A dream come true..... daily (history of a proud ownership)

[UnhuZ]

Fellow Primers,

i've been an owner for more than 3 years, since Sep 2005, and never did a thread about my NSX's evolution, but a recent event made me want to write down the history of my ownership for you all to read.

I'll resume what happened until about one month ago, but the present and future will be highly documented... DIYs, Parts, Weight Savings, Events.... everything :biggrin:

It all started in September 2005, when one of my best friends sold me his NSX. I helped him with his purchase, one year before, on September 2004, from the original owner. This original owner is a german friend who had 3 NSXs.... one Red 97 NA1, one Yellow 98 NA2 with 02+ front-end conversion (now sold to sweden) and one Yellow 04 NA2... all coupes :wink:

After some strong email exchenge, we flew to Germany on a Friday morning and the owner piked up us at the Dusseldorf airport in a Civic IMA and drove us about 100kms directly to a Honda Dealer where the 97 was waiting for us, with his 04 right next to it. We spent the night over and on saturday morning some last paperwork needed to be done and about 12am we took of for a long 2400kms drive back to Portugal.

The jorney had 2 bad events:

1 - My friend was caught at 210km/h on a 130km/h limited French Autobahn (between Paris and Bordeux) at about 18pm... the fee was 750€ that had to be payed in cash or no one would leave anywhere. We didn't even do half the distance and we had to spent all the money we had for gaz, about 500€ and he was able to withdraw a maximum of 300€ from an ATM. There were a lot of technical difficulties using Portuguese ATM cards in France, so we were left with 50€ for a 1800kms jorney. After we payed the fee, the officers told us that my friend could not drive in France for about 2 months and that i had to drive from now on... they copied my driver license and told us that if we were caught again that day, my fee would be higher. This event cost us about 2 hours to resolve.

2 - At about 300kms from the destination, and about 6am Sunday, at the Portuguese / Spanish border, when my friend was downshifting from 5th to 4th to do some topspeed, the clutch pedal glued itself to the floor... with his foot, he tryed to bring the pedal back up, but it was dead and it dropped with its own weight... as we couldn't shift into any gears, we couldn't stop for gas nor toll payments... we looked at the gas level and agreed that it was enough for the rest of the distance... the toll payment, we had to pass on the autopayment lane and later i reported the company to cash it into my account (because i didn't have my sensor)... he then rev shifted back to 5th and did the high speed runs .... we arrived at Lisbon, inside his garage, Sunday at 7am.
The failure was the Clutch slave cylinder :wink:

i'll just skip his one year ownership.

EDIT: This next photos were shot one week before he hand me the car, September 2005:



My ownership up to date:

- I bought the car in September 2005
- One month after the purchase, i had one major engine problem, explained here, here and follow this entire thread
- In December 2005 i installed D2 Racing coilovers. They have more than 50000kms and are perfect.
- Nothing special happened until May 2008. The event is posted here
- I have the car back in February 2009.

From now on, as i said above, i'll post everything related to my ownership.

There are a few things that i did in the past 3 weeks that i'll be posting, detailed, today and tomorrow. Stay tuned :wink:

 

[ChopsJazz]

My favorite part:

This original owner is a german friend who had 3 NSXs.... one Red 97 NA1, one Yellow 98 NA2 with 02+ front-end conversion (now sold to sweden) and one Yellow 04 NA2... all coupes :wink:

My least favorite part: :frown:

- Nothing special happened until May 2008. The event is posted here

I'm glad the car is back the way it should be.

 

[davidf]

Dangit I still have'nt replaced the injector orings or the slightly leaking vtech orings. This thread has been a good reminder for me.:wink:

 

[UnhuZ]

My least favorite part: :frown:

- Nothing special happened until May 2008

I understand what you meant.... i know that driving an NSX everyday is special for itself, but what i really meant is that nothing EXTRA special happened :wink:

Dangit I still have'nt replaced the injector orings or the slightly leaking vtech orings. This thread has been a good reminder for me.:wink:

Yeap... i have all the parts to do a major maintenance... spool gaskets, valve cover's gaskets and sparks seals, new sparks, new injector o-rings, etc... also all the Tie-rod stuff.... everything...i'm just needing to buy the TB stuff (Tb, water pump and tensioner) to have it all done.

 

[UnhuZ]

ok guys... as promised, here is the first post about what was done in the last 3 weeks, since i have my precious back.

On week after i had it, me and a friend, who got some photo skillzzz, went for a photoshoot to document the new look of the car... i had my roof back to his original/factory color, which is Black, and also had the mirrors painted black.

