So a few more days to go until I pick up the car from Nismo OMORI Factory... unfortunately it won't be going straight back with me, I first need to drop it off at the specialist alarm shop that Ochiai-san found... and then some other stuff needs to be done... details in an upcoming post soon!
Second, Omori Factory isn't quite done with the car, as at the very least they still need to fix the cigarette lighter wiring and the front door speaker leads (they didn't have the parts in stock in time for the repair schedule)... but rest assured I have a few more things to be done (or at least, I'm getting estimates as we speak...) and so after getting the alarm wiring removed I will be making a return trip back. Ochiai-san did confirm that the photos of the new headlight bulbshe sent last week was just to show the comparison between old and new, and that in fact both were replaced, and finally that in person the new ones look even whiter than the old ones.
On the other hand, they were able to get a new ashtray for the car:
Note the rough surface, consistent with Series 3 cars
And here is the parts number:
Remember, parts numbers change across the years...this is the late models only!
Ochiai-san also told me that they lowered the car as low as "legally possible"... which I understand is 8cm from the road to the lowest part of the car.
Very interesting device here...
In my car's case, the lowest part is the Mine's front pipe... and looking at how it looks compared to the rest of the underfloor, which has been completely refreshed, it doesn't look that pretty anymore, huh. Maybe I need to make a trip to Mine's in the near future...??
So 9.5 cm from the road?
So I guess the front pipe is costing me 1.5cm... well I guess so long as it looks better than this:
On the other hand, in the past I found it was quite easy to change the heights of the Ohlins myself, so once it's back if it still looks odd we can lower it even more quite easily. Although then yes we have to be careful about scrapes on not-so-smooth roads, and then I also wonder if the tires will rub against the inner fenders.
Finally, when I first dropped off the car they asked me if I wanted the car ceramic ("glass") coated. When I asked what happened to that option, turns out their supplier had checked out my car and said it was already "too clean" and that any work he would do to prep the car for the ceramic coating wouldn't really be noticeable. Win! It means very little prep next time the car goes in for a ceramic coat!
Anyway, while the car isn't as perfect as I wanted, it's come along way and we will keep fixing things one step at a time...
So last Friday afternoon I got the following update from Ochiai-san...turns out that even though the crap alarm keeps interfering with the starter motor (so I guess the immobilizer works..., in a way... ha ha) work is progressing on other parts of the car.
One item that I had asked to be replaced with new...turns out it HAD been on the last go around. I forgot to check, Ochiai-san forgot to tell me... oops.
Forgot to ask them to replace the brake cooling duct with new...
maybe it can be refurbished, we shall see...
I also got an update of sorts on the new headlight bulbs. If you recall from this past post, one of the Phillips HID bulbs had failed, and in order to pass Shaken the techs at Nismo Omori Factory hurriedly installed an aftermarket bulb sold by Sphere Light.
New bulb on right side (left side in photo) appears slightly more blue?
And yes I like the Star Wars Landspeeder effect!
But strangely I did not get sent a photo of both installed. Either they did the install and Ochiai-san simply forgot to take an "after" photo or they are saving me a few yen by letting me install the passenger side one myself (frankly, it's the easier one to do as the back of that headlight is more easily accessible as you can remove the airbox to get clear access to it). Either way is ok with me!
Finally, it looks like they installed the Ohlins DFV as I mentioned last time and have installed the newly refurbished (and of course, glass coated) wheels - note they haven't yet applied the Rays stickers yet - with the new tires mounted. In addition to the requisite alignment they will also be lowering the car to the bare minimum allowed under the Shaken rules... so a few more cm for sure.
Meanwhile I'm also happy to report that Ochiai-san has found an alarm shop that is willing to help out with the alarm removal. It's not the same shop that I went to many years ago in Tokyo (where I will go again to get another alarm installed) but one that is an authorized installer of the same alarm system that WORX Autoalarm "installed." Hopefully Nakamura wasn't too clever and they can sort out the mess.
So hopefully by next week the car will be ready... keeping fingers crossed...
So despite having had my car at Nismo Omori for a few months (conveniently while my house was being rebuilt) last year and getting the Nismo Omori Factory Chassis Refreshdone, upon getting the car home earlier this year I realized there were a few more things I had to get done.
Ok... truth is I had to let my wallet recover for a few months before allowing them to do any more work!
