More LED Madness - Rear Lamp LEDs, Part 1

So even though the aftermarket offers full LED conversions for the 33's iconic rear lights:

From: http://qestjapan.com/itempage/r33.html

I never thought it looked right. Somehow, the natural analog glow from a light source behind the four red rings always looked perfect. And while modernization is a good thing, not at the expense of loss of character, I believe.  So I never really thought about an LED upgrade for the rear lights.

However...After my last visit to Hong Kong late last year, I had the pleasure to meet with a few like minded GT-R friends.  One of them had an R32 GT-R with impressively bright brake lamps.  When I asked, he told me he was using red LEDs in place of the standard bulbs. I had previously tried out a white LED bulb in the rear foglamp area and always thought it a bit uninspiring.

Doing some research, I found out that indeed, with a red lens, one SHOULD use a red LED. The Sylvania Automotive lighting website was particularly useful.

Courtesy Sylvania Automotive via Amazon

So the answer seemed simple - just buy one of the 1157R LED ZEVO bulbs from Sylvania Automotive's lineup - except the Amazon sellers I found would not ship to Japan. Plus, of course, just in case I would want a bulb that is recognized as legal for use in Japan, right? 

Thus, I began hunting for other LED manufacturers who sold directly in Japan.

Meanwhile, another issue raised its head. As you know, I have a Series 3 (kohki) BCNR33, which means when braking, only the OUTER 2 of the 4 afterburners lights up brighter. When not braking,  at night, the inner two and outer two turn on and have the same brightness.

When braking

When not braking all 4 light up evenly.

I knew that the outer two thus used a 2 filament bulb (1157 aka S25 double) rated for 21W and 5W, but had assumed that since the inside ones did not light up, those bulbs were single filament bulbs (1156 or S25 single).  Thus, I was planning on buying or creating my own adaptor  - 1156 socket (in the car) to 1157 socket.

Luckily, I then checked my own BCNR33 technical page and found that the series 3/kohki cars listed the usage of four 1157 bulbs - meaning that while the inside bulbs were also the two filament 1157s, apparently they never receive current for the higher voltage (because the braking current never reaches them).  Intrigued, I went to the car and found that indeed, the inside bulbs were 1157 bulbs, and their sockets were designed for 1157 bulb bases (180 degrees difference in the pins but pins at different heights).  But, only 2 wires leaving each socket, thus confirming that only one filament would be lit up.

So, this meant I could simply buy four 1157 LEDs. It also meant that I would not have to worry about different levels of brightness across different bulbs, if I used bulbs from the same brand and which had the same model number. 

The next step was to find an LED that actually fit! Many that I saw seemed to have new shapes much larger than a regular incandescent bulb. And, the LED would have to give off light not only to the sides but also directly to the rear (so near 360 degree illumination, just like the incandescent bulb).

So, back to the car to measure depth from the base of the socket to the edge of the inside of the lens (68.5mm) as well as the diameter of the hole the socket would have to pass through (26 mm).  The S25 bulb I measured was 24.6mm in diameter and 48 mm tall from the base. 

The caliper has a little rod that comes out the bottom to measure depth

Looking back at the left rear inside light.

Now came the heavy duty research part. First, while I studied the various designs available, most of these seemed to be cheap Chinese ebay-type offerings. I am NOT going to entrust my own personal safety to LEDs which might prematurely fail without warning.  That means I would like to stick to name brands, presuming their products are built to last.

Second, I wanted LEDs that would be brighter than the regular halogen bulbs.  To do this, I first had to look up the brightness of the average incandescent 1175 bulb. One site I found claimed a standard 21/5W bulb would have a brightness of 440lm and 35lm. I wasn't sure what to think of this as no LED 1157/S25 double bulb I found, could match these numbers. And yet, major brands like Sylvania and Phillips seem to be offering bulbs with lower lumens numbers yet claim they are brighter than the standard bulb.

I found another guide that demonstrated that for the same lumens, it takes more wattage for an incandescent bulb versus an LED bulb. And yet another showing conversion formulas as well as showing that incandescent bulbs have a typical luminous efficiency of 12.5-17.5 lumens/W versus LEDs at 80-100 lumens/W.