This mirror new look is the start, the very first thing, of my own exterior version of a NSX-R look.

Here are the photos (click to view bigger):



Some thoughts:

- The NSX was dirty and dusty, although i washed and cleaned it before we got out to do the photos. The road there had water and dust, that together create some nasty spots. I didn't include all the photos because of this

- This place is about 3 minutes from my house.... 15 minutes in the opposite direction (the horizon on some photos) is the sea, which is the theme for my next photoshoot :wink:

- YES, I had no OEM Cruise buttons... hint...hint :wink:

- The front license plate is ugly positioned... i HAVE to have a front license plate, but i'm contemplating some alternatives to this disturbing ugly sight

well... that's all for this post... more on the next one :tongue:

Nuno

PS - I'll edit my first post to include the photos from the photoshoot my friend did after a detail job, one week before he hand the car to me, back in September 2005

 

[ChopsJazz]

Nicely done.

 

[UnhuZ]

Hi fellow Primers,

this post is to report what was done the day i had my car back from the body shop (Feb 11), and the following weeks until today ... so, it will be a bit long :wink:



Until Feb 11, what i've done to the car was:
- Swap OEM suspension by D2 Racing coilovers (no photos about it, it was done in Dec 2005)
- Swap the OEM Shift Boot and Knob by NSX-R Shift Boot and Knob




Feb 11 work (actually done in the 2 days before i got my car):
- Swap the OEM battery and bracket by Odyssey PC680 Battery and Dali alumunium bracket
- Removal of the OEM spare tire and it's bracket
- Removal of both front and rear License plate frames
- Install of OEM NSX-R front chassi bar (no photo yet)





Feb 23 work:
- Swapped OEM Steering wheel with:
- Momo Tuner (new);
- Momo OEM NSX-R Hub (Used);
- OEM NSX-R Horn kit with Trim Ring

i don't have photos of the Momo stuff before instalation because i got carried away with my Custom Cruise buttons Project using the Momo Hub and OEM Cable reel... when i thought about it, i already had everything installed. I promise that when i install my custom cruise buttons, i'll take photos of the work done to the Momo hub.

To not repeat myself, look in my first and third post for the Before pictures.

Here it is the OEM NSX-R Horn kit pictures:


and here are the AFTER pictures (will have better ones):




Feb 28 work:
- Installed the Dali Short Shift kit
- Installed the SOS Short Gear Stalk (Used)
- Swapped the 3 speaker amps with BrianK's repaired ones
- Swapped CCU ECU with BrianK's repaired one.

I already had the OEM NSX-R Shift Boot and Shift Knob installed, but they couldn't be installed correctly because the Knob was to high for the boot to work... when in gear either 1, 3, 5 or 2, 4 and R, the boot would be too strechted... with the SOS stalk, as you can see in the compare photo, the Knob is further down and the boot can be correctly "attached" to it.

With the SOS Stalk, the Knob lowered 2cm ... almost 1 inch.

I love the "short" feel of the gear shift with the Dali shortshift installed.

Here are photos of the parts involved:


Here are Before (you can see the boot strechted), Height Compare, After photos and ShortShift Installed:


Well... now to resume all work done, here it is a Excel shot with:
- What was done;
- When it was done;
- Weight exchange involved :wink:

More to come soon...enjoy.

Nuno

 

[syam]

very nice.

i am glad to see that the car is back up and running well, even after that horrific vandalizing.

just for clarification, you have a 97 NA1 coupe, which means it's an earlier production year with the 3.0L and the 5 speed, but was registered/titled in 97, which makes it a 97 right?

what year was the production? sorry if i missed it before...

 

[UnhuZ]

contrary of US cars, Euro car's year is determined by the first license date. My car was first licensed in Mar 97, but some clues point it's production date to late 94 or early 95.

 

[UnhuZ]

Keyless Entry Install & Passenger SRS Removal

Well... here am i to report what was done yesterday :wink:

I FINALLY installed the Keyless Entry and while i was in there, i also removed the Passenger SRS.


The removal of the Passenger SRS was for weight savings purpose only. I already had the Driver's off, so it was just a matter of time to do the Passenger's too. As a response to the flammers, i did this knowing the security risks involved, but my opinion on the airbags is a little different.

When i change my carpet to a red one, i'll take all the SRS harness, sensors and ECU also.


Keyless Entry Installation

I followed the OEM installation procedure and all worked out great, although removing the plug from the blue tape was a pain because it was well hidden behind the AC air duct and some main harness.

