Pro vs Amateur Detailing - All About the Details. Plus a Modernization Improvement

So the used car dealership claimed that before I could pick up the Elgrand, they would have to put a "glass" (ceramic) coating on it (and charge me for it, of course).  Normally, any kind of ceramic coating means that the paint is properly prepped before application so of course I was curious to see what they had done.  As I suspected the quality level would be that which might impress the average person, but not me.  And I was right. Check this out, the inside of the fuel filler cap!

FAIL.

So a quick wipe-down with an All Purpose Cleaner (I think I used CarPro Eraser this time) meant that in less than a minute, this was looking much better. 

Looks much better! But...

But now, those stickers look messily applied. Turns out they demonstrate that the prior owner regularly added a fuel additive (to clean the engine). But to get off all stickers, there is nothing I have found better than the 3M Seal Remover (extra strength).

Which meant that these stickers were quickly gone!

Here is what they look like up close.

So at least since 2019, 3 years after he purchased the car, he was using this additive.  So I figured, I should continue to do the same!

Next issue - why no fuel cap holder? Actually, there is this hook...

So it doesn't work too well, since you hook the cable but not the cap on this hook

So a few hundred yen later on Amazon...

Easy to apply, double stick tape.

Testing to make sure the cap actually fits before I stick the holder onto the fuel filler door.

And yes it works. Note that I have CLEANLY applied a new Pitwork F-Premium sticker above the orange unloaded fuel reminder sticker.

99,033km, March 2022.

Voila! It works!

So what next? Another Modernization mod next, but I am wondering if I went a bit too far...stay tuned!

First Proper Maintenance at Prince Fukushima, Part 2

So in part 1, I listed up all of the work done by Nissan Prince Fukushima from the photos sent to me by Midorikawa-san.  Here is the rest of the work that was done, as I found out when I went to pick up the car.

Getting to Fukushima means taking the Tohoku Shinkansen, or bullet train, from Tokyo to Koriyama station in Fukushima Prefecture.  Once there I was in the midst of a work meeting (online) so rather than wait for someone to pick me up (as offered by the dealership) I just hopped in a taxi, destination Nissan Prince Fukushima, Koriyama branch. 

Fukushima is a beautiful part of the country, made famous internationally due to the tragic events of March 11, 2011 (the Great East Japan Earthquake or the Tohoku Earthquake and Tsunami).  Last time I was here was actually back in May 2010 with my motor journalist friend Dino Dalle Carbonare when we visited Ebisu Circuit up a little bit more north of Koriyama.

Even though it was March 21st when I visited, temperatures were near zero and... it was snowing!

Luckily it was nice and comfortable in the service area, where Midorikawa-san ushered me in to allow me to check the overall condition of the Elgrand and so we could discuss not only what had been done in the limited timeframe - 4 days! -  I had given him (due to the delivery delay by the used car dealer) and what we needed to do next time!

That 32... not a GT-R... Rb20 engine!

Midorikawa-san first showed me what had been done in the engine bay. First of course they steam cleaned it...

I get the feeling I will soon know this area very well...

After which they replaced ALL the fluids, and also removed the excess power steering fluid.  In addition to all the work I listed in this previous post.

Oh and the strange sound coming from the power steering pump that Ochiai-san at Nismo had noticed? Normal in these cars apparently as they were equipped with strange sounding electrically driven pumps - and hence we suspect the used car dealer overfilled in a vain attempt to make the sound go away...

They also replaced the coolant hoses as well as the old radiator cap. Not a Nismo one as that would be pure bling on this car I think...also amazing at how the white/clear plastics are still white and not yellowed. Not bad for a 7 and half-year old car!

Midorikawa-san also showed me the new Digital Room Mirror - a dealer installed option with a camera unit mounted behind the rear hatch glass - works great!

In addition to of course the dash cam, as well as a replaced plastic panel

A walkaround from the bottom showed very little damage to the body - some scrapes here and there, but nothing that major or noticeable (and on the plastic, not the metal)

Some small scratches on the lower door panels

 

Did I mention that these Bridgestone Regno GRV II tires (designed for minivans, and a super quiet ride) have a manufacturing date stamp of September 2023? Almost new tires!

Wheels are absolutely perfect, there was only one small scratch on the front right wheel!

Going underneath the car, we discussed where the CVT filter was located.

Apparently not easy to remove, but at least unlike the 2.5L, the oil pan does not need to be removed

The Elgrand has two A/C systems - here is the tubing leading to the rear unit

And here is the only rust I could find on the car - on the rear subframe. Although it looks like it got scraped somehow. 

So yes this is one item that will need to be fixed next time.

And because they did not have enough time to address this, the undercoating I was hoping to get sprayed on to prevent further rust was not done. But no worries, no snow for awhile I think...

It was now 1130 and Midorikawa-san and I decided to go get lunch. So we hopped in one of the dealer Nissan Note Auras and went to a local famous tonkatsu place. Typical small shop with only about 15 seats hence we left before the noon lunchtime rush.