At this point, I was totally confused. The only thing I could figure out was there there appeared to be two types of aftermarket LEDs - those that use SMD ("surface mount diodes") and those that use CREE chips of various specs. The SMD bulbs almost always listed a large number of chips, while the CREE chip bulbs seemed to be more compact and have 8 chips or less.

What I ended up doing was ordering, again from Philips, their red S25 double bulb - approved for car use in Japan, and having a light output of 115 lumens (braking) and 15 lumens (taillight).

In my next post, I will demonstrate what happened when I got them...and my final decision on using LED bulbs...

Premature LED Burn Out?

So during the biannual shaken process back in June, Ninomiya-san at BeAmbitious (my go-to shop for all things non-OEM) noticed that the front right parking light bulb had burnt out. So, in order to pass shaken, he went ahead and replaced the burnt out LED bulb for a cheapo standard bulb.

Not pretty as you can see - but looks very OEM and period correct, actually

So much crisper and modern looking, no?

If you recall I did a lot of research for this post back in December 2016 where I upgraded the cheap LEDs I was using as front parking light bulbs to a pair of high power (130 lumens) units from Philips.

The T10s on the left I used for the parking lamps.

Of course, Murphy's law - these bulbs weren't cheap, but since I can't find the receipt, the 3 year warranty means nothing... 

So I went back on Rakuten and tried to look for the same bulbs. I was going to be sneaky and buy another set and then return the burnt out one (assuming the stock numbers were relatively close, etc...)

It seems Philips has outsmarted me, however. Because, I could no longer find the 6200K 130lm T10 bulbs. Instead I found these:

I went ahead and bought them, figuring that I might as well replace both sides and that 6000K from the LEDs would not be that much of a change from the 6200K of the early unit. 

Anyway, as you know it's not rocket science to replace these bulbs - you just need small hands like mine and it's relatively easy. Although admittedly this time I cheated and removed the airbox on the left and the washer tank on the right to get easier access.

And the end result (just in time for the GTR50 event):

Ahh...back to symmetry (and thus normal). Given that the headlights are rated at 6200K, I don't see any difference between them and the 6000K parking bulbs, do you? 

Two More Problems Due to WORX Auto Alarm

In the course of getting ready for last Sunday's GT-R50 Japan invite, here are two more items of note - one which I cannot fix, the other which I managed to make look better until I'm able to replace with new.

First, I was horrified to find out that, without asking me, the IDIOT had drilled into the frame of my car!  As well as drilling a hole into my trusty carbon fiber Garage Defend GT Cooling Panel that I had installed over 10 years ago!

I simply don't know why he couldn't have used an existing hole elsewhere to install the hood/bonnet switch for the alarm.  Or used the location where the previous shop had installed the switch, hidden away towards the rear.  Maybe I will have to relocate itself myself later, as the wiring for the switch is easily accessible. Easy for any competent thief to quickly find and cut. UNBELIEVABLE. COMPLETE INCOMPETENCE.

Well, this gives me an excuse to buy a new Cooling Panel...more money needlessly wasted...not sure what to do with the hole in the car though.

Second, after picking up my car I had noticed that the rear rotors seemed to have more rust on them than usual.  After washing my car, sure some rust always quickly appears on the rotors, but they come off after a quick spin.  This was different. The rust was on the rotor hat, not the rotors themselves. The fronts don't have this problem, as the hats appear to be alloy and not painted steel.

that looks... HORRIBLE...

Yeah it looks bad and I suspect it's because WORX is located right near the Pacific Ocean, subjected to those ocean winds. So obviously despite Nakamura telling me my car would be well looked after, it's clear that it was left out in the open for the 6 months it was there. Perhaps a weekly wash or a cover would have prevented this, but obviously that wasn't happening...

I removed the wheel and found this.

The good news is that when I pointed this out to the guys at Nissan Prince Tokyo Motorsports Factory, they reassured me that it's only surface rust. Ok, but it still looks HORRIBLE... I tried to live with it as the rotors are getting worn anyway and so I was thinking of replacing the whole set anyway, but until then... yeah I just couldn't bear to see it each time I drove or worked on my car. Also, having been told my car would be displayed at the Nissan section at the GTR50 event, I knew I had to do something quick (and I had no time to change out the rotors or hats).

