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Midnight_Raven's Build

My reply in post #254 which shows the updated weight tracking spreadsheet shows it in stage 3 of the excel sheet. It saved me 3.1lbs total so about 1.5lbs per side.

So it looks like I'm out of bandwidth again. I noticed my pictures were huge which probably why I have been running out of bandwidth in like 4 days. I've gone through and resized all my pictures. So I'm expecting next month for my pictures to stay up much longer.
 
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I spent some time trying to figure out how to get the SRS light to turn off with the SRS Module removed. I thought the modulator was what activated the SRS light to turn on if there was an issue but really it's the gauge assembly that does it. I tried jumping pins 11 and 13 but that didn't work. I could not figure it out so unfortunately I will have to admit defeat and put the SRS module back in. So that's going to increase the weight by about 3 lbs but I guess that is not too bad. The other option is opening up the gauge assembly and removing the bulb from the assembly but I don't want to do that. Too many things I can mess up by doing that. If anyone has any idea of how to get that light to turn off based off the SRS schematic let me know.

Also the time has come for my transmission swap :). I dropped off my 6 speed transmission, clutch, and NSX off at the local NSX mechanic Friday of last week. I'm having them do the work since I just don't have the equipment to do this at home. Additionally I'll have them do an alignment since the car is pulling to the right slightly after the suspension change. Hopefully I'll get the car at the end of the week or early next week.
 
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I picked up my NSX today and learned a coupe of things. Car is so much quieter at highway cruising speed. At 60-65MPH engine was revving at 2400-2600RPM and the exhaust was barely audible which was nice, since this was one of the reason's I wanted a 6 speed. Also this is definitely a race tuned suspension. It's noticeably more firm than than the KW V3 I had before. I will probably soften the settings a bit more to see how it feels. The SOS sport Hybrid 400 clutch barely feels stiffer than stock. I notice the difference but still pretty light at least from what I was expecting. Unfortunately I failed at not stalling out during the drive home but only did it once so I think I can be proud of that lol. Just need to re-adjust myself to the new engagement point is all.

I also had additional work done on the car just to get the car back in tip top shape. I had the car corner balanced, aligned, installed extended wheel studs in the rear, and fixed my axle boots (I had found a tear in one while doing the suspension swap); they also found a slight leak in the rear main seal which they fixed for me. They gave me the print out of the corner balancing they did and it's nice to see the results of all my weight reduction. My NSX with slightly less than half a tank of gas and a 172lb driver came in at a weight of 2810lbs. If you do that math out that's 2638lbs with no driver. And if a full tank is 18.6gallons being slightly under means I am missing about 10 gallons. Gasoline weighs in at 6.3lbs per gallon which is about 63lbs for 10 gallons. So 2638+63lbs=2701lbs! The front to rear weight distribution was 41%F and 59%R. Cross weight would be 50.6% ((1422lbs/2810lbs)x100%) vs 49.4% ((1389lbs/2810lbs)x100%) not a perfect 50/50 split but close.

With all that said my NSX is now officially lighter than a NA1 NSX-R and it still has AC! Now it's just driving the car as much as I can to break in the clutch. Hopefully be done with that after the next month. Then it would be paint work for the doors and roof. Almost done!

----Updated for pic---

So after a month of no NSX it's back safe and sound.
 
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Thanks but realistically I think with a good launch my NSX would only do high 12s not lows. But still pretty good for a N/A.

