Yes On Speedhunters Now... But Don't Worry....

This Blog Isn't Going Anywhere...

So by now, you've seen that my friend Dino has managed to convince me to begin posting on Speedhunters.  As I stated in that post, the main reason is to show everyone how great a car the R33 GT-R is, despite the lack of attention compared to the R32 and R34. What better way to reach, and educate, the masses?

And yes, I expect the haters to come out, but I also expect the fans to come defend the car as well. We shall see. No doubt this will be interesting, but it won't stop me.

In any case, what you will begin seeing is that the Speedhunters posts I do will be photo intense, as befitting the Speedhunters theme.   Since I know nothing about photography, and I have no intention of aspiring to be a "pro" like some people out there, I am hoping the "full auto" setting on my Nikon DSLR will be able to produce some nice photos.

I will continue to blog here of course, and here I will go into more detail about the mods I do and the adventures I have.  In addition, I expect there to be some posts that are not featured on Speedhunters at all, either being too nerdy/OCD or historical pieces like the one I did comparing the R34 GT-R with the R33.

For this first Speedhunters post, Dino and I actually took advantage of our trip to visit Nakamura-san at Worx Auto Alarm earlier this year.  After our visit, there was a beach nearby, so with daylight fading we found a place to park and for Dino to take a few photos. Here are some photo I took of Dino at work:

I think this shot didn't end up making it...maybe because it shows our two kids in the back seat?

He forgot to remove the extra clear floor mat covering the GT-R floor mat...

This one came out beautifully. I can see why it isn't just point and shoot.

So far away, but the photo that resulted looked just right! Must be a lens thing...

Dino's camera bag was HUGE. Took up most of the space in the trunk! So much pro stuff...

So yes, the fact I have these photos means that, back in April I knew something was up. Believe me I'm happy to be able to post on Speedhunters, I'm sure many would give their right arm to do so. So, I have to thank Dino for the opportunity.  But now, the pressure is ON. Not only to post, but to find more new and interesting parts to fit to my car in my quest for "balanced refinement" which as you know has always been my theme.

So if you guys, my loyal and original readers, have any ideas, please let me know! Better yet, if you know of someone or some company itching to get their product featured on Speedhunters, AND of course it works on the R33 GT-R, send them my way please! Of course will give proper credit for ideas and referrals on Speedhunters, so long as they let me!!

(Temporarily) Back on the S-Tunes! My Impressions...

So as I mentioned in my last post, I had my old NISMO S-Tunes shock absorbers temporarily re-installed by Ninomiya-san at BeAmbitious onto my car while the Ohlins DFVs usually on the car are being re-built at Labo Carrozzeria, the Ohlins distributor/service factory here in Japan.

The Ohlins Japan service factory. From: http://ohlins.czj.jp/service/

When I went to pick up the car after Ninomiya-san had gotten the GT-R successfully registered for another 2 years, the first thing I noticed was that the front of the car seemed lower than before. But, as he had told me that the car did not pass shaken until he put the S-Tunes on, I assumed that the ground clearance was better with the NISMOs than with the Ohlins.

Anyway, on my short drive home, I immediately could tell the difference - after driving around for a while on the stiffer sprung Ohlins (which were probably more stiff than usual because it was long overdue for a rebuild), the S-Tunes felt amazingly smooth and supple. Still very sporty, and in fact, they responded very well to the dips and bumps in the road.  In short, the car feels very close to OEM, in that most people might be satisfied with level of firmness combined with good ride comfort.

Although these S-Tunes are sporty enough that I went to several track days such as at Fuji Speedway, as you can see in the photo below (sorry for the low-def), hard braking meant that the car would literally scrape the front lip. So, one impetus for switching to the DFVs was a higher (stiffer) spring rate. Although, as I mentioned in my previous post, the DFV technology also results in a very smooth ride.

As you can see from this old photo, at full braking my front lip was scraping the ground!
http://www.r33gt-r.com/2008/07/photos-from-sunako-juku-last-lesson-at.html

Then, pulling into the garage, the front lip scraped... meaning that in fact, the car WAS lower than before.  So I don't quite understand how the car could pass the shaken rules with the S-Tunes when it was lower than the Ohlins, but oh well.  When I called Ninomiya-san about it, he thinks it might be due to the Do-Luck Roll Center Adjusters, and while that makes sense about the height, I'm still a bit confused about how it could pass Shaken...

You can see how close to the fender the tire/wheel is.

