wrapped in Charcoal (color code #9002) Alcantara.  This incidentally is the same color Alcantara previously used by Cesar (I had bought it and had it sent to him directly) when he lined the glovebox, center console, main gauge surround and door pockets with Alcantara. There is actually an even darker black color for Alcantara but everyone I've talked to has advised against it, saying it makes the interior feel less spacious and that it shows dirt better. 

Not an easy color to capture well on one's phone.

Sharp eyed readers will see that in the first photo above, I had brought an extra leftover roll of 9002 Alcantara with me to Robson to verify color matching with their stock (yes, spot on).

In any case, given how busy they are I was very surprised to learn a week later that they were DONE with the Alcantara wrap and ready to send all the pieces to Nismo, but first they sent me the following photos as proof.

Yep, I thought the same... is that the right color?

A little better on the color... nice stitching though!

Ah, much better on the color.
And thank you for NOT putting stitching down the middle of the panel.

Robson Leather's Daihi-san reassured me that the color was all the same, consistent with the color code and that in person it looked darker. And that they had undergone a steaming process to remove all the wrinkles. Having still not seen it in person, I will have to take his word on this.  And regarding my comment above about stitching - when Robson had done an Alcantara wrap on the roof headliner of a friend's BNR34, they had put stitching down the middle.  This was because my friend did not want a rear glass out install, and so in order to get the roof headliner into the car, it had to be cut in half, with the stitching holding the two cut sides together. Not so on the BCNR33 however as it has a larger cabin and the doors open wider...The headliner can be installed via the doors with just a slight bend according to Nismo. WIN!

I finally got word from Nismo yesterday that, having passed Shaken and then having gotten back the Ohlins DFV coilovers that had been rebuilt to original specifications without issue, they were finally working on getting ready to install the new roof headliner. 

Sound deadening!

I had read somewhere that Nismo had installed sound deadening to their CRS cars, so I requested the same of my car, in conjunction with the roof liner replacement.  Here you can see they are halfway through the roof area (they also sent me a short video demonstrating the difference in sound when the roof is tapped in various places).  Good to see the roof looking clean without any weird holes or rust. But it also shows how the roof is very simply constructed, without anything that appears to increase body rigidity - you literally cut the roof off panel and leave the center bit in, like a targa roof... HMMMMM???  Nah, don't worry it will never happen!

Trip To Robson Leather - Two New Projects!

So it's been over 8 years since I last visited Robson Leather at their shop in Edogawa-ku, Tokyo, but from what I recall, things haven't changed much - the same high quality leather and carbon interior parts, for all types of cars - even the shop's interior looks the same...except of course for Masa Nakamura's son Daihi, fluent in English, is now around to deal with their international clients (if you message them on FB in English, you will get a proper response in English!).

I had been communicating on and off with them both since last year's Nismo Festival, when Masa proudly informed me that, after several months of negotiations and having passed Nissan's stringent requirements, Robson had finally been given a license to use Nissan's trademarks on its products.   As far as I know, they are the only shop in the aftermarket interior space with such a license.  For those of you unfamiliar with what this means, having a license means that the owner of the intellectual property (such as a patent or trademark) has entrusted certain individuals/companies the right to use such intellectual property, under certain conditions.  In most cases, licenses are given only to those who pass certain criteria, such as quality, reputation, etc.  - not anyone can get the license. Those who do use the Nissan trademark without permission are technically, stealing Nissan's property.

In any case, I had some ideas for my GT-R's interior, and despite the voluntary lockdown they agreed I could swing by for a short visit.  So last Saturday I arranged to drop in (with the Lexus) and as soon as I parked and stepped out of the car, both came out masked but with grins underneath to greet me.

I had a few things to show Masa so I unloaded the box in the rear seat and he immediately set about opening it up.

Meanwhile Daihi invited me to check out a prototype R32 GT-R office chair (it was a super used and cheap seat they bought on Yahoo Auctions - hence you can see it's actually bent!)

Still, a very comfy office chair. Hmm.... time to ditch my Herman Miller Aeron office chair?

Of course being a senior member of Nissan's legal department, I asked where the Nissan "official licensed product" tag was - while it wasn't on this chair, they did show me an actual product with the label - in this case a R32 GT-R seat headrest cover.

This means that Nissan has given permission to Robson to use the GT-R logo. 

They also showed me an R35 seat office chair - but it clearly wasn't as comfortable as the R32 seat.

After discussing my potential projects with them, this being my first visit in 8 years, I asked if I could go upstairs to check out their office. It hadn't changed much in that time, that's for sure!

So here is where customers can sit down and choose various options for their leather/alcantara/carbon fiber orders

Here you can see some of the different colored leather samples they have. On the table a craftsman was working on adding some Alcanatara to a car dashboard...

Pink steering wheel? Or light green? Gold too. No problem!

Finally, if you happen to drop in but aren't ready to place an order, you can at least walk out with SOMETHING by Robson - check out their stock of seatbelt covers, shift boots, and seat headrests...