This time, being that the car's bi-annual shaken is due in June, and in order to keep the car street legal, I decided to go ahead and have Nismo Omori take care of it this year. Turns out they are much closer in both distance and time to my house than Nissan Prince Tokyo Motorsports Factory as well as BeAmbitious, both places where I have had the shaken done before. The fees and taxes are the same whoever does the work. More importantly, I wanted Nismo to take care of a few things I didn't have the budget for last time.
Was nice to get the car out of the garage! Note the slightly overcast skies... better hurry before it rains!
First order of business - tires. Yes, ever since getting new tires back when I had the R35 brakes installed by Ninomiya-san at BeAmbitious back in November 2011(!!), I've had these Yokohama AD-08Rs. Without even looking at the code on the sidewall, that means these tires are at least 9 years old!
Definitely time to change out for new tires. Stay tuned for what I decided to get!
Second, time to send in the Ohlins DFV (now called Road and Track) to be rebuilt (every 20,000km or 2 years). Last time I had them rebuilt was back in 2016. This is actually fairly inexpensive, because I have chosen to keep everything the same, just renewed. Given the Chassis Refresh, I wanted to make sure that EVERYTHING - tires, coilovers, and bushes - are all new. I was suitably impressed with the result after the Chassis Refresh, but can't wait to experience how the car is when everything suspension related is new!
So those of you who are Nismo fans know that Nismo released their own Ohlins DFV coilovers back in March. As far as I can tell, the only big difference to the original Ohlins spec is that the Nismo spec is a bit softer and thus a bit more street oriented (Nismo: 8.0(F)/8.0(R) kgf/mm; Ohlins original: 9.0(F)/8.0(R) kgf/mm). I doubt I'll feel that much of a difference...
Parked and next in line for service - note the plastic cover on the steering wheel. Wouldn't want to get grease on the leather!
Weird how the color is different from inside at this angle...
What else? Well there are a few other things that need to be taken care of. Since they predict I will get the car back around the end of July (!), I will discuss some of those items in my upcoming posts. Stay tuned!
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...
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!
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 Ohlinson, 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!
So I'm quite embarrassed to reveal this, but up until now, despite having Ohlins DFV coil-overs front and rear(having graduated from Nismo S-Tunes), I had never really bothered to see whether I could adjust them, height-wise.
I simply figured that, whatever setting it was on was good enough - the car was set low to the ground and the handling and ride were pretty good.
Except of course for the fact that I'm always worried about scraping things with the front lip spoiler, not just during parking but also when driving over ruts and dips in the road. That, and it turns out that the current location (after installation of the Do-Luck roll center adaptors which complement the full Nismo link set I have installed) of the tire/wheel versus the wheel housing was having adverse effects on the inner liner, as I posted last time.
So this upcoming week, it turns out I HAVE to drive to a location with qbad roads. Usually I train it up there to avoid this hassle but a late evening departure means that taking the train is a risky endeavor. So, I was resigned to driving my car, when I realized that, with coilovers, I could try to see how much I could increase the height.
After digging out the Ohlins instruction manuals, their recommended set-up was to have the bottom of the fender arch, to the center of the wheel, measure 350mm (in front, 354mm in the rear). This was on their test car which had a drop of 30mm front and rear. So I went out and measured and it turned out for my car, this distance was only 335mm-ish! Further, for the front suspension, the Ohlins factory settings are 38mm between the lower bracket and the lock-nut (which sits right below the spring lower seat). Finally, the manual instructions that plus or minus 15mm is allowed in terms of adjustment up or down. So, this means that I could at maximum have a distance of 53mm.
First order of business, to measure the existing height... 40mm!
So, blessed with another sunny Sunday, I jacked up the car and removed the front wheels to access.
I discovered that the fronts were only 2mm off from the Ohlins factory setting, at 40mm, both sides of course. So, I got out the wrenches that came with the DFVs and started twisting away...each one complete turn is only 1.5mm in height, and I ended up raising each side 12mm (1.2 cm) for a total height now of 52mm on both sides, so let's just say it wasn't a 5 minute job.
So added 120mm to the ride height... sounds like a lot?
But not a hard job, just took some time. After I got the wheels back on and car lowered to the ground, it looked like the recommended distance of 350mm between wheel center and inner fender was achieved:
Since the Nismo links drop the ride height from standard by 35mm in front (and 30mm in rear), it appears that increasing the height on the coilovers from 40mm to 52mm (12mm), also gives the car about 12mm in height (measured from the center of the wheel to the fender) so the car is probably still about 23mm (2.3cm) lower than OEM. It certainly still looks that way. Hopefully the 1.2cm makes a difference on the rubbing and scraping but I will report on that after my trip this week.