In any case, the car needs a proper alignment so I'm not driving it until I get the Ohlins re-installed and the alignment done.  Of course meanwhile I will simply have to have other projects to keep me busy, although I expect the Ohlins to be rebuilt and ready to go fairly soon. I'm really looking forward to experiencing the DFVs when as good as new!

Biannual "Shaken" and Öhlins DFV Rebuild, Part 1

So the same Sunday I visited Nissan Prince to pick up some parts and replace the under bonnet insulation, afterwards I drove over to drop off my car with Ninomiya-san at his shop, BeAmbitious, in Yokohama near my house.  He is the only tuner/mechanic I've found who's been willing to do stuff most shops here in Japan won't.  For example, he had no problems (and even fixed an issue with the UK made brackets) installing the R35 brakes on my car (this was after Nissan Prince, Three-H, and even Mine's refused to install them), as well as the BNR34 diffuser install (again coming up with custom brackets).

This time, I asked him to take care of the bi-annual "shaken" - the road-worthiness "inspection" + plus tax payment required for all street legal cars in Japan and then, as Dino had agreed with me when he drove my car, to have the Öhlins DFV coil-overs rebuilt.

The shaken is something that HAS to be done, by law... unfortunately, the stringent rules means that, for any car that is moderately tuned, unless you leave your car with someone who knows a few tricks, or is required to be scrupulously honest and "by the book" (i.e. a dealership), your car will fail and be "mandated" to have expensive repairs done to make it "roadworthy" again.

Because Ninomiya-san has a long history of working on race and drift cars, he knows how to "massage" them to get them road legal.  For example, I'm pretty sure (and he agrees) the Tomei ExPreme titanium exhaust, as fitted on my car, is too loud to be road legal. And yet he apparently has a special exhaust insert which he uses to muffle the sound to legal levels. For cars that are lowered, there are ways from setting coil-overs to their highest setting, to over-inflating the tires, etc., to ensure the car has 9cm between its lowest point and the road. In any case, I can trust him to get the car to pass shaken with minimum hassle and fuss.

Also, I figured that, since the car would be with him, I would leave my old Nismo S-Tunes shocks with him (that I did not throw out), so he could put those on the car while he sent the Öhlins in to be rebuilt. Even though I don't drive my GT-R as much as I used to, as I have mentioned earlier I had recently begun noticing that the ride seemed a bit too stiff, with the coil overs not responding quickly enough.

As a refresher, here is the link to when I first had these Öhlins installed, as well as the propaganda from Öhlins  (Japan) as to what makes them better than the average aftermarket coilover. And here is what Öhlins (Sweden) says (they are now called their "Road & Track" model).  These following two diagrams, both taken from the English language website, demonstrate the difference:

 From the Öhlins website -  "Without DFV, the oil cannot flow through the piston quickly enough on the rebound stroke after a bump, so the tyre is not able to stay in contact with the road.

From the Öhlins website: "The DFV valve opens, letting the oil flow quicker though the piston on the rebound stroke after hitting a bump, enabling the tyre to stay in contact with the road."

When I first had the DFVs installed, even though they were pre-used the car would glide over small imperfections... and now, on the same settings, I seem to feel imperfections more, and at speed sometimes the rebound clearly doesn't react as quickly as it should, meaning the car bounces fairly hard.

Also, since the model I have was released, there have been some improvements Öhlins has made to the DFV model. Or rather, it appears that they now offer a "rubber bushing upper mount" model in addition to the standard "pillow ball upper mount" model which is what mine are.

So I left the car with Ninomiya-san asking him to take care of everything, the shaken as well as getting the Öhlins rebuilt with those rubber bushings...

The following Friday, Ninomiya-san called me, with the shaken already done!

Another customer car that was there... a race ready Chaser.

But when I went to pick up the car, he had some stories:

First, my car on the height adjustable Öhlins, set at their highest setting, only resulted in 8.5+cm off the ground.  So, he had to install the S-Tunes, which apparently cleared 9.0cm.

Second, my car was failed because the window film on the driver's side window was not clear enough(!) When I had the rear window and quarters tinted with dark film, I also had anti-UV film applied to the passenger and driver's side windows.  I did not recall what percentage of light they let in but compared to the rears the sides were relatively clear.  It turns out that the legal limit is 70%... that is 70% or more of the light has to be let through.  For some reason, the passenger side film DID let in exactly 70% and is thus legal... but the driver's side film let in only 69.5%!!!  Ninomiya-san thinks this is probably from all the usage (opening/closing) that the driver's side window which may have added minute scratches which then caused the difference.  The solution was to have the tint stripped off at the inspections center.  This however is a blessing in disguise as I will explain in an upcoming post.