So, a few weekends ago in September when it wasn't raining here in Japan I jacked up the back of the car and got to work.

About to attack the rust with a wire brush

A few minutes later, the ugly rust was pretty much all gone

 Once I got rid of as much rust as I could, I had two choices. Leave as is or paint with some kind of anti-rust coating.

I tried some anti-rust gel, but that would wear off and then the rust might start up again. Plus, you could still see it.  Luckily I still had some Rust-O-Leum paint left over from a project I did and featured here as well as on Speedhunters.

Looks so much better, even though not carefully done

I admit, because I will need to replace it anyway I didn't bother taping newspaper and doing the spray painting properly. Hence the overspray.

With the wheel back on, no rust that draws your eye

Anyway, I hope this is the last of the surprises from WORX, but I suspect it's not.  Apologies to my readers, I don't mean to beat a dead horse but... my God this guy is bad.

So, I might as well ask - what rotors should I get? To keep costs low I think I want to stick with OEM rotor hats so whatever works with those. Can anyone introduce me to a place that can offer the rotors such as AP Racing or Alcon without a huge markup?

On Display at Nissan's GTR50 by Italdesign Event at Daikanyama T-Site Morning Cruise

So, if you haven't seen the social media and press coverage by now, last Sunday (Sept 23) from 0700-0930, Nissan unveiled to the Japanese public, at the Daikanyama T-Site Morning Cruise (think, Cars and Coffee) near Shibuya in Tokyo, their handmade one-off R35 made in conjunction with Italdesign, the GTR50!

Of course, I am writing here because I was lucky enough to be invited by people at Nissan to display my R33 GT-R at the event.  Obviously word went out to the R35 owners, who showed up en masse, but of course no GT-R event is complete without the historic models there as well.

Obviously, Nissan agreed because they brought along their KenMary GT-R Racing Concept as well as the R33 GT-R LM homologation street car!

Wow. Just WOW.

Anyway, this invite is why I stayed up late the days before working on various things (coming in future posts!), and how I discovered how my brake lights weren't working. Luckily as you read in the previous post the guys at Nissan Prince Tokyo Motorsports Factory quickly fixed the problem, but for a few minutes I was worried that I might not be able to make it to this event!

"My kind of Taxi" is how Dino described this...

So the day started early for me - even though the event itself began at 0700, Dan Passe from Nissan had told me that the Nissan crew would be there at 0600 setting up.  In addition, my buddy Dino had asked me to pick him up at Haneda airport at 0530 as he would be flying back from doing a press event for the new Nissan Altima.  Hence the photo above.

As we pulled into the Daikanyama T-Site parking lot at 0620, we were initially rebuffed but when told I was invited to display, quickly ushered in and told where to park.  As we pulled in, I knew it was going to be interesting because there were about 5 people taking photos as we pulled in. Minor celebrity status? LOL.

There was already a crowd forming around the GTR50, so I took a quick look - it's an interesting looking car and much better looking in person than in photos. Kind of like me! Lol.

Dino doing his stuff

Fitted luggage!

I was actually working on some fitted items for my car trunk as well (but the entire system got thrown out by Nakamura at WORX!!) but I will have to redo it in the near future.

I quickly got bored, as most cars there were R35 GT-Rs. There were some interesting cars, like an original Sylvia and Fairlady, even some old American muscle, but then I spotted this:

People starting to check out my car...

I ended up answering some questions about my car, and then I met two guys who knew who I was - one guy from Switzerland (Joel) and one guy from Germany (Amin). Both students, hope they have a great time in Japan!

Then the guy who ended up parking next to me in his r32, Mischa, was someone who Dino knew and who pulled into the parking lot JUST as the Nissan guys were looking for a BNR32. So as you can see he parked next to me.  Mischa and I quickly checked out each others' rides - his car sports an engine made by Top Secret, and of course mine has the Mine's unit.

And yes, that is a REAL Hakosuka GT-R there too...(another random addition that morning!)

Obviously Mischa takes much better photos than me - I think I was generally distracted...

