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Intercooled CTSC refresh - MT002543

Joined
2 May 2013
Messages
864
Location
St Augustine, FL
Mase intercooled CTSC refresh - MT002543

Background: about 18 months ago, after searching for a few months and being close to giving up, I tracked down a beautiful black/onyx 99 in LA on eBay, 67k miles, bone stock except for lowering springs and some Antera rims. I have run this since then, put 5k on it but I have it in my head that it will start to depreciate if I put a lot more miles on it. So it has also become a bit of a garage queen. A $50k ornament as 'er indoors is fond of saying.

Back to the present. Kinda. So back in the fall, I started thinking about finding a higher mileage car in less than perfect shape so I can basically enjoy it without worrying so much on resale value (which is important to me). Maybe even an FI car. But, entry level prices for non-auto non-salvage 'serious' cars seem to be a good $5k higher than last winter, so basically my half hearted (nationwide eBay and Craigslist) search went nowhere as trying to keep this well under $30k. I even considered buying a cheap auto and getting Shawn to convert it. Couldn't even find one whereas last year they seemed to be more or less unsellable.


That is until I decided to spring for an almost brand new Comptech exhaust from Prime. Stick with me here.....


I started installing it but ran into a stud that was a) completely and utterly stuck and b) right by an O2 sensor. On my birthday a few weeks ago I gave up and called the local dealer (Orange Park Acura, very happy to say: great guys so far and I am no fan of dealers typically, hey Dan, Khalil, Logan, Alin!) for a quote for the install. $100. Result!


Two hours later I am there, they swap over the exhaust, all good and I am chatting to Dan (BUGS2K) who just bought Nabil's (First Class Auto in Orlando) 91. I mentioned my plans to him, asked him if he knew of anyone selling and he said, no, but I guess you know about the BB CTSC car locally right? Me: NOPE!!!!!!


10 minutes later I am on the phone with the seller, get all the info, VIN etc. and arrange to meet him a few days later to view the car.


Meanwhile, Google the VIN and find that seller was less than cooperative last summer with regard to PPIs......alarm bells.


I go see the car, and from 10 feet, awesome! From 3 feet, oh boy. half the panels have been touched up and badly, and clearly both bumper covers have been off and not refitted properly, all signs of cheap body work. But car was sold in 2008 with clearcoat issues so I think that would account for some of it, hopefully all.


Car was slammed on H&R springs on stock 94-01 rims, sat very low, rubbing the fender liners something rotten but basically drove pretty well and pulled really hard. Mechanically all I see is a very fast idle, 12-1400rpm. Tranny seems to shift fine.


Custom interior with "expensive stereo" - more on that later.


145k miles, 25k put on it in 6 years. Binder full of all history since new, clean Carfax and Autocheck


So I pose the question: OK to run it over to OP Acura, expecting a big fat "no". Seller: "Sure, how about now?". OK!!


Once at the dealer, up on ramps, things look pretty good....


Car advertised with non-working AC and the compressor is clearly leaking badly. Oil pan gasket, cam seals, valve covers all have slight seepage but nothing bad. Two torn tie rod boots, one torn steering rack boot, and that was about it. And most of all, all the subframe marks line up and all looks straight underneath


To cut a long story short, we strike a deal, stop at the bank, I drive the car home.


Lots more to follow. Keep reading.... ;o)
 
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A few snapshots. Nothing special here and camera doesn't show paint flaws well. Note dyno run is pulled from Mase's website on the fresh CTSC install in 2008. Will post this weeks run later.
 

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A few snapshots. Nothing special here and camera doesn't show paint flaws well. Note dyno run is pulled from Mase's website on the fresh CTSC install in 2008. Will post this weeks run later.

I think those clean seats are pretty special! Congratulations it sounds like its going to be a grand time.
 
