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

Making good progress with my finger sensitivity recovery and I think I’m now 99% back to where I want to be.

Even feel that I’m ready for the most delicate task of transmission overhaul but I would rather go through several Eng Refresh services first as planned.

For the clarification, this is not the CL service but the trans overhaul involving the full disassembly of the main and/or countershaft.

As mentioned, some of the 5MT/6MT gear parts are on long back order with parts quality/accuracy in doubt for specific gears so not ideal.

1% deduction because I’ll never recover the sensitivity to full on one fingertip as the nerve was damaged.

With my everyday testing, with this one finger, I can only distinguish 5mm gap but nothing less than that.

But that’s when the wonder of human body kicks in.

If having some difficulties, other fingers and the body parts compensate them and I even think my sensitivity is even higher than before this happened.





Making good progress on the car side as well.

Kept the brake system under pressure for few weeks and 120% sure that there is no leak.

Always using the specific procedure in specific order in aligning the header/CAT/exh box against the bumper lower skirt/valance but still, this aftermarket one was a big challenge.

The whole system sits just so solid once all bolts/nuts tightened and almost feels like one alignment shape than multiple flexibilities.

Seen similar thing on many aftermarket headers and in longer term, it would cause crack at the collector.





Previously, forgot to take photo of the painting on the fuel tank drain port.

It was rusty.

Was hoping that it will come out much more matt finish but once start driving, it will be covered in road film/debris so should blend in with the rest.

Obviously, no leakage at all. It’s fuel.



The latest challenge.

Everytime when I tried placing back something, the mating thread was already damaged or the wrong bolt was in use.

Many places were already repaired in the past for the same reason.

Just for this area, 3 places had to be repaired or different spec bolt to be used as I didn’t feel comfortable using the re-coil on thin metal wall.




In Japan, many dealers are no longer willing to work on NSX because it just takes too long or sometimes just sitting on the lift waiting for many days for the backordered parts.

Any overtime spent above the standard labour charge/time specified in the parts system textbook or doing nothing while sitting on the lift would result in loss of money so I don’t blame them.




NSX service is more of restoration stage than ordinary service these days.

Many electronics components are already discontinued (they were designed before the RoHs era) and some of the OEM parts are on long back order, discontinued or went through the huge price hike.





Hope the owners will take preventative measure before experiencing the known failure mode and us the specialists to keep researching/studying the new technology/method in saving/repairing the existing parts.





And after months/years, finally connected the battery.

The ABS/TCS would stay On as I haven’t connected the RR w/speed sensor and also the ABS pump big connector is disconnected at the moment in order to get extra space for removing the spare wheel guard bracket.

Another location where the bolt thread could get oxidation.

Many NSX would have one bolt seared off during its life if someone tried removing it.






Used the battery to prime the fuel system more than 15 times.

No leakage around the INJ seal or fuel lines.

Not sure that was the cause but despite good 100% battery voltage, the battery tester showed that it’s not healthy.

It was on the battery conditioner all the time and while I don’t know how old this battery is, will check again once I have fired up the engine.






Before connecting the battery and while placing back everything, noticed that this BRN/BLK wire at the eng/side loom connector under the eng bay fuse box popped out from the back of the connector.

With DBW model, I don’t know what this wire is for as I don’t have the full electronics diagram for the DBW one.

It lost the waterproof seal and the wire is shorter than it should be so must be repaired in the past.

If I try placing it back to the original connector holder under the fuse box, I’m quite sure the terminal would pop out again.

Since the wire is too short, not much point in repairing it using the new WPC seal and the terminal unless extending the wire.

For now, I have sealed it using the liquid gasket and going to probably use cable tie to secure it.






Fresh Eng oil with new filter.

Have been hand cranking the engine many times every day for weeks now.

I’m not worried about the upper end because the camshaft, cam caps, LMA, etc were all assembled using my trusted blue assembly lube.

However, can’t see anything at the crank/rod metal without disassemblying the bottom end so always remove the spark plugs and hand crank it for a while followed by the starter cranking.







Ready for the vacuum leak check followed by the vaccum fill of the cooling system.

Normally, I would use 30sec fireup to push any remaining air towards the front but on this occasion, I’ll use the starter cranking mentioned above.


Need to torque the rear suspension bolts under 1G, replace CL master cyl while installing the Type-S CL pedal before I can finally move the car off the lift.

Must pass MOT first before the owner can tax and insure the car so not possible to tell the exact date on when the owner will be collecting the car but getting there.

In parallel, doing the quick fluid service on #4-2 as the owner doesn’t drive in the wet so going to leave the Eng Refresh and ABS upgrade until next year.

I also wanted to listen to the eng noise with my own ear though we both couldn’t hear it unless we got closer to the RR wheel.


The #1 NSX with the window regulator replacement is now scheduled.

Thank you to the owner for the consideration on the parking situation.



While so busy, good thing is that I’m enjoying this again.

Just need reviewing on the method of updating the people as while always stayed in UK, like living under multiple different time zones recently.

Not ideal speech writing all these and probably use different method....


Kaz