Meanwhile at NISMO Omori Factory...

So finally - an update on the actual work being done at NISMO Omori Factory. Takasu-san and Ochiai-san were kind enough to arrange for some photos to make their way to me.

No wheels, no suspension, no drivetrain...

As you may recall, I was NOT happy with how my car was left outside for (probably) the good part of a half year near the Pacific Ocean by Worx Autoalarm. Not only was that not good for the paint, but also the undercarriage as well.  So what I have had Nismo do over the past few months is to take a painstakingly close look at everything on the underside of the car, remove rust, re-protect and then replace parts that had become rusted as well.

From this angle, looks pretty clean!!

Front axle area. Some rust removed and fresh undercoating applied. Interesting as the undercoating isn't black...

Rear axle area - dangling Ohlins and all!

My diffuser and the old rear subframe stacked up in back. Wonder whose OEM wheels those are though

All the parts taken off my car, starting with the wheels up there in the front

Here's a closer look...driveshaft is nearly new of course...

Note they wrapped the Brembo calipers in white plastic to prevent the paint from getting accidentally scratched. I also see some banged up Nismo bracing - I'm inclined to replace any worn ones with new ones. Likely easier and quicker than getting the old one repainted and then the bushes replaced.

Look at this.  Not sure whether to be mad at Nismo for not making these parts more rust resistant, or whether the salt winds near WORX (as they are literally several dozen meters from the ocean) accelerated the rust. Unacceptable!

I'm debating whether to bother with reinstalling a new set of these NISMO Rear Member Braces back on, or live without them.  I recall that when they first came out, Koyama-san at Nissan Prince Tokyo Motorsports Factory told me that these would have a detrimental effect on lap times on the track. When I mentioned it to the guys at Nismo... apparently others have also mentioned/asked about Koyama-san's theory at Nismo.  But anyway I'm debating because if I don't plan to track it in the future...?

The old front axles

Another problem, according to Takasu-san, was that the old front axles needed to be serviced, but they were proving to be difficult to take apart (seized assembly?). In fact taking them apart and servicing would cost MORE than simply getting a rebuilt part and using that.  So he had gone ahead and ordered rebuilts, but wanted my Ok to use them.

Here is Takasu-san unboxing the rebuilts

Have to say these look just as good as brand new. And cheaper? Oh yes.

There were some other items that Nismo got creative on (with my permission), which I will describe in upcoming posts.  

I like how even though they won't be touching the interior, they still use protective covers on the steering wheel and seats. No way I can even accuse them of leaving dirt on any interior surface!

I just noticed the industrial grade carpet under the car. Might have to do this too...

So, I am happy to report that FINALLY, the car is one step closer to being returned to me. Although yes the timing has worked out perfectly for me. By telling them not to rush the work, my car was kept in a safe place while my house was rebuilt. Now, the next step is to have the garage floor coated in an epoxy coating, after which begins the hunt for functional and good looking garage cabinets. Let me know if you have any ideas! (I'm thinking glossy white garage floor but with gray steel cabinets. Boring?)

Garage Got Fixed... (Garage Series)

In my last post, I mentioned that I was having the house builders redo the garage floor. Am I being too OCD? Well, take a look and you tell me.

Unacceptable!!

As you can see, this garage floor is not flat. In fact, from the midline there to the back side at the shutter door, there is a height difference of about 10cm! So if the two concrete panels are about 300cm (guess), this is approximately a 3.3% incline! (10/300=0.033).  Actually, if you look closely at the panels - the first one (from midline to where the black box is) has a drop of 6cm! And the second one (black box to the door) has a 4cm drop.

The house builder tried to explain this by saying that the incline was built in because this way, any rain water/snow/whatever that got into the garage area would run off.  I reminded him that I had specifically told him that in this space I would be working on my cars. And, by using a small ball, showed him how anything small that I dropped, like a bolt or screw, would start rolling...fairly quickly... plus, if I ever decide to get a lift, a 10cm difference MIGHT be dangerous. And if anything ever happened to me...