Otherwise, he had no problems at the shaken center with the Tomei exhaust, or the Getrag conversion, or even the darkly tinted rear windows.

So, I paid the fees (about $1000 US for the shaken process), and drove home with the car temporarily on the S-Tunes... and it was weird... I'll blog about that in my next post.

More "Freshen Up" Parts and Some Trouble...

So as I hinted in an earlier post, the under hood insulation was not the first part I have recently purchased to freshen up the car.  A few months ago, after I got the car detailed at Rapt, I realized there were a few details that detracted from the overall "clean" car appearance.

These details are nothing large, but I guess the human eye picks up imperfections one may not be usually aware of.  For example:

So what exactly does this rubber trim do? Is it needed?

On this side too!

So normally something like this would not bother me (ok I'm lying, it bothers me to no end!). And I would try to figure out a way to repair it with the least amount of cost and effort (Superglue is a favorite...). But, the rubber had also hardened and so I wondered if it should be soft and pliable. As the second owner of this car, I know that this car was left outside most of its early life. And, despite many applications of products such as Aerospace 303 and other products to preserve and try to bring back the black, there was a permanent white-ish sheen of UV exposure that this cowl piece had.

When I inquired at Nissan Prince, I was told that I would have to replace the entire cowl in order to replace the rubber trim. So, I went ahead and ordered because it was a way to freshen up both aspects at the same time.

There was also this:

Windshield wiper arms showing wear and tear...

The yellow arrows point to areas where there are chips or wear on the wiper arms.  I had in fact previously used some semi-gloss black spray paint and resprayed the arms myself.  However I have done this twice already and it is likely that, since I don't do this painting in a controlled environment/have the paint baked on, the OEM part, designed for exposure to the elements, would likely last a lot longer.  Again, the car was left outside early on and likely, no one applied any sealant or wax to these arms (I am probably the only person who believes that ALL painted surfaces on a car need to be protected).

Anyway, since the wiper arms need to be removed in order to replace the cowl, it was only natural that, given the above thinking, I decided to go ahead and order some brand new wiper arms as well.

So it took a few weeks, but then I got the call so I went to Nissan Prince to pick up the parts:

After squeezing the cowl into the back seat (somewhat diagonally) I drove home and then life got so busy I wasn't able to work on replacing the parts...

Finally a few weeks ago (right before a business trip to Chicago) I decided to do the job, just in case the plane went down. Didn't want to die with unfinished business, right?

First, remove the wiper arms.  Begin by removing cap with small flat tip screwdriver (yellow arrow);
See how the faded paint detracts from the overall appearance? (red arrow)

Then use a proper socket wrench (12mm I think).

Next, remove this soft rubber trim piece by pulling the plastic "screws" out of the sockets

I'm now thinking, this is pretty easy...

For the original cowl piece, it's held on in 4 places with plastic clips, so just pull a bit hard (watching the outside edges where it tucks UNDER the windshield molding), to reveal:

The dust on the right, I expected. That rust, I did not!

Not just several years of accumulated dirt, but also splotches of rust! I was later told by the guys at Nissan Prince that this is very, very common ("there is always rust there"), so apparently a weak point in this car's design...

So you can see how the rust isn't just in one location...

Anyway, as I was trying not to faint from shock, instinct kicked in so I first reacted by doing what comes naturally, cleaning:

That dust is from all over Japan!

To:

Not finished but you get the idea...

Then after I calmed down, I realized I had several choices.  One, I could ignore the rust, put the new cowl piece on, not tell anyone, and hope that my refusal to drive this car in the rain would stop the rust from spreading; two, I could spray on some Rust-O-Leum and pray that indeed, it actually does "convert rust to metal"; three, I could take the car to a body shop and have them deal with it, or four, I could try to sandpaper/grind off the rust myself, and apply some primer and paint.

Normally, I would choose the third option - put all the old pieces back on, and then take the car to a body shop. But with funds tight and an upcoming "shaken" (bi-annual road inspection/tax) coming up, I decided the better thing to do would be to go to a body shop sometime in the future to take care of not only this, but some other issues I've spotted, all at once.  So for the time being, I would have to deal with just this section of rust - long time readers will know I've dealt with rust on the car before - I just would prefer to let a pro handle it, of course.

Also, the cowl itself now looked like this, so re-assembly with the old pieces was probably not the smart option anyway:

Uh, this is not going to go back on well...