Obviously this photo was taken BEFORE I did the work but also before the roll center adaptors were installed.
This is how the car looks now!
So it's true. Duct tape is perhaps man's second greatest invention, right after the wheel.
After my car was lowered, and especially after the installation of the Do-Luck roll center adjusters, I had noticed more rubbing by the front tires on the plastic inner fenders than usual.
This usually happens in tight quarters, making turns below speeds of 20kph. In other words, each time I leave my house in my neighborhood, I hear the awful sound of rubber against plastic (the fenders).
Anyway, last time I took the car out, I was surprised to see, that the front left wheel had worn though the "highest" point of the fender - revealing a 12mm bolt! This bolt holds the OEM blow off valve, or some part of it, in its position under the fuse box.
Obviously, not good. Rubbing up against plastic I could deal with, because the rubber tire isn't going to be damaged. But now with a bolt sticking through, could this lead to damage to the tire?
In any case, I wasn't going to take any chances, so asked my Club R33 Facebook friends for some advice. The ideas (all from first hand experience it seemed) ranged from taking off the fender liner and either removing the OEM blow off valve, or moving the BOV forward a few millimeters, to removing the bolt entirely, to replacing the bolt with a flat type bolt.
So last Sunday, as the weather was finally warm and it wasn't raining, I jacked up the car and removed both front wheels.
It had been such a long time since the last time I worked on the car, I had forgotten why the ramps were necessary....
Since "OCD" is my middle name...
On the left, clean wheel. On the right, a layer of brake dust. Yuck!
What I immediately realized that, in order to take off the front inner fender liner, I would have also remove my front diffuser, as well as the brake ducting, to access the bolts on the bottom. So what I thought was going to be a simple 30 minute job was threatening to become a 3 hour task.
Feeling lazy, I decided instead that I would cut the plastic around the protruding bolt to see if I could see anything, maybe access the BOV that way. At the same time, I started looking around the entire wheel well, and then discovered to my surprise that, not only had the tire worn out the plastic in front, but it had also rubbed through in 3 places BEHIND the tire as well.
The middle shows where the undercoating had worn through, showing the primer!
The left side tire, did not have the problem in front but had similar issues on the plastic behind it. And, on both sides, the lower most tear on the rearside was because part of the chassis (maybe the chassis rail?) was behind the rubbed plastic, leading to the vertical crack seen here:
As for the bolt that started it all, I used my Dremel and cut a small square of plastic away, to reveal this:
Yes, not the smoothest of cuts but check out how much plastic underneath that
had already been worn down!
It appears that whatever it is bolted to, wasn't about to be easily manipulated through this square. So, recalling what Bobby Proctor of Zealou5 advised, I went out and got a flat headed bolt:
FYI, it's an "M8" size bolt
which then sits nice and flush, at least 5mm difference (no washers)!
Obviously, at this point I realized that the long term solution is either to remove the plastic liners, and bend back all the metal that is causing the plastic to wear, and the use a heat gun to mold the plastic out of the way of the tires - OR, it is possible that raising the car a few millimeters up front, would also accomplish the same thing without any metal bending. I will have to consult Ito-san at Do-Luck about this next time I see him.
Anyway, until then, it was duct tape time. So I first cleaned the plastic, then judiciously tapped up the torn plastic (both sides, outside and inside, and both front and back, left and right) using industrial strength duct tape, like this:
Of course, just leaving the tape as is after the repair is not aesthetically attractive, AND, we had the problem of where the undercoating had also been rubbed almost to the bare metal. So, I sprayed these areas with some undercoat, in the hope and that it's better to lose undercoat first, then duct tape, THEN plastic. (so I forgot to take photos of how it looked AFTER I sprayed it.... sorry! Have to look closely to see the repair though!)
I also found that the lower most bolt of the fender liners was missing on both sides, so I went ahead and found bolts to replace those missing (this also cause the fender liners to stop flapping about so I'm happy).
In any case, while the car looks great with the lowered profile, I will have to figure out which permanent option is the better one, long term. I haven't bothered taking the car for a drive yet as I'm sure the rubbing will continue so long as I don't do one of those two options. Stay tuned!
So I took a day off today as I had some errands to run and stopped by Do-Luck again as they are only 5 minutes away from where I live.
Looks clean as usual, right? Unfortunately not underneath!!
