McCool's NSX build adventure '06 to present

[cmc140]

Part One
-How did I get here? / Purchase story

My build began with an old Porsche. One that I had done a lot of work on to get to my liking. I was finally at a point where I had a car almost finished, except that I wanted to do a 3.6 liter conversion, which I knew would be horribly expensive. What does almost finished mean anyways?????

Then I happened to find a 1991 NSX through the grapevine. I went to drive the car and made a deal on it. Although, it was my father who was looking for something fun and reliable after selling his 1967 Morgan. When I spoke with him I told him if he didn't buy it I was going to, as I had already given my word to the seller. He decided to buy the car and I knew from that point forward that I was going to have to buy an NSX and get rid of all of my other cars. Car life for me was about to change.

So off went my '77 Porsche, '63 Karmann Ghia, and '91 GTI 16v and my search began.

My requirements were:
1. It had to have a CTSC. I knew I would never fork down the cash to buy one later on.
2. It couldn't be black as I'm far OCD to handle such a color. I had a black GTI in high school that I painted silver within 4 months.
3. It couldn't be red, as almost every car I have owned has been red because I bought the cars on condition not color. Also, my father has had way too many red cars and I don't like the attention.

So, I ended up with.....................
You guessed it a RED 1991 NSX. The deal was right and my father bought it on my behalf, sight unseen with the following :
-50k miles
-not in snap ring range
-recent TB and waterpump
-CTSC installed by our known Porsche mechanic
-Comptech exhaust
-RM headers
-RM intake
-RM springs and swaybars

The first opportunity I had to check it out was Christmas of '06 while visiting.
Twins:smile:

Once I had the car home I started driving it all over. All of my expectations were exceeded and I couldn't have been happier with my decision to concentrate on one great car. Rather than messing around with bunch of other mediocre cars.

 

[K1ng124]

Awesome story, makes me think I should've held off for a CTSC'd Nsx.

 

[cmc140]

Part 2
-Down the NSX modification rabbit hole

My first mods were some Zanardi floor mats and some HRE wheels that I picked up in the classifieds section.

Also, my old childhood friend made its way out to join the NSX. My father’s 1956 Jaguar XK140 the car that got me hooked on cars. I never had a dog, but I had a Jaguar.
The 140 in cmc140..

So, at this point I was having a blast driving the car a lot. I was doing consulting, which required me to travel all over the city and I was taking the NSX everywhere. One day on my way to a client I got on the highway and to my dismay there was a gravel truck that was spewing gravel all over the place. The other cars were just going slow behind it as it was continually spewing. So, when I finally had an opportunity, I got around it. When I reached my destination I inspected the car quickly and it looked fine. That weekend when I washed and waxed the care I noticed that it was not fine! It had rock chips all over the place and I couldn't believe it.

So, I called my insurance company and took the car to a body shop for a quote to have it repaired. The repair quote entailed repainting almost the entire car and I decide it was time to redo the car myself my way. The only problem was my wife was three months pregnant and I needed her to sign off of the project. In a true form I completely under estimated the amount of time and the cost. I assured her I could have it done in 6 months...NOT! Also, I had a few cars that I couldn’t seem to get out of my head and decided to go all in.

The two cars that inspired my build most:

 

[cmc140]

Part 3
-Disassembly

These are hard to put in order, but here it goes.

First axle nut experience. AKA nut of death, just ask my cheap breaker bars.

Finally, bought a Craftsman so I could take it back which I did multiple times.
More recently have upgraded to 3/4"

NO PANTS!!

 

[cmc140]

Part 4
-Under coating cleanup / '02 conversion

I don't have any picks of the undercoating removal as it was horrible. It was super messy and horrible. Did I mention horrible?

Next up was fitting all of the new body parts. My wife was happy that I got the DF hood out of the soon to be nursery.

Is that a dash?

I wish I had a picture of the pallet that was sent via freight by Acura of Augusta with all of the '02 conversion parts. Joe is definitely the man and it was a thing of beauty.

Wheels disassembled.

I then had a fabricator in town weld up all of the marker lights, keyholes, and antenna hole.