Incidentally, Mischa took many more photos and put them up on the "Tokyo Drivers Club" Facebook page, if you are interested.

I also met a couple of other like minded R33 GT-R owners - Ken and Tomocchio (Japanese guy but Italian at heart?). Ken has a Series 3/Kohki like mine, but in "standard" form.  Tomo, now this guy had a Series 1/Zenki, mostly standard as well, but what he did was VERY interesting.

Blue on the left side...

And red on the right side...

 Tomo explained that "red is for passion, but blue is for cool" or words to that effect. Have to give him credit for originality, although if I recall correctly some race cars used to have different (red/blue) colored wheel lug nuts (single mount) for left and right side.

Anyway, come 0930, I had to go so Dino and I got back in and left. Tomo was nice enough to send me these photos:

Dino's elbow there...

Followed out by Mischa

And again as we left a bunch of people (like the guy on the left there, crouching) was taking photos as our cars were leaving.

Of course, most people were there to check out the GTR50, but I am glad that I was able to meet some other R33 fans as well as some others I haven't mentioned. You know who you are!

Electrical Gremlin...ARGH...

So last night I was finally replacing a few interior pieces (as I will post in a future blog post soon), when by happenstance I realized that my rear brake lamps were not working.

Of course, I checked the obvious, which was the fuse and the bulbs, and both were ok, but since the trunk mounted LED also failed to light up, I figured it was something a bit more complicated - either the switch under the brake pedal or the relay.

So this morning I called up Yamazaki-san at Nissan Prince Tokyo Motorsports Factory, and told him I would be driving in later in the day to drop the car off for this problem. Except, it then started to rain. And by the time I left work (early) not only was it raining heavily but the skies were darkening quickly.  All of sudden, driving around with no brake lights - even only 20km from home to NPTMF, seemed like a risky thing to do.

As I was taking the train home, I called my insurance company to ask for a tow truck, and the operator who verified my policy promised I would be receiving a phone call 15 minutes after I got home, from the nearest tow truck operator.

Now, with today being a very heavy rain day (and so lots of accidents out there), I was not expecting the call so soon but... yep, this is SO Japan. Exactly 15 minutes after I got home... the truck driver told me to meet him down the street from my house, because the road in front of my house is only 4 meters wide and he didn't want to block traffic!

As I drove down the street towards his direction, I saw him waving me down - he had parked the truck a bit further up the street and decided to meet me closer to my house... on foot! In the rain! Despite me offering him a ride to his truck, he declined and proceeded to run alongside me in the rain towards his truck!

Of course my car was super clean... only to get wet. Oh well.

I was pleasantly surprised to find that they had sent over a proper flat bed truck. Now I realized why my insurance company had asked me if the car had been lowered (yes), and whether I had any aftermarket aero parts on the car (no).

Superwide street (for Japanese neighborhood) in front of some random apartment building...

Even though the truck was a flat bed, the driver said the car was low enough that the front lip spoiler might get scraped. Standing in the rain, getting wet, I told him "not a problem" while trying to remember in the back of my mind whether the rubber bump stops I had installed for protection were still good.

I guess my poker face is terrible because the next thing I knew, the driver had pulled out these two wooden planks and...

Taking extra care! Love it!

He told me that in cases of lowered cars, in his judgment better safe than sorry no matter what the owner says, so he called the insurance company to make sure they agreed with his course of action on the wooden planks.

Once he got the OK, he directed me while I drove it up onto the bed, no damage to the front lip.  Then he pushed a few buttons and...

Once on, he then secured the car not only with blocks like below, but also used nylon belts to tie down the front wheels as well (not shown in below photo).

We then proceeded to drive to NPTMF.  45 minutes later, once lowered to the ground I drove it off the truck backwards, and then Yamazaki-san took over.

Yamada-san, who I have entrusted this car to since I first bought it back in 2006, immediately set to work trying to figure out what was wrong with the brake lights.

And yes, I was wiping down the car with the purple microfiber towel.

Yamada-san first checked the switch behind the brake pedal...

And also checked the wiring back where the bulbs were.

After about 30 minutes, he concluded that the brake lamp switch was at fault. It was operating intermittently, as he had actually gotten it to work again, but of course recommended a new switch, which I promptly ordered.

