So one thing my car really needs is a brake upgrade. Which means that the stock 17s are pretty much useless if I want to add a big brake kit with rotors 355mm or larger. I've done a lot of research on the ideal brake caliper and rotor set up - initially I thought that the 355mm front (Brembo F50) and 322mm rear (R34 N1 spec using the stock rear 2 pot Brembos) was the best set up, as that is what I had been told by Tamura-san from Nissan.
But then, Goto-san - who runs a very fast tuned BNR32 at the SSCT track days showed me his set up - and it was the 355mm up front, with the 350mm rear rotor from the V36 Skyline Coupe using the stock rear Brembos - and he swore the brake balance was perfect!
Anyway, either way it was clear to me that I had to get larger wheels. The RE30s have S-tire rubber on them, so I need something for the street.
To make a long story short - I struck a deal with a friend - he would lend me his unused 18 inch TE37s which were in dinged up shape, I would repaint at my cost, and then put on new tires - and then return the wheels when the tires get worn out. Not a bad deal at all...
So anyway - remember RAPT? The place that did my window tinting also did the wheels...
Talk about PERFECT (I asked him to aim for the matte black finish as found on the Advans alloys)
The tire of choice - Advan Neova AD08s...
And this is how it looks on my car. What do you think?
As for my brake upgrade - stay tuned, it will be interesting, I promise!
Turns out DCD was in the neighborhood and so dropped by to check out what was going on with my car. He kindly sent over these photos he took - apparently not only is my car serving as an R&D testbed, but it will be featured in their catalog in the near future!
Love how these Tomei guys protect my car with this blue film
Not sure why the car is up on a lift...
Looks like they shoot photos at night?
I’ll be releasing the official photos on this blog, with a description of what product Tomei has developed, very soon!
Meanwhile, I am enjoying driving the Suzuki Swift Sport! Driving position (despite being Recaros!) doesn’t work for me and the plastics are cheap (but then heck so are the R33s) but really not bad for a small car!
So I found myself at Tomei Powered again on Saturday morning. My buddy Allen wasn’t there, but his colleague Sakurai-san was there to greet me. He immediately set about inspecting my car for scratches, dings, etc. as Allen had apparently told everyone at Tomei that I was very OCD about my car. Anyway, once I had signed the very rental-car like pre-damage paperwork, they lent me one of their cars (a Suzuki Swift Sport) and I quickly drove home to attend to another event for my kid.
Here is a shot of my car in their garage:
I’m not allowed yet to get into full details yet, but this is related to an earlier link http://akasakabcnr33.blogspot.com/2011/03/at-tomei-powered-again.html
whereby I had previously left my car in Tomei’s good hands, shortly before the big earthquake here. Anyway, they needed my car for a week, and I am always happy to oblige – after all, the Mine’s engine in my car would not have been possible without certain choice bits from the Tomei catalog!
Here is something I spotted in their storeroom by the way, which I do NOT have on my car! (yet?? lol)
My friend Allen at Tomei Powered sent over a photo of something interesting they just received. Anyone care to guess what these are? I wonder what the plans are for these?
I scoured Rakuten and finally found one at a decent price (MSRP is ridiculous... compare with similar kits from HKS and Trust...)
What this part does, is to better manage the airflow coming out of the turbos. The theory is: hot exhaust air is coming out of both turbos on their way to the intercooler, but the air from the back runs into the air from the front turbo, on the way to the intercooler. So what this Nismo part does is to provide not only a smooth gradual merging of this air - as well as providing for wider diameter piping (ie more volume).
You don't have to buy this or the similar ones from HKS et al. You CAN modify the Twin Turbo pipe - in fact I bought one from Cockpit Wako as I'm not about to cut open, then weld a thin piece of aluminum between the top and bottom of the pipe, thus separating the front and rear turbo exhausts, and then weld it all back together. And the reason I did this was, I wanted to keep the car's engine as stock looking as possible. Plus, you don't really need these pipes, check out the Mine's demo car...
There is an explanation of this mod on the UK GTR Forum:
But after riding in DCD's BNR34 several months ago and experiencing how responsive the turbos were (and no turbo shuffle) ... I decided maybe this was worth doing.
Anyway with life keeping me busy, the parts sat in my garage for a couple of months, until I finally decided to install the kit in late August (ie getting ready for the Tsukuba trackday).
Here is how it's done - the instructions are in Japanese, and even so are so poorly written (no detail and looks like a photocopy of a photocopy, etc. ) that perhaps this can serve as a guide to someone and save their knuckles (and some time):
Ok... so here is how it looks before you start, obviously.