Lastly, I had the painter come take a look as it was ready and then he backed out with "family issues." Or else he thought I was completely out of my mind. So, my dad saved me yet again and lined up a painter in PA that has done some really nice hot rods. It was the middle of winter and I didn't want to risk having the car get all dirty and wet, luckily a friend of a friend shrink wrapped it. He has a boat and had the equipment and it worked great.

 

[cmc140]

Part 5
Paint and re-assembly

The first order of business was to have the painter do the chassis and edge all of the panels. The color I went with is the Lamborghini silver that also has a pearl. He requested the car together for paint. By this time my wife was only a few week away from here due date with our first. I flew to my parents house in PA and my dad and I got the car re-wired and back into a rolling chassis. Thankfully, I had his car to look at as a guide so I never had to go back and reference my terrible pictures.

Back to the painter --->>>

Also, had all of my black pieces repainted including the rear window garnish and side vents.

Back to the trailer for the voyage back.

 

[Nefarious]

Loving the story and pics. Will keep reading.

 

[myw]

that is AWESOME.

thank you for sharing this.

 

[cmc140]

Part 6
Engine cleanup / new arrival

While the engine was out I did the following:
-Timing belt, tensioner, water pump, cam seals, crank seal, dampener pulley, and spool valve gaskets
-Adjusted valves and new valve cover gaskets
-Installed SOS oil pan baffle in new oil pan
-Installed Toda billet oil pump gear
-Installed new RPS clutch and flywheel
-Installed upgraded bypass hose for the CTSC
-Had both axles rebuilt
-Got mad crazy with the paint

Deadline FAIL!
New baby has arrived.

Time for the engine. I secured my lift and then hung the car off the back for the engine install. It looks more Darwin award-ish then it really was.

Next up was everything else. I replaced all of the coolant hoses, rubber brake lines, clutch master and slave cylinders, rubber brake lines, rotors, pads, SOS BBTB, Comptech airbox and Dali intake scoop. Also traded my dad my Comptech exhaust for his ARK and added test pipes.

Re-assembled the wheels

Almost there

Alcantara headliner and door inserts.

Finally back together and road worthy.

I finally started driving the car and getting it sorted out. My father and I had plans to meet up at the Pittsburgh Vintage Grand Prix and all was well. Until I was driving and the clutch wouldn't disengage and sound like someone through marbles in the transmission. I had a week before Pittsburgh and tore the trans out and found this:

The rivets that hold the clutch material to the disk had fallen out and hosed the whole operation. I called RPS and they were cool enough to warranty it although it was well past the one year warranty. I just hadn't used it. However, I had to pay like $200 bucks to have it over-nighted. I got the clutch back put everything back together and headed to Pittsburgh.

 

[gt_nfr]

Awesome thread. I love the amount of documentation.

 

[myw]

dont EVER sell your nsx!

 

[cmc140]

Part 7
-a build within a build...sort of / 1st track event
By this time my daughter was ready to move to a big girl bed from her crib / dash board holder. I decided to make a little tyke's NSX-R conversion.

She really likes NSXs:smile:
1st ride.

A few with the Jag

Finally signed up for a track day. Although, my wife and I had a new addition to the family.

Pre-track day photos. I installed new wheel studs, new lug nuts, flushed the brake fluid, installed a fire extinguisher and painted my fat fives black.

At the track

 

[stormrider]

I am speechless! This is such a awesome read. And of course I can related.:tongue: What a beautiful babies you got there and your car is beautiful too.:biggrin:

 

[Nefarious]

The car turned out great! Looks like many good years with your NSX.

 

[shawn110975]

Holy cow, your the man.

I didnt think the pics would ever end, this is the best thread in awhile.

one thing though

WHERE DID YOU GET THE KIDDY BED FROM I HAVE TO HAVE ONE FOR MY SON.

i know you added a few stickers etc. but where did you get the bed.

please My son 19 months old loves cars, only plays with cars, and his first word was "car" then "truck" then "get dog" ( I have 2 dogs that lick him )

I would sleep in that bed in the fetal position LOL

 

[tbnsxt]

Nice build man! I really dig everything you have done to your car!