As the car is going to be there overnight I've asked them to inspect the car for any salt or other damage due to the six months my car was at WORX (as WORX is right next to the Pacific Ocean in Chiba).  In an upcoming post I'll show why I know it was left out in the open, exposed to the salt wind, and how I dealt with another aspect of that in my garage last weekend...

Still Working On the Interior...

First, apologies to all you readers - especially those who inquired to see if I was still alive. Good news, yes I am, bad news I have been so busy with my awesome new job I started in May of last year that this blog has suffered. Of course, I think I still have to some PTSD from the whole fiasco at WORX last year (to make it perfect again I am saving up)...

Anyway, so truth be told, both the LED back up lamp replacement and the muffler silencer parts I discussed in my last two posts, I took care of shortly after rescuing my car from WORX Auto Alarm in October of last year.  As you've seen, in my very limited free time (lately I've been busy with family stuff on the weekends too, never mind my crazy work schedule) I've been working on fixing all the items that Nakamura at WORX essentially either broke, ignored my requests on, or threw out.

One item that was not finished was the installation of the matte carbon fiber door cups that Marc Binet from Xclusiv Carbon had made for me.

Or door handle surrounds, or whatever their proper name is...

It was obvious that when I went to pick the car up (after 6 months) that Nakamura was rushing to finish, barely putting the finishing touches on the Navi unit, and so items such as these cups as well as the leatherized ignition key surround, he simply did not have time for. He did manage to wrap up the red LED that I had installed as a courtesy lamp a long time ago, which actually now prevents placement of the LED in the space I had drilled out for the LED. Again, an example of linear thinking and not the creative thinking that is needed for these kinds of mods.  Anyway, in a future post I will show you how I got around this...

In any case, not installing the door cups turned out to be a blessing of sorts, as I began thinking about replacing the door handles themselves with chrome versions that were available for the R33 sedan. I had seen these on Yahoo Auction so many times, yet never pulled the trigger, and now it was too late, as no one now seems to be selling them new any more.

from: https://minkara.carview.co.jp/userid/306146/car/200234/1339412/parts.aspx

Maybe someday Nissan will make them again, or a used set in very good condition pops up. Until then, I had to figure out way to bring some "pop" to this area of the car.

Enter my friend and fellow R33 GT-R owner Tom S. He has an AMAZING black R33 GT-R:

This is his Facebook background photo - my kind of guy!! No way I could stay sane and keep black as clean as that!!

When I mentioned that I was looking for the chrome door handles, he first tried to find them in the UK for me, but when that didn't work out, came up with a better idea - he has a friend, James B. who could paint a set in a nice color. Oh, and James paints for Aston Martin(!) and LandRover(!!) (prototype work) and could be convinced to help(!!!!)?

But first I had to tell Tom what color I wanted. Naturally, we have to use OEM paint colors, so I went over to the Nissan Global Headquarters gallery to check out not only the cars on display but to see what OEM colors are currently being sold.

A bunch of tourists... ok I'm one too I guess

Hidden behind the service counter are these trays labelled with vehicle model names

Here are the colors available for the R35 GT-R

Not a GT-R color but a silver I liked called TRN (titanium) that we ended up going with.

I like this GT-R color, KAD (dark metallic grey) too, but thought the lighter titanium would work better.

After I told Tom about the color choice, he had James paint the used handles - as the following photos show.

Tom then sent me a photo showing the finished result. Looks fantastic, but until I see them with my own naked eyes...

Goodies from the UK!

Ok so my wife likes Malteasers (red thing on top left) and I was interested in what was wrapped in white

Look pretty good!

I think the coloring is perfect! Not too silver, not too shiny.

So I took the door panel off, unbolted the door handle assembly and unhooked these two metal roads from the backside.

Finished! Ok might look a bit weird (shiny) due to the flash at night but during the day it looks fantastic, will get some daytime photos later!

Actually, now that I have my oem handles removed from the car, I have another idea... but meanwhile my next blog post will be a repair of another kind... this one unbelievable not the fault of WORX...

Big thanks to Tom and James for your help on making my car that much better!!