Congrats on picking up my old track rat! I moved over to a C6 vette but I still miss her. Hello to the old crew on NSX prime, I should have stopped in to say hi earlier!
-Frank
 
The suspense of getting my car back from driving ambition with a supercharger is killing me! To add salt to the wound, I unpackaged my new kit at Shad's shop and marveled at the shiny new blower and intake manifold.
Excellent purchase if I may say so myself boca rat. If you cruise the forums, even though turbo nsx's are more powerful, the ctsc nsx always retains value and is sought after just as it were to be original.
Congrats! I will call your 2 nsx stable the rat pack now.:cool:
 
The suspense of getting my car back from driving ambition with a supercharger is killing me! To add salt to the wound, I unpackaged my new kit at Shad's shop and marveled at the shiny new blower and intake manifold.
Excellent purchase if I may say so myself boca rat. If you cruise the forums, even though turbo nsx's are more powerful, the ctsc nsx always retains value and is sought after just as it were to be original.
Congrats! I will call your 2 nsx stable the rat pack now.:cool:

Boca Rat Pack I guess.... :eek:)
 
So I started with the background to the story, but I guess now that I am the new owner I should go over some (ancient) history.

Remember I said it came with a stack of records? Read on...


Car originally arrived in Jacksonville and was sold to it's first owner in Clearwater, FL (Tampa area). Appears he paid $93k for the car, put 35,000 miles and some H&R springs on it and then sold it to Velo-ct in 1999, who bought it sight unseen from a dealer in Tampa and had it shipped directly to Phoenix, AZ.



Car then had some track time (he sent me videos to prove), and at some point he put in a Centerforce clutch, Dali bars, lightweight flywheel and a Comptech exhaust, did the TB/WP in 2007 and a bunch of other stuff. Kudos to Velo-ct - I pinged him with a few questions and got more than I asked for in return, nice guy, thanks!


The ivory leather seats were redone by an upholsterer and appear to be full leather and are a lot more padded than stock seats. Which is good (even more comfortable for my bony arse) and bad (not so easy to buy off the shelf covers for).


Velo-ct then sold the car in early 2008, where it changed hands almost immediately and was then sold to a guy (Rob) in Jacksonville, FL. So in some sense came home.


At this point the AC was non-functional, and the car was described as having clearcoat issues, window regulator problems.


Rob seems to have had very particular ideas about what he wanted from a car like this. He wanted it to go like 'shit off a shovel' as we say back in the UK, and being a Home Theater installer wanted it to have top notch hifi. All the rest of it was 'fluff'. None of this was out of his mouth, just my interpretation of the car and what it needed when I got it.


So the AC never got fixed, the clearcoat appears to have been just sprayed over, car sank into the weeds on sagging springs and worn out shocks etc. But the motor pulled hard and the stereo sounded awesome! And......I respect that.


Next installment: Mase and Stage 6

 
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Well, not good that I never finished this off, but in the meantime, dyno sheet from Sunday courtesy of Glenn at Illicit, hosted a Mazda Dyno Day and let BUGS2K and me have a couple of pulls each. This is from a Dynocom.
 

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Quick update: car started running rough under heavy throttle. To cut a long story short, swapped out the slightly fouled two year old NGK BCPR7ES plugs for a set of new NGK VPower BKR7E, and saw these results....note ambient temp was 15 degrees cooler than last time, but same Dyno (Glenn's at Illicit Performance in Jacksonville).

The first run was when I got there, and I think the second was before we regapped them. The last two were back to back runs.

So the question now is, am I pushing too close to the limits with 415rwhp+.....?
 

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Wow, those numbers are significantly different for basically no changes other than ambient air temp.

Imo, when you go over 400 rwhp bad things happen.

You could always run less boost.

Run it on mase Dyno again.
 
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New plugs as well remember. Somehow I messed up posting the pic earlier - see above.

Wow, those numbers are significantly different for basically no changes other than ambient air temp.

Imo, when you go over 400 rwhp bad things happen.

You could always run less boost.

Run it on mase Dyno again.
 
What did you gapped the plugs at?

Never mind. I found it in your other post.
0.32 to 0.25
 
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Keeping it simple.
 

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Weighed her the other day at the local landfill weigh station. 3045lbs with a full tank of gas. Planning on running at Wannagofast next weekend.
 
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