I also adjusted the coilovers to a softer setting based on what I thought would be a good setup for handling. Surprisingly I'm not that far off from what HRE used because I also asked Detlef about the settings and he told me they used these settings to run on the nurburgring:

front: rebound damping 5, compression 4
rear: rebound damping 5, compression 5

While I on my own came up with the following:

front: rebound damping 4, compression 4
rear: rebound damping 6, compression 6

So I was really close with my adjustment. It felt good when I was driving around this weekend in that setting. Going over bumpy roads is more pleasant now while before it was tossing me around in the seat. The K4 in these settings relative to the KW V3 to me seems a bit more cushiony in ride. Hard to explain the feeling but really it could of just been I had the KW V3 set up stiffer than these. Hard to say which one was better at the moment. I have an autocross coming up the 9th of May which I can test out the new suspension settings. I'll try both settings I listed above, to see which one I prefer. It will be good to feel the difference while pushing it. Hopefully the guys who usually are ahead of me in the timed runs come so I can gauge if the new suspension and 6 speed improves the car performance or not. I was usually 2.5-4 second slower than the fastest guys on street tires. If I can get closer than that I would suspect it was the upgrades that helped.

I also forgot to mention I reinstall the SRS module back in on Friday so my curbweight went up by 2.5lbs. So now the curb weight should be 2703.5lbs. Not much of a difference but something.
 
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So unfortunately I've had to make a choice which will put a stop on my build for a while. The plan back in early last year was to just fix the transmission and stop there for some time (until I decide to turbo it). So since the transmission has been fixed I think I should stop tinkering with it. So the first think I had to put on hold is the mirror relocation upgrade.

I love the new mirrors but the relocation of these mirrors means I'd have to pay a shop to fill and repaint the doors. This risk the chance that the doors wouldn't match the rest of the paint. I also didn't want to repaint the car now since I already spent a lot to do the 6 speed upgrade. On top of that I do want to eventually repaint the car another color so this would just be a waste of money to do it now. So I've pulled the mirrors off and put the stock mirrors back on. So as you can see below I'm back to a more normal looking NSX and will be that way for a long time. I'll hold onto the mirrors so that when I do have the cash to play with, I'll repaint my entire car like I originally wanted to and relocate the mirrors then. With that said the roof is also not going to be resprayed anymore. I'm going to peel the plasti-dip and just vinyl wrap it glossy black and leave it as is for a couple of years.

As a side note:
I've actually grown accustomed to the smaller mirrors and it feels strange to see the car with the big stock mirrors. Another thing I don't like is how noticeably large the stock mirrors are in your line of vision when driving. Very strange and was not expecting that when I drove the car today.

So for now thank you all who have been following the build and have given your input/opinions on the build. Now I'll spend more time just autocrossing and tracking the car. I'll probably post videos in the video or track section of the forum after events. Hopefully I can become a better driver now that I'll focus more on that.

IMG_20150429_095030655_zpszj2rwmzx.jpg~original
 
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I agree about the stock mirrors looking huge.. Like they just stuck them on.. Love your build man.. And it sometimes is good just to stop modding and enjoy the car :)
 
Okay so guys, last update I promise.... well second last update. I don't want to mod my car anymore but I always did want to do one thing. I've always wanted a set of Advan Model 5s on my NSX since I feel they are the best style of wheel for the NSX sleek body style. Finally a set with the right size, offset, and color came up so I jumped on it. Currently waiting for them to be shipped. I'll be swapping my Dunlop Direzza ZIIs over to the advans so the Volk RE30s will be put up for sale if any of you are interested let me know ;). It's not a performance upgrade like most of my purchases are, more of a downgrade in that sense, but I love the styling of the Model 5s so I say screw performance I'm going to make my car look good now lol. I'll post a pic of them when they are mounted in a week or two.

Here are some pics I got from the Facegroup page. I can't wait to mount these :).

 
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Wheels should be arriving today (will post pictures when I get them). In the meantime I also got a new special plate for my NSX. It's a dual meaning plate. For prime member you would know that MRNSX stands for Midnight Raven NSX but for the regular folks to just means Mr. NSX. :D

 
You serious? What about the most important meaning? Mid Rear?
 
Yeah it could mean that too Dave lol.

So the wheels arrived just before I had to leave to work. I was able to throw them on to preview the look. Here are some pics I was able to snap. I've set an appointment for Monday 6/8/15 to have my tires swapped over from the RE30s to the Model 5s. I'll update with new pics then.