He then tried to suggest that they fix the rear two panels. The idea would be to make the last two panels flat, for the lift idea. However, the problem here is that, the rear shutter door when opened would have a 10cm drop to to the rear yard area, which right now is flat with the rear most panel. The solution of course was to fix the two MIDDLE floor panels. Yes, the rear panel might have a drop of 4cm but I think if I DO decide to put a lift back there, I can figure out a way to adjust for that.  But whatever, I may not even get a lift so...

And so, in the end, the builder agreed to redo the middle two floor panels for free!

And the end result:

So this new concrete should be completely flat. Or at least flat as humanly possible. Yes, the front and rear panels still have a decline of 4cm to the doors, but I can live with that, I think.

So am I happy? Well yes and no.  The next step is an epoxy coating, however now I have to wait for this middle concrete to dry. Meanwhile, a friend sent me this photo of my car BACK at Nismo Omori Factory...

This means that it's now a race to finish the garage as Nismo begins to wrap up the work on my car. I DID reach out to Takasu-san and so I am going to go check out my car later this week... hopefully he can give me an idea as to when the car will be done... and an update on the work they have done so far.

Happy New Year! Lots of New This Year...

Yes friends, 2020 already. Can't believe it seems like yesterday when I blew my engine at Fuji Speedway and then really started my R33 GT-R adventure...that was back in 2007!!!!

Anyway as I write this, my car is still at Nismo Omori, but I also have some real news.  You may be wondering why I've been so patient with them - well actually it's because I WANTED them to keep the car while I rebuilt my house! Or should I say rebuilt the garage I keep my cars in, and the house on top of it! By asking them to take their time with my car, I am availing myself of the most secure GT-R parking in Japan, if not the world!! (Theft of our cars is on the rise, even here in Japan...)

Most of you already know that a few years (ok, 11 years) ago I moved out of Tokyo (and high rise apartments) into Yokohama so I could have a house with a garage for my cars.  Unfortunately covered and shuttered garages can be hard to find but I did it (ok my wife did).

The R in front of the old house.

However, about a year ago the wife and I decided to rebuild our wooden framed house - it was old, getting leaky, the insulation was terrible (cold in winter and hot in summer!) and with the prospect of a large earthquake that is predicted soon for the Kanto area - we decided to rebuild with a steel framed house, with concrete panel walls and modern insulation.  This required a complete tear down and building from the ground up, but it also meant that we could build large pillar-less spaces.

So, I would be able to finally plan for a large garage that would be able to not only display my cars but also provide space for me to work on them - whether polishing up or actual mechanical work.

Up on ramps, then low rise jack... you can see how it's really two single car garages next to each other. Very narrow too!

The garage spaces were fairly narrow, designed to contain one car each - meaning I could only open up a door on the one side of the car that happened to be facing the arch connecting both spaces.  Further my old house's garages had ceilings that were 180 cm tall. Car friendly, but not SUV or tall people friendly.  And I definitely couldn't jack up the car too much and work underneath them.

Also, I could not enter the garages from inside the house - I had to go outside and open the garage doors.  There WAS enough space in the corners and along one wall to store stuff, but otherwise it was best described as cozy.

On moving (out) day, the last thing I moved was the GT-R!

And yet I made it work - most of my mods for my GTR I did in that garage!

Anyway, the new garage has space for 2 regular cars/SUVs parked nose to tail, and another smaller car on the side, plus the ceiling is 3.4 meters tall. I've equipped the garage with various electrical plugs (for future EV and commercial grade A/C unit too!), taps for hot and cold water, plus I can view the cars from inside the house. I know this blog is supposed to be about my GT-R, but I'll blog about how I equip this garage for the GT-R too!

Here are some photos showing the teardown of the old house - and some showing the new build.  I'm happy to say we are moved back in (builders work quickly in Japan) but because of some issues with the new garage (OCD strikes again) I'm having the builders redo the garage floor to my exact specifications.

Pretty much the entire old wooden house built on top of the garages is gone

Only thing left are the concrete walls

All debris removed, the land cleared and leveled, steel columns to the bedrock installed, most of the foundation in place.

Showing steel frame - could not believe how fast the frame went up!

