First Mod of the Year - Super Easy!

Welcome to 2019 - and yes it's already one month old!  Here in Japan it's been cold which is always an excuse for me to not work on the car.  Luckily, the first mod of the year was a super easy one, thanks to my misguided 34 owner friend Ale who kindly came over to drop it off.

I have no idea whether what he told me is true (you know those Italians), but he told me "this is a NISMO item that's not even in their catalog."  Duly curious, I popped open the hood and waited to be surprised.

What does the nice NISMO bag contain?

What's this? Large thin rubber rings with holes in them.

It turns out that Nismo Omori Factory uses these to prevent galvanic corrosion between their titanium tower bar and the steel body chassis mount point. Of course, I beat them to this idea, because about five years ago I found a tower bar modified with rubber strips on Yahoo Auctions, for the same reason.  But because I don't cut rubber strips well, I went with another route.

Plasti-Dip does wonders!

Because I didn't source these parts myself, this means is that I have no idea what these gigantic rubber washers cost, nor whether it really is rare, or even whether Ale punked me by picking up some cheap rubber at the local DIY store and had someone at Kinkos punch holes in them. (I DID check the NISMO OMORI website but couldn't find them either...)

Anyway, installation is super easy - just take off your tower bar, make sure the surface is clean, and then place over the strut tower bolts.

Here is Ale showing us how to do so, singlehandedly!

Being NISMO, of course it fits perfectly.

After that, just bolt up the tower bar again and you are done! Maybe 3 minutes from start to finish. Don't forget to use a torque wrench to properly torque up those bolts! (39.3-53.9 N-m or 4-5.5kg-m).

Anyway, the following months of 2019 promise some interesting mods I have planned. For one, it's been over 11 years (!!) since I got the Mine's build engine installed - maybe it's time to tinker with it or improve it? My car still shows some other problems from the horrible, crap work done at Worx Autoalarm and so I really want to finish fixing all of those issues as well.  So let's hope 2019 is a great year for all of us! And thanks to Ale from taking time to stop by and drop off these parts!

Titanium Bolts Engine Cover Dress Up Project (Part 2)

So as I described in yesterday's post, we (ClubR33) had ordered custom titanium bolts for the engine's Rb26 front cam cover, the CAS, and the coil pack cover - some 18 bolts in all.  In "burnt blue," "nitride gold" and "nitride black."

Of course, as I send out the bolts to the ClubR33 members who ordered, I wondered how the bolts would look on my car. So I took advantage of a rare break in the rain and took the follow photos. Enjoy!

Installation Examples:

Burnt blue coil cover bolts

The bolt on right has "ClubR33" laser engraved.

Here is a close up

Nitride Gold

Frontal shot

Better shot to see the coilpack cover bolts

Close up of laser engraving for Nitride Black bolts

Here you can see the OEM bolts (circled in red) vs the black titanium bolts.

So which do you like the best? For some reason, I am drawn to the black ones. Understated, but with purpose. The gold is too flashy for me, but I think of the 3 colors I like them the best (overall finish, and color quality).  The burnt blue is attractive, but honestly the coloring is quite susceptible to scratching (not important under the hood, really), and the coloring is not consistent (actually that is good, no one will have the exact same set) and so for someone with OCD like me, sticking to a solid color may be the way to go. I guess I will just have to experiment...

Weight Savings!
And of course, for those who may be skeptical of the whole exercise, these bolts DO have a practical purpose. Being titanium, they ARE lighter than the steel bolts they replace.

So a 26 gram weight savings for the RB26 cam cover

Since there are 12 bolts in total, we would have 9x3 = 27 grams of weight savings

And 3 of these on the CAS. So 5x3 = 15 grams of weight savings.

So in total, we would have 26 + 27 + 15 = 68 grams of weight savings! LOL. As you can see, no one can deny that they do not have an actual purpose, although I am sure there are more cost effective ways to drop weight from the front of the car!

What do you guys think?

