McDork’s 1998 Coupe JH4NA2131WT000070 listed as “Zanardi Prototype” in the wiki

What a unique car and detailed build/re-build. I believe I bought a brand new Zanardi trunk mat from you, and I see you may have another one pictured. Is it also for sale?

skafia said:

What a unique car and detailed build/re-build. I believe I bought a brand new Zanardi trunk mat from you, and I see you may have another one pictured. Is it also for sale?

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Thanks Sir, I've always thought this was a unique car, as well. It was a lot of fun digging up what information I was able to get and having other NSX enthusiasts willing to help. This car obviously won't be a time capsule original paint Zanardi editon, but I think it does have great history and will be a very collectable NSX someday.

Yes you did purchase the mat from me.:smile: You'll have to purchase the entire car to get the other one. lol

I've been slow on the updates, but very busy this summer. However, I have made some progress.

I decided to scuff and repaint the bottom of the car again because I couldn't make myself happy with the first go around. My old man tried to talk me out of it, but even he agreed that it was worth while after it was done.





















Also the headlight buckets have been completed.









Pretty hard to tell that they started like this:





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I also have picked up a few items that I thought would be nice.

Just read through your entire build thread. Seems like not too long ago that you picked this sucker up and I was following but somehow forgot to check back. So much has happened in very little time. Glad you are recovering from what could have been a much worse incident. The car will turn out immaculate. Seeing the de02conversion finished was like a gasp of fresh air. Wow, what a huge improvement that was, in addition to installing the original wheels. Can't wait to see how things progress in the coming months!!

Now that's an awesome underbody paint job right now. Looks better than factory I bet!

niiiiiceeeeeee

amazing!

I like the build restore, I'd do the same to the same car.

synergy004 said:

I like the build restore, I'd do the same to the same car.

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Thanks Sir! I enjoy watching you amazing work.

Here are a few updates.

The roof and around the engine bay have been painted and I have to say they are flawless.





This is the reflection of the dingy wall in the roof. I'm really impressed.





Now it's about ready to be sealed after multiple bumper fittings. I've also decided to have it painted with all of the fenders on the car so all of the bolts can be painted and look perfect like from the factory. Also it is being sealed with red sealer so hopefully there will never be any gray rock chips.

Just simply amazing. I have been following this since the first post. Please keep us updated.

Valhalla said:

Just simply amazing. I have been following this since the first post. Please keep us updated.

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Thanks Sir and I just want to thank everyone else for the nice comments above. I've been super busy lately and haven't been keeping up with this thread.

Now it's time to get paint on this thing and I have a self imposed deadline of the Carmel car show 2016.

I do have a question that maybe someone could chime in on. The Zanardi wheels for this car I would rate at probably a 8.5 on a 10 scale. They don't have any curb rash but do have weights on the outside, some scratches from weights on the outside, and some chips. Should I have them redone? I'm scared that if I do they'll just get scratched again when the tires are mounted. Or should I just touch them up as they are probably nice enough not to mess with?

the finish is only original once:wink:

docjohn said:

the finish is only original once:wink:

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True that but with all of the things that has been done to the car, to restore it to better than new, why not have the wheels touched up?

Thanks guys your two comments pretty much sum up why I'm somewhat conflicted about it. The car has already been molested and cannot ever be a time capsule, original paint, original everything car. Thus far I've been steering more toward an "overly restored" goal. I'm going to have the color professionally matched maybe I'll try to touch them up and buff them and see if they are acceptable.

Are the wheels powder coated from the factory or just painted?

I've seen wheels powder coated before. Once they get dinged, the finish starts flaking off. If you get them painted, at least you can do a nice touch up in case they get a stone bruise. But I am far from an expert on wheel repair/painting. I would like to know more about this as I have a set of wheels that will need some refinishing with the next set of sneakers to be installed.

It's your baby but that original finish is near impossible to replicate in all likelihood. Even if you don't care about cost it's more worth it to attempt a good touch up job imo.

Awesome build btw!

Thanks for the advice it can't hurt to try and touch them up first and see how they turn out. I'll see what my paint whisperer thinks later this week and have him send out a center cap for color match. Hopefully it will be easier than figuring out the red.
It took multiple tries before I actually got a red that was an acceptable match to the original R-77. Even with doing multiple spray outs with between 1 and 5 coats of midcoat it never even got in the ball park and I had three different cars to match it up against.

cmc140 said:

Thanks for the advice it can't hurt to try and touch them up first and see how they turn out. I'll see what my paint whisperer thinks later this week and have him send out a center cap for color match. Hopefully it will be easier than figuring out the red.
It took multiple tries before I actually got a red that was an acceptable match to the original R-77. Even with doing multiple spray outs with between 1 and 5 coats of midcoat it never even got in the ball park and I had three different cars to match it up against.

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Since you're looking for opinions, I vote for having a professional touch up and buff/blend as best possible. Who knows, you may hardly notice afterwards and IMHO, 9.5's that are original are way better than restored 10s that eventually turn into 9.5's unless not driven.

