Custom headlights and taillights! Motorized Front Doors! Full Urban Chrome look. What Next?

Even before I got the Elgrand back from Prince Fukushima last year, I wanted to replace the VIP with a more subdues Urban (dark) Chrome look.  But doing some research, I stumbled upon Junack, well known for their amazing automotive LED conversion look (albeit mostly Toyotas). 

So from Prince Fukushima, I had purchased both Urban Chrome headlight and tailight sets (darker lens, darker chrome) as well as an Urban Chrome front grill. However, I did not have the headlights and tailights installed because those units I tasked Sakurai-san at Junack with using them as the base for the custom LED work I had in mind. 

So Urban Chrome wheels, front grill... but not headlights.

Urban Chrome center garnish but OEM chrome upper tailights.

So a few months went by, but I finally got a call from Sakurai-san - it took longer than expected, but they did a couple of unique, one-off things for me.  I drove the Elgrand up and picked it up a week later after installation was complete. 

Check out the video they did for the Elgrand, below.

So yeah, we had discussed the rear fog lights but I was not sure if it would happen. They made it happen! I also at last minute, when I dropped off, asked for the bumper reflectors to be made into LEDs with parking light and brake light function. Easy enough (and with a hidden switch to turn off, in order to pass shaken as bumper reflectors are not supposed to light up...)

Sakurai-san DOES mention in the video how everything was unified with Urban Chrome parts. Indeed, it looks much better.  Another bonus was how they painted the inside of the headlights black, giving the Elgrand an even more aggressive look.

Darker chrome and blacked out headlights really sharpen up the look!

Added bonus were addition of the work lights for the rear as well as the motorized front door lock mechanism that Junack calls their Easy Door Closer.  I think it further adds to the "VIP-ness" of this vehicle.

So I am not sure what else I can do visually to this car - maybe a few more Nismo badges? 

Another Quick Front Door Repair!

So a couple of weeks ago I posted how I fixed the passenger side front door lock mechanism (or rather, it was making a weird noise and so I just replaced it with a used part off of Yahoo Auction) and while I was doing that, I lubricated the window assembly as the motor was struggling to raise the glass. All is well that ends well, and I learned a bit more about electric door locks and windows.

I had actually also ordered a replacement motor for the window glass, but it had not arrived in time.  But it was too much of a hassle to re-open the door panel and do the install. 

However, the other day when I picked up the Elgrand from BlackCats Detailing, Takahashi-san had pointed out that for whatever reason, the outer door handle of the passenger side front door was no longer working.  The button to lock and unlock worked; but not the handle pulled at nothing so the door did not unlatch.  From the inside, if the door was unlocked the inside door handle worked and opened the door.  So I suspected that perhaps when I did the door latch swap, maybe I had not properly secured the cable to the outside door handle.

Since it was a sunny day today, even though I now have to park the Elgrand outside, I figured I could move quickly and at least open up the door panel to see what the problem was.  So...

Just LOVE the Koken sockets and this KTC socket wrench (Japanese tools are amazing)!

Easy enough to take off the inner door panel - this is probably my 5th time?

Here is the motor for the window glass

Once I got the inner panel removed (where you also have to take off the window glass motor), I immediately found the problem to the door handle issue.

My finger is resting on the black plastic grommet that secures the cable to the outer door handle

As I suspected, the cable connecting the outer door handle and the door latch mechanism had come undone, so I struggled a bit but finally got the pieces to snap all back into position.  Just in case I tested it too before putting everything back together.

Oh, and even though I was happy that the silicon lubricant had greatly improved the up and down movement of the window glass, I decided to swap out the motors just in case there was any improvement. 

Yahoo Auction part all wrapped up, on bottom.

So the most painful part was putting the motor assembly back together as you have to wedge the inner door panel in between the motor and the window assembly, but somehow by using my toes to hold up the door panel as I tightened the bolts, I got it done.

After that, it was just a matter of bolting everything back up, running the wires where they should and connecting things back together.  The window speed does not seem to have changed, but the replacement motor seems a bit noiser so I will have to see how it works out. 

The good news is that I was surprised at how quickly I was able to do this, probably less than 90 minutes since I already knew which tools to use and where everything was located. Hopefully, it will be a LONG time before I reopen this door panel...

Now, I have a couple more things I need to do so stay tuned.  As it gets warmer, will certainly be easier for me to do some more repairs and mods to the Elgrand!

