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TECH7042's NEW build

Joined
8 June 2011
Messages
354
Location
Bethesda MD
<style> <!-- /* Font Definitions */ @font-face {font-family:Cambria; panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:auto; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:3 0 0 0 1 0;} /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-parent:""; margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;} a:link, span.MsoHyperlink {mso-style-noshow:yes; color:blue; text-decoration:underline; text-underline:single;} a:visited, span.MsoHyperlinkFollowed {mso-style-noshow:yes; color:purple; text-decoration:underline; text-underline:single;} @page Section1 {size:8.5in 11.0in; margin:1.0in 1.25in 1.0in 1.25in; mso-header-margin:.5in; mso-footer-margin:.5in; mso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} --> </style> Hello Prime. This is installment #2 of my build thread. Part one can be found here:

http://www.nsxprime.com/forum/showthread.php/151472-New-owner-Mini-fix-it-build-thread

My previous NSX has been sold. Though I planned to take my time with shopping and buying another one, I came across a deal I could not pass up and picked up a ’95 Targa literally 3 weeks after selling my previous one. I took a gamble and purchased it sight unseen.

Working on and owning an NSX since 2011 has been quite the journey. This build thread will document everything I do to the “mark II” which aims to be greater than my previous build in every way.

Goals for this build have not been set in stone, but it will be OEM clean, innovative, balanced, light and fast.

So lets get into it. (keep in mind, I meant to start this thread back in September ’13, so the first post will be overwhelmed with info and photos compiled from the past 6 months… my apologies).

Delivery Day:









As soon as the car got off the truck, I knew I had my work cut out for me. The car is what I call a 50 footer. It looks good from 50 feet away, but me with my obsessive compulsive nature, I began picking the car apart in my mind… making a list of things that bothered me about it.



First things first. . . get it sitting right. I purchased some BC coilovers with Swift springs to get the car sitting where I wanted.





I dialed in the suspension and rode around on the Enkei’s for a while.



I then found a set of one of my all time favorite wheels. The Desmond Regamaster Promoda in NSX specific double staggered fitment.





they were beat up, and needed to be refinished. I opted to go a different route and decided to refinish them as the Regamaster EVO model. I sent them out to powdercoating and bought the EVO decal set from Memory Fab:










Mounted up:













REALLY love this wheel/tire and suspension setup.

Next order of business was my interior. The center panel audio/Hvac surround had seen better days. It was previously attempted to have been refreshed. . .but it was poorly done. I stripped the console and vent surround down to bare plastic and had it repainted a color that closely resembles the factory finish.








Refinished in a semi gloss single stage using automotive paint:





and the finished product (while the parts were being painted, my boy Tae hooked up my interior with red stitching):







Something HAD to be done about my exterior. Sadly, the car isn’t by any means a super clean car. I knew this going into the purchase, and just took a gamble on it. I wanted a car that didn’t really have the big resale value behind it, that way I could do what I wanted with it without feeling guilty of modding it and “killing the value”. The car had previous paint work done to it, and by anybody else’s standards, it looked good. I began picking it apart and pointing out the flaws in the hood, quarter panels, fenders, trunk. . .shit, everything had paint bleed on it. Some panels didn’t match the others. I knew there was only one way to bring this car to my standards. I bought some new body parts (02+ rear valence and DF 02+ replica sideskirts). Test fitted these parts and broke it down to rebuild it from the ground up:





















The car was going in for paint. Fresh respray in Formula red so all the issues I had with the paint are fixed.

Man, did it pay off:















The painter giving his seal of approval













The car is currently sitting the way it is in the last photo. It will be ready for pick up this coming week and I will begin reassembling everything. As always...stay tuned.
 
you are a brave man buying sight unseen.how are the mechanicals/engine?
 
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Looks good. Love those rega masters. If you ever part with them (doubted) pm me
clip_image002.png

Thanks man, will let you know if I ever decide to sell em.

Amazing this far !!! Whatever happened to tae and his amazing Nsx ??

Tae’s NSX is still alive, but it has been in hibernation for the greater part of last year. We expect to see it back out on the streets this spring/summer.

you are a brave man buying sight unseen.how are the mechanicals/engine?

The engine is healthy and kicking. The major service was completed by the previous owner 2 years ago. When I bought it, the condition of the engine didn’t really concern me, as I plan to rebuild it anyway. I was a little brave to buy it sight unseen, but more confident in the fact that I am able to fix and repair anything that could potentially go wrong with it.

Speaking of engine, I have already started piecing together a customized fuel setup and engine management. I plan to drop the engine and “refresh” it in the very near future.
 
I'm always impressed with how mechanical many of our primers are.....also saves you a ton of dough over the life of your ownership.:smile:
 
with all these changes re paint/body did you ever consider the 2002+ front end route? i mean you have the sides back and are doing exterior repaint afterall....
 
+1

That new red paint looks great! I also bought mine sight unseen, though I am unable to repair it myself, I did manage to find one hell of a guy to do it for me! lol Looking forward to more updates.
 
with all these changes re paint/body did you ever consider the 2002+ front end route? i mean you have the sides back and are doing exterior repaint afterall....

