Last night, my 4.55 R&P was finally installed by Larry at NSX Modified. Yes, he works Sunday night into the late hours. We were done around midnight.
Before I give my impressions, I do want to thank Larry, once again, for making this possible.
He was the one who let me borrow a stock R&P to ship to David in exchange for the Comptech. I would not have been able to do the deal without him.
The install went fairly quickly and took just a few hours, if that. Since he runs an open shop, I was able to see the entire process. Although I understood everything he did, I doubt I would be able to reproduce the effort.
I received some bad news once the tranny was apart. My RM clutch was broken. One of the small metal brackets that holds the disc in place was cracked off. Apparently this is a common issue with the RM as Larry shows me a pile in the corner with broken RM clutches.
He says it's a great clutch when it's working, but that this happens to them all the time. Mine felt fine, but was bound to go sooner or later due to that broken piece.
I wasn't planning on the expense of a new clutch and was in a bind. Once again, Larry manages to surprise me. He throws my broken clutch in the pile and pulls out a practically new stock clutch he has laying around. He basically GIVES me the clutch and says don't worry about it. He completely resurfaces the clutch, flywheel and other tranny parts and installs it back on the car.
Thanks again to Larry Garcia from NSX Modified for making this install possible.
Building a good faith relationship with Larry is the BEST thing that I have done since purchasing my NSX. He knows I'm a good customer and a man of mny word. His selfless assistance with every one of my hairbrained adventures has earned him a loyal customer for the life of my car.
Larry, you are THE man!
OK... you want impressions, right?
First, these gears are not as extreme as many make it out to be. From what I have read, I expected to be reving much higher and buzzing all over the place.
This is not the case. My RPMS while cruising around are only slightly higher than normal. 70 on the highway... almost no difference in RPM.
Driving home last night, I hit 4K RPMS at around 85mph. Cruising at 70-75 had me in the low 3-3500s. Very livable with the long gears and not annoying for daily use at all.
The only gear whine I hear is when decelerating with my foot off the gas. Otherwise, it's as quiet as my previous setup.
Second, the bog is completely gone. Second gear pulls well even below 3K RPMs. I no longer feel like I need to downshift into 1st for slow corners. There must be something else involved outside of higher revs with the gears... because I purposefully drove the car slow, below 3K, and it still pulls hard from 1.5Kup in 2nd gear. With the stock R&P it would bog considerably when being driven at that low RPM in second. Am I putting more torque to the wheels? Maybe that is the reason.
When I take off from a start and floor it, it revs up FAST! However, taking it easy results in a perfectly smooth transition around town. In fact, where I felt I needed to take 1st a bit further with my old R&P (as not to bog when shifting to second), I no longer need to do this. I can slowly accelerate to 3500RPMS in 1st, shift to 2nd, and the car just continues to pull with no bog or delay. Excellent.
At speed, every gear feels marginally improved. If cruising at 3KRPMS, every gear pulls a bit harder when hitting the gas. Nothing major like a blower, just a marginal improvement like a decent amount of weight was removed. The biggest difference is when accelerating hard in any gear where it puts you back in your seat.
My new clutch will take some getting used to as well. Aside from the fact it broke, I loved that RM clutch. It grabbed HARD and pulled instantly at every shift. I retained the kevlar portions from the RM clutch, but the rest is stock. When shifting hard from 1st to 2nd, it doesn't grab as hard. I notice a slight drop (about 200 RPMS) before it fully engages and swings up again.
Maybe this is normal or maybe it needs to break-in for a while. However, without question the RM clutch felt superior for hard acceleration. That shift to second isn't quite as visceral with a stocker.
However, around town is another story. It's miles easier to engage and drive around town than the RM. Very quiet, very smooth, almost luxury like. Next time I need a clutch job, I'll be switching back to a high performance... probably Larry's clutch or similar. I love the RM, but the reliability is not acceptable. Since it came with the car and I personally didn't buy it, there is nothing I can do or claim.
Going from RM to stock, I finally realize how important a clutch can be for performance. The difference between the two is night and day and I would have no hesitation in putting my hard earned cash into a high performance clutch next time around.
Ask questions. I have not had enough time with the R&P to come to any final conclusions. What do you want to know. I will keep your questions in mind while driving around this week and answer them.