Please see this thread for some details on my Keyless Entry kit

After removing the Glovebox & Lid this is what was in front of me:



This is the plug where i connect the Keyless Entry harness into (using a screw driver to point it):


The "An eternal sportsmind for you" isn't only in the CCU:wink::


The Car Grey plug is the top/Right (Male) and the Keyless Harness Grey Plug is the Lower/Left one (Female):


With the Glovebox in it's place and the Keyless Harness tied into the car harnesses, with the green plug hanging:


I didn't use any of the Keyless kit oem zip ties and bands to save them new in case i sell the kit for whatever reason (as with all it's boxes). I use normal black zip ties for the harness and electrical black tape to secure the antenna:


The unit secured in it's OEM place:


All in place and working:




Passenger SRS Removal

Using the same photo as above to show everything in it's original place:


After removing five 10mm nuts, 3 securing the SRS Unit to bracket and 2 securing the bracket to the Dash supporting bar, and 2 and a half black screws that secure another bracket (one still half screwed in place):


The unit complete set in my desk:


and the Unit itself from all angles:
Front Back Left Right Top

To remove the Top black cover, to fill the hole in the dash, some nuts and bolts, torque type, must be unscrewed:



Removing my glovebox lead me to inspect what was lost inside...and i found this:

as i don't smoke and don't ever need it, i removed it for weight sake :biggrin::biggrin::biggrin:

So... in the end of the day, the weight saving was:

Well... thats it for now.... more to come soon

Nuno

 

[UnhuZ]

Shortshift

Hi,

Updated my post #7 above with:
1 picture of the Dali ShortShift part from all angles;
2 pictures of Dali ShortShift installed on Stalk on the car;

Nuno

 

[UnhuZ]

Procar Rear CF Beam and more weight saves

Hi,

well...here am i to update the thread to my latest mod: Procar Rear CF Beam. I also have the front one, which i'll install next :wink:

(all photos are clickable for big size)

Here are the photos of the part itself in different views:





Here are the photos comparing it with the OEM one:






Here of it alone installed:






I also weighted everything that got off and into the car, as usual :wink:



So... it's all for now... as i said, next will be about the install of the Procar Front CF Beam :wink:

Nuno

 

[UnhuZ]

Well... here am i to report one more busy NSX day :biggrin:

I finally installed the NSX-R Lower Front Chassi bar, together with the Rear Lower Dali Chassi bar and NSX-R Front Swaybar

Here are the parts:




Here are they installed:




Here is the Front OEM Swaybar compared with the NSX-R one:



OEM Swaybar thickness- 18.3mm
NSX-R Swaybar thickness- 22.3mm


Review:

It's been a month and i had the time to evaluate the changes it made to the car behaviour.
The responsiveness it brought entering a corner is awesome, unbelievable turn-in. Before i installed these, i already add removed a lot of weight on the front end which increase understeering... a lot. I manage to limit some of this effect by playing with the front tire pressures, but with these bars, i could go back to my normal tire pressure.
I remember the high steering response i won installing the NSX-R steering wheel, and the bars by themselfs gave me more than the steering wheel, but the 2 together are umbelievable.... it seems that i'm driving a different car :biggrin::biggrin::biggrin:


The weight report is as follows: (updated the OEM swaybar correct weight)

Thanks,
Nuno

 

[UnhuZ]

NSX-R OEM Gauge Cluster Kit

Hi,

yesterday finally i installed one of my favorite NSX-R OEM parts... bought in January.... talk about late installs :tongue::tongue:
I only bought because of one of a kind deal i had the chance to do. Thanks very much for that Detlef :wink:

so...

here are the parts:




Details of the parts:

- Water Temp & Oil Pressure

- Gas Level & Battery Charge

- Tacho

- Speedo


Some details::


My OEM Cluster... notice the dirt on the upper inner portion of the clear lens



This is the back of my OEM cluster... the NSX-R tacho and speedo dials don't have the screen to show TCS and Cruise Control green leds, so my way to keep them visible was to weld some wires directly on the board at the base of the lamps, which are the 2 blue lamp supports at the center of this picture. Then the wires run to the right side of the cluster so that when the cluster is installed, they will appear at the clock opening, which is where i will mount them with the very same look as they had in my OEM tacho and speedo gauges...but that's a project to do soon, for now, the wires are just behind the clock :wink: :tongue:



With the face plate off, showing the internals. Notice that arround the 4 little gauges, there are round marks made with the back of the face plate rings. This didn't happen on the Tacho and Speedo. Also notice that the Total and Partial odometers are very dirty, with grey numbers and roll instead of white. Everything is white, as it should be.



