ASM Japan Tour: inside Tomei HQ

Posted on January 22, 2010

Allen and Eiji from Tomei opened up their doors to give our tour full access to their facilities. I have to give them a massive shout out, as arranging behind-the-scenes tours are quite difficult in Japan as most companies closely guard their secrets.

Here is Tomei’s engine dyno room #1.

Engine dyno room #2. As you would’ve guessed, Subaru and Nissan are a major focus of Tomei.

Participants were shown how Tomei’s camshafts go from design to final product.

Test engine used to evaluate prototype components. Can you guess what it is?

Here’s a clue.

Packaging for Tomei’s fuel pressure regulators. Allen told us that Tomei’s facing a huge influx of counterfeit parts from China, which look almost identical. It’s quite scary as many of these China knock-offs have failed, and the last thing you want is to muck around with your car’s fuel delivery.

Every room inside Tomei’s factory is temperature controlled between 18-19 degrees Celsius. This is the optimal temperature to build engines and gauge tolerances.

Head machining room. Although Tomei don’t offer this service to the public, they do a lot of headwork for leading Japanese tuning houses. The vents are to suck debris.

Lathe used to create prototype components.

Every inch was crammed with heavy machinery.

Camshafts being grinded to exact profiles.

Temperature is a big deal for Tomei. Parts are ‘rested’ after they’ve been handled to ensure that the heat from the mechanics’ hands don’t cause even the slightest of variations. Each part is measured with an infrared heat gun, usually taking between 1/2 - 1 day of resting before the metal returns to the correct temperature.

Here’s a titanium exhaust for a Subaru fresh from the jig and ready for TIG hand welding. Tomei’s new range of titanium exhausts are worth a mention as they’re completely titanium (rather than a titanium muffler mated to a steel exhaust) and are priced some 40% cheaper than other Japanese brands. The GFC has had a big impact on Japanese brands, with many resorting to high-volume, gimmicky products (such as gearknobs, decals and so on) to keep afloat. Tomei on the other hand have stayed true to their performance roots, and in spite of the economy have also released their own range of turbochargers.

Behind Tomei’s factory we found this tiny seat. Rather surprisingly it held Willy’s weight, although there was a good chance it would get wedged between his ass cheeks.

Tomei’s mechanics have even created their own ashtray, including a well to extinguish the cherry! Awesome.

Cusco/Tomei’s WRX will be heading to Sydney for Super Lap in May. Eiji is confident that it will do well, with Tarzan Yamada flying down to drive it.

Super Lap will be held at Eastern Creek, and Eiji let slip that Tomei would be retuning the WRX for more power to suit the high-speed nature of the track.

Infinitely adjustable shocks.

Pizza-sized Brembo brakes.

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