Busy Day! ItalDesign Event, Nismo Omori, and Daikoku PA

at Daikanyama T-Site

So since my GT-R normally lives on top of the car lift, and it is somewhat of a hassle to get it out of the garage (move my Elgrand; move my Lexus IS-F; move my Skyline Nismo), lately for me it has to be a special occasion before I can be bothered to do so.

But today was such a day!

My friend Andrea Porta at ItalDesign had invited me to his company's world premier of their newest book which has the theme of engineers with ideas: "ItalDesign Engineers of Ideas"

The event was at the gigantic Tsutaya store/parking lot in Daikanyama, Tokyo, called Daikanyama T-Site.  Longtime readers will recall that I was on hand with my R33 GT-R when ItalDesign launched the GT-R50 in the very same parking lot back in 2018. 

Anyway, this time Andrea reached out to me (probably because he knows I don't drive the R enough) and gently asked if I could make time for this event - but I had to bring the R. A bit confused, as I heard that all the other cars were going to be ones that were actually designed by ItalDesign, but I figured it was a great excuse to get out and hang out with fellow car nerds but of the non JDM variety.

After checking out the cars for a couple of hours, we headed inside for an hour long presentation of the book's contents, as well as an update on what we can expect ItalDesign to be doing going forward.

As I was learning that ItalDesign had been influential in the design of objects other than cars, such as Seiko watches and Nikon cameras, I got a text message from a fellow R33 owner, SHOHEI.  He asked if we could meet up at Daikoku, since last I saw him (at Mine's and then also at Umihotaru) he had been itching to take photos of my car.  I was agreeable, but he proposed meeting up at Daikoku at 1400.  But the ItalDesign event ended at about 1230... what to do, since it was only a quick 30 minute drive from Daikanyama to Daikoku?

Well, why not go to where I always like to go - Nismo Omori? Maybe I could kill some time there...

When I arrived, some kids from Finland saw my car and got excited, so I talked to them for a bit... (Eetu? Sorry...)

Inside Nismo Omori Factory, I found this Tomica display

I need to talk to someone about putting a Tomica of my car in here...

And then a couple of mildly interesting cars:

But sadly nothing R33 related. Luckily, SHOHEI volunteered to stop by Nismo first before Daikoku...

SHOHEI in green about to take some photos of our cars

I think this is the first time I have compared a KL0 v KR4 silver car in daylight!

Both silvers are awesome! Especially as both have the new Veleno LED headlights!

After talking to some guys at Nismo, it was off to Daikoku, finally.  I took this photo of SHOHEI taking some photos but he was also kind enough to later send me some samples of his work as well.

Yeah ok but WOW check out his photos:

I guess he likes using filters, or Photoshop, but heck they look good. Thanks SHOHEI!!

Also thanks to SHOHEI for giving me a couple of new ideas for future mods....!!!! 

Finally - Install of the Veleno LED Headlights (How to)!

So even though I myself was one of the first to post about these headlights, and had placed an early order, until now I did not have the time to do the install.

But that changed over the reent Golden Week holiday. 

First order of business was to move my cars around so I had the garage space free to work on the GT-R. 

Step 1 - move the Skyline Nismo out from its parking spot underneath the GT-R.

Initially, I thought this would be enough. But then reading my own old posts on headlight removal, realized I would have to pull the car out and jack it up, in order to remove the front wheels and thus get access to the fender liners.  Yep, the headlights have one bolt on the side that requires either bumper removal - ideally - or some tricky access via the inside of the fenders (and bumper removal is a major hassle). 

But before I lowered the car, I went ahead and removed the 3 part Silk Road front diffuser.  And as you can see, this car is no garage queen. Check out all the scrapes and bits of plastic coming off. Time for some repairs soon I think!

Step 2 - I then lowered the GT-R, and then opened up the hood to do a visual inspection of the headlights and surroundings, to make sure I would have all the tools I need ready to go. (socket wrenches, screwdrivers, etc. Not rocket science but helps to have it all lined up ready).

Given that I needed more space in the garage to jack up the GT-R, this meant Step 3, I would have to move the Lexus into a nearby parking lot.

Despite my recent troubles with the original PPF application to the Skyline, all is well that ends well - the car looks fantastic and is an absolute blast to drive!

And of course, I had to take one last picture of the car with the original Xenon headlights in action! Gonna miss the blue discharge warmup!

Not sure if this is due to heat but you can see some cloudiness in the lens cover. Maybe I should invest in a lens cover replacement kit?

Relatively big box from Veleno...

That contains one box for each headlight within.

Inside each box, lots of styrofoam padding. No scratches or problems that I can find...

With the Skyline now parked outside, I went ahead and moved the GT-R into place, jacked it up, removed the right front wheel, then started to remove parts to get access to the right headlamp.

Hello, nice looking carbon fiber intercooler piping...

Lined up next to each other, the OEM on right and the VELENO on the left.

Here is another annoying issue. The hoses for the HKS oil cooler. There HAS to be a better way to route them, they are so ugly.

First challenge of the day. Why two sets of harness adaptors?

You can see the double cuts are on the left for the grey, and right for the black ones.

So it turns out, that at least for my kohki/series 3, the supplied black connector connects to the OEM harness. The supplied connector then has separate leads to the high beam and low beam on the LED bulb side.