If it were me I would have had masking tape galor on those fresh headlights and paint at the track tho.

 

[Nefarious]

WHERE DID YOU GET THE KIDDY BED FROM I HAVE TO HAVE ONE FOR MY SON.

That's the 2009 Little Tikes Sports Car Bed. They have changed it a little bit since that model, but you might be able to find one on ebay or craigslist. Right before it was discontinued, they got down to $100 at Walmart.

I only found all that info out because I thought it was super cool. Had to do some research on it.

 

[Sandro]

Wow so much pics,great thread.

 

[Dynamic-uzed-auto]

It looked so good red, even better silver

 

[Chris NSX]

Awesome build, I thought I was reading my thread.:biggrin: Great Job!

Chris (other silver nsx guy)

 

[nsxot1c]

Very nice and amazing build!!!


Thank you for sharing, great work.

 

[cmc140]

Sorry for taking so long getting back to this. I think I was on the verge of having as seizure after posting all of the pictures. Thank you all very much for the kind words. I'm glad I finally started to get this all together in one spot before I totally forget everything. Also, I'm about a month out from starting another project so I wanted to make sure to get this documented. I'll try to finish up this weekend.

Awesome story, makes me think I should've held off for a CTSC'd Nsx.

Thanks I'm glad you're enjoying it. I will get to more supercharger stuff this weekend.

Awesome thread. I love the amount of documentation.

Thanks, I could have done a better job, but after my daughter was born I had less time to do things.

dont EVER sell your nsx!

:smile: I don't think that will be a problem as who would want to buy my bastardized NSX? I appreciate all of you compliments on my car.

I am speechless! This is such a awesome read. And of course I can related. What a beautiful babies you got there and your car is beautiful too.

Thank you very much for your kind words. The girls have been part of the project so it doesn't feel right leaving them out.

Nice build man! I really dig everything you have done to your car!

If it were me I would have had masking tape galor on those fresh headlights and paint at the track tho.

Thanks. Yeah, I probably should have taped it up, but it's not original paint and if it gets a bunch of chips I'll have it redone. The best part of this car, at this time, is the fact that it's not original. So, I don't have to worry about keeping original for someone else. I plan on enjoying the hell out of it and if NSXs ever get to a point where they are worth a good bit of money, I'll restore it. Although, everything on it will be considered a period modification, which generally are collectible as well. I still have all of my original parts in the attic.

Holy cow, your the man.

I didnt think the pics would ever end, this is the best thread in awhile.

one thing though

WHERE DID YOU GET THE KIDDY BED FROM I HAVE TO HAVE ONE FOR MY SON.

i know you added a few stickers etc. but where did you get the bed.

please My son 19 months old loves cars, only plays with cars, and his first word was "car" then "truck" then "get dog" ( I have 2 dogs that lick him )

I would sleep in that bed in the fetal position LOL

Thanks for the compliment. The bed is just as Nefarious stated. It's a Little Tyke's bed I picked up on Craigslist and painted. I did one for my other daughter as well. Unfortunately, she is about to move up to a full blown girly bed.:frown: So, I'm trying to figure out what to do with it.

Wow so much pics,great thread.

Thank you.

It looked so good red, even better silver

Thanks. The old man lets me drive his once in a while so I get a little taste of a stock red NSX.

Awesome build, I thought I was reading my thread. Great Job!

Chris (other silver nsx guy)

Haha, maybe we should have combined resources and built one NSX and something else and just traded them annually. Although, your build was much more comprehensive with a ton of real NSX R parts, in addition to all of the best quality mods available. The only real NSX R part on my car is the shift boot. It would be cool to meet up again sometime. I'm going to Pittsburgh again this year for the PVGP, but that is as far east that I'll be going this year.

Very nice and amazing build!!!


Thank you for sharing, great work.

Thank you.

 

[myclue]

what a great thread!

 

[Stephen@NCAutoUSA]

I missed this build. Just found it. Huge thumbs up

 

[cmc140]

From build to ebay.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/271624672370?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1555.l2649

Thanks everyone its been fun.
Chris