Titanium Bolts Engine Cover Dress Up Project (Part 1)

As many of you know, I am quite active in ClubR33, the invitation-only R33 GT-R owner's club Facebook group. It's a great bunch of guys and because it's closed to the public (we screen potential members before we allow them access) we can focus on, and be proud of, all things R33 without worrying about the usual detractors we often see in more public forums.

Anyway, one of the nice things of belonging to a group like this, is that we can embark on projects which might not be worth doing by oneself.  For example, after we discovered that, someone was selling colorful titanium bolts on eBay for RB26DETT engine bays, but at a premium, I wondered if the Club could do better - could we, for example, have the OEM engine bolts replicated, but also in titanium? And in attractive colors? Would it be expensive and not worth it?  I mean, this DressUpBolts guy is smart, by limiting the dimensions (both threading and the heads which area all Allen head) of the bolts he offers, he has enormous economies of scale.


In any case, I put out some feelers on Alibaba, the e-commerce site that connects the world directly to Chinese factories, and found a dealer who not only was willing to do the job, but impressed me by taking the photos of the measurements I took of the following bolts (these are just a few):

This is the bolt for the RB26 front cam cover.

Same bolt as above.

This is the bolt for the CAS. Note the captive washer

This is my homemade jig I use to measure bolts.
Here, I found that the bolts for the coilpack cover (green circle) are M5, while the CAS bolt is M6.

and coming back in a few hours with the following:

They got everything EXACTLY right!

Anyway, I was pretty happy with how these guys understood how picky I was. I wanted exact replicas of the OEM factory bolts, and I wanted them removable by the same tools as the OEM bolts as well.  Hence it was very important to get the dimensions correct, not just of the thread but of the heads as well. The only compromise I made was on the CAS bolt. Instead of a having a Phillips head, the factory only felt comfortable doing an Allen head. But I realized that I usually use a socket wrench for this bolt anyway so in the end I capitulated.

Because the factory however required a minimum order of 100 bolts, this is a project I would not normally do on my own. But, with several like-minded members, this was a go! And, the pricing would be much lower than the generic aluminum and titanium bolts we had seen on eBay.  So we placed our first order and a few weeks later received this:

Nice huh! Color is "burnt blue"

We were thrilled - these came out much better than we had anticipated. But then, there was overwhelming demand - while an earlier poll had shown that only a dozen or so members expressed interest, once people saw this photo there was more demand than available bolts.  Luckily someone then pointed out to me that, we were missing one bolt, the third short bolt found in the middle of the RB26 front cam cover. Oops.  But just the excuse I needed to order some more and have enough for everyone.

And, based on demand, we (the admins of the Club) decided that we needed to make these bolts even more special.  The way to do that, would be to have one or more of the bolts laser etched with "ClubR33." A small detail that reflects the Club brotherhood!

So I placed another order, and in addition to the missing bolt and the engraving, ordered the bolt set in two anodized (actually "nitride") colors, gold and black. This time, the wait took longer, but the results were definitely worth it.

Nitride Black

Nitride Gold

Here are the new blue ones, with the laser engraved club name

Bagged up for the members, ready to be mailed out!

So far, so good. But I wondered, how good would these bolts look on the engine of MY car? Check in tomorrow to find out...

Unnecessary Titanium Tower Bar Mod?

Recently on Yahoo Auctions, I saw a Nismo titanium tower bar much like mine for sale. Except this one had a twist - the seller claimed that, in order to prevent the suspension top mounts from rusting due to galvanic corrosion by the titanium / steel interaction, he had applied rubber strips to the bottom of his tower bar to prevent the two metals from touching.

So that got me thinking - is that even possible? On the other hand, even if such a thing did not happen, the titanium, being harder than steel, might cut into the steel and then cause some rust to begin, no?

In any case, I began to do some research. I think the end result was that I wasn't sure, but if I could do something about it, then better safe than sorry.

