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Michigan check-in & spotting by blodi pt.2

Awesome as always Chris! It looks as though I may have been enjoying myself just a little bit in the purple monster. :redface:

You can certainly tell that that my clutch is on its last leg in that video. Gonna need to get that RPS from you to install over the winter Tim!
 
SPOTTED!

Saturday, 11/19/2011, 10:09AM
Farmington Hills, MI
SB Drake Road, South of 11 Mile

I was NB at the Grand River light, and saw a red, looked-to-be 1997-2001 NSX (best guess - it had pop up headlamps and the 1997+ rims) round the corner almost half a mile away. My very first thought was "is that an NSX?"

I was honestly amazed at how easy it was to recognize that car even when so far away. Seriously, it was the visual equivalent of one inch wide when I first spied it.

Car looked clean and stock. Driver was taking it easy. Not everyone has their baby put away for Winter yet!
 
SPOTTED!

Saturday, 11/19/2011, 10:09AM
Farmington Hills, MI
SB Drake Road, South of 11 Mile

I was NB at the Grand River light, and saw a red, looked-to-be 1997-2001 NSX (best guess - it had pop up headlamps and the 1997+ rims) round the corner almost half a mile away. My very first thought was "is that an NSX?"

I was honestly amazed at how easy it was to recognize that car even when so far away. Seriously, it was the visual equivalent of one inch wide when I first spied it.

Car looked clean and stock. Driver was taking it easy. Not everyone has their baby put away for Winter yet!

LOL -- that would have been me, thanks for the compliment. The car is a /94 w/approx 35,000 miles -- stock except for headers, cats and muffler from an /04 installed this past summer. The wheels are the /94 stock 16/17 set-up. I may be wrong but I think its worse for the car not to get driven regularly so as long as there is no snow I give her some exercise at least twice a week.

As the folks who are fortunate enough to have an NSX know, the car garners some interesting reactions and this weekend was no exception for me. On my way home from the office Saturday afternoon I spied a black Porsche a distance behind me on 696 heading west to the M5. We both took the M5 exit and as soon as the P-car negotiated the ramp from 696 to the northbound M5 he opened her up and blew by me as if I was standing still, which I wasn't. I'm not sure if he was issuing a challenge or just giving her some exercise -- no matter, I'm a little light in the HP department compared to a normally aspirated recent 911, let alone a 911 Turbo! Then on Sunday a.m. on the way to pick up some bagels for breakfast some guy in a Yukon wanted to have a go -- what is it with people? Needless to say I didn't indulge Mr. Yukon. On the other hand, there are the really nice experiences -- two in particular come to mind. First there was the teenage kid who approached at the parking lot of Murray's Auto Parts in Walled Lake -- he told me the car was "sick". It took me a minute to realize that in younger generation-speak this is a compliment. We had a really nice chat and he really knew his stuff about the car. Then there was the beautiful green Toyota Supra Twin Turbo a few weeks ago that turned the corner in front of me @ 14 and Hagerty -- we caught each other's eye and both gave thumbs up at the same time.

Best,
Jeff
 
I kind of put mine away yesterday. Gave it a good bath, put in stabilizer and topped off the fuel.....couldn't resist going and putting a few miles on it though. :biggrin: I won't be putting mine on stands this year, due to not being able to in its new parking spot in my newly remodeled "man cave". So I might also get it out a few times this winter if the weather and salt levels permit. The dying clutch will keep me from driving it too much though.


IMG_20111001_183156 by blodi, on Flickr


IMG_20111001_183236 by blodi, on Flickr
 
Ryan, I like the idea of the chair in the cave. That way you can stare at her in comfort. I'm going to have to put a nice chair in my garage. My wife thinks I'm nuts already so the addition of the chair won't make any difference!

Jeff
 
Love that "man cave", lookin' good!

We had to interrupt the S2000's long Winter's nap up on the lift for a service call on a friend's 308, which needed a new steering rack and tie rod ends.
The S2000 and the purple boostmonster are done for the season, but our red NSX is waiting until the reshuffling is done before getting tucked away....so another drive is surely in the cards.

Brian

308 steering rack replacement by NSXbrian, on Flickr
 
Cody, that's fantastic!

You will be running our old number from the SCA (#37), that's got to be worth a couple seconds up the mountain :cool:
From the entry list, there's a motorcycle competitor from Lapeer, MI as well.

Brian
 
SPOTTED!


Car looked clean and stock. Driver was taking it easy. Not everyone has their baby put away for Winter yet!

Glad the owner is out enjoying his beautiful ride! I only wish I was able to see it on the road in her natural glory as well. It's beginning to get to be that time of the year in which the chances of seeing an exotic go down to near zero.
Cheers to a quick Winter and early Spring gentlemen (and ladies) ;)
 
Glad the owner is out enjoying his beautiful ride! I only wish I was able to see it on the road in her natural glory as well. It's beginning to get to be that time of the year in which the chances of seeing an exotic go down to near zero.
Cheers to a quick Winter and early Spring gentlemen (and ladies) ;)

Marc, you would have recognized the car instantly seeing as you spent many hours up close and personal with it this past summer in my garage and on my driveway. She looks fantastic thanks to you.