They have a new product which I've been interested in since its release a few months ago - their new roll center adjusters. Actually, ever since I lowered my car by fitting the complete Nismo link set, I've studied, read up on, and been told that ideally the car should have some roll center adjusters. I've been meaning to do so, but other stuff kept me distracted. Here is a well written site which explains what they do, if you need a refresher like I did.
Moonface is probably the Japanese company best known for their roll center adaptors. Here is a photo of the kit for the BCNR33:
Do-Luck has, however, recently helped in the development of this very interesting R33 GT-R which Dino has featured on Speedhunters:
And as you can see from this video, it is a very, very fast car (his time here at Fuji Speedway is about the same as a GT race car):
Anyway, this car runs Do-Lucks's new Roll Center Adaptors, available for the R32, R33 and R34 GT-Rs:
Which you can tell, by looking at the shape, are not your typical roll center adjuster/adaptor. These work by not just restoring the angle of the lower arm (of a lowered car) to near horizontal/stock angles, but ALSO simultaneously work to restore the tie rods to their pre-lowered state. In fact these may be the first ones on the market to combine roll center adjusters and tie rod ends into one piece.
Further, these are designed specifically for cars still running the OEM arms and OEM tie rods - in my case, I have the Nismo arm which is OEM shape but with stiffer bushes, and yes still the OEM tie rods. So perfect for my car!
Camber is increased another 1 degrees, and so with the Nismo links like me you end up with about 3.2 -3.5 degrees of camber.
Do-Luck offers these S7075 duralumin items in two colors - the anodized silver above, or anodized black. I went for the black, simply because I thought it would stand out from the rest of the suspension pieces.
For the left side, facing up
I actually took a bunch of photos as the install was happening, but having driven my car most recently in a rainstorm and not having properly washed the under carriage, I am choosing not to embarrass myself with how dirty the car was underneath!
But as I discovered, the install was not as easy as it could have been - maybe for a DIYer with the proper tools, it would be possible. Basically, while it is obvious that the lower arm has to come off the hub, and the tie rod comes off of the hub piece as well, in my case, the brackets for the R35 Brembos meant that fitment was a bit tight - necessitating removal of the driveshaft to make sure everything was bolted up properly tight. Then after it was all bolted and connected together, the alignment had to be redone as well.
Anyway - to get a better understanding of how and where it fits, here are some photos (and again, I am distraught about how dirty it is...)
Before (left side):
Looking from back to front - Circled in blue are the bits between which the Adjusters fit
After (Right side):
Looking from the front to back. Obviously the arm is not connected yet.
Looking from the front to back. Circled is the adaptor installed. Note lower arm is now connected.
Looking from back to front - you can see, circled in red, where the tie rod USED to be connected
View from the top - you can clearly see the tie rod is no longer connected directly to the knuckle
Driving Impression:
So after both sides were done, and the alignment fixed, I went for a spin.
The first thing I noticed was the steering felt lighter. Almost as if the power steering had gotten stronger, or the car itself lighter. Ito-san told me this is because the tie rods are no longer in the "Y" shape, they are more parallel with the ground. In fact this is, if I recall correctly, how the car felt BEFORE I lowered it.
I then noticed that the front wheels felt like they stuck to the road better because the car seemed to react a bit quicker than before, going left to right. In other words, the car felt more "flickable." Obviously, this is because the arms are also more parallel to the ground, and not doing the "Y" as can be seen in the Megan Racing link.
Finally, my biggest issue - on center numbness - seemed to have improved. The zone (the angle of the steering wheel from left to on-center and then from on-center to right) over which the car feels relatively numb (remember I drove my friend's non-power steering NSX, which remains my personal benchmark) has shrunk substantially. But dead on center, the feel can STILL be improved to be honest.
So I am one step closer to obtaining the kind of handling, both in feel and in response, I want with my car. The more nimble handling (which I was told may actually make the car feel a bit jittery on bad roads), coupled with improved on center feel.
The only caveat I have is, these are expensive, with a retail price of 84,000 yen for the pair! Perhaps I should have done some more research, but how much of an advantage do we gain by utilizing one solid piece vs corrections at both locations (by using roll center adjusters and tie rod ends)? I guess one thing about high prices, however, is that likely not many people will have these on their car so it will add to the "bespoke" nature of my car.
So what do you all think? Post a comment and let me know! (and yes, I know, I'm still working on the R32 vs R33/R33 trivia blog posts...thanks for your patience on those!)
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