So who wants a ride at out meeting this Thursday?
Before I give my impressions, I do want to thank Larry, once again, for making this possible.
He was the one who let me borrow a stock R&P to ship to David in exchange for the Comptech. I would not have been able to do the deal without him.
The install went fairly quickly and took just a few hours, if that. Since he runs an open shop, I was able to see the entire process. Although I understood everything he did, I doubt I would be able to reproduce the effort.
I received some bad news once the tranny was apart. My RM clutch was broken. One of the small metal brackets that holds the disc in place was cracked off. Apparently this is a common issue with the RM as Larry shows me a pile in the corner with broken RM clutches.
He says it's a great clutch when it's working, but that this happens to them all the time. Mine felt fine, but was bound to go sooner or later due to that broken piece.
I wasn't planning on the expense of a new clutch and was in a bind. Once again, Larry manages to surprise me. He throws my broken clutch in the pile and pulls out a practically new stock clutch he has laying around. He basically GIVES me the clutch and says don't worry about it. He completely resurfaces the clutch, flywheel and other tranny parts and installs it back on the car.
Thanks again to Larry Garcia from NSX Modified for making this install possible.
Building a good faith relationship with Larry is the BEST thing that I have done since purchasing my NSX. He knows I'm a good customer and a man of mny word. His selfless assistance with every one of my hairbrained adventures has earned him a loyal customer for the life of my car.
Larry, you are THE man!
OK... you want impressions, right?
First, these gears are not as extreme as many make it out to be. From what I have read, I expected to be reving much higher and buzzing all over the place.
This is not the case. My RPMS while cruising around are only slightly higher than normal. 70 on the highway... almost no difference in RPM.
Driving home last night, I hit 4K RPMS at around 85mph. Cruising at 70-75 had me in the low 3-3500s. Very livable with the long gears and not annoying for daily use at all.
The only gear whine I hear is when decelerating with my foot off the gas. Otherwise, it's as quiet as my previous setup.
Second, the bog is completely gone. Second gear pulls well even below 3K RPMs. I no longer feel like I need to downshift into 1st for slow corners. There must be something else involved outside of higher revs with the gears... because I purposefully drove the car slow, below 3K, and it still pulls hard from 1.5Kup in 2nd gear. With the stock R&P it would bog considerably when being driven at that low RPM in second. Am I putting more torque to the wheels? Maybe that is the reason.
When I take off from a start and floor it, it revs up FAST! However, taking it easy results in a perfectly smooth transition around town. In fact, where I felt I needed to take 1st a bit further with my old R&P (as not to bog when shifting to second), I no longer need to do this. I can slowly accelerate to 3500RPMS in 1st, shift to 2nd, and the car just continues to pull with no bog or delay. Excellent.
At speed, every gear feels marginally improved. If cruising at 3KRPMS, every gear pulls a bit harder when hitting the gas. Nothing major like a blower, just a marginal improvement like a decent amount of weight was removed. The biggest difference is when accelerating hard in any gear where it puts you back in your seat.
My new clutch will take some getting used to as well. Aside from the fact it broke, I loved that RM clutch. It grabbed HARD and pulled instantly at every shift. I retained the kevlar portions from the RM clutch, but the rest is stock. When shifting hard from 1st to 2nd, it doesn't grab as hard. I notice a slight drop (about 200 RPMS) before it fully engages and swings up again.
Maybe this is normal or maybe it needs to break-in for a while. However, without question the RM clutch felt superior for hard acceleration. That shift to second isn't quite as visceral with a stocker.
However, around town is another story. It's miles easier to engage and drive around town than the RM. Very quiet, very smooth, almost luxury like. Next time I need a clutch job, I'll be switching back to a high performance... probably Larry's clutch or similar. I love the RM, but the reliability is not acceptable. Since it came with the car and I personally didn't buy it, there is nothing I can do or claim.
Going from RM to stock, I finally realize how important a clutch can be for performance. The difference between the two is night and day and I would have no hesitation in putting my hard earned cash into a high performance clutch next time around.
Ask questions. I have not had enough time with the R&P to come to any final conclusions. What do you want to know. I will keep your questions in mind while driving around this week and answer them.
So who wants a ride at out meeting this Thursday?