NSX questions: A friend of mine might be getting one.

[Kain Otdu]

Hey guys,

My friend's getting done with his current project car; a 95 3000GT VR4 Spyder, and he has the opprotunity to pick up a 99 (I think) NSX.

He was thinking about getting it, and heavily modifiying it. The reason I'm doing the research is because I know a little bit about cars than he does.

I think we are going to do one of two things.

1) Build up the bottom end (forged, pistons, rods, crank), lower the compression ratio, stupid big cams, ported heads, big turbo and tons of boost.

2) Keep the stock bottom end, raise the compression ratio by shaving the deck of the heads and thinner head gaskets, stupid big cams, ported heads, and perhaps a small turbo for supplemental power (3-6 psi).

I was wondering how much power can the stock rods/crank/pistons take? Or is it even worth it to build up the motor in NSX's?

He wanted to have the NSX be a bottom end car (0-100) runner for street races, thats why he bought the VR4. I told him the NSX is the wrong weapon for the job because it has no low end power/torque. I informed him that it'd probably be a highway battler.

I just wanted to see if I could pick the NSX owner's brains a little bit to see whats up.

Thanks!
95 Camaro Z28 A4 - Not Stock.

 

[ilya]

If he is still around, David can answer your questions. He has a built motor in his NSX putting out 500+HP and can tell you everything that is involved.

My impression is that the earlier 3.0L motor is better/easier to modify and it's much more expensive/difficult to do internal mods on the newer 3.2L of the 99. For his goals, he may want to actually buy an earlier model 91-94 and modify that. It will also cost much less.

Yes, the newer NSX has the better 6 speed tranny, but with what you plan to do I doubt you would leave the tranny stock anyway.

 

[Kain Otdu]

Very cool, I'll wait around and see what he's up to.

BTW, cool Avatar.

 

[Lud]

If you do #1 you will want to have the block decked. I would recommend Comptech for this work (their banner is at the bottom of this page). You also want a serious engine and fuel management system such as Motec.

If you do #2, you are going to find that you cannot just buy many of the parts you want off the shelf like you can for many other sports cars. You may have to get some stuff custom made. If you are going to run boost on top of raised compression, you will probably want to look at least at a fuel management system as well.

Either way, once you go over about 450 HP at the crank you will want to start upgrading other driveline components or you will probably see them break. The NSX is not as "over engineered" as some other cars (i.e. Supra) because Honda was designing the car precisely to their specs, and part of that goal was to keep everything as light as possible, not with plans for heavy upgrades.

ilya is correct that you may also run into problems if you try to overbore the '97+ 3.2L motors. They use FRM cylinder liners which I have been told does not lend itself to boring. The 3.0L motors use a standard cast iron liner which is easier to work with in that regard.

I do not think building an NSX is a cost effective way to win street races but it can certainly be effective if you don't mind spending the money. If you guys decide to do the project, keep us updated!

[This message has been edited by Lud (edited 29 January 2002).]

 

[Kain Otdu]

Thanks for the info! I'll keep you guys updated on whats happening with his car.

Also I might introduce the idea of making it into an Auto-X NSX. It's got a nice power to weight ratio, good front/rear distribution, handles well out of the box.

I'll talk to him tomarrow and I'll see what he says.

Cya lata!

 

[justin hall]

actually I dont think that the nsx is a good auto-x platform, but not bad to just go out and have fun in as long as you dont mind being beat by modded sentra's.. wheelbase is too long and not enough low end IMO. that said, if your friend is still interested, I am selling a '98 w/some mods. private me.