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

Started working on another NSX from last week.
The service menu is to overhaul the Brake system, Health Check, customised Annual Service, Front door sash, etc.

As it was very windy at the beginning of last week, decided to start inspecting the car before going out for the test driving session that I normally carry out at the very beginning of my Health Check service.


The first thing I noticed was the heavy CL pedal feeling.
Quite surprised for this very low mileage with twin disc CL.

Later, during the test driving session, the CL itself was not slipping but the owner already commented that he always felt juddery with question mark on whether the car will start moving forward or not so probably the CL was regularly engaged with some extra rpm and discs are probably fairly worn.

In my view, although the damper joint was meant to be installed in the CL Hyd system to eliminate this juddery feeling through the pedal, it's actually 'in-directly' causing the extra wear of CL discs resulting in CL judder because the driver can't feel the direct response of CL bite point.

With 90deg V-angle and the fact that the engine speed is not consistent depending on the phase of 4 cycle, the crank shaft is not generating steady torque so it will increase this juddery feeling on initial launch especially when the torsion spring is getting tired despite the presence of the flywheel.

Apart from the torsion springs suddenly go with age and fatigue, the friction discs won’t go all of a sudden so the owner can start looking into the CL service at the first sign of slip.
As long as the CL release guide is not rusty, CL pedal will feel super light with fresh OEM CL setup (for both the twin and single disc CL) so you can tell by the pedal feeling/weight on whether your CL is getting closer to the limit or not unless you have Type-R CL pedal with damperless joint.
Because of the pivot point magic, the CL pedal always feels light with Type-R setup.


I carried out Eng Refresh several years ago on this engine and at that time, because of the low mileage and the engine was very smooth and quiet, I didn’t replace the LMA.
The engine is still very quiet even with extra miles added so just keep driving regularly and recommend replacing the LMA at next TB/WP service.


The IG key including the spare one looked very sad with rubber body partially gone…..
Please consider getting the new one from US. http://www.nsxcb.co.uk/entry.php?231-NSX-Key

If you don’t need the Monel one or the later spec built-in immobiliser chip, the standard black plastic one is like US$14 so probably you will pay more for the delivery charge….
The Monel one is about US$100 these days…..


The owner told me that he had some concern over the FR tyre pressure.
However, when I checked all 4 tyres, the FL one was way too low but no damages, nails or any leakage from the valve core.
Will monitor the tyre pressure while it is at my place to see any slow puncture happening but so far, for about 10 days, no changes in all 4 tyre pressure.




The battery conditioner went into conditioning mode fairly quickly so it seems that the battery itself is in healthy condition.

However, I saw a sticker on the battery body showing ‘Test 11/2004’.
Not sure it means year 2004 or something else but if it's about 12 years old, best to replace it in the near future even if the battery itself seemed to be healthy.
The ordinary battery with electrode plates will suddenly fail if the plates fall off.


Couldn’t take video but the aspirator fan (CCU cabin temperature sensor, below the ash tray lid) is not spinning.
This NSX has aftermarket ICE so probably something related to the way it was installed.
The A/C CCU is recognising the sensor so the sensor connection itself is fine but not the tiny fan.




Even after several years, the cam shaft black disc area is still very dry.
This shows the importance of cleaning and conditioning the two surfaces properly and using good liquid gasket during the TB/WP service.
Standard TB/WP service won’t be able to achieve this.




However, as there was no need to remove the rocker shaft as I didn’t replace the LMA last time, I also didn’t replace the VTEC Spool valve filter/gasket and it just started seeping the oil.
Not enough to make the area wet but you can see shiny oil film in the above photo.
At the next TB/WP service, should be replaced or it can be done at earlier stage as it doesn’t need opening the engine.






The usual eyesore windshield upper molding….
These parts are already included in the service menu.
Later, during the test driving session, it felt as if it was making some wind noise from there.