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Hey Paul,

I had an extensive discussion with Racepace and the final verdict is that a Harmonic balancer is not necessary for my street orientated package. I think for race purposes, a harmonic balancer may see realistic advantage. To tell you the truth, with increased capacity and V Cam, there is rarely need to rev the engine sky high.

Cheers

Matt

Just an update:

BTW, my interior is coming along, just received carbon bits and pieces and refurbished/modified steering wheel. HOWEVER, as per useal, the steering wheel did not turn out the exact way I like, therefore I am doing some DIY leather re-dyeing and refinishing to see if I could get the look that I want. If I fail, then its off to Blackman's for another retrim! SIGH!!!

Pictures of interior parts 'carbonised' by Robson Design in Singapore. Parts were removed and sent to Singapore. The whole process took about 3-4 weeks, including time in transit.

This is a 'wet' carbon look, whereby carbon weave was laid and bonded to surface of part and sealed crystal clear resin.

The clear resin finish is flawless, but the weave pattern (being slightly crooked) is not quite to the quality of European marques OEM carbon interior. Overall, I am happy with the result.

Pictures for you to judge:

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Also, note genuine leather shift boots, made by Redline shift boots in Poland (online store). Their inventory cover a large variety of JDM cars, including R32s, R33s, EXCEPT for the R34s. Therefore, I took on their offer of 'If its not available for your car, you get it for free'. The deal is I sacrifice my OEM boots and send them to be used as templates, obviously so that they can add to their inventory for future sales. I look at it humbly as my contribution to the R34 world!

The quality is great and looks a million bucks - double stitching; OEM fitment; no adjustment required; your choice of leather and stitch colour.

The price is affordable as well.

dscf0356a.jpg

Sourcing all these parts worldwide has certainly added an international flavour to my car. However, definitely NO cheap Chinese rip off parts!!!

Cheers

Matt

Robson has a branch in Singapore do they? interesting...

and why the gearboots from a polish joint??? Surely Gary Blackman or moorrabbin blackman could have knocked something up? looks pretty mint though :blush:

Robson has a branch in Singapore do they? interesting...

and why the gearboots from a polish joint??? Surely Gary Blackman or moorrabbin blackman could have knocked something up? looks pretty mint though :blush:

  • 3 weeks later...

Just want to give online shift boot store -www.Redlinegoods.com a thumbs up :thumbsup: for their outstanding customer service and high quality products.

The owner, Maciek, certainly delivers what he promises. I am one happy customer and you all should know how fussy/discerning I am with fit and finish of aftermarket gear.

I will let the photos speak for themselves:

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Cheers

Matt

Just want to give online shift boot store -www.Redlinegoods.com a thumbs up :thumbsup: for their outstanding customer service and high quality products.

The owner, Maciek, certainly delivers what he promises. I am one happy customer and you all should know how fussy/discerning I am with fit and finish of aftermarket gear.

Thank you Matt, it was a pleasure to work with you on these, I've always wanted to add the R34 to our line-up (and I've always wanted a R34, actually, but since it's illegal for us to drive RHD cars and it's almost impossible to get a LHD R34 this is a dream that is still on my to-do list for now).

Wow! Can't believe my thread has received over 40,000 views. I have probably contributed to 1000 views myself by constantly checking your encouraging comments; participating in interesting discussions and posting frequent updates! Keep it up guys!

Anyway, my interior modification has stalled a bit....

You see I was originally planning on replacing the stock front seats with a set of Recaro sportster CS, however, I was not 100% convinced that the Recaros would be better than the stock BNR34 seats from a visual, comfort and driver support point of view. I am still agonising over this indecision. I mean the stock BNR34 seats are so damn supportive and aggressive looking, it would almost be a 'downgrade' to change to anything else.

I have spent many hours at Ideal Seats in Moorabbin, just staring at the Sportsters CS's and hassleing the owner, Micheal, about every little detail. A BIG thanks and cheerio to Micheal for his patience and his no obligation approach to business. He is such a nice guy that I almost feel obliged to 'buy' something' from him - maybe Recaros for my daily drive?!?!?

