Nismo Announces Tune-Up Parts for R35 GT-R

All you GT-R freaks and Nismo-philes listen up: Nissan Motorsports International has finally announced its parts lineup for the R35 GT-R, and there's some tasty-lookin' pieces of kit on offer. That's the good news.

The bad news is that the upgrades are only available for purchase by Japanese GT-R owners and that the total cost of all the parts (including installation by Nissan) is a princely ¥5,460,000. The parts are available in smaller packages though, and while their individual cost is still quite high, at least you can limit your purchases to just what you need.

So, what are the parts then? Read on after the jump to find out.

Headlining the Nismo lineup is their Chassis Package, which includes race-tuned Bilstein Damptronic adjustable dampers with stiffer Nismo springs, 20-inch Rays forged aluminium wheels (9.5 inches wide on the front and 10.5 inches on the rear, with offsets of +45 and +25 respectively) and Bridgestone RE070R run-flats in 255/40 and 285/35 front and rear.

While those Rays rims and wide tyres certainly look cool (they're also reportedly the exact same wheel/tyre combo that we'll see on the upcoming Spec V), the suspension gear is perhaps the most worthy upgrade for the serious GT-R enthusiast. The springs themselves are easy enough to understand: they're constant-rate coils, they're painted red and they're practically rock-hard at 18.5kg/mm on the front and 9.6kg/mm on the rear. The Bilstein dampers, on the other hand, do the most to confer upon the GT-R a cat-like ability to change direction, and while they're mechanically similar to the standard Bilstein units in the vanilla-flavoured R35, these offer subtle differences in valving that help enhance mechanical grip.

Do the above graphs make no sense to you? They're shock dyno chart charts for those trick dampers, and the vertical axis represents damping force while the horizontal one is for piston speed. The plot above the middle is for rebound damping, the one below it for compression. As we can see, when the car is placed in R mode the Nismo dampers (red trace) exhibit slightly different damping properties to the OE shocks (blue trace).

While they still follow the same progressive profile of the standard Bilsteins, the rear dampers in particular deviate quite a bit. Low-speed compression damping is higher than the factory units, however as piston speed increases damping force is reduced relative to the standard shocks. That should translate into a rear suspension that is more resistant to roll and stiffer when transitioning through turns, but softer and more stable when travelling at high speed on less-than-smooth surfaces like, say, the Nordschliefe's mammoth straight.

Nismo have also got a pair of carbon-fibre-backed, leather-trimmed Recaro buckets on offer too, which retain the the side airbag system yet drop the electric motors for a net decrease in weight of 6kg per seat.

With a big Nismo logo embroidered onto the leather, everyone will know you're ballin' JDM style when they scope your ride down at the track.

Nothing says 'baller' like flashing some bling though, and Nismo have got just the thing in the form of their titanium lightweight rear muffler and pipe set, which includes the same fancy exhaust tips that we saw on Nismo's recent Tokachi endurance racer. Pipe diameter on the inlet side is 70mm, and Nismo says the pipes and mufflers shed 5kg over the standard steel mufflers and pipes. The exhaust system also comes paired with a new carbon-fibre rear undertray, which smooths out the airflow under the rear of the car and reduces any parasitic drag.

Now, for the prices. You're gunna need deep pockets if you want everything, as the Sports Club package (which includes all of the parts listed above) costs ¥5,460,000. If you want the Chassis Package, you'll need to fork out 2,205,000, while the carbon-fibre seats and the titanium rear exhaust packages will set you back ¥1,890,000 for each. Pricey, yes, but the cost includes installation by one of Nismo's 12 authorised ExpertShops and also brings with it a 3-year/60,000km warranty.

Nismo will even honour the warranty if you happen to break any of the parts while thrashing your car down at the local racetrack, but you'll need to ensure that you send your car to Nismo after every track session for a post-race inspection if the warranty is to be upheld.

For now these parts will only be available from Nismo Japan from September 30 onwards, however a number of online stores and retailers are already saying that they can secure these parts with little problem. With the full package costing way more than the average car, it's safe to say that demand for these Nismo parts won't be high, but then again there seems to be no shortage of cashed-up Nissan fanboys out there who would have no qualms about dropping 50k on some Nismo-branded goodies.