First take off the strut bar, as well as the standard airbox snorkel (if you have one) to gain access to all the bolts and clamps holding the Twin Turbo pipe in.
As you unpack the box, begin drooling - here is the the main split pipe of the Nismo kit. Absolutely GORGEOUS :)
Once you've removed the clamps, and the Twin Turbo pipe, this is what you see. The silver pipe on the right is the outlet for the rear turbo. There is a shorter one for the front as well. Both of these will be coming off.
Here is how it looks once the rear one has been removed. AND, here is where the instructions are most inadequate. While the bolt on one side can be removed simply by unscrewing, the one on the OTHER side is actually held in place by a nut behind the flange of the outlet. So make sure you get a finger or something back there to ensure you don't lose this nut. Otherwise that nut will drop somewhere into the engine bay...(luckily I had a box of loose bolts and nuts and found something that replaced it perfectly).
The instructions also fail to inform you that, if you happen to have the Nismo Oil Collector installed like I have, then that needs to be unbolted and moved to the side in order to access this rear turbo area.
And here is the Nismo piping for the rear turbo...
This is the Nismo pipe for the front turbo. Note that it's much shorter.
After both of these have been installed:
And here it is complete. A word to the wise - make sure that the silicon bands are on, and the clamps tightened, properly! I took the car on a spin the next day and the lower one (between the intercooler and the split pipe) came loose. Not fun on a crowded road. Carry a standard screwdriver and heat proof gloves so you can do your own roadside repair like I did.
Nismo does caution on two items. One, the snorkel for the standard airbox will no longer fit, and needs to be melted slightly so that it does. Second, your ECU may need to be reprogrammed as the engine will boost a bit higher (mine was ok though).
Unfortunately my attempts at melting thick ABS were not successful, so I simply left the snorkel off until I managed to get to a dealer (which I did AFTER the track day, oh well...) Here is Sugimoto-san using a heat gun to melt the piece...I also asked him to double check the clamps and the silicon hoses.
And here it is, finally complete. Sharp eyed readers will note that the direction of the bolts on the clamps have been changed - they were on the left initially, but are now on the right - and looking much more aligned than before.
The reason I chose the Nismo kit over the others is simply the way it looks - how the larger pipe comes so close to the cam cover, the intense gloss/shine- and of course the Nismo name matches well with the oil cap, air filter reminder, radiator cap, etc.
Anyway, impressions are - yep, the engine DOES seem to spool up much faster, and come on quicker. I can still hear a bit of turbo shuffle, but not like before. So I'm happy. Now if I could only figure out a way to get more air into the airbox, now that part of the passage way has been melted narrower...
Stay tuned, I have some more VERY tasty mods coming up soon, as well as an ongoing "R33 GT-R Tool Kit" project (my inspiration was the 160,000 yen Snap On tool kit they offered as an option for the R35...)
Another hot September day, this time on the unforgettable date of September 11. However, this was to turn out to be a happy September 11 for me. (and apologies for not posting for a while... I have some mods and some upgrades that I will post on soon).
As my friend Alex, who had signed up and was ready to go, had a last minute mechanical issue which prevented his car from running, he found Terrance (white 97 R33) to come along with us. As it was Terrance’s first time, we got there early, and walked around to check out the track.
The GT-Rs started arriving around 1130, about 2 and half hours before we were set to run. That gave us plenty of time to prepare the cars, however. I was most concerned about my brakes, as I had just finished changing out the front pads for new ones (PFC Race) and done a complete flush of the system (I used Endless RF650). On the drive up, I noticed that the brakes felt mushy, nothing like the “instant-on, get face thrown into windshield” that I was used to with the PFC rotor and pad combination.
So I had Yamada-san, the Nissan race mechanic check it out – he did and said he felt nothing wrong with the brake pedal, suspecting (as I now did) that the pads simply hadn’t been bedded in properly. I had tried to do this quickly the day before, but it was obvious that I had not generated enough heat. So he advised me to take it easy during the first of my two 25 minute runs. The first will be a “throw-away run,” as he put it.
Here I am checking to make sure my wheels (note I ran on the standard 17 inch rims and the very good Dunlop Star Specs!) don’t fall off.
The cars were split into two groups – the “A” group and the “B” group. As you can see, the “B” group I was in had some interesting cars…not just the March (aka as a “Micra” overseas – this one with a manual transmission, a rare car!) but also a classic Nissan Bluebird, and also an R34 GT-R M-Spec, which was right in front of me during the warm up lap.
A Group:
B Group:
A Datsun?
