Hey Primers,
I wanted to share with you my fantastic experice with Ben Schaeffer at Daisy Auto Import Care as he rebuilt my recently prurchased red '95.
In short, Ben is by far the best mechanic I've ever done business with. He really went out of his way to turn me into a proud NSX owner. I can't imagine finding someone else with his knowledge and experience, coupled with a true passion for the NSX. When you go to Ben, your car will come back RIGHT.
So I bought my NSX a few months ago, admittedly very much a newbie when it comes to selecting a rare car that is in good condition. I bought the car from a dealership out of state, after having a professional appraiser take a look at the car and give me a stellar review. Driving home after picking it up, the car overheated a couple times. After I got home I took the car to Radley and, while they couldnt find any problems with my coolant system, they told me that my EPS rack had an internal failure and needed to be replaed ($6k part). There were other issues as well... the front rotors were warped, I had a tear in my targa seal. The dream of owning an NSX felt like it was quickly turning into a nightmare. There were other issues with the car as well... crappy aftermarket clutch, torn trunk seal, electrical issues.
So at this point I brought the car to Ben, and he confirmed my fears... the car I bought was seriously hurt. The clutch master/slave cylinders were leaking, brake master cylinder was leaking, the tie rods needed to be replaced. He had some serious concerns about the condition of the engine and did some further tests. The long story short is that the engine had a stuck shut thermostat for a long time, resulting in a blown head gasket and possibly a blown head. Due to the head gasket leak my cylinder #6 had pulled in coolant and was misfiring. I was faced with either buying a new engine or completely rebuilding what I had.
Since I wasn’t sure of the extent of the damage to my existing engine I decided to put in a new one. Ben got me a line on a rebuilt engine and even talked the guy down $1000 on the price before I even came into the conversation! When the engine came, he did a full inspection to make sure everything was done properly and ended up finding a couple things that would have been catastrophic had they not been caught.
Ben kept me updated on the work on almost a daily basis, sending me photos of parts coming out of the car, new parts installed, etc. He went out of his way to do some nice things for me, like finding red powdercoated valve covers and fixing broken tabs on my interior trim. He also uncovered more issues while correcting my wiring, like finding a loose wire in my ignition (YIKES!). There are just too many little things above and beyond the line of duty to list. He went over the entire car with a fine toothed comb to make sure nothing had been overlooked. I also had him rebuild my transmission while it was out, replacing the synchros and bearings. Ben also smartly sent my injectors to RC engineering for testing/cleaning and this turned out to be a great idea as it turned out they all needed cleaning.
So finally after the car had called Daisy Auto home for about 2 months, I picked her up. Its better than I could have imagined... The engine is very strong and torky (much better than before), the intake note is very loud and throaty (much better than before), the transmission is buttery smooth, the new OEM clutch feels much better than the hard POS that was in there before. It was like picking up a different car than the one I had dropped off.
I would recommend Ben to any prospective / new / veteran NSX owner who wants a true expert to work on their car. After what we have been through, I can say that not only have I found a fantastic mechanic, but also a great friend.
I'm having trouble attaching pics right now but I'll try and come back to share some of the progress pics (car porn :biggrin
from the rebuild soon.
I wanted to share with you my fantastic experice with Ben Schaeffer at Daisy Auto Import Care as he rebuilt my recently prurchased red '95.
In short, Ben is by far the best mechanic I've ever done business with. He really went out of his way to turn me into a proud NSX owner. I can't imagine finding someone else with his knowledge and experience, coupled with a true passion for the NSX. When you go to Ben, your car will come back RIGHT.
So I bought my NSX a few months ago, admittedly very much a newbie when it comes to selecting a rare car that is in good condition. I bought the car from a dealership out of state, after having a professional appraiser take a look at the car and give me a stellar review. Driving home after picking it up, the car overheated a couple times. After I got home I took the car to Radley and, while they couldnt find any problems with my coolant system, they told me that my EPS rack had an internal failure and needed to be replaed ($6k part). There were other issues as well... the front rotors were warped, I had a tear in my targa seal. The dream of owning an NSX felt like it was quickly turning into a nightmare. There were other issues with the car as well... crappy aftermarket clutch, torn trunk seal, electrical issues.
So at this point I brought the car to Ben, and he confirmed my fears... the car I bought was seriously hurt. The clutch master/slave cylinders were leaking, brake master cylinder was leaking, the tie rods needed to be replaced. He had some serious concerns about the condition of the engine and did some further tests. The long story short is that the engine had a stuck shut thermostat for a long time, resulting in a blown head gasket and possibly a blown head. Due to the head gasket leak my cylinder #6 had pulled in coolant and was misfiring. I was faced with either buying a new engine or completely rebuilding what I had.
Since I wasn’t sure of the extent of the damage to my existing engine I decided to put in a new one. Ben got me a line on a rebuilt engine and even talked the guy down $1000 on the price before I even came into the conversation! When the engine came, he did a full inspection to make sure everything was done properly and ended up finding a couple things that would have been catastrophic had they not been caught.
Ben kept me updated on the work on almost a daily basis, sending me photos of parts coming out of the car, new parts installed, etc. He went out of his way to do some nice things for me, like finding red powdercoated valve covers and fixing broken tabs on my interior trim. He also uncovered more issues while correcting my wiring, like finding a loose wire in my ignition (YIKES!). There are just too many little things above and beyond the line of duty to list. He went over the entire car with a fine toothed comb to make sure nothing had been overlooked. I also had him rebuild my transmission while it was out, replacing the synchros and bearings. Ben also smartly sent my injectors to RC engineering for testing/cleaning and this turned out to be a great idea as it turned out they all needed cleaning.
So finally after the car had called Daisy Auto home for about 2 months, I picked her up. Its better than I could have imagined... The engine is very strong and torky (much better than before), the intake note is very loud and throaty (much better than before), the transmission is buttery smooth, the new OEM clutch feels much better than the hard POS that was in there before. It was like picking up a different car than the one I had dropped off.
I would recommend Ben to any prospective / new / veteran NSX owner who wants a true expert to work on their car. After what we have been through, I can say that not only have I found a fantastic mechanic, but also a great friend.
I'm having trouble attaching pics right now but I'll try and come back to share some of the progress pics (car porn :biggrin
from the rebuild soon.
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