Beard's track car to superstar

[Ironbeard]

I'll be dropping the car off tomorrow for some fabrication work to get ready for a busy July Show season. I'll be attending SPOCOM Anaheim, Clean Culture LA showcase, and Extreme Dimensions in San Diego.

Aside from the fab work, I had more parts come in.




- SOS Trunk panel
- SOS aftermarket radio harness
- Stoptech Parking brake Kit (mix matching brands but whatever, it was like $300 cheaper)
- STMPO Front brace (Got it brand new and bare, powdercoated by Anocote Powder coating in San Diego)

All of the audio equipment is now procured, all that is left is to get the new center console to get it all installed.

The brake situation is now almost done, just need to get the parking brake cables and the center console and they will be good to go.

More exciting news, I got word that my new exhaust just landed stateside and is going thru customs so I should have that by the weekend

 

[Ironbeard]

A lot of work has been done since the last post. Quick run down, I turned the car over to my fabricator and got some parts fixed, made, and installed.

Engine bay:
- Installed OEM manifold covers
- Installed OEM Cylinder head covers
- Replaced leaking oil pressure gauge with Hybrid racing oil pressure gauge
- Made a mount and moved Oil pressure regulator, rotating it to the correct upright position. Replaced the fittings to ORB and ran new fuel lines.
- Fabricated new mount for the oil catch can and ran new lines and fittings for it, lowered it slightly into the engine bay.
- Custom dimple die Manifold cover.





Front Bay:
- All the heat from the radiator has been funneling into the car from the open parts and becoming unbearably hot on the legs. Since the A/C was already removed and half of the fan was still in the bay, I removed the rest of the A/C parts and cut some aluminum panels to cover the holes and applied the heat reflective tape to the firewall as well as to the outside of the radiator shroud I have. No radiant heat creeps into the cabin anymore and it stays relatively cool.
- Relocated Battery cut off switch with mount




Interior:
- Modified my center console that came with all of the gauges. In the process of removing the old gauges and redundancy that exists with the tuner thats overhead. This included, creating a new face plate to hold the double din radio, custom 3 gauge pod, section for handbrake installation, and spaces for switches to control various things
- Installed the new audio system and it slaps
- Replaced the old NRG quick release and Momo f1 concept steering wheel with a Works bell quick release and Momo Monte carlo steering wheel with red stitch
- Updated the old outdated harnesses with Schroth Rallye Cross 4 point harnesses.

Exterior:
- Installed my Taitec C3 Model 2 Titanium exhaust
-- Waiting to install Pride exhaust adapter pipes and resonated test pipes to replace the weird compression fit ones that are on the car. Exhaust leak everywhere.
- Fabricated a custom dimple die license plate garnish
- Replaced the sparco hood latches with Locking Aerolatch pins

 

[Ironbeard]

Upon purchasing the car I knew 2 things would inevitably occur. 1. There would be mechanical issues to deal with on the 30 year old car with questionable maintenance history, and 2. There would be more things that pop up that were likely hidden or ignored by the previous owner.

I already knew that the paint underneath the wrap would be in not the best shape. I had been contemplating changing the camo wrap that was on it or going ahead and painting the car down the road. The wrap for the time was fine with me and the exterior refresh would be one of the last things I would focus on. However, as luck would have it, a wrap shop opened up near me and had a give away and I won a "Free" wrap. Great timing. So before I could get it wrapped I had to remove the wrap that was on it. Talking with the wrap specialist they immediately noticed that the wrap on the car was of poor quality in printing, adhesive, and thickness.

While removing the wrap a few things happened. Either parts of the paint were ripped off, entire patches of clear coat lifted off the car, and some body work blemishes were revealed to include bumps, gashes, and the old decals the Mark johnson had on the car that were not fully removed, just rewrapped over.

 

[Ironbeard]

A few, not so great pics of the Super Taitec C3 Model 2 single exhaust I got. Titanium build, excellent sound, super lightweight and a different look.

 

[Ironbeard]

So I decided to Go air suspension and it was a bit of a rocky start (trying to budget build), but got it all figured out. Running D2 bags, Airlift 3P mangement, with a 5 gallon tank and Air Zenith ODBII compressor (switching to dual stealth black Viar 444cc compressors.