Warm-up Lap Photos (taken by Alex in the passenger seat)
Leaving the Pit Lane:
After the First Corner:
Taking the First Hairpin:
Approaching Dunlop Corner:
Me driving coming out of the Second Hairpin onto the back straight:
Back Straight:
Front Straight in front of the tower and grandstands:
After the “A” group finished their first 25 minute run, I went out with the rest of “B” group, followed closely behind by Terrance. Alex and I had given him a good briefing earlier, and we were able to watch the action of some highly tuned BMW M3s from the grandstands at the first hairpin. I had told Terrance I would be taking it easy, maybe 60% on my run, but, after leaving the pit area, I felt the car REALLY respond. And as for the brakes, the more I used them, the better they got. So, I picked up the pace… and soon had no one in my rear view mirror. To Terrace’s credit, he did a great job, I did not lap him once. There was a V36 Skyline sedan(!) on the track that I lapped 3 times, as well as a purple BCNR33 that I also lapped twice. Obviously first time on the track for both of them?
So the fastest lap of the day was 1’04”, set by Goto-san in his insane R32 – he was in the “A” group. Basic specs on that car are – 18 inch TE37s, 355mm rotors up front (F50 Brembo), stock rear Brembo caliper with V36 Skyline coupe 350mm rear rotor, HKS VCAM, and HKS 2530 turbos, producing around 600ps. Fastest time in the “B” group was 1’09”, I suspect by one of the white R34s that I was following and swapping positions with. Alas, my best was a 1’11” – still 3 fastest of 21 cars… but I’m blaming this on the still very sticky but not s-tire level Dunlop street tires and the slow traffic I constantly had to weave in and out of. Oh well, next time I’ll request to be put into the faster group… although Koyama-san (of Nissan Prince Shinagawa) DID comment that my driving had noticeably improved, that I was consistent and very smooth – which, to be honest, was all that I was going for, being that the heat was driving up the engine temps and I wasn’t about to push myself or the car too much.
But the highlight of the day was when Mr. Skyline drove my car. Here is me giving the thumbs up:
Ignoring my idiotic comments – Hasemi-san had nothing but good things to say about my car. He liked the balance, and said the engine ran well.
In the debriefing after the run, he told the club that, despite having driven about a dozen GT-Rs, there were only 3 he truly thought were good cars. One was mine! As you can hear in the video, he says the balance of my car is very good, with absolutely no understeer, making the car very fun to drive, and fast too.
For those of you who don’t know who Mr. Hasemi is, he is truly one of THE LEGENDS in the Skyline world. He started as a factory Nissan driver, and perhaps the most famous car he drove was the R30 Skyline Silhouette, like this:
Credit for this photo from this very interesting article from Speedhunters. http://speedhunters.com/archive/2008/11/27/retrospective-gt-gt-nissan-super-silhouette-racers.aspx
He also drove Group A R32 GT-Rs like these:
During the debrief he had some interesting stories – apparently the aerodynamics of the R32s were not good, resulting in an increase in understeer. The Group A rules though meant the car had to be pretty much as it left the factory – so no huge wings (which, he commented usually don’t work well anyway – in fact the R32 is fastest without the rear wing), and the racing teams tried various ways to minimize the drag the rear standard wing caused, like adjusting the trunk hinges so the front of the trunk lifted up a bit, etc.
He also drove the only Skyline to race in the 24 Hours of LeMans, the R33-based NISMO Skyline GT-R LM (#23 car):
So anyway, that was my brush with greatness - I guess it’s like having Mario Andretti or Richard Petty (for Americans) or Alain Prost or Nigel Mansell (for F1 fans) drive your car… and come away impressed with it!
In conjunction with having the rear windows tinted, my friend Russ suggested that I install one of those "super bright" LED bulbs for the back up lamp, so I could see what I was backing into.
Sounded like a great idea!
So I found this interesting looking bulb on Rakuten, the seller claiming it was one of the brightest out there!
And here are the before and after pictures. You'll note that the Series 3 R33 GT-R only has ONE back up lamp...(the other being used as a rear foglight)
Before (with regular but bright incandescent bulb) - note that my iPhone automatically used the flash.
After install of the LED - note that the iPhone did NOT use the flash.
And so I manually activated the flash so we could directly compare with the before shot.
One issue I noticed was, the plastic casing where the bulb is inserted, has no reflective cone that can be used to further direct the intensity of the bulb. So, I think a lot of light gets diffused to the sides. Since the bulb is easy to install, one continuing project will be to try to find a silver plastic cone or use alum foil or something in a cone shape, to see if I can't get the rear back up bulb even brighter. Stay tuned!