Notice how the dirty is distributed because, IMO, of electrostatic fields. All this was cleaned properly :wink:



I took this photo to ask if someone can tell me what exactly those 4 regulators, that are behind the blue tape, 2 per side, are supposed to tune?!


Installed:

- Showing Internals with NSX-R parts

- Installed in the car.


Parts compared, Mine vs NSX-R:


The electronic components on both have exactly the same specs, only a newer look. Notice the differences between the NSX-R and regular indicators: No TCS, No EPS, No TCS off, No Hazzard intermittent lights indicator, the parking brake indicator have different design.

Well... thats it... one last thing: They are beautifull :biggrin::biggrin::biggrin::biggrin:

Thanks,
Nuno

PS - Does someone knows if i can replace the regular bulbs with LED ones? if so, can someone give me their references so i can try to find them? Thanks

 

[UnhuZ]

02+ Wheels

Hi,

ok... this post reports my last update: the 02+ OEM Wheels.

i bought a complete set, rims and tires, and their condition is almost new... mint.

Here is a photo of my old side by side with the new ones (16/17 vs 17/17)... all of them OEM:





To clear the front calipers, i had to buy spacers, and i bought the Dali 5mm for all 4 wheels.
Here they are by themselfs and installed on the car, both Front and Rear:





Here are some photos from all angles:





The Center Caps are not installed on porpose... i want to do something to them... i have some ideas and i'm showing them on a poll in this thread.



Here you can see the gap caused by the spacer between the rim and the hub:





Here you can see the caliper clearance. As you can see, the caliper's paint is very bad, which i'll take care next... very soon:




About the weight...well... i'm a bit disapponted as the weight increased and as it is unsprung weight, it's even worse... the things a guy got to do for looks :tongue:

Here is the usual weight table:

Thanks,
Nuno

 

[NSXLuvr]

Great Thread. Your mods are small yet tasteful and your thread is very well documented.

Good Job.

 

[UnhuZ]

Hi,

Great Thread. Your mods are small yet tasteful and your thread is very well documented.

They are small, because my wallet is also small :wink: the 02+ wheels are the most expensive and visible upgrade i spent money.

I try to document everything as good as i can (pictures and weights) so i can have a track of my mods and so other Primers can have some answers and helps for whatever they need.

I have had a big misfortune with my engine 1 month after i bought the car, back in 2005. That kept me from buying parts for almost an year. Then i bought a lot of maintenance parts in the past to do the schedule maintenances and fix some things that appear here and there... that kept the most of my money until one year ago.

The aftermarket parts started to flow mainly a year ago, when my car was vandalyzed.

I intend to do a lot of things until the end of the year... let's see if my wallet can keep up with a few of my wishes :biggrin:

Good Job.

Thanks very much for your compliments.

Nuno

 

[goldNSX]

Nice to see someone else who went from 16/17 to 17/17. 97+ brakes would be next. :wink: BTW I would not feel save with these spacers. H&R are also too small (14.5 cm). Been there, done that. I've found 15 cm ones.

 

[UnhuZ]

Hi,

Nice to see someone else who went from 16/17 to 17/17

yeap.... OEM is the way to go.... but i want to buy a 17/18 Volk/Dymag set in the future... lot's of things to do first.

. 97+ brakes would be next. :wink:

already have the front calipers and brackets :wink: i will order the NA2 rotors in the next weeks... they will be RB and the rear sets will come with brackets.

BTW I would not feel save with these spacers. H&R are also too small (14.5 cm). Been there, done that. I've found 15 cm ones.

i was always against spacers...these are necessary to clear the calipers... i like the stance of the rims more to the outside...more flush with the fenders... i'm considering 20mm or 25mm spacers all arround for street, but remove them for trackdays... it's all yet very scketchy in my mind...

Thanks,
Nuno

 

[UnhuZ]

02+ OEM Taillights & NSX-R Taillight Center Piece

Hi guys,

here is another update, actually done last August (man.. i'm slow):

- 02+ OEM Taillights (US)
- NA2 NSX-R OEM Taillight center piece (badge)
- Swap the OEM JDM/Euro 3rd stop (wing) with the OEM US one

Here are the parts:




Here are all comparisons between what was removed and installed:



Notice the difference on the back of the taillights for the US 3rd presence
light... i had to close that hole with tape as Euro taillight harness doens't use
that light... i will buy US harness to have all the 3 lights working like US cars.