I bought five spoke type R wheels with the sole intention to refinish them in the Zanardi paint code, as I assumed the wheels I'd find would not be in good shape and I'm not a huge fan of white wheels. But the ones I did find were in surprisingly good shape and I found it impossible to convince myself to change their originality, sigh.

I actually saved a few threads during my search for type R or zanardi wheels. Hope some may help.

http://www.nsxprime.com/forum/showthread.php/105232-Zanardi-wheels-paint-code

http://www.nsxprime.com/forum/showthread.php/53045-99-Zanardi-wheel-finish-question

http://www.nsxprime.com/forum/showthread.php/138028-JDM-gunmetal-oem-wheel-color-paint-code

http://www.nsxprime.com/forum/showthread.php/109367-Color-code-for-Zanardi-rims

http://www.nsxprime.com/forum/showthread.php/53045-99-Zanardi-wheel-finish-question

You've gone this far so don't dick around with trying to do a bullshit touch up and have them done proper.
When you do the final tyre balance, use sticky weight on the ID of the rim and put a piece of two in. aluminum tape over the sticky weight just to be sure like the Indy guys do.
No more scratches and with a road force balance, more precise.
Probably see you over the holiday if they give us our holiday break back.

Cheers
nigel

nigel said:

You've gone this far so don't dick around with trying to do a bullshit touch up and have them done proper.

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You're assuming he'll be able to replicate the OEM paint exactly. I understand that nobody's identified the exact Zanardi wheel paint code or secret to its supposed subtle bronze hue.

http://www.nsxprime.com/forum/showt...r-paint-code?p=1323989&viewfull=1#post1323989

Plus there appear to be good bullshit options that allow you to pretty much completely hide the localized bad areas while maintaining the integrity of the original paint:

http://www.nsxprime.com/forum/showt...inish-question?p=479398&viewfull=1#post479398

I think it'd be a real shame to go from 100% OEM Zanardi wheels to Zanardi replica wheels if they lose that subtle but unique effect. Unless maybe they were absolutely butchered, which they're very much not per the photos above. But hey, the OP asked and to each his own, it's a free world still.

The color of the Zanardi wheel is called Washi grey, Ive had my 2 of my rims refinished by a local place out here and it was spot on. I forgot the color code. Hard to believe that the original and previous owner of my car lived in NYC and left the car in one of those underground parking facilities. It was parked next to his REAL Cobra 427, insane.

Seriously, this car looks amazing! Looking at these pics makes me feel sad for mine. I haven't had my car detailed in years. About time I show her some love.

Yinzer thank you for the links. I've been going through those as well and my take on it is that nobody has actually identified the Washi Gray color code and Pewter Gray is a close enough match. The thing I have learned matching the red on this car is that there is quite of bit of variation in color even the same color code between brands. The other variable is how the color has changed over the course of its life. IMHO, two cars parked side by side wouldn't give me the level of comfort required for me to redo these wheels. However, if I can nail down the color I think that I will proceed.

Nigel I appreciate you sugar coating that for me! :smile: also give me a ring when you're in town and lets get a few beers. I'm with ya and if I can get the color properly matched I think it would be worthwhile. I had Justin look at a wheel yesterday and I told him that I thought he would lay the paint down much smoother than the factory. I'll tell you, he is a VERY gifted painter who is beyond humble and he was quick to say, "Absolutely." He then quickly followed with, "I hate painting wheels because they're so time consuming and difficult to do right." So, yeah it think he would absolutely do them to such a high quality level that they will just be one more thing on this car that make it show very well.

Kid thanks for your input. I’d very much love to know what color code was used on your wheels. If you can somehow point me in the direction to get that info I’d very much appreciate it. Otherwise, I’m going to get a few test panels done with Pewter Gray and then have the center cap professionally matched and see how close I can get.
Thanks again everyone for taking the time to give me some input. I think it’s helping me make a better decision.

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Here's an update from last weekend. I realized there was still quite a bit of undercoating on the front suspension pieces and I decided to take advantage of the warm weather.

TurtleWax bug and tar remover with green scotch brite pads work very well removing undercoating. Then I hit it with this powerball thing and it looks pretty good. I'm not going for chromatose just decently cleaned up. I still have quite a bit to do and I guess I'll now have to go over the rear suspension as well.

Nh537 is pewter grey from what I found. Hope its the correct code. Let me know if you have an issues.
Car is looking great. Wish i had the time and skills to completely tear down and rubuild an NSX like you.
Would love to see the finished product in person 1 day

why don't you try this......post up a trade your 95% Z wheels for someone else's more scratched up set...then they would have better still original wheels and you could then repaint their wheels without me and yinzer cringing...:wink:

CMC140,
Thanks for sharing such an impressive undertaking. I find myself checking the thread often for any kind of an update and really appreciate the honesty in what you find and share through the process...

Keep up the great work,

J.