Lately the early NSX-R has started to grace our shores. Every respectable journalist, podcaster, and owner of whom have driven the NSX-R seem to rave about it and equally dislike the standard USDM NSX at the same time. Just this year I've heard of 3 accounts in my normal media consumption that speak quite highly of their experience with the NSX-R. I don't tend to listen to "hype" media so I'd like to think these folks know what they're talking about. I haven't driven one yet (NSX-R), and quite frankly, I'm not a fan of driving a RHD car in a LHD country, but after 13yrs of ownership and several iterations of own NA1, i'd like to think i've stumbled upon the NSX-R recipe in one flavor or another.
While I believe we can all agree that the pinnacle of NSX-R development was the 02+ spec R, the NSX-R was available for most of the car's life cycle in Japan. Less than 500 were ever made.
So what makes the R different? Let us put this prime hive mind in overdrive and come up with a list of parts.
Here's what I can recall.
* maintained the manual steering on all R's, but did it maintain the same ratio and quickness?
* 4.23 final drive and shorter gearset on the 5 speed
* Mr. Yamamoto was telling me that the rubber bushings on most of the R's suspension is different and of higher durometer
* all were coupes
* Is it a stich welded chassis? or somewhat better reinforced like the Integra Type R?
* Showa dampers have an insane amount of rebound. About 2-3x more than the stiffest rebound settings on my JRZs.
* Rumor is that the engine is blueprinted to higher tolerances than a standard C30/C32. Is this true?
* All the aero updates claiming "negative lift" in the 02+ spec
* 00+ had a different ABS pump/logic
* Momo steering wheel
* lighter wheel package in all years
* Round shiftknob
* Alcantera interior for most years
* Bucket seats - which I'm too big for. They were super tight for me with a 34 waist. They also sit too tall for me and a helmet.
* Front sway bar was stiffer, but I can't recall if rear was stock or perhaps the Type S spec
* lightweight deletes, such as radio, engine lid, and some had the AC delete correct? In total almost 100kg lighter
I believe this article specifies the changes which i'll read later. My point with this post is to review how easy it is (or not) to update a standard USDM spec to R spec.
While I believe we can all agree that the pinnacle of NSX-R development was the 02+ spec R, the NSX-R was available for most of the car's life cycle in Japan. Less than 500 were ever made.
So what makes the R different? Let us put this prime hive mind in overdrive and come up with a list of parts.
Here's what I can recall.
* maintained the manual steering on all R's, but did it maintain the same ratio and quickness?
* 4.23 final drive and shorter gearset on the 5 speed
* Mr. Yamamoto was telling me that the rubber bushings on most of the R's suspension is different and of higher durometer
* all were coupes
* Is it a stich welded chassis? or somewhat better reinforced like the Integra Type R?
* Showa dampers have an insane amount of rebound. About 2-3x more than the stiffest rebound settings on my JRZs.
* Rumor is that the engine is blueprinted to higher tolerances than a standard C30/C32. Is this true?
* All the aero updates claiming "negative lift" in the 02+ spec
* 00+ had a different ABS pump/logic
* Momo steering wheel
* lighter wheel package in all years
* Round shiftknob
* Alcantera interior for most years
* Bucket seats - which I'm too big for. They were super tight for me with a 34 waist. They also sit too tall for me and a helmet.
* Front sway bar was stiffer, but I can't recall if rear was stock or perhaps the Type S spec
* lightweight deletes, such as radio, engine lid, and some had the AC delete correct? In total almost 100kg lighter
I believe this article specifies the changes which i'll read later. My point with this post is to review how easy it is (or not) to update a standard USDM spec to R spec.