Lip Spoiler Protection and Anti-UV Ray Window Tint

So one well known issue with the Nismo body kit for the E52 Elgrand is that, due to how low the front lip spoiler is to the ground, it is usually just a matter of time until it gets scraped up. 

 Having been warned by Ochiai-san at Omori Factory, I nevertheless liked the look of the Nismo kit, and thought it would be interesting to have a Nismo VIP Elgrand. But given the warning, I decided to apply some plastic plates designed especially to protect front lip spoileres and other aero parts.

The kit comes with three pieces, one for each side and one for the middle.

Faux carbon, as if anyone would look, and matching adhesive strips.

Since the front middle of the lip does not hang low, I only applied these strips to the lowest parts of the edges of the front spoiler.

UNFORTUNATELY... while this might protect against some scrapes, I quickly learned it does nothing to protect against impacts to the spoiler, which is what happened when I hit a pothole - a rare occurance in Japan, which is likely why I reacted too late.

The ipact even bent open the metal stay that supports the underside of the spoiler.

So after going to the dealer and getting a new front spoiler installed, this time I am experimenting with other aftermarket solutions.  One is this, these flexible rubber strips that you apply along the entire leading edge of the lip spoiler.  

From above, you can't seem them. However they still do nothing to strengthen the thin plastic, so I am going to have to experiment with this. I am thinking of some kind of spray-on expandable rubber foam, which I would apply to the backside of the spoiler, for example. Stay tuned.

Meanwhile, after being very pleased with the work that Takahashi-san at BlackCats Auto Detailing had done on both my Lexus IS-F and Skyline Nismo, I decided to take him up on his offer to install some high performace, anti-UV, anti-heat and anti-shatter IKCS Sylphide window film.  I asked him to darken the side and rear windows but keep the front and driver and passenger side glass only lightly tinted, which he did.  I think by Japanese law the maximum for the fronts is 70% light transmittal transparency (so they can only be darkened by 30%).

During the day, you can see the difference.

What is really interesting is that from the inside the windows do not seem to have been darkened at all. This isn't the best photo but as you can see the rear window is pretty dark, meaning cars following won't be able to see through as before.  And yes, even though the VIP Elgrand has those nice cloth curtains, why not add a bit more VIP-ness with darker tinted windows?

Left Front Door Repairs

Another reason the Elgrand was at the dealership was due to a loud buzzing sound from the front left door power lock, every time the motor engaged the lock. The dealer suspected it was due to age, but for whatever reason they ran out of time to fix it or something. SO.... 

I found a used unit on Yahoo Auction for cheap

Not fun to take this mess apart....

Had to dig out my Torx 30 socket for this one. And on reassembly use blue thread lock.

Only two leads for power, why this huge coupler?

You can see my deadening work from before. I did not remove the window glass so I was lucky to have small hands to reach behind the metal frame to access the power lock unit.

The difficult part is getting the motor unit past this metal frame

The result? Yes it works quietly now, although I do hear a slight buzzing/whining which I hope is a lubrication issue. 

While I had the door open, I also tackled the power window - for some reason the motor was struggling to raise the glass - the dealer suspected the motor was going bad, or maybe a lack of lubrication. So they applied some silicon spray in the visible rubber molding areas, but obviously not inside the door, because the motor was still struggling to raise the glass.

So I got some silicon spray, and ran the window and down manually (half inch socket tip goes into the cable spool - Green Arrow - which uses cables to pull the window glass up or down).  I eventually even sprayed behind the spool, which greatly increased the speed at which the glass lowered, but raising the glass still seemed a bit tough.  Afterwards when I had put it all back together, I found that the left and right sides now lower at the same speed, but the passenger side is about a second slower than the driver side when raising. So maybe the motor is on its last legs after all?

So what next? One more thing the dealer didn't "have time" to fix. I guess I will have to research to see if this is worth fixing.  Oh and of course have to add some anti-scrape protection fo the front lip spoiler before the inevitable happens, knock on wood...

Mine's Power, Reducing Tailgate Weight, New Front Spoiler

So it's already mid March, and while it has been a relatively issue free 3 months for the Elgrand, it doesn't mean I haven't been having some fun with it.

So yeah, I like to park away from others, just in case...

