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DIY RHD Conversion Pics

Joined
6 September 2004
Messages
1,346
Location
Arundel, QLD, Australia
I've been threatening to do this for some time now but due to my Job it's been difficult to find time.

Finally I had a few weeks back in Australia to get stuck in.

This conversion is not for the Faint Hearted. Half way through I was thinking what the hell have I done. There were several modifications that I hadn't anticipated on but were eventually overcome.

Some parts of the conversion were impossible to do perfectly due to the internal &
external firewalls & scuttle panels being totally different shapes but after seam sealer & fitting all the parts nothing is noticable.

I tried to keep the cutting & welding to a minimum to avoid weakening any structural areas. The Authorised Department of Transport Engineer was happy with all my modifications and happily signed the approval certificate.

Hopefully the photos are helpful to anyone who want's to undertake this conversion in the future.

For the record it took me 12 days to complete the bulk of the conversion. All I'm left to complete is to fit a RHD wiring loom & then reassemble the Interior. probably 2 days work.

First I had to totally strip the interior & under hood.
 

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I had managed to locate a damaged RHD bare front Clip for my conversion. I would recommend anyone planning to do this conversion to buy a complete front clip as I've had a lot of trouble locating specific RHD components. especially the small interior parts.

I then went about fabricating some fixtures from the RHD clip to ensure once I cut & removed them I would be able to replicate the exact positions in my car to ensure everything would fit as per OEM. (as much as possible anyway)

ie
The wiper assembly
The scuttle panel
The Brake Booster, Clutch Master Heater Box
The Steering Column mount
 

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Now the hard part, actually taking the airsaw to my pride & joy!!

I had to take a few minutes to bring myself to do it as I knew It would be past the point of no return.

Nope, no magicial RHD Fairy had turned up to wave the magic wand so I guess I was going to have to do it.
 

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After carefully cutting up my Baby, a little at a time I could start mocking up fitment of the Sections I had removed from the RHD Clip. This was fairly time consuming as I had to fit & remove the fixture & panels several times. I wanted to remove as little material as possible & to try and overlap the sections where possible as it would make it easier to weld & it would also be stronger.
 

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After finally trial fitting all the sections, time for lots of welding.

All sections were professionally TIG welded by

Chris Tanner of Performance Fabrications.
18 Sunderland Street
Moonah
Tasmania Australia.

He did an excellent job given the tight confines of the NSX interior & under hood area. I think he hated me at times, especially when he was upside down TIG welding the steering column mount.
 

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Some parts of the conversion were a bit of a compromise. the area where the LHD Brake booster mounts has a bit of a "hump" in the panel for clearance.

I couldn't really do much about this except blend it in as much as possible. the only other option would have been to cut the whole section out from the base of the windscreen which I wasn't prepared to do in the interest of compromising the whole structure.

I ended up triming the upper part of the heater blower box to fit up to this Hump without being too noticable. It's all covered by the wiper garnish anyway.
 

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During fitment of the RHD steering rack I noticed that the rear lower suspension mounts are actually left & right hand drive specific. All that is required on the LH side is to drill a 10mm hole I've noted the position.

On the right hand side there's a hole in the crossmember to accept the rack but the Suspension mount stops short to offer the extra support.

I'll have to source this correct part or I'll make a support brace for it.

other than that it was just a matter of using a couple of holesaws to allow the RHD rack pinion to poke through into the interior. I also made some Alloy plates to seal up the original holes on the LH side.
 

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All downhill from here. after some seam sealer & a fresh coat of paint I can start with the assembly.
 

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I chose to leave the ABS unit & the LHD water pipes, heater pipes & radiator. Purely because I don't have the RHD parts. The ABS unit will fit on the RH side, there are mounting holes for it but no thread inserts. so at a later date I will machine some up & weld in.
At this point in time I just made some temporary hard lines from the Brake master cylinder to the ABS. I think I'll update to the 2002 ABS at some stage so I'll leave everything as is til then.

I don't think there will be an issue with the Water lines to the Radiator. I may only have to make some longer heater circuit lines to reach to the new heater/blower box location. I'll keep you posted on that one.
 

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I'll fill you in on all the "little" jobs of the Conversion process later.

Ie
Evaporator box fitment
Gearlever
Handbrake lever & Mount
Steering column mount
Clutch Pedal
Brake & throttle pedal assembly

fingers are sore & brain is tired.
 
Wow. Wayne, that's nuts. Nice work.

You still with your Champcar team? Hope to catch up with you at Road America this year.
 
Nice work.

Is it not cheaper/better/faster to just import a RHD drive into AUS from JP or UK?


I'm heading off to be a NZ resident next year and I'm bringing my NSX with me. Fortunately, they allow LHD drive cars to be imported (unlike AUS), but I'm planning on importaing a RHD one as a daily driver too.

Drew
 
At the Time I purchased my Nsx in America the NSX wasn't an approved import for Australia. (As it's sold from Dealers new) The only way is if you "personally import" which means you have to own the car in that country for a minimum of 12 Months & be living in that country also.

Now, the NSX can be imported under the 15 year rule, but they are still pricey & you have to have them complied to Australia Standards whereas a Personal import does not have to be Complied thus saving at least $10,000 right of the Bat.

With the Modifications my Nsx already had when I bought it in America I still think I'm in front. Only because I've done everything myself. If you were paying someone to do the work then maybe it wouldn't be viable.

A standard 91 NSX will still sell between 55K - 75K here in Australia & on top of that there's not many to choose from.
 
I agree. That looks like a ton of fabrication work. Hats off to you!
 
:eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: OH MAN WHAT HAVE YOU DONE!!!!:eek: :eek:

you have some B***s . I bet it was hard to make that first cut!

so......good luck and looks good so far (i was expecting worse:wink: )
 
awesome!!!

Something I considered doing, just didnt have the connections to get all the jdm parts.... looks great!!
 
All of that cause you were wearing out the side bolster on the left seat? :biggrin:
 
I've finally finished the conversion so I thought I had better update the thread.
As I've been working in the States It's taken 2 years to complete although the actual time from start to finish was probably only 30 days.

I've also found along the way that there were many parts that were RHD specific that I hadn't expected. Many I thought were unneccessay & could have saved Honda lot's of money producing dual use & not RHD & LHD Parts.

To date this project has cost about $9000 (Aus) although I recovered $3000 (Aus) by selling most of the LHD parts. I still have quite a few LHD parts to sell so the total cost is reducing.

There were several little mounts/brackets for the Console, Shifter, Handbrake & centre console that were different. most just needed drilling some holes on the opposite side. I never noticed before but everything is offset by about 1/2" just to allow extra room for the driver (LH & RHD)
 
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