Well folks, I now have forced induction, but not in the way I was expecting. Grab a beer, it's long story time!
I posted a short "thank-you" post on the NSX Prime FB page a few days ago, but here's the full story.
My goal was reliable power.
I purchased a used Comptech supercharger now a little over two years ago. I knew I was going to have bad luck with it when the supercharger was lost in shipping. It had fallen out of the box and was lost. I had to track it down. Because it had a unique identifying number from being rebuilt, I was finally able to locate it at a UPS lost items facility in Utah. I received the blower a week after I received the partial shipment.
After that, it sat....and sat...and sat. I took time to gather up supporting parts, including the very last Comptech targa holder and rear shock tower brace for targa ever produced before Comptech went out of business, an AEM meth/water kit, AT Motorsport phenolic plate to allow methanol to be injected after the blower, B-Line CAI, and gauges.
After everything sat for more months because of my work schedule, I finally drove to Source 1, near Cincinnati, in May 2019 for the planned install and tuning of my kit. Unfortunately, the install was not to be. It turns out that the blower had not only been damaged in the past, it had been shoddily repaired, including a bolt hole that had apparently broken off, then was (poorly) re-welded. Sure it could have been installed, but it would have leaked and would have been difficult to tune. I was advised, and I agreed, to cancel the installation. I only had the CAI installed. (Recommend! Induction should is as crazy as a turbo!) I then sold the kit, which I clearly labeled as damaged. I lost over half of what I paid for the kit. My über-rare, brand-new Comptech parts were quickly snapped up as Comptech was closed for manufacture by the time this happened. My other parts were more slowly sold off.
I learned a valuable lesson: have expensive parts inspected by someone who knows what the f they are doing. Had I done so earlier, I would have discovered sooner that I bought a hunk of junk. I’ve never outed the seller as I genuinely don’t think he realized what he was selling. In reviewing his posts on the Prime FB group, he’d indicated difficulty with tuning with the supercharger, and was concerned about a lack of experienced NSX tuners in his area, prompting him to sell. I suspect the supercharge was damaged prior to his ownership given the appearance of the repairs.
So what next? I was (I hope, understandably) bummed about the situation. I looked at options including trading in my NA2 for a NC1 NSX. I nearly traded for a local 2017 with 14k miles that had been sitting at a local dealership for months, with asking price in the $120s. While mulling things over, I was making preparation to attend the 2019 NSXPO.
A couple days before NSXPO, I received a DM from Brian Urlage at Source 1, who’d helped me through the supercharger situation as noted above. He was taking his own, personal SOS twin turbo kit off his car. It had around 8k miles on it, very little mileage. He offered what was essentially a “friends and family” price on it. The SOS TT system is an excellent, turnkey, reliable kit and I could not say “yes” fast enough. Went on to NSXPO.
As it happens, purely by chance, Chris Willson of SOS asked for a ride in my car as the group was headed off to the Air and Space Museum for our tour and group picture. I availed myself of the opportunity to discuss my situation and to ask about what would be required for my 1999 to use the SOS kit successfully. This led to his briefly test driving my car and recommending a new clutch sooner than later, and high-flow cats. My clutch has been jamming in lower gears for the last two years…and Chris’ suggestion was that the shift fork was damaged. Needless to say, after conversing with Chris, I paid Brian for his kit, and took advantage of the NSXPO discount to buy the a new SOS Sport 350 clutch and high-flow cats.
I dropped my car off at Source 1 in early November, knowing that it would be a few weeks before they could get to my car. Since the end of the driving season was nigh, I could live without my car for several months. In addition to the twin turbo install, I had the new clutch installed and other assorted maintenance done “while Ryan was in there”. I had the master and slave cylinders replaced. (Note: I had the master and slave cylinders replaced in 2019, at my local Acura dealer—not sure if parts or install were faulty, but the master was leaking at the time my car was taken apart, so the job had to be done again. It was likely adding to my shifting issues.) Install was completed, then there was trouble with the Infinity 6 that was installed. It took over a month for AEM to respond and send a new unit out. My climate control unit finally died while at Source 1. They sent my CCU to Brian Kiehnau for repair.
Once done, my car was tuned. The dyno sheet indicates “Dynojet” correction to 453 whp and 381 lb/ft. The dyno was done on a Mustang and the numbers were 411/346.
I was able to pick my car up just before Ohio shut itself down for the COVID-19 response. I am thoroughly enjoying having torque at any rpm. It is…very fast. My first serious highway pull took me to touch over 100 mph before I knew it. The Sport 350 clutch, so far, has been awesome. No chatter, all shifts smooth, no more jamming of the lower gears. Pedal effort is not onerous at all. Highway fuel economy at 80 mph was 18 on my first tank, but then again, I was mashing the accelerator a lot on the 220 mile trip home. I’m still in the process of re-learning how to drive the car.
It’s a new car and I am enjoying greatly. While I still love the NC1 NSX, I can put one off for a while longer.
Thanks to both Brians (Urlage and Kiehnau) and to Chris for their help. I was happy to hand them some money, and you should, too
.