And interesting piece of the car that I discovered and was made aware of was the suspension on the car. This the Comptech Pro Track suspension. These go for a pretty penny and performed amazing on the car since I've been driving it. The rear suspension was modified by Mark to use Tein Pillowball mounts instead of the normal adapter mounts that the front have.

 

[Ironbeard]

Some follow on goodies. Replaced the Blitz BOV with a Tial 50mm BOV. The spring I got for a supercharger was not the right one, or rather, it wasnt the most efficient for my driving. I ordered a 8psi spring that will hopefully help with the noise.


Next on the list after all of the current projects finish is the lighting. I have all the kits for underglow, bumpers, and trunk and then the show status will be complete for when the sun goes down.

 

[Ironbeard]

For the new wrap I won, I decided to go with a green color shift. The car is getting wrapped currently. I knew after the paint got messed up there would be some issues with it showing through the wrap, so I decided to try and embossing design to cover the bad spots. Not a 100% fix, but good enough for me for the next few seasons until I can save up to do a nice paint job on the car after I get back from deployment.

The designs are Akatsuki clouds from Naruto.

 

[Ironbeard]

Whelp, I'm on deployment and the car is in storage until I get back in the spring of next year. Thankfully, I was able to get a good bit of work completed on the car and can say that the car is officially in the V2 build phase.

The 8psi BOV spring worked perfectly and the ride is much smoother and quiet with a powerful release.

The exterior was revamped and completed with a new wrap with embossed detail. The design and presentation came out much better than anticipated though some paint blemishes are still evident. The main body was done in Green Iridescent that is a green/ black color shift. The side ducts and hood vent sides were done in a shadow black wrap. It its a kinda of ridged, black camo that adds just a small bit of detail to the car. I also changed out the old leather shift boot and base plate for the 02+ mesh boot and carbon fiber plate.

Aero-wise, I added a set of TCRC side skirts which were a perfect fit. They gave a nice drop to the car that went perfectly with the air suspension for a nice low visual. The centerpiece was the Pride Carbon NSX GT Carbon fiber wing. Perfect fitment and build quality. Absolutely gorgeous weave and super solid at speed.

One of my biggest reliefs was finishing the center console and gauge plate. I wasn't exactly in love with the outcome of it in its raw form and how the initial visual was. However, it pulled together quite nicely once the whole thing was hydrodipped in carbon fiber and clear coated. Now just have to remove the old gauge wiring and install the new AEM AFR, Oil Pressure, and Boost gauges.

Also, I changed my air ride set up to dual Viair 444cc stealth black dual compressors.

 

[natcc99]

It's so cool that you are bringing this car back to life.
Also, congrats on winning a free wrap job.

 

[Ironbeard]

It's so cool that you are bringing this car back to life.
Also, congrats on winning a free wrap job.

Thank you!

 

[Black NSX F1]

Looks cool ��

 

[Babu]

Can't wait to see the finished product on this build! Great job so far. :victorious:

 

[furinax]

Ugh that sucks that the paint was in terrible condition... but then again pretty normal for a track car. I had a wrap once... it's fun but... nothing beats the authenticity of a good paint job.

Do you think you'll ever add ABS back in? I feel like it's such a necessary safety feature to have unless you are a performance driver with threshold braking skills. I am not and have had many close calls with traffic stops, deer, etc.

Is the BOV audible from inside the car?

 

[Ironbeard]

Ugh that sucks that the paint was in terrible condition... but then again pretty normal for a track car. I had a wrap once... it's fun but... nothing beats the authenticity of a good paint job.

Do you think you'll ever add ABS back in? I feel like it's such a necessary safety feature to have unless you are a performance driver with threshold braking skills. I am not and have had many close calls with traffic stops, deer, etc.

Is the BOV audible from inside the car?

Yea it's a bummer, but I will get around to a quality paint job eventually once all the performance is done. The exterior was always the last thing on the list but, hey, free wrap.

I've thought about it and I believe I'd upgrade to the newer ABS system. However, that is a pretty penny. Likely, this time next year. Once I have the car out on the road more it will definitely be more of a requirement.

It is. It's rather loud at the moment due to the extensive roll cage that comes in through the cabin rear glass. There are some gaps in the sealant that is old an needs replacing. Once I fix that up and get it sealed up tight, it will be slightly quieter. It's not unbearable, just enough to put a smile on your face.