So if you drop in and absolutely HAVE to buy something...

Clearly these guys are GT-R centric, even though when you check out their website you see lots of BMWs and Benz's (and other JDM cars, of course) with their work.

More importantly and for the purposes of my car - I can tell you that we have two projects going. One is relatively straightforward and I hope to reveal in the next few weeks. The other - I may have to bring my car in for them to take precise measurements. If we do move forward on this I will be the world's first, but it will take a few months to complete. Stay tuned!

Out with the old, in with the NEW (Robson Leather Steering Wheel Re-Do)

One last post to close out 2018, and appropriately by swapping out the old with new. Or at least "re-newed."

Some of you may recall a few years ago when I first switched over from the OEM steering wheel to an aftermarket one, I found a nice and rare but very used Ital Volanti Imola R wheel.

Because it was worn, I decided to get the wheel re-done in a nice black leather, with perforations on the side grip areas, at the world famous Robson Leather in Tokyo.  I was generally happy with the quality of the leather and the new thickness of the wheel, and it matched the OEM interior very well.

However, once I had the interior completely redone by Cesar in high quality leather... well I noticed that the grain of the steering wheel leather now did not match the smooth finish of the rest of the leather interior (the OEM interior finish has this wrinkled simulated "leather" finish). This could not stand, and the cognitive dissonance generated by this mismatch was driving me nuts.

See how the leather appears wrinkly? This was the original grain of the leather I chose for the first re-wrap.
At the time it matched the OEM interior better.

Luckily for me, Robson Leather always has a tent up at the annual NISMO Festival, so I undid a few Allen bolts and took the wheel with me to this year's NISMO Festival on December 2. The plan of course was to save a few yen sending the wheel in, as well as to be able to inspect for myself the quality and grain of the leather that would be used on this redone.

Moments after I walked up to the Robson Leather tent, Robson's president, Masa Nakamura, greeted me like an old friend and listened to my request.  Lucky for me this Nakamura-san is miles removed from a certain other Nakamura....yes I am still pissed off. Anyway, moving on...

The sample of Robson's Nappa leather against my wheel

Masa knew immediately what I wanted, and showed me a sample of their "Nappa leather." Strangely, while the color and the feel was what I wanted, the leather sample itself looked almost like pleather in terms of how it had been tanned and processed, especially on the non-exposed side.  Nevertheless, because the wheel is a high use area, I was satisfied with the almost plastic feel of the leather, because even if it was a lower quality leather than the "Cardinal" automotive grade leather from Wildman & Bugby in the UK that Cesar used for the rest of the interior, durability (which is what I assumed from how this leather felt) would be key here.

So, I requested a re-wrap of my wheel from Robson with the "Nappa leather" option with side perforations, as before. I was thinking about adding a red 1cm wide swatch to the center top of the wheel (as often seen in some recent sports cars), but when the Robson factory called later and told me that they could not guarantee it would be perfectly centered, I cancelled. Having that center stripe not centered would be super annoying for me...

Meanwhile, my car had no steering wheel.  I was told the work on my Ital Volanti would be "finished before the end of the month" - but I had no idea how long that the re-leather work would actually take. So, I found a cheap 6000 yen steering wheel on Amazon Japan, to attach temporarily, just in case I needed to move my car in a hurry.

Superfast shipping! I had in in less than 2 days!

Nice white cardboard box. Wrapped up well for a cheap wheel...

Not bad for 6000 yen, right?

The temp steering wheel arrived very quickly. As you can see, the material is a fake Alcantara and the diameter is smaller than the Ital Volanti, at 320mm. It also has a deep cone of 70mm. So I knew driving with this on would be interesting...and in fact, when I took the car out to get some gas, it felt weird. The wheel is probably too small, as the car felt twitchy, almost like a (very heavy) racing cart.  And the seating position was now weird too...

It doesn't look bad, but not great either and the yellow center strip didn't line up perfectly.
I was glad I didn't insist on this option for my Ital Volanti

Amazingly, fast forward only 2 weeks from the NISMO festival, and I got a package from Robson and inside:

Wow! Looks OEM in quality!

See how nice and smooth the leather is? Granted, this might be more expensive than elsewhere but for the awesome service and the quality I am not going to complain. Also, it's always good to have connections with people like Masa...

Here it is, installed... See how the leather of the wheel matches (at least in look) the leather of the rest of the dashboard and interior (the leather on the doors)?

Ok I realized that wasn't the best photo. How about from this angle?

Yes folks, quite awesome is the result! Thank you Masa and Robson Leather for restoring my faith in the Japanese aftermarket.  In 2019... yes my journey will continue in order to fix the remaining interior issues and the topical rust, but I'm also itching to do some more improvements in the mechanical area...

Anyway, I hope everyone is having a great holiday season, and I wish everyone a Happy New Year! Thank you everyone for reading and enjoying this blog. As always, drop me any questions or comments below.