All -- although my car only had approx 19,000 miles on it when I brought it back from Phoenix 2 years ago, the former owner wasn't inclined to spend much dough on it so it looked fantastic from 10 feet away but had the usual 15 years worth of swirl marks, embedded dirt, etc. Marc and his assistant did a 4 stage cleaning/polishing job that has pretty much restored the paint to as new condition. Whatever very few marks remain are almost imperceptible and Marc indicated up front that not everything would come out as he did not want to get over-aggressive with the very soft Honda clearcoat that was used back in /94. The car does look very close to showroom new. Marc was knowledgeable, thorough and communicated to me exactly what he was going to do, how he was going to do it and kept me informed along the way. Great results and I very highly recommend Marc and his crew.

Best,
Jeff
 
Well, we have had traces of snow but still no salt. I am holding out hope for another drive or two around town (of course, this could be just wishful thinking).

In the meantime, I got my USA-Spec device so I can get rid of the changer soon. That will be my January project. :biggrin:
 
OK, since everything is put away, it's time for upgrades to the purple beast.

Since the Lovefab NSX has no head unit, I decided to pull the speakers.
It has Boston Acoustics Pro Series 6" woofers and separate tweeters in the doors, with an outboard crossover unit.

IMG_1465 by NSXbrian, on Flickr

Any chance someone here would like to trade a pair of early stock black door panels for ones with tweeters already installed (I'll throw in the woofers and crossovers too) ???
I'll have to get Nick back over with his special tool to install the aluminum window fixers at some point, while the door panels are off!

IMG_1466 by NSXbrian, on Flickr

The stock PS footwell speaker had already been removed, so the next step is to upgrade the center console.......preferably with a carbon fiber one that has no radio opening but would allow the ashtray door to remain operable for 12V power access (we don't smoke ;^)

IMG_1473 by NSXbrian, on Flickr

Since it has an aftermarket steering wheel, there is no need for the SRS Unit that would control the airbag deployment so that was pulled as well.

IMG_1469 by NSXbrian, on Flickr


That's all for now!
Brian
 
All this weight reduction is for the MPG increase of course, right Brian?
Of course!!!

Green Brian

UPDATE; Sent the CCU to BrianK for a refurb....the display still worked fine but the fan only ran on High.
 
Last edited:
Another task is to give the front StopTech calipers some attention.
They fit nicely inside the 17" Enkei RPF-1's with a 25mm spacer, but after I had new tires mounted and balanced there all of a sudden was a clearance problem.
It turns out that the stick-on wheel weights would rub on the calipers just enough to take the paint off of them, so I removed a tiny amount of metal (see picture) and will repaint them.
I have new pads ready to go in, but there is still nearly 50% left on the current ones.....so maybe next year :biggrin:

Brian

IMG_1475 by NSXbrian, on Flickr
 
LOL -- that would have been me, thanks for the compliment. The car is a /94 w/approx 35,000 miles -- stock except for headers, cats and muffler from an /04 installed this past summer. The wheels are the /94 stock 16/17 set-up. I may be wrong but I think its worse for the car not to get driven regularly so as long as there is no snow I give her some exercise at least twice a week.


Best,
Jeff

Hey Jeff, do you sometimes drive south on Newburgh, crossing 7 mile? I've seen a red NSX there, and my dad said he once saw one in the same place.

http://director.usacracing.com/ppihc/files/pdfs/competitor_list.pdf

That should answer your question :)

Vigorous preparations underway...

The infamous Lovefab! Love the sound of that car, I got some great footage of it on our cruise in summer 2010!

Chris
 
Hey Jeff, do you sometimes drive south on Newburgh, crossing 7 mile? I've seen a red NSX there, and my dad said he once saw one in the same place.

Hi Chris, hope all is well. I rarely get down there but from time to time my friend Mike Michalik (the lead tech at Suburban Acura) has the car and he lives in Plymouth so its possible that it could have been him. I missed the CJs get together last night due to the usual craziness at the office but did manage to get home for dinner and then drove back to the office in the NSX -- felt good to give her a run. Best wishes for the holidays and the upcoming new year!

Jeff
 
Hey Jeff, do you sometimes drive south on Newburgh, crossing 7 mile? I've seen a red NSX there, and my dad said he once saw one in the same place.


Chris

Could have been me.... my mother lives at 6 & Newburgh, and I bring the NSX over there when I'm dropping off stuff just to rustle up the seniors a bit. :biggrin:
 
Quick update, got the front brake calipers repainted over the weekend, and the Climate Control Unit is already back from a full rebuild (thanks BrianK from Wisconsin)!

Brian
 
^^^ BrianK is an awesome, knowledgeable guy and we are blessed. ^^^

So tonight I figured it all out. pjr300. Spotted at Novi Bowl ~ 730 pm, lanes 25-26 rolling strike after strike. He's got that big turn-in 3/4's down the alley... Hence, the "300" in his NSX Prime moniker! :biggrin: Not only that, but he's on the "BIG KAHUNA" bowling team with the boss of the place, Jerry!
Sure glad I'm not in that league :redface: :smile: bunch of ringers :tongue:
 
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