See photo:

csblackvinyllg.jpg

Another area that I wanted to pay attention to was the steering wheel, I went to the trouble of buying another stock steering wheel rim from yahoo Japan through, once again Import Monster, and then sent it all the way to Robson Singapore to be carbonised and modernised. The design of the steering wheel was decided just based on photos on the website - I had to determine the shape of the grip; the extent of carbon; the type, colour of leather; and the colour of the stitching and the type of stitching pattern. To say the least, I was a bit disappointed in the end result as I found the steering wheel a bt too thick from my grip size. I think it would great for someone with large hands.

p1350156m.jpg

I am currently after another modified steering wheel from a Japanese company called Jastec Design through Import Monster again. You can call on Import Monster to source for anything JDM rare items. I will keep you posted.

Otherwise, stereo is in - its a DIY job.

Nismo harness to be fitted next week.

BTW wife is due with third child next week as well. I guess I need to prioritise my life properly - family before GTR or GTR before family

Love the way your customizing the whole interior. Steering wheel especiallly. Not being able to just chuck on a momo or something due to air bag makes it annoying :P

Car is looking great ! Can't wait to see finished interior.

IMO 34gtr seats are as good as any aftermarket recliner. You'd only get better in a fixed back. An you don't really need that in the street. The only benefit of buying new ones is having a brand name on them :)

Matt you haven't thought about just getting the stock GTR seats retrimmed? Would be a good cheap option to upgrade them.

Also this company in Singapore that did this carbon work, what are they like for prices? Fairly expensive? Because their work looks bloody good and i'd definetely be interested in getting some things done.

Matt you haven't thought about just getting the stock GTR seats retrimmed? Would be a good cheap option to upgrade them.

Also this company in Singapore that did this carbon work, what are they like for prices? Fairly expensive? Because their work looks bloody good and i'd definetely be interested in getting some things done.

I personally wouldn't retrim them.

Especially the darker/black gtr seats.

If you were to retrim, just get a second hand set of seats that have possibly seen better days.

I wouldn't retrim a perfectly good set of seats.

But thats me. :P

I seriously thought about re-trimming the stock seats in Nappa leather by Garry Blackman, however, he did not seem to have much interest in a Jap car. He came across to me as somewhat 'arrogant' and 'snobby', maybe with a warehouse full of prestige European cars to work on, a JDM 10 year old GTR was not worthwhile. He did point out that the technical difficulty in re-trimming the seats is that the fabric cannot be detached from the foam base and as a result the leather needs to be glued on top, therefore leaving a less than desirable ideal outcome.

I do dislike the 'polka dot' effect on the fabric of the stock seats and trim. It looks very dated shall we say.

Damn, I should have bought a M spec car when I had the chance at the beginning, they came with leather seats! And those OEM leather seats are in demand as they generally go for $4000-5000 AUD for a pair on Yahoo Auction!

As for the carbon parts, you can contact Tommy Wong from Robson Design Singapore. Tell him Matt from Australia recommended you, even though he probably finds me the most freaking annoying and pedantic customer ever. I emailed him a million times over about my order and kept on changing the specs until he stopped replying me!

Cheers

Matt

Matt, i found something similar with Gary. Overall he was pleasant, but because i wasn't rocking some euro badge, the interest didn't seem to be quite there.

I was actually referring to Blackman's in Moorabbin. I had a good chat with the guy there once, and he was a lot more into it. All academic now, as i canned my ideas

happy with the carbon overlay finish?

More Street Cred now with long awaited installation of Nismo Willans harness as shown previously:

dscf0009c.jpg

The inside lap sash belt of the harnesses was mounted in a proper manner with forged eyelet bolt and plate through the chassis of the car. Yes! Heaven forbid, I drilled holes in the chassis!!! This was done carefully and accurately by Racepace.

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Pioneer double DIN AVIC - 900BT blends in well with Carbon panels. This particular unit was chosen because of its flush mounting position; other units with sliding screen mechanism tends to sit 10-20 mm beyond the panel and is therefore not as neat.

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The AVIC - 900BT has every possible feature under the sun - Sat Nav; bluetooth; Ipod connectivity etc....

The instrument cluster also did not miss out on being 'carbonised'. I managed to find a thin piece of precision pre-cut carbon overlay that simply double tapes on top of the 'retro' OEM gold finished surface. As with all unique items, this was sourced from Yahoo japan through Import Monster. I think it goes well with the overall theme of the interior make-over. It certainly makes the interior more modern.

dscf0012e.jpg

The interior is still not finished as I have just ordered another modified steering wheel from Japan, once again with the help of Aaron and Rob from Import Monster.

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