With sunlight:


Front Wheel in the shadows:


Rear Wheel in the shadows:
 
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I recommend a TPMS system before you mount them. One from Orange. Google Orange TPMS. Only $130. Monitors pressure and temperature. Handy at the track.
 
Wish I could say I was enjoying the car today but I'm not... :(.

Wheel shop I took to get the wheels mounted damaged one of my rear wheels. Waiting for RYU to see if we can get the color code so they can repair the damaged wheel. Sucks that I sat through an hour of traffic to go to these guys excited to mount my new wheels and in the end came home bummed out. On the plus side the shop owner or manager was very professional and is taking care of me. He said he'll have the wheel fixed and refinished for me at no cost since it was an error on their part (Fixture they tried to use to secure the wheel was not long enough for the curvature + offset of the Advan Model 5s). Since they are fixing their mistake I don't feel upset about the situation but it just sucks that I can't drive the car for a while now since one of my wheels is waiting to be fixed.

Either way I'm hoping this gets fixed sooner than later so I can drive my car. I'll post pictures once I get them mounted.
 
Damn sux man..

I only take my wheels to one place from now on.. Because of this..

My car has been on jack stands for a month now waiting for my new front wheels to get refinished.. Last week I took the wheels from the wheel refinishers straight to my tire guy.. My wheels were in boxes and I just gave the tires and wheels to them.. They open one box and the notice that the paint had a slight drop on one wheel :( had to take it straight back to the refinishers .. Should be done this week .. Funny thing is that they are my 18/19 model 5 .. Maybe these wheels are cursed? Lol
 
Due to the unique opportunity of having wheels with no tires mounted on them I went ahead and weighed the Advan and Volks for comparison sake. Will also reference stock 91 wheel weight as well. So as you can see below the Volk RE30s 17/18 combo are practically the same weight as the stock 15/16 combo. The Advan are much heavier with the front being 2lbs heavier each and the rears being 2.8lbs heavier each. Total setup with the Advan is 9.6lbs heavier and the Volks RE30 is actually almost 1/8 of a lb lighter than stock. With tires mounted though this probably would change even more. But either way just wanted to share my findings.

Stock 1991 Sizes
15”x6.5” +55mm Front weight =15.20lbs
16”x8.0” +60mm Rear weight =18.86lbs

Volk RE30 Sizes
17”X8.0” +38mm Front weight=15.6lbs
18”X9.5” +40mm Rear weight =18.4lbs

Advan Model 5 Sizes
17”x8.0” + 38mm Front weight = 17.2lbs
18”x9.0” +20mm Rear weight = 21.6lbs
 
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Those Volks are light.

The model 5's are heavier than I expected for their design.
 
Sucks that your wheel was damaged, but sounds like you found a good shop that is taking care of you.


Pretty cool that RE30 setup is actually lighter than the original 15/16 setup.

But for completeness, I think you should post up the tire weights of the two setups.


Good luck on the getting the wheels back in a timely manner.
I'm sure they're going to look really good on your car!
 
I have to wait and see what I get for the tire weight but I know the volks actually turn out to be about 3.6 lbs heavier with the tires mounted on them. I would suspect the Advan would then be 13.2lbs heavier in total if we take keep these differences in mind.

I called the shop and they told me the wheel will be ready to pick up early next week (I'm suspecting Wednesday). I'll try to post pictures after that.
 
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Well after much delay and still with not a perfect match in paint I got the wheels back. I couldn't wait anymore I have an autox event coming up and the match was close enough to live with. Surpringly I actually like the color they painted than the one that the wheels came in. I think there is more of a luster to it so I may just have a shop redo all 4 wheels but in the newer color. Either way here is a picture someone took at the meet showing the car with the Model 5s.

<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/hylandmedia/18625069873" title="Acura NSX by Andrew Hyland, on Flickr"><img src="https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/517/18625069873_efed8147d1_b.jpg" width="1024" height="576" alt="Acura NSX"></a>
 

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