I did have my friend Matt in town from the UK, so of course I decided to take him down in style to visit Mine's as he had some shopping to do. So while he was getting a small tour and busy picking out some goodies, I was getting bored complaining about the lack of Mine's parts for the Elgrand.  That's when Niikura-san took pity on me and invited me to test drive their latest demo car! Their new VX-ROM for the the VRDDTT engined Z is absolutely amazing. The pickup is much improved, and there is more torque everywhere! Super fast car, dangerous to drive on cold tires, even on a sunny day!

This beast, with prototype VX-Rom. Amazing!

Niikura-san himself signing autographs!

It was about this time when engine builder takumi Nakayama-san thought it would be fun to annoint my Elgrand with a Mine's sticker. You know, for added power and flair.

Here he is, complaining actually that the graphene ceramic coating I used on the bumper (I have been experimenting) was making it tough for the sticker to stick!

But, he got it done!

Definitely adds something to this car. Not sure if it makes any sense but oh well. 

Next, I had been bothered that the tailgate, either due to tired motors or excessive sound insulation, was no longer opening up as much as it should, becoming a hazard to my head (and me needing to always manually push it up to the top). So, I decided some weight reduction was needed.

Here is the back of the rear panel.

Once I removed the OEM foam, I was confronted with this. This is all glued to the plastic.  The material has foam for sound deadening, on top of aluminum sheet and then below rubber butyl that I found stuck directly to the plastic. The StP stuff that Akiba-san at Dupree Factory had done for me.

I found this stuff even behind the small access panel for the lock.

At first, I was using heat to loosen the adhesive, but then in the end I just scraped it all off.

Total weight - over one kilogram! I did leave some, but only in places where I thought the butyl could absorb vibration. In place of the sound deadening foam, I used some left-over super light 3M Thinsulate I had left over from my earlier project. 

I think the liftgate now works much better, but not perfect so I suspect that the motors also need to be replaced soon.

Next, some bodywork - the Nismo Front Spoiler.   Now everyone who has ever had this part installed, or driven an Elgrand with this body kit, knows how low this front bumper is. Basically, this is worse than driving my GT-R, especially given how much I actually drive this car. What I mean by this is, this spoiler simply invites scrapes. Also, if your front wheels hit a pothole, the impact can shatter the spoiler.

BAM! It sounded just as bad as it looks!

The metal stay got bent as well with that impact. You can also see the leading edge tends to get scraped up as well!

So I had the Elgrand at the dealer for the last few weeks, getting a new Nismo bumper painted and installed. So of course, I started thinking about how to protect it going forward.

First, taping up to allow for some spraying

Clear Plasti-Dip as one option? Theory being, rubber could absorb some vibration upon impact?

It came out ok, but it's not shiny anymore. A matte finish, and probably not as thick as it needs for anti-vibration purposes.

In my next post, a few more projects as I show you how I decided to protect the underside of the lip spoiler, as well as my DIY for an issue the dealer could not fix in time!

Another Part from the Nismo Elgrand Catalog - Multi Function Blue Mirrors

Welcome to 2025! 

So first post of the year - I actually picked this up last time I was at Omori Factory, picking up my Skyline Nismo.

I had mentioned to Ochiai-san that when I made lane changes to the left, it was scary because even with the large OEM mirrors, I was wanting to see just a few more degrees out. This is when he brought out this mirror that he had in stock.  I guess multi-function means that, compared to the OEM it has a wider viewing angle, and the blue helps against glare from headlights behind you?

In any case, application was easy, courtesy of the alcohol wipes and the suction cups provided.

Clean the mirror, and then peel off this white backing to reveal:

This very sticky tape layer

And then just press it on, making sure they are centered!

So far, after a few days they haven't fallen off, but I half expect them to. Will update if so!

More Luxury - Heated and Massage Function Retrofit to Second Row Captain's Chairs!

So it turns out that 20 minutes from where I live, there is a shop called Union Leather that specializes in automotive upholstery.

Actually, this is their front office, with the actual workshop located about 8 minutes away in the car repair mecca of Tsuzuki ward

On reading their website, turns out they can also add seater heaters as well, so of course I had to call and ask.  They install only these units from TC-Style, all apparently made in Japan.

Then I found out by looking at the TC-Style website that they also sold seat massage units.  And hence, this project was born. As a small shop, I had to make a reservation in advance, which was perfectly as I was able to order the massage units and seat heaters with plenty of time to spare.

The work was shown on Union Leather's Instagram page, which is where I got these photos

Motor units for the massage unit

heat seater

Given how little space there is on the seat frame, decided to have buttons installed here.

Now of course I am tempted to add the massage function to the front seats... maybe next time?