Considered the 02+ conversion, along with a lot of other things. . .bottom line, it just wouldn't fit in my budget. I would have loved to do it, but I have to prioritize the mods on the car with what I think is most important. Perhaps in the future I will do the conversion. Anyway, on with an update.


<style> <!-- /* Font Definitions */ @font-face {font-family:Cambria; panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:auto; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:3 0 0 0 1 0;} /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-parent:""; margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;} @page Section1 {size:8.5in 11.0in; margin:1.0in 1.25in 1.0in 1.25in; mso-header-margin:.5in; mso-footer-margin:.5in; mso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} --> </style> Been working on the car over the past couple of days. I have begun to clean and refurbish many of my original parts including:

-Side Vents
-All weather strips and rubber seals
-All plastic mouldings and garnishes

I have also replaced every single fastener used to secure the body panels with these M6x1.0 flat top socket head screws and finishing washers. Couldn’t use the old crusty bolts on freshly painted panels.





These are now used for every mounting point on all panels. Achieves a much cleaner finish.



I used Mothers back to black to bring all my plastic trim, mouldings, and rubber seals back to a true black finish

One done compared to the other untreated:



both done:



Panels bolted down, mirrors and all trim reinstalled:










And here is a photo for an example of how well the paint job turned out:



The car still needs to be wet sanded and buffed, but I am extremely happy with the way it turned out. No more miss matching panels or paint bleed.

Next order of business to address was my extremely damaged main hoop targa seal. This thing has seen better days:





This bothered me since day ONE. This part is extremely expensive and I put it off until the last minute to replace it. Thank god I work for Acura and was able to save big $ off the retail cost on this piece of rubber… that must be lined with gold and platinum and made by NASA.

I taped off the main hoop and removed the adhesive residue using an electric drill with an eraser wheel.


Test fit:



Removed side mounting guides and applied new 3M foam tape to them:



And installed:





I threw the targa on and closed all the windows, sprayed it down with a hose and the end results are no leaks and a cancer free targa seal.

The car is coming together smoothly and I should be able to assemble everything by this weekend. Stay tuned.
 
I'm ballin. . .on a budget.

UPDATE

<style> <!-- /* Font Definitions */ @font-face {font-family:Cambria; panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:auto; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:3 0 0 0 1 0;} /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-parent:""; margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:Cambria; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;} @page Section1 {size:8.5in 11.0in; margin:1.0in 1.25in 1.0in 1.25in; mso-header-margin:.5in; mso-footer-margin:.5in; mso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} --> </style> Worked on the car today and finished up assembling the front and rear bumpers, installing the side skirts and aligning the front end gaps between the headlight covers, hood and bumper. For the most part, the car is 90% complete.

I wanted to replace all of the factory shoulder bolts used to assemble the bumper covers together with something a little beefier and “strip proof”. I opted for using a multi piece assembly to replicate factory Phillips head shoulder bolt using an flat top M6x1.0 Socket head screw, finishing washer, custom made brass spacer, factory rubber washers and o-rings to center and retain the spacer. . .Some say its all in the details.

My updated shoulder bolt compared to factory:







How I made it:





How it looks installed:



So I had all the bumpers assembled and put the cars exterior together. Everything went in smoothly and lined up nicely:











I’m really beginning to like this car. The sideskirts and valence really make a huge difference. Next weekend will be when the car gets completely assembled and buttoned up. Also will be wet sanded and buffed. Cannot wait to take the engine out and refresh it. Stay tuned!
 
Love the build. The quality of the mod parts and execution is inspiring.

I'm frequently at odds over repainting mine or just letting it stay with all of it's "Badges of Courage." My fear would be that I'd be over analytical about every minor facet of appearance on the NSX. But your repaint has me rethinking that idea again.

Kudos...
 
I have also replaced every single fastener used to secure the body panels with these M6x1.0 flat top socket head screws and finishing washers. Couldn’t use the old crusty bolts on freshly painted panels.





These are now used for every mounting point on all panels. Achieves a much cleaner finish.


Are these fasteners also coated in the same type of coating as the OEM ones?

I was wondering this because if you use steel bolts on a aluminum chassis you will experience electrolysis on your panels rather quickly.

Other than that, very nice rebuild :)
 
i believe its an 02-06 RSX steering wheel. i think there has been a few threads here re how to get the cruise buttons to be fully functional.

this build is unreal, i re-read the original boost build as well.

one, day get that front end :) i mean you already have the sides and back hehe.

amazing work regardless.

Looks Good!

Where did you get that Acura steering wheel? Does the cruise work?
 
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My first post goes to you Xavier. My boy never disappoints when it comes to attention to detail and quality builds. Stay tuned folks...

Holy shit, Mikey in the house! All I have to say to PRIME is just wait til manny2587 gets his NSX and starts a build thread! With NSX ownership slowly going into the hands of people that have the technical know how and experience, The MidA is about to have some NICE NSX's done right!
 
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