Today at Atelier Kaz - ex-Honda R&D, F1, Indy/CART engineer

My NSX is an everyday car and I drive it throughout the year
including the winter season.

When I moved to this country, first thing I noticed was the level of
heavy corrosion on almost all NSX based in UK even with the ones
not driven in the wet conditions or stored away for several months
during the winter period.

It looked similar to the corrosion level on the NSX kept close to the
coastal area of Japan even inside the closed garage so I think it is
something to do with the salty moisture in the air during the
winter period due to heavy gritting on the road surface or
wind direction during the winter.

I wash my NSX whenever it got dirty and as you saw in my blog,
I even wash it in the rain.
Washing the car during winter is bit difficult as the water on the panel
could freeze up but this winter was quite easy.


I've been doing this pretty much every year for the
last 20 years with over 145K miles on my NSX.





So, once a year when the weather starts warming up, it’s time for me to
remove all four wheels and pressure wash the lower part of the body thoroughly
in order to remove any salt residue that I may not be able to wash off
through the normal washing process.


At the same time, it’s time to change the Eng oil and the oil filter as the
moisture level and blowby will increase during the winter period so
you want to replace them in preparation for the main warmer driving season.


Carried out quick check around the car and as reported a while ago,
the noise from the hair line crack on the defrost panel didn’t increase but
annoying depending on the cabin temperature especially while driving with
the direct sun light on it.

There was faint sign of CL master cyl leakage at the pushrod so
I’ll need to be prepared for CL Hyd Sys service.

Also, there was tiny-tiny movement at the RR wheel bearing when I lean
really hard on it while grabbing it at 6 & 12 o’clock position but no movement at all
at 3 & 9 position. I thought it could be the ball joint but since the movement was
so small yet it won’t show up without applying huge force so difficult to tell.
I'll just replace the bearing first as the RR was never replaced before.

This year is also time to OH my all four brake calipers and I must replace the
front brake disc and the pad.
I already upgraded my brake calipers to 02+ NSX-R spec long time ago and
already replaced the rear disc and pad with EBC ones.
I’ll use the same spec EBC plain disc with Red stuff brake pad for the front
as well.






If you wash your car regularly, you don’t need anything special to
keep it clean.
Before and after shots.






Same story for the suspension area.
Even after more than 145K miles and 20 years of age, your suspension parts can stay
like this by just regularly washing and drying them.






My oil cooler looked fairly healthy even after going through
many UK winter seasons so I believe driving/washing/drying it regularly
is helping the condition.

Just spray some silicone grease around the drive shaft rubber boots, ball joint boots
and all of the rubber bushes while carefully not to spray it on the brake disc.






Checked the compliance pivot position for no gap at the top and bottom.
Again, just spray some silicone grease and wipe it.




From today, I switched to this car shampoo.
I kept using Autoglym Bodywork Shampoo conditioner for many years and
while I was very happy with it, I was recommended to try
Simoniz Protection Car Wash.

During the blow dry process, it looked as if the water tends to disappear
much quicker than the Autoglym one but could be just my eyes.


Will see how it goes over the next several weeks.



Time to do the same process on the MX5 before start working on
another NSX this week.
It’s going to be a long one as it will require head gasket job.

Kaz