3rd brake lights compared (US vs Euro/JDM):

Notice the differences in the printed labels between them... and also, in the
last photo, compare the voltage difference between them,
12.8 for US vs 13.5 for Euro/JDM.
I can say that there wasn't any problem caused by this voltage difference.


Now you guys can shoot me, but i forgot to take photos of them installed... and now my car has been on stands for the last 2 months, because i'm refurbishing my brakes, and can't really take good photos...i will take once the car is moving and post compare photos, using the same spot and photos as my 02+ wheels update.

There was no weight savings involved so no need for the usual Excel table

Thanks,
Nuno

PS - the taiilights and 3rd brake light i removed, all Euro/JDM, were almost new, because my insurance company had to pay new parts, and the 3rd brake light will be for sale

 

[UnhuZ]

Hi,

lot's of documented updates, but no time to post them... here goes one i had to do because my coolant was vanishing.

The problems i had were incremental...

1 - Coolant level constantly drops
2 - 2 main big hoses under the car had leaks.
3 - replaced all of them
4 - Colant level keeps dropping slower
5 - Upon visual inspection, the aluminium pipes behind the fuel tank have leaks. Replaced it.
6 - Colant level keeps dropping even slower.
7 - Another visual inspection now shows that both front aluminium pipes have little holes leaking. Will replace shortly.

Next i will list all the hoses i replaced, with all the info and visuals about them

I used a kit for the "Big 6" hoses from VENAIR and all the other ones, 16 of them, were OEM.

Hose Scheme from the Honda Online Catalogue:

Oil Cooler

Radiator Hose

Water Valve


All Hoses above, one by one:

Hose 01 Hose 02 Hose 03 Hose 04

Hose 05 Hose 6 Hose 07 Hose 08

Hose 09 Hose 10 Hose 11 Hose 12

Hose 13 Hose 14 Hose 15 Hose 16



All Hoses, 16 OEM and 6 Silicone (VENAIR):

OEM Silicone


Thanks,
Nuno

 

[Sandro]

Re: 02+ OEM Taillights & NSX-R Taillight Center Piece

Hi guys,

here is another update, actually done last August (man.. i'm slow):

- 02+ OEM Taillights (US)
- NA2 NSX-R OEM Taillight center piece (badge)
- Swap the OEM JDM/Euro 3rd stop (wing) with the OEM US one

Here are the parts:




Here are all comparisons between what was removed and installed:



Notice the difference on the back of the taillights for the US 3rd presence
light... i had to close that hole with tape as Euro taillight harness doens't use
that light... i will buy US harness to have all the 3 lights working like US cars.



3rd brake lights compared (US vs Euro/JDM):

Notice the differences in the printed labels between them... and also, in the
last photo, compare the voltage difference between them,
12.8 for US vs 13.5 for Euro/JDM.
I can say that there wasn't any problem caused by this voltage difference.


Now you guys can shoot me, but i forgot to take photos of them installed... and now my car has been on stands for the last 2 months, because i'm refurbishing my brakes, and can't really take good photos...i will take once the car is moving and post compare photos, using the same spot and photos as my 02+ wheels update.

There was no weight savings involved so no need for the usual Excel table

Thanks,
Nuno

PS - the taiilights and 3rd brake light i removed, all Euro/JDM, were almost new, because my insurance company had to pay new parts, and the 3rd brake light will be for sale

Hi Nuno,
I changed my taillights whit US version and have to change also harness US type.Did you allready done this?
Sandro

 

[UnhuZ]

Hi,

no... i'm using my OEM Euro harness...

i know why you ask that... it's because in europe you have 1 reverse white light on one side, and the rear fog light in the other, and in US, they both are reverse white lights, right??

well... i still didn't do this little project, but what i intend to do is:

1 - use both reverse white lights as US cars do
2 - relocate the mandatory rear fog light to another location, probably in the license plate area :wink:

for now i'm using reverse white light in one side, and rear fog light in the other but with a red bulb, as the lens is white :tongue:

Thanks,
Nuno

 

[shawn110975]

Again,

Like i said in another post your the Man. great write up and lots of info with pics for us dummies.

your an asset to prime.

awesome job

p.s. is there anything on your NSX that has not been removed by you?

I mean a bolt somewhere that has never been removed? LOL

 

[goldNSX]

Nuno, nice progress!

How about a 02+ rear valence?