All this for only 1000 yen! And this is the "normal" size portion...

After a great lunch where we got to know each other better (turns out Midorikawa-san has an awesome beautiful Nismo tuned R34 GTR as well as a BNR32!), back to the dealership as Midorikawa-san wanted to show me some more stuff.

First, the items they had taken off the car. This is where he introduced me to the technician who worked on my car, Kurumada-san (his name is written "car-field" - unbelievably perfect!!)

I think I was trying to take a photo of the broken tabs on the plastic dash piece that resulted in the loose cover for the ETC unit; this big plastic piece got replaced; and the box of parts replaced in the background

leaking radiator hose

old CVT filter

I wanted to see how dirty it was, so... with some brake fluid sprayed in....

Good thing I insisted on this getting changed!

Second, they showed me the machines they used to pressure FLUSH OUT the CVT and engine. EXACTLY what I wanted!!!

For transmissions.

Actually, they told me that in order to change the oil in the CVT properly, this was the only proper way.  I was impressed, but they kept saying "this is nothing special" and "this is normal." 

Same with the engine oil:

I guess every Nissan dealer has one of these, but only a few advertise (and Nissan Prince Fukushima does not, so I did not know they had one!)

Although I was thinking about adding additives to all the fluids, I was told it was not necessary, as the engine oil they used was a high grade Nismo one.  But they DID use this for the aircon system which was flushed out and refilled to proper capacity.

They also gave me a present - a brake cleaning kit! Thanks!

So we then went back inside where I parted with a few weeks salary and then got ready to leave.

But not before some more surprises, as Midorikawa-san insisted I check out some cars he had in the back.

R32 GT-R with a Nismo engine...

The limited edition Nissan Skyline Nismo! Maybe the 4th one I have seen in the flesh!

If I ever buy a new car, I want it delivered like this! Fully protected interior!

Finally it was time for me to go - I had a few hours drive back to Yokohama as well as some meetings to take on the road, but on the way out, Midorikawa-san pointed out the oil they had used in the Elgrand.

It IS labelled as Nismo, and further is produced by Motul? A bit overkill perhaps for a lowly minivan but I am not complaining!

Performance: Parts Install at Prince Fukushima - Improving Body Rigidity

So even before I took delivery of the Elgrand, one of the must have mods I knew I would be doing based on my experience with both my R33 GT-R and Lexus IS-F, was to make improvements to the body rigidity.

Given how big this car is, and how any efforts in improving the driveability (whether power, handling or braking) would first require reinforcements to the chassis, I searched on the Japanese Minkara car-centric web/owners blog sites to see what was popular for the Elgrand.  Turns out that in the area of body rigidity, CUSCO and Okuyama are the two tuners with the biggest fans.  Midorikawa-san at Nissan Prince Fukushima also mentioned that he had seen the Malaysian UltraRacing bracing as well.

Unfortunately, at this time it looks like both Okuyama and UltraRacing have stopped making most of their parts for the E52 Elgrand, so instead of playing hit-and-miss trying to find who had stock, I decided to just go ahead and order the front and rear Power Braces from CUSCO.  Yeah, I see they offer a front strut tower bar but it got mixed reviews on Minkara, so I didn't order it.  And as for the rear stabilizer bar, I want to see how the Power Braces improve the ride before experimenting with body roll. 

On my way down from the used car dealer in Saitama to Omori Factory in Yokohama, the Elgrand was fast with plenty of good power, but smooth only on city streets - I noticed lots of understeer when entering a curve to get onto the expressway. Once on the expressway, it wallowed a bit on the curves and I had to pray that the tires were able to keep their grip on the tarmac.  I found myself trying to use the weight of the car to load the front outside suspension on the curves, but it felt inconsistent. I wasn't sure if this was the body flexing or the OEM shock absorbers on their way out, or both?

So, before worrying about the shock absorbers I figured I would make sure the chassis was as rigid as reasonably possible. 

And the result? Well on the drive home I could immediately tell a difference.  The Elgrand handled much better, I was going into sweeping curves on the expressway and even though the suspension is still softer than I like, I am able to accurately point the nose in and transfer weight to the outside front tire.  The car also seems more solid feeling, so definitely the body rigidity has improved.  My question now is whether I try to find other braces to continue stiffening the chassis, and if so is it an exercise in diminishing returns?

In any case, I am a big believer in proper body rigidity, and I note that Nissan, via its Autech subsidiary had released an Elgrand Rider "High Performance Spec" version 10 years ago.  This car had a retuned ECU giving 20ps more, but also body rigidity improvements, including a Yamaha-sourced Performance Damper on the rear of the car, in addition to front, center and rear cross bracing (good hints on what needs to be done, I think!).

From - https://www.craft-web.co.jp/blogs/atsugi/1511_1/

So eventually, I hope to improve my car's performance in the same way... but these Performance Dampers are nowhere to be found! Anyone??