Some repairs and more parts!

Over a two day period, I was able to fix:

1) a small leak in the rear tail lamp cluster that was causing some condensation,

2) a couple of scratches made on the car by some careless buffoon,

3) and my scraped up front lip spoiler.

I also had installed some aerodynamic bits and some other odds and ends.

This last week being the holiday season, I went over to Hyrev's place on Friday, where he got out his PorterCable 7424 and, using some reducing compound, was able to buff out a couple of scratches on the car. Obviously, where the paint was gone (lower plastic bit on left panel after the door, and the bumper), we could not restore, but got out many scuffs. Also, on the other side, someone had made a very long scratch - but it was thin, so Hyrev was able to buff out most of it. Hard to see now, but no photos, sorry.

Hyrev, having been previously an R33 owner himself, also showed me/did most of the work in restoring the sealant surrounding the right rear brake lamp/turn signal cluster. It was a real witch to remove - after removing the 5 bolts, we had to use a hair dryer to soften the sealant. The sealant, applied at the factory, isn't very well applied, as it turns out. The lamp cluster itself while sealed on the top side, is NOT sealed on the bottom. So, if the sealant used to mount the cluster to the body isn't perfect, this allows moisture to creep in from the bottom. Hence, my turn signal and rear foglight were fogging up.

Here are some photos.

Chopsticks skills are handy here...

This is what we used to clean off the mess, before the reseal -

Silicon remover

The next day, I wandered over to my friend Thomas' place, he lives out near Camp Zama. And we proceed TO Camp Zama, where I got to use their Auto Shop - it's a building with all the tools and gadgets necessary for hobbyists to fix their own cars, they even have tire mounting and balancing equipment, even welding stuff!

Anyway - we got the car up, and proceed to take off the HKS Kansai undercover, as it was not properly secured. Then took off the front lip spoiler, which I resanded down, used some putty to refill some holes, and then resprayed black and then a top coat of flat clearcoat. Looks great now!

We also experimented with taking apart the right front headlamp, mainly to see if we could, and also to see if we could polish the lens from the inside. Well, you can polish, but it won't do any good on my car, as the lens plastic itself has some weird internal scratching/pitting that no amount of polishing would remove. So we put that back together.

Thomas was also kind enough to clean up some of the oilly mess that had stained my exhaust pipes, with some machine assisted sanding. Looks great now, thanks!

Finally, we installed this - the Daytona Ground Effector GE1. Stupid name, it's essentially a pair of metal and rubber strips that are supposed to move air away from the car, reducing the amount of turbulence under the car, and hence result in a more stable ride. It even comes with a "feel the difference" guarantee.

Here is a link to what I installed:
http://www.plotonline.com/dcuatro/ge/index.html
See the picture of the Integra?

Here in gadget loving Japan, you can get a motorized version, too!
http://www.plotonline.com/dcuatro/ge4/furappu.html

Photos -



Conclusion - well, the car DID feel a bit more planted on the expressway, but I'm wondering it's psychological??
Most parts reviews on this product on the Minkara car blog - very popular here in Japan - have good things to say about this product. The effect is probably more noticeable in smaller, lighter cars to begin with.

Oh well, will update with more impressions after my next run at Fuji.

Written up by Nissan Prince Tokyo!

Discovered this at the Minkara blog for Nissan Prince Tokyo Motorsports Division.
It's quite an honor - being one of their first customers to be featured.

Here is a link to the post:
http://minkara.carview.co.jp/userid/455796/blog/11419570/

Daikoku Futo gathering

Wednesday night, last gathering of the year. Here's a photo, courtesy of my friend Thomas:


In addition, my friend came out in his S15 Silvia. As Thomas was complaining about some weird handling issues, we had my friend the suspension expert drive his car, and then mine.

I'm still working on the translation, but here is my friend's report:

You can find the original blog entry here:
http://minkara.carview.co.jp/userid/242248/blog/11343246/

************
Today, I was able to drive and compare 2 BCNR33s. That is, was entrusted with two beloved cars (by their owners).

“A” car (Midnight Purple)
This was car was fundamentally “normal” (not tuned).
A recently purchased used car.

Tires were front/rear standard size 245/45/17
Fr. Yokohama DNA GP, Rears: Bridgestone RE711

The suspension on the car is an Ohlins unit, probably from around 10 years ago, but the attenuation (damping) adjustment dial is on located on the front tower part (the upper suspension mounts)
This seems upside down?

The springs also are not the standard specification part, but something close to the standard configuration, at the very least not the Eibach models available then.

Straight line performance:
The acceleration upon stepping on the throttle was very good.
The engine felt good.
The ETS works well, easily and quickly controlling wheel spin, and so driving is fun.

Brakes:
The braking performance is completely lacking.
Have to step on the brake pedal hard to get deceleration, and it takes time to decelerate.
Made me think - Hmm? Is that brake fade?
But it’s too early for that (fade).
I think the brake pads should be immediately changed to a name branded street pad
I recommend Nismo’s S-tune (pads)
If we will be using on the track as well then the R-tune is good.

Although I think this wobble problem may have something to do with how the Yokohama tires has a less rigid and softer casing, overall, I strongly feel that the front suspension rigidity is lacking.
Upper mount rigidity (pillow ball, maybe?)