From back of garage to street

From front to back. Yes, another garage door shutter in the back. Window is for my ground floor office.

The day before delivery of the house, these guys are rushing to finish...

Looks good but it wasn't perfect!

As you can see we are still in the process of moving in. With all the boxes cleaned up there would be lots more floor space. I HAD to wash the Lexus though... 

You can get a sense of how wide the garage is. Two cars easily fit but I'll likely put cabinets/workbench etc,
along the right side wall.

After those corrections are made, the next step will be to protect the floor. Then, I'll bring the GTR back and then I will start designing the garage properly to support a much more excellent car centric garage lifestyle.  2020 is going to be a great year!

Finally!!!!

Got word from Ochiai-san...

Off to the specialist shop! What shop?Hopefully I'll have some photos to share soon. In the meantime, we have the 2019 Nismo Festival tomorrow... I'll be taking some R33 related photos of course! Check back soon!

Final Visit to NISMO OMORI Before The Work Begins...

So yeah another update...on my way back from the Tokyo Motor Show 2019, where I had been invited to the Opening Ceremonies (not worth it...), I stopped by Nismo Omori Factory.

You should have seen the confused looks from people in the parking lot...

Today they happened to be displaying this monster machine which I LOVE.

Anyway, after Takasu-san got off the phone he called me over and we discussed what we needed to do for my car. Details to follow in an upcoming post because I have a few R33 tidbits I want to share in this post first.

A couple of posts ago, my friend Ale had sent over a couple of photos of the new prototype carbon fiber air inlet Nismo Omori was developing for their show car. Naturally, I asked Ochiai-san to let me take a closer look.

First, I asked why the half shroud slam panel. As I guessed in the previous post, indeed this is to let air into the snorkel. Ochiai-san claims that most slam panels effectively prevent adequate air flow from going into the snorkel. Obviously I have my ram air idea and Ochiai-san agreed that, like the built in scoop found on the BNR34 carbon bonnet, it would help as well.  Personally, I think it's a cleaner solution but heck I'm not in the business of giving them too many new ideas... lol.

As for this piece, the large hump is indeed to clear the radiator bolt mount, and it was shaped and formed like that as it's the easiest (and thus cheapest) way to do so.

I felt back there and there is nothing there, in that the carbon fiber smoothly wraps around where my index finger is. So everything behind what is visible is essentially open space.  So the hump isn't as intrusive as I thought. In fact Ochiai-san claims that, this piece allows more air flow than the OEM ABS part which has to be melted in places to allow for the Nismo air inlet pipes.

The reason for this odd shape - on the left side the snorkel is fairly low - is to allow for the OEM bonnet to shut closed.

If you remember this version:

courtesy of Speedhunters

This was apparently designed for use with the 400R bonnet. In any case I think I like the other one better.

Thanks for showing me the engine bays!

 We then walked over to my car to check out a couple of things. First, the alarm key fob was acting up, meaning they had to push my car around as sometimes they couldn't get the car to start. Second, as mentioned earlier they had noticed the longitudinal Do-Luck brace bars got very close to the jack up points and wanted to show me - apparently the area underneath that could use some cleaning/refreshing. The Do-Luck bars make it difficult to clean under that area.

Fooled me too! Same color, ALMOST the same wheels...

My car! Like meeting up with an old friend I hadn't seen in ages!

To get the car to start, Ochiai-san and Takasu-san had to hook up their portable battery jumper...

And then I had to walk them through the confusing menu on the key fob. But once sorted, I couldn't believe how smoothly the car started up! I was so excited to hear that familiar RB26 rumble again!

And maybe my excitement at hearing the car start up is why this photo is blurry...

Anyway - it was good to know that my car is in good hands. Apparently it's been there so long people are starting to ask questions, so it's good that the NISMO project will finally begin, scheduled for November 10.

So what work - well all I will reveal at this point is that it DOES involve new NISMO parts, as well as some rust removal. Where and how - well that is for your future reading pleasure!

Bonus photo of me grinning it up inside the Omori Factory... 

Typhoon 19 (Hagibis) Arrives... So What Do I Do?