So here is the tower bar, right after I unbolted it:

Initially, I was planning on cutting bits of adhesive backed rubber foam, similar to what the guy selling his had done. But after a few minutes with the scissors, it was clear that I'm not talented in that department. Actually, the issue was the small rings surrounding the bolt holes, these are slightly raised compared to the rest of the large ring, and it was not going to be easy to cut the foam that precisely.

So I began thinking, too bad I can't just spray on rubber... WAIT! I have THIS:

That's right - I had actually purchased a couple of cans of these for another project (which I hope to reveal by sometime this summer), and so figured, why not try spraying on this "rubber"?  

At first it was quite ugly:

The stuff was everywhere, and oops I got some on the inside of the large ring:

 But unlike paint, this stuff comes off with some friction!

So I applied another coat, then let the bar sit in the sun and then when the day began to cool off, under a heat lamp.  This was the end result:

Well, not exactly pretty, but who cares, no one will see it and so long as it does its job! (and yes, I wiped away the overspray).

Then it was installed back in the engine bay. I figure even if the rubber had not dried completely and it gets rubbed off onto the top mounts, that's still better than raw titanium vs. painted steel (for the record, there ARE a few small scratches there already, likely caused by the stock steel tower bar). 

By the way, the torque tightening figures for the tower bar is 39.3-53.9 N-m (or 4-5.5 kg-m). I have a few others which I will add to this blog's R33 Technical Page in the near future, apologies for not having it all up at once. Enjoy!

Pricing on the Tomei Powered EXPREME Ti All Titanium Exhausts for R32, R33 and R34 GT-Rs!

Well as promised – here is the advert for the new Tomei Exhausts, to be in the December issue of GT-R Magazine.



You can see all three models lined up – but more importantly, pricing.

109,000 yen, which is 114,450 with sales tax included!!

Of course, this is local JDM pricing, so overseas, I don’t know what the pricing will be.

But just to compare other all titanium exhausts out there (at least in Japan):

1) Mine’s Silence VX-Pro Titan III (for R32, R34 only) – 270,900 Yen with tax.
Specs – 78-80mm pipe, outlet is 120mm.
http://www.mines-wave.com/
(click on Skyline)

2) Powerhouse Amuse: R1 Titan – for all three models, but 187,950 Yen with tax.
Specs -90mm pipe, outlet is 130mm
http://www.webamuse.co.jp/new/products/muffler/bnr34_r1_titan.html

3) HKS – uh, could not find a titanium muffler in their lineup.

4) Trial – Titan Bazooka Muffler series for all three models, but 197,400 Yen with tax.
Specs – 80mm pipe, outlet is 115mm.
http://www.trial.co.jp/osaka/original/bazooka/muffler.html

5) Ganador – for all three model cars. They have two exhaust models, Vertex Titan for 281,400 Yen with tax and the Racing Titan for 249,900 Yen, with tax.
Only specs listed are the outlet size, first one is 120mm and second is 110.
http://www.ganador.co.jp/carmodel/nissan/skyline/index.html

6) Midori Seibi
For all three models. Two models for R34, one with and one without a resonator (to quiet down?). R32 and R33 are normal model only.
278,250 yen without (ie normal) and 294,000 yen with.
Specs not listed.
http://www.midoriseibi.co.jp/tuning/r34/r34-gtr-silent-high-power-nr-titanium-muffler.html

Anyway – the point is, for the specs and the pricing, you can’t beat Tomei. The Tomei pricing, in fact, is LOWER than prices of some of the USED full titanium exhausts that I found on Yahoo Auctions!

Now, when will they be available? THAT my friends is what we all want to know and are eagerly waiting for. I suppose a bit of a ramp up time is inevitable, but it sure would be nice to be able to have one on my car before the next Fuji Speedway trackday with SSCT scheduled for  the 23rd of December.

Stay tuned!

Behind the Scenes at Tomei Powered - Expreme Ti Exhaust for the R33 GT-R

Ok so due to some questions and requests that came my way, here are some additional photos and background that hopefully sheds some light as to this whole Titanium Exhaust project.

