1:00pm: Snow-In Cancellation
Huddled around the Kerosene heater, the dark clouds overhead began sprinkling a powder of snow. The afternoon "test drive" of the four TEIN vehicles was in jeopardy as an hour passed and the snow began to fall at a more consistent rate, eventually blanketing the track. Unfortunately for us, track sessions came to an end as conditions were deemed dangerous for us to race. The TEIN team packed up the equipment as we loaded up into the bus headed towards the Totsuka Urban Roof hotel for our nights stay. With the day ending rather early, the staff decided to treat us to a night in Shibuya for dinner at the Shinyokohama Ramen Museum. A famous landmark, the ramen museum documents the early makings of noodles throughout history. Waking inside the museum, I was surprised to see a small makeshift town which sells a variety of ramen's that the customers can buy for a mere three dollars. Jumping from one shop to another, we managed to eat some of Japans best "Tonkotsu ramen" (pig bone flavored) noodles. "Damn Scott, this stuff smells like F*ing feet!" whispered a disgruntled editor from across the table. Without warning I began to laugh followed by the painful extraction of water from my nose. "Yo! Quit bitching and just eat it!" I replied. Although the complaints continued, hunger seemed to overpower disgust as he held his nose with one hand, quickly finishing off the bowl of ramen.
Day 7
7:00am: Good Morning! Well not Really.Awaken by my roommate waltzing around in a Japanese Yukata (robe), after returning from the hotel hot springs, I grudgingly packed up and headed down to the bus for today's TEIN factory tour. It's no surprise that there have been rumors floating around the industry that TEIN components are not originally made in Japan but rather outsourced in other countries, then rebadged with the TEIN logo. As a journalist it is my civic duty to get the dirt on TEIN.
10:00am: The Interworkings Of Tein
Following Fujimoto-san into the heart of the TEIN Factory, we began the tour in the development department as 50+ engineers use CAD and CAE systems to design and test new innovative ideas. Using feedback given to them from various race teams and motor sports participants, TEIN engineers input their feedback and knowledge into the database to further their development and research. Using state of the art machinery and automated NC lathes, each suspension component is cut and machined out of raw material, as all machining is done in-house under close supervision. Lined up in one section of the factory is a NC lathe specially made for adjustable tubes (vehicle height adjustment threads), which thread blank pieces of tubes to accommodate the suspension perches. Sitting to the machines right is a fully automated machine that cuts piston rods, which have been already hardened and treated prior to receiving the blade. In shortening the stages of suspension fabrication without turning this story into a 50-page article, I will attempt to break it down for you readers. The main casings are mig welded by automated robots to ensure a leak free suspension, powder coated in house, inspected, ultrasonic cleaned, assembled with a automatic piston rod assembly machine, charged with oil, and assembled. The most important stages within the assembly is the quality control in which a dampening force and loading test machines checks the product in comparison to the built in database to determine if the batch of suspensions currently made are acceptable or unacceptable to sell. Plucking various coilovers from the box is the job of the quality control and R&D department. TEIN engineers use special equipment such as their optical machine to measure and inspect everything from the shape of the needle valves to the condition of the suspension shafts. Final testing consists of a brine spray test where research will determine if the salt-water solution sprayed continuously on the coilovers over time will corrode the suspension components. Ohh... and the rumors I talked about ealier? You can just forget about them. TEIN's as clean as a whistle.
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