Took a bit of a firm push, but then "click" into place!

Oh and this piece of masking tape - I guess they just wanted to make sure the inside of the parking light space didn't get dirty or something.

BEFORE:

AFTER:

And now for the left side.  This one is a complate pain, becuase the HKS oil cooler sits right under the headlight, meaning access to the side bolt is blocked by the oil cooler.  This necessitates the need to partially uncliip the front bumper cover, being very careful not to apply too much pressure.  Then use a screwdriver to quickly remove the bolt - a socket is too big, but luckily the bolt has the Philips screwdriver cross pattern on the head...

And if that wasn't enought, I realized once I removed the headlight, or tried to, that again because of the oil cooler, the ignitor box and its bracket had been relocated into a spot right on the core support.

Lots of patience and some really thin spanners and socket wrenches were required to get the box off...

Finally.

But then it was again another plug and play, and then bolt the new headlight back into place. Front bumper trick included in reverse. 

With nighttime coming quickly, I did not have presence of mind to try out the lights by taking the car out for a spin, but a quick check on the neightbor's house across the street revelaed these LEDs are unbelievably bright, like spotlights. Sorry no photos but will take some next time!

Last Post of the Year!

 So with two new cars joining the Itoh garage this year - my 2016  E52 Elgrand VIP and the 2024 Skyline Nismo - I did not have much time to do much with the R33 this year.  But never fear, yes I do have a few more things I want to do to it next year.

In the meantime - here are some photos I took when I went and picked it up from Omori Factory, where Midorikawa-san of Nissan Prince Fukushima had delivered it after getting the car shakened for this next 2 year cycle.

Meanwhle I also found this beautiful 33 in the showroom too.

Hard to believe they are essentially the same machine. I wonder what the difference is, could it be the 400R hood with those exhaust vents? Hmm... In any case, I have a new list of things I want to fix/try on the 33, so hopefully 2025 will be a good year for that!

Nismo Festival 2024!

(Please excuse the belated post - I was overseas on a business trip the day after the Nismo Festival (which was on December 1 this year) and I am finally getting caught up...)

I know many of you are not going to like this, but I have been lucky enough to attend the Nismo Festival so many times that frankly, it is beginning to lose some of its luster.

Instead of checking out the latest from Nissan and Nismo - uh yeah well I know as I work at Nissan - at the Festival I am able to meet up with old friends, both car owners and shop affiliated, that I have not seen for some time. 

Of course, from an R33 GT-R perspective, there are some cool things too - check out the Global Auto 400R that was on display.  Seeing a 400R is no longer that exciting but it was interesting to see what it looks like under the hood!

And then walking around I see some privately owned 33s in the parking lot...

It was cool to see the Nismo carrier truck out as well.

The parking lot was sectioned off according to car model - one section for Zs, R32 GT-Rs, R33 GT-Rs, etc... probably organically by the owners too.  In the Skyline sedan section I found this Skyline 400R (JDM version that has the 400ps engine):

I like the paint, but that sticker...nope

And one other interesting thing I saw - at Nismo Festival wtih so many shops sellings stuff, and some shops taking cash only, what happens when you run out of cash? Simple, you go to a mobile ATM, this one operated by 7 and i Holdings, operator of the 7-11 convenience stores here in Japan...

Interestiing products for cars - yeah there were a couple. One shop - Ota Automotive - selling recreations of the Series 3 front blinker grill with cut-out for the oil cooler - but modified to allow air to flow slighlty better (for some reason I can't seem to find the photo I took).  Another shop was selling Nissan OEM interior clips - an entire set for the interior of one car.  I guess I will have to update this blog when I get some photos or the products themselves in hand for me to try out. Stay tuned!!

Meeting The Father of the R33 GT-R, Kozo Watanabe!

At this year's R's Festival, I had the honor of taking a photo with Kozo Watanabe, who was the Chief Vehicle Engineer that oversaw the development of the R33 GT-R and the R34 GT-R.

Here is the Wiki link for him.

Much like Kazutoshi Mizuno for the R35 GT-R, and Naganori Ito for the BNR32, Watanabe-san is a true engineer who worked his way up at Prince Motors and Nissan.  Watanabe-san in particular, in addition to being the chief engineer for the R33 and R34, also worked on the Pulsar and the C110 Skyline and was also the Chief Experimental Engineer of the R32 under Ito-san.   Both Ito-san and Watanabe-san were mentored by Shinichiro Sakurai, who is acknowledged as the father of the Skyline. Further Mizuno-san worked on the R34 project under Watanabe-san and took over the BNR34 program when Watanabe-san retired from Nissan in 2000 and went to head Nismo, overseeing its racing program!

Watanabe-san had probably the toughest job ever - how to make a heavier and longer car go FASTER than the race champion R32 GT-R! And as we know, he succeeded so well that most of the running gear engineering on the 33 was carried over to the 34!

So you see, THESE guys are the ones who should be getting accolades as well as the nickname of the "Father of the GT-R" - as they truly were.  Unfortunately there is at least one guy running around now who is over stating his involvement in each of the programs, whereas his true talent seems to be in the area of self-promotion.  Caveat Emptor!

So... if you find yourself at any of these GT-R related events, and happen to run into Ito-san or Watanabe-san... well now you know who actually to ask the question - "Why didn't Nissan have a Nurburgring lap time for the BNR34?"