So the night I got back from Chicago, I first taped up the surrounding areas like this:

And used #400 grit sand paper to begin manually removing paint and rust.  I soon discovered however that the rust wasn't as easy to remove as I thought, as well as under paint that didn't show bubbling.

You can also see the old under hood insulation which was
beginning to separate in some places - see how it looks puffy?

So I used my Dremel to quickly remove rust from all areas I could find, both visible and under the paint! Effective but not as "clean" as by hand. Oh well.

Luckily I had an unopened can of spray primer

Three thin coats of primer later (several hours to dry in between, of course)

After 3 coats, I debated spraying on some KR4 paint (I had a semi-used can left). However, I figured not only would the primer do the job adequately, and serve to show the body shop what I had done, I was also worried that the old KR4 paint might not spray well, and cause a mess. So I decided to stop painting and put on the new pieces (later at Nissan picking up the under bonnet insulation I asked them about this, and they told me primer alone was fine...)

New versus old

Checking out how soft and pliable the new rubber/plastic piece is:

Supple is the word!

And then I began to prep the new parts by spraying down with Aerospace 303 and letting it soak in:

The underside, which won't see daylight again until it's removed.

And the topside, which will!

Installation was the reverse of taking the part off, being careful to make sure the plastic clips went in on both sides, and that the edges were tucked in under the windshield molding.

I found out that the rubber trim piece is actually about 1.5cm too long on each side - cutting required.

I then attached the rubber piece to the front of the cowl, which helps to secure it better (as otherwise only 4 plastic clips are holding it on).

And then I just swapped out the old wipers for new, transferring the blades over.

If you are curious you can make out the parts numbers...(28886-15U00 and 28881-15U00)

Then I just bolted the wipers back on, put on the plastic caps which cover the bolts, and I was done!

(photo)

Speaking of parts numbers, here are the others for completeness sake:

So what's next? Luckily, there are no other places with that level of rust.  However Japan being a humid place, plus because I like to wash the car, I guess I will have to be careful going forward.  That being said, there is some bodywork I'm still thinking about, so maybe at that time I can get this under cowl area redone professionally.

In any case, the car looks like this now:

Ahhh Yeah! Perfect!

I hope this was an interesting and useful post! Sorry about the length...

So What Did Dino Think? (His Impressions Driving My Car)

As I noted in my earlier post about our visit to Worx Auto, my friend and motorjournalist Dino Dalle Carbonare drove my car for the first time in the 10 years plus I've known him (and hence, our R33 v R34 debate).

Sometimes, when you've owned a car for a long time, things that are not right, seem or become normal. So, once in a while it's nice to have a professional who's driven hundreds if not thousands of new cars, give you some honest feedback. So I was excited that Dino agreed to drive my car the 2 hours to Worx Auto Alarm...

As soon as we set off from his house, the first words out of his mouth were, "wow this is tight!!" He was, of course, referring to the newly installed and still-being-broken-in Getrag 6 speed.  He showed me what he meant - no play in the stick shift from side to side, in any gear.

Although, in conjunction with the new gearbox, he found it odd that the Nissan Prince techs set the clutch release point so high up in the clutch pedal travel.  This is one (easy fix) item I will get checked out soon. Although to be honest, it hadn't really bothered me much before. Maybe it's because those of us vertically challenged guys find it easier to heel and toe, not having to push the clutch pedal all the way down to the floor?

He also loved how stiff the handbrake was. Something about the one on his BNR34 coming up loosely and almost vertical...

Soon after, he also exclaimed "I love the brakes" referring, of course, to the R35 Brembos on the car. We discussed whether, in his opinion, the increased volume AutoSelect master brake cylinder would be a worthwhile upgrade.  While it might provide more pedal travel (i.e. make it feel "softer") I think we both agreed it was fine the way it was, on the OEM BCNR33 master cylinder.

After cruising for a bit, while it seemed to me that he was quite busy unnecessarily shifting up and down due to the short gearing, he remarked how it made him feel really involved in driving the car. Reminded him of his first Alfa, I think is what he said.

Having myself and Dino and both of our respective kids on board, the car was plenty quick, although it was obvious the gearing was helping, and that, with no one else on board, the car would feel even faster.

His usual pose, he said...

He also liked the way the steering was very progressive in feel, taking the car into fast sweeping corners as he turned the wheel.  Also, unlike myself, he felt that the on-center dead zone I complain about, was minimal at best, and in fact that it had plenty of good on center feel. (I guess the NSX, which is my standard, is simply out of this world?)