Even though the shock absorbers's damping is sluggish (even though it's expensive the springs don't suppress.
The low level of the tire's casing rigidity is strikingly felt.

And, I think that there must be a difference between left and right here.
Although we won't be able to tell unless the tire pressures are well managed, I think the reason for the left/right different lies in the front suspension.

as a temporary solution, as the tires have lots of tread left, may want to try switching the highly rigid Bridgestones to the front, and put the Yokohamas on the rear.

The attenuation is high but,
Why doesn't the spring resonance stop?
I may not be feeling bounce, it could be pitching.

Corners:
Because there wasn't a wide area (to test) in terms of cornering, and so I wasn't able to generate lots of side-ways acceleration, the front yaw was sharp, and so for a moment the direction of the car changes but, the attenuation in the shock absorber area is high, and the duration of the rolling is long.
Was not able to experience the one-ness feeling of a roll beginning and ending.

Feels like “ro~ll~ing~”

As the front is Yokohama, and the rears are Bridgestone, I sense excessive cornering power. It may be a good idea on this point, to change the front/rear tire brands.

This is one car I'm looking forward to as it's upgraded.


“B” car (silver). This car runs well on the circuit. It's akasakaBCNR33's car.
Is equipped magnificently.

Engine is Mine’s Complete Engine Stage 1(rev), over 500ps.
Suspension links are Nismo
The dampers are Nismo S-tune
Tires are BS’ RE01R
Brake pads are PFC
Rotors are PFC
Clutch is Nismo’s Super Coppermix Twin

Straight line
A bit slow going at low revs, but above 4000rpm the engine sound suddenly changes.
Feel tremendous power.
As the ETS firmly stops wheel spin, can step on the gas with reassurance.

Brakes:
The response and the actual deceleration G is wonderful, can brake with reassurance.
Even though there is initial bite, there is high controllability.
Even though it’s different in character to the R-tune, it’s an interesting characteristic.
However, the rear brakes feel weak, think that it is necessary to upgrade to larger diameter rotors later.
The sinking down time is short and the feeling of attenuation is low and so it’s easy to use.

Dampers:
Because they are S-tunes, in the beginning I thought they would be like the standard ones, but it was sportier than I thought.
The compliance of the Roll associated with steering in is fast, making it easy to drive.

Ride Quality
It looked like it would be good in the corners, thought the ride quality might be harsh, but surprise, it’s very good, quickly soaking up bounces.
The cornering ability and ride quality is balanced.

The difference with the “A” car is especially here.
It’s quick to soak up the impact harshness.
However, the roll rate in corners is fast.
I thought that, it’s a pretty good feeling suspension.

Although I would like to have a bit more spring rate…


In conclusion:
The Skyline GT-R is definitely a heavy car.
It’s heavy, but you won’t be disappointed because it’s “heavy.”
Different than the Silvia, the roll quality is very good, and one can plunge into corners with reassurance.
That’s the kind of car it is.

Both of you, thank you very much for letting me drive your precious cars.

You can find the original blog entry here:
http://minkara.carview.co.jp/userid/242248/blog/11343246/

Before Daikoku...look what I found at Nissan Shinagawa

Lightning Strikes Twice?

Last week going to the Nismo Festival, my car developed an oil leak from one oil lines going to/from the turbos. Turned out to be the front one this time, last year going to the Nismo Festival, the car developed an oil leak from the oil feed line for the rear turbo. Nissan Shinagawa Motorsports called me yesterday to tell me the bad news - that this would necessitate removal of the rear turbo to access the front side tubes. And thus more money and time.

Ok, so here's my rant - as you all know I had a new engine put in by Mine's last year. Why didn't they bother to switch out those lines then? They don't cost much, the engine was out of the car, and these oil lines are considered to be consumables. Instead, they re-used the old ones - which are 10 years old... it's common sense that this kind of thing would happen.

I have other rants about Mine's as well, including their spectacularly bad (even by US or European standards, I think) customer service, but I'll save those for another date. The car won't be ready until next Wednesday - I'm hoping to be able to drive myself to Daikoku for the last gathering of the year, but we'll see.

PS - this is my first post on Blogger - I'm going to try to transfer all of my entries from my old account to this blogspace. This may take awhile, so in the meanwhile see http://akasakabcnr33.livejournal.com/

Daikoku PA, Wednesday November 13

I was too excited to see my friends, both old and new, so forgot to take pictures.

However, a couple of entries from that evening, enjoy.




from my friend - http://minkara.carview.co.jp/userid/242248/blog/10997030/




from the GTROC forum -
http://www.gtr.co.uk/forum/107182-daikoku-meet-november-12-a-2.html#post1006918

New Brake Rotor Pads... and some paint

After a week, finally got my car back. In the shop for new front brake rotors, as the original ones were pretty much gone. The pads had ground so much of the rotor away that you could feel a "lip" rising out of the edge, perhaps about 1mm tall. Anyway, the rotor was cracked, and the calipers also were somewhat burnt...

So the menu was - PFC Direct Drive rotors, overhaulled original Brembo calipers, including a repaint and new o-rings. New pads are PFC's racing spec.

Before (Nissan shot):



Check out the burnt lettering:


After replacement:







Will take awhile to break-in... then next step are the rear brakes...after which I'll have to get serious about upgrading the wheels and tires...