Here's a link to a POV video I shot a few days ago while driving my newly modded car.
I posted a short "thank-you" post on the NSX Prime FB page a few days ago, but here's the full story.
My goal was reliable power.
I purchased a used Comptech supercharger now a little over two years ago. I knew I was going to have bad luck with it when the supercharger was lost in shipping. It had fallen out of the box and was lost. I had to track it down. Because it had a unique identifying number from being rebuilt, I was finally able to locate it at a UPS lost items facility in Utah. I received the blower a week after I received the partial shipment.
After that, it sat....and sat...and sat. I took time to gather up supporting parts, including the very last Comptech targa holder and rear shock tower brace for targa ever produced before Comptech went out of business, an AEM meth/water kit, AT Motorsport phenolic plate to allow methanol to be injected after the blower, B-Line CAI, and gauges.
After everything sat for more months because of my work schedule, I finally drove to Source 1, near Cincinnati, in May 2019 for the planned install and tuning of my kit. Unfortunately, the install was not to be. It turns out that the blower had not only been damaged in the past, it had been shoddily repaired, including a bolt hole that had apparently broken off, then was (poorly) re-welded. Sure it could have been installed, but it would have leaked and would have been difficult to tune. I was advised, and I agreed, to cancel the installation. I only had the CAI installed. (Recommend! Induction should is as crazy as a turbo!) I then sold the kit, which I clearly labeled as damaged. I lost over half of what I paid for the kit. My über-rare, brand-new Comptech parts were quickly snapped up as Comptech was closed for manufacture by the time this happened. My other parts were more slowly sold off.
I learned a valuable lesson: have expensive parts inspected by someone who knows what the f they are doing. Had I done so earlier, I would have discovered sooner that I bought a hunk of junk. I’ve never outed the seller as I genuinely don’t think he realized what he was selling. In reviewing his posts on the Prime FB group, he’d indicated difficulty with tuning with the supercharger, and was concerned about a lack of experienced NSX tuners in his area, prompting him to sell. I suspect the supercharge was damaged prior to his ownership given the appearance of the repairs.
So what next? I was (I hope, understandably) bummed about the situation. I looked at options including trading in my NA2 for a NC1 NSX. I nearly traded for a local 2017 with 14k miles that had been sitting at a local dealership for months, with asking price in the $120s. While mulling things over, I was making preparation to attend the 2019 NSXPO.
A couple days before NSXPO, I received a DM from Brian Urlage at Source 1, who’d helped me through the supercharger situation as noted above. He was taking his own, personal SOS twin turbo kit off his car. It had around 8k miles on it, very little mileage. He offered what was essentially a “friends and family” price on it. The SOS TT system is an excellent, turnkey, reliable kit and I could not say “yes” fast enough. Went on to NSXPO.
As it happens, purely by chance, Chris Willson of SOS asked for a ride in my car as the group was headed off to the Air and Space Museum for our tour and group picture. I availed myself of the opportunity to discuss my situation and to ask about what would be required for my 1999 to use the SOS kit successfully. This led to his briefly test driving my car and recommending a new clutch sooner than later, and high-flow cats. My clutch has been jamming in lower gears for the last two years…and Chris’ suggestion was that the shift fork was damaged. Needless to say, after conversing with Chris, I paid Brian for his kit, and took advantage of the NSXPO discount to buy the a new SOS Sport 350 clutch and high-flow cats.
I dropped my car off at Source 1 in early November, knowing that it would be a few weeks before they could get to my car. Since the end of the driving season was nigh, I could live without my car for several months. In addition to the twin turbo install, I had the new clutch installed and other assorted maintenance done “while Ryan was in there”. I had the master and slave cylinders replaced. (Note: I had the master and slave cylinders replaced in 2019, at my local Acura dealer—not sure if parts or install were faulty, but the master was leaking at the time my car was taken apart, so the job had to be done again. It was likely adding to my shifting issues.) Install was completed, then there was trouble with the Infinity 6 that was installed. It took over a month for AEM to respond and send a new unit out. My climate control unit finally died while at Source 1. They sent my CCU to Brian Kiehnau for repair.
Once done, my car was tuned. The dyno sheet indicates “Dynojet” correction to 453 whp and 381 lb/ft. The dyno was done on a Mustang and the numbers were 411/346.
I was able to pick my car up just before Ohio shut itself down for the COVID-19 response. I am thoroughly enjoying having torque at any rpm. It is…very fast. My first serious highway pull took me to touch over 100 mph before I knew it. The Sport 350 clutch, so far, has been awesome. No chatter, all shifts smooth, no more jamming of the lower gears. Pedal effort is not onerous at all. Highway fuel economy at 80 mph was 18 on my first tank, but then again, I was mashing the accelerator a lot on the 220 mile trip home. I’m still in the process of re-learning how to drive the car.
It’s a new car and I am enjoying greatly. While I still love the NC1 NSX, I can put one off for a while longer.
Thanks to both Brians (Urlage and Kiehnau) and to Chris for their help. I was happy to hand them some money, and you should, too
.Here's a link to a POV video I shot a few days ago while driving my newly modded car.