Courtesy The Weather Channel

Well luckily, as my car is safe and dry over at Nismo Omori Factory, I'm not too concerned about the damage this typhoon is causing Japan. Although described as the "biggest storm in decades" - (with train service stopped and supermarkets closed!) so long as I have power and water, my family and I are safe. Plus, we don't live near any rivers and we are above sea level so I'm not worried about damage to my other car either.

So of course I've been watching YouTube and checking the web for car related stuff.  Especially R33 GT-R related items.  And was pleasantly surprised to see that my LM obsessed friend Steve has uploaded this very educational and well done video. I think I've seen a few similar ones from dealers, but those are always a bit suspicious (what are they trying to sell) and then by people who aren't long time R33 GT-R owners/fans as well as the annoying ones by "influencers."  I also find humorous those videos where people with no real driving experience give their "expert" opinions...Pfft...

Anyway - in Steve's case, he and his wife have TWO R33 GT-Rs, and one Kohki (series 3) which is likely one of the lowest mileage ones in the world. So, he's in a position to actually COMPARE back to back his higher mileage LM with his wife's KR4 Kohki.

Enjoy the video and check out his other videos, all very well done.

Yes, Still At NISMO OMORI...but that could be a good thing?

Long time readers will recall when I had my car at Mine's to receive its new engine - that took a long time too. The latest news is that I'm still trying to get an estimate on certain work I want done but I've been told very apologetically by Takasu-san at NISMO that vendor that they use for part of the work is booked solid but they are trying to get my car taken care of as soon as they can...

Meanwhile, my friend Alessandro sent over some photos which I will share here. (Thanks! And yes, I may have an opportunity to drop into NISMO for some work related business next week in which case I will make sure I check out my car in person...)

First, he dropped into NISMO today to inquire about some work on his second car (Z33) and was kind enough to make sure my car was still there.

Nice white V-Spec there as well...wonder what the engineless car is??

Second, as I was too busy to attend this year's R's Festival, he was kind enough to send me these photos of NISMO's R33 demo car - not sure if it's called the Grand Touring or the Clubman Race Spec but in any case they had this car at the Festival, with an interesting new prototype part.

Such a nice clean engine bay! Gives me some ideas...

Note I've annotated the photo with 2 arrows - one green and one red.

For the GREEN one, I'm interested in why NISMO engineers chose to leave this space uncovered. Usually the cooling (slam) panel extends all the way across, if not including the space behind the headlights like the Garage Defend version, then at least covering the space between the headlights. It seems to me that leaving the space open like that defeats the purpose of having the panel there.  I am guessing that NISMO needed that space there to allow enough air to enter into their new prototype carbon air intake, OR this was done because the panel was not allowing heat to dissipate well (this is a claim I've heard about the full width Garage Defend panel from the guys at Mine's, Nissan Prince Tokyo and NISMO).

As for the RED arrow, I'm curious as to why this tube like thing needs to be there - Ale told me it was to allow for space for the radiator bracket - but it appears to actually block airflow into the intake.  My guess is that, as a prototype part, this was done as a quick solution to accommodate the bracket, a quick and easily solution in order to get the part made in time for the R's Festival.  I'm hoping that if this part goes into production, then the space for the bracket will be molded more closely to the bracket.

Let's take a closer look:

Obviously not true NISMO quality... look closely

As Ale explains in his post, up until now upon installation of the NISMO inlet pipes, the instructions have been to take a heat gun and literally soften the ABS plastic OEM airbox cover to allow for re-fitment over the pipes (which are taller than the OEM).  I did this as well (actually, I had Sugimoto-san at Nissan Prince do it as he had a proper heat gun) back when I installed the pipes.

Looking closely at the photo above, while the carbon at first glance looks quite gorgeous, I see what look to be bubble in the clear coat. And what's that weird molding residue on the left edge there right in front of the cut out?

So as a believer in function over form, I'm curious as to whether this is indeed an improvement or just for looks. Something I will inquire into next time I'm at NISMO, hopefully soon. If this actually provides for objectively better breathing, then my car's overly long stay at NISMO will have been worth it!