For the interior, we agreed the second generation GT-Rs have such comfortable seats. Dino being as "tall" as he is, and me much shorter, neither of us felt any discomfort after our 4 hour roundtrip journey.  He also liked the LED illumination of the main gauges and 3 sub meter:

Of course, being Italian, the complaints or "observations" came on very quickly as well.

First, as I had told him when we first climbed in, Dino agreed that perhaps the car's Ohlins DFV coil-overs needed to be rebuilt. While the springs seem about right, the rebound is a bit too stiff (response slow?) for non-racetrack roads, resulting in a bit of jumpy behavior on other than perfectly smooth roads.

Then, while cruising at high speed, Dino noted a slight shimmy in the steering wheel, going straight. Likely an alignment, or wheel balance problem.  Both of these problems I plan to address soon.

Other minor niggles include, not being able to see out the back very well.  The rear window tint, while legal, may be a bit too dark (except, of course, when some idiot with illegal high beams is right behind you, as we experienced on the way back).

Something about the trunk being too small...yeah ok the tint is probably a bit dark too...

Since I don't usually drive the car at night, not a big issue for me...

While the engine is fine, there seems to be some turbo chatter. Hopefully a proper tune with a more modern ECU should fix this (so goodbye VX-ROM).  I've been researching this for quite some time so hopefully soon!

Finally, my circa 2006 Pioneer Navi/stereo is hopelessly out of date, even with the map updates (I think up to 2010?) We basically ignored it and used Google Maps off of our phones to get around.  Hopefully my new relationship with Nakamura-san at Worx can help to resolve this somewhat embarrassing issue...at the very least I need better sound in my car!

Anyway, this experience has given me a better roadmap for work I need to do on the car this year... like I said previously, 2016 will be an interesting year! Thanks Dino!

Mission Possible: Buying Up Parts (Before They Are Gone) and Freshening Up the Car

So a free Sunday today.  I had gotten a call from Yamazaki-san at Nissan Prince earlier in the week about some parts I had ordered a while back that had finally come in, so I swung by to pick them up.

Parking was tight, so I just pulled in and...

Left my car there in the middle of the shop entrance lol

In tinkering with my car, I am noticing that some things are starting to show their age - for example, some interior parts have some scratches that can't be removed or have some lettering that has faded, etc. So, before Nissan decides to stop production on some of these parts, for the last few months I've begun ordering those parts which, once they are gone, would be hard to replicate or find substitutes for.

This time, I had ordered 3 parts - one small, one medium (hint for both of these - they are interior pieces) and then one relatively large one.

The two small boxes and the large flat box are the parts...nothing with "Reimax" on them today unfortunately!

The parts were ready and waiting for me.  For the two interior parts, I will install and blog about another time.  But the large piece was something I decided to take care of, while at Nissan. No technical expertise required to replace it!

This is not pretty. 

As you can tell, the large piece in question is the big piece of heat/noise insulation that is found under the hood. Not only was it beginning to sag in some places from age, but as the yellow arrows above show, mine showed the scars from my experiment creating a ram air intake (where I had taped foam to insure the incoming air flowed into the airbox, and not onto the engine).

Taking the insulation off was easy, using the proper tool which they lent me.

You can see how the edges of the insulation are beginning to fray.

A few minutes later:

It actually looks pretty nice without anything there under the bonnet...race car like?

Old piece is rusty brown, new piece is light, almost yellow

I was surprised to learn that the new Nissan OEM replacement piece, for some reason, did not exactly match the shape one that was on my car. Either, my car had an earlier R33 piece on, or for some reason Nissan got rid of variances between the model years for replacement parts.

The old piece - yellow where it is different than the new piece.

The quality of the new part appears better (it appears darker and more plush?), not sure if it's the material used or due to age of the original part that was on the car.

Here is the new part, attached. Yellow circle on the section that is now gone.

Anyway not sure what to think of this. I decided to have them dispose of the old part for me so no going back.  I have to assume that, at some point Nissan decided that this new part did the job.  And, the missing section makes sense, it is above the airbox where frankly there isn't as much heat generated as the rest of the engine.  On the other hand,  when sitting still heat dissipates all over so not sure why this is supposed to be a better design.  I have to have faith that the actual material used is improved.

I will continue to research this, but since I had promised my Facebook friends to post what I did today, here it is... in my next post I will post another freshening up/parts purchase I did BEFORE this one...