As Dino mentioned in his best Speedhunters post to date (showing both our cars)
http://speedhunters.com/archive/2011/11/21/car-life-gt-gt-creating-a-tomei-prototype.aspx
the project began last year when our friend Allen at Tomei proposed that (and I write this with as much modesty as I can muster) two world-famous Skyline GT-Rs (R33 and R34) be used to develop, and then showcase, their new exhaust line.

And that’s what my car was doing at Tomei earlier this year, when I posted this http://www.r33gt-r.com/2011/03/at-tomei-powered-again.html

As you can see, they had my car covered in blue clear wrap, because Allen apparently told everyone at Tomei how OCD (stress on OBSESSIVE) I was on keeping my car clean.

Here is a front shot


And here is a shot from the back, showing no exhaust pipe… I suppose this is when they were taking the initial measurements.


Allen also showed me some component parts of their exhausts – here is the vented inner silencer, along with some fiberglass like strands, I believe both are used in the muffler portion.





Fast forward an earthquake and nuclear disaster and a few months later, and again our cars were called to action – this time for final fitting of the prototypes. Oh, and some photography…

This time when I dropped the car off, I noticed that they had already borrowed a stock R33 exhaust from another tuner:


and then during the week Dino sent the following photos, taken presumably during the photoshoot.

Here is my car, you can see obviously the blue protective sheet.


And a shot of my car outside while Dino's is on the lift.


Once it got dark, they started taking photos. Here is a close up of the underside of my car.


And here is how they set up the lighting for the rear 3/4 view shot.


And here of course once again are the final shots - just beautiful!




Finally - for those of you curious about pricing - we've been telling everyone it's VERY competitive - check back again around Nov 30 when I will be allowed to release the GT-R Magazine print advertisement which contains pricing information, as well as one additional photo no one has seen yet.

Tomei Powered Photoshoot Featured on Speedhunters

For those who haven't seen this already (although some may be arriving via that website), here is Dino's write up on Speedhunters.com with photos of our cars at Tomei, and a behind the scenes look at how the catalog/website photos (the ones I posted earlier) were shot.

Enjoy.

http://speedhunters.com/archive/2011/11/21/car-life-gt-gt-creating-a-tomei-prototype.aspx


Also, in the next few days I'll be posting my own photos as well as some from Allen and Dino regarding the muffler development and the photoshoot.

And Here is What Was Going on at Tomei

And here it is, what everyone has been waiting for:

Tomei Powered will be introducing their new line of EXPREME all Titanium exhausts for the R32, R33, and R34 GT-Rs, in early January (probably) for sale to the general public.

Here is what I know so far:
90mm diameter (what I consider minimum for a tuned GT-R)
High grade Titanium tubing – nothing but the best of course – and top grade craftsmanship to boot - all done in house by their master craftsmen, led by Hatanaka-san.
Pricing that will undercut all other major manufacturers. (Can't reveal it yet, but it will send a shock through the industry).
Weight less than half of stock

My car served as the benchmark by which Tomei measured, created, and then fitted the prototype. And maybe some exhaust flow testing too?

Here is a photo of how it looks from underneath – you can see the very gentle curves to ensure minimal power loss… and yet it fits better than my current Fujitsubo, which is almost straight out (and hence at a diagonal). Benefit to the curve ahead of the muffler portion is, I will be able to fit an R34 style diffuser if I want to…. (yes, still working on that actually…)



Sound – well as DCD told me “better make friends with the neighbors, and buy your wife more jewelry” but that is with the restrictor removed. Presumably, with the restrictor in, it will pass Japan’s stringent noise laws… I will post a video once I buy one from Tomei and have it installed!

In my next related post, I’ll post some close up photos of the exhaust from underneath, as taken by DCD during his visit.

Meanwhile, if any of you have questions about pricing and availability, contact Tomei at
http://www.tomeiusa.com/Tomei-web/contactus-usa.php

Here is a link to Tomei USA's Blog where my car is featured;
http://www.tomeipowered.com/BTE/index.php/2011/11/11/coming-soon-titanium-muffler-for-the-bcnr33-gtr/