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Thread: Britludes NSX story

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Sep 2005
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    Default Britludes NSX story

    Here’s my ‘build’ thread….

    zKIF_0446800x600 by jon , on Flickr

    1992 Honda NSX
    JDM
    Charlotte (or Brooklands)
    Green 3.0ltr automatic (i don't care, it's a NSX!)

    I bought my car in September 2005 needing a little TLC. I’d seen it listed twice in the previous year on ebay, watching it work it’s way down the country before I bought it from an ad in Autotrader… the previous 2 owners only having it for 6 months each! I suspect the previous owner, a Ferrari fan, couldn’t get used to the concept of a car that would start and go without fuss, rather than the excitement of what would fail to work with the turn of the ignition key or if the timing belt would need changing after a week of use!! That and not being able to get the steering wheel comfortable for himself… It only tilts apparently… Strange that the column has 2 levers then… Anyway, back to the plot... When I got the car I started to sort the bits that needed doing…


    - Drivers footwell/column cover… one of the forward locating pins had broken off, the other not located, so the panel bounced off the top of my feet when driving… always a good feeling, wondering of your foot would be stuck on the throttle, unable to lift up to get to the brake!!! Fixed that first

    - when I got the car the drivers door handle had broken (the small cast aluminium bit that pulls the cable) which aided negotiations! On arrival home, and after sorting the footwell cover I stripped the handle, and carefully lumiwelded the broken pieces back together! £320 for a new handle saved! (Door fixit thingies were used later, once I’d found that they existed!)

    - as part of the importing process a few tweaks were done to make it comply with UK regs… the first was the speedo, which was recalibrated with a small box of magic in the speed signal wiring, and a small ‘mph’ sticker on the speedo. However in their haste they had managed to lose the clear legend where the petrol light is. With the aid of the handbook dash layout a new legend was printed on clear acetate and the dash returned to original! They also managed to lose the trip reset button on the speedo, but I found that later under the carpet ( 7 years after import!)

    - Boot release bodge in the door … When the car was imported, and tweaked for the UK roads, they obviously discovered the boot release button wasn’t working, so a power feed was hotwired from the remote alarm sensor in the door … Not realising it was the valet switch in the glove box turned off!!!

    - Also to comply with UK regs a fog light was added by disconnecting the inner set of brake lamps (JDM have an extra pair) and wiring them to a switch in the centre console (an ugly switch that needed changing later). All well and good except my car didn’t have a brake warning light like every other NSX…. That’ll be because of the black tape over it! Sorted that, rewired the cente brake lights via a relay to function as both brake lights and fog when necessary. This is still dodgy in the world of regs, so was later changed, but did for the time being, the added bonus being the brake warning lamp on the dash reminding you when the fogs were on!

    - TCS switch didn’t light up…. Does with a new bulb!

    - aircon controller (ACC) had lamps out, again a couple of ‘grain of wheat’ bulbs sorted that, and gave me experience of getting the centre console out!

    - traditional sticky slow windows…. Greased for the time being, until I knew better

    - removed the hideously installed Bluetooth kit… well I didn’t have a Bluetooth phone anyway!

    - front spoiler was reattached as it had been scraped once too often

    - new gas rams for the engine hatch as they didn’t work, even the first time tha car was on ebay

    - new gas rams for the boot lid (http://www.nsxcb.co.uk/showthread.ph...=5816#post5816 )

    - the electric aerial shaft was replaced as the old one was broken. Fortunately JDM has a half height option so it wasn’t too much of an issue, just it was broken!

    - the car was suffering with the traditional split sun visors, fortunately I had some vinyl that was a perfect match for the originals… so pockets were sewn and the visors carefully sewn in!

    - whilst I was up there I removed the headlining and repaired the back edge, someone previously had been trying to get the headlining out for some reason and had managed to break the back edge, so that it was bent and hung too low, reinforced and rectified it was back to how it should be!

    - finally the bonnet catch/release was cleaned and oiled so that it worked properly!

    - just to add to the mix, the aftermarket alarm on the car had a boot release button… so it might as well do what it was designed for, especially as the boot has a solenoid release! (guess how I found the boot release in the door bodge!!!!


    So, now I had a car that basically did everything it was supposed to, everything that should have worked, did work, and all was well with the world

    ......except those wheels look a bit small

    and the fog lights are a bit unsightly

    and its got a cassette player...

    ....to be continued....


    ........... in the edit screen there's blank lines between the bullet points, making it somewhat easier to read. I did try, honest! ... *edited, note to self, don't try to be flash and use bullet-points!!!*
    Last edited by britlude; 18-07-2017 at 10:08 PM.
    aka Jonathan!!

    '92 charlotte green auto.... as a daily
    '37 Ford Y street rod......... something for the weekend!

    ...... if a photobucket pic is foggy, click it, and it'll take you to the clear version, yes, it's a clicking faff....

  2. Default

    Fascinating as usual Jonathan, really enjoy reading your project posts, you have great skill and knowhow, keep up the good work,

    Thank you for sharing,

    Ian

  3. #3

    Default

    Very interesting and gives me an insight into what I have let myself in for. I am not mechanically minded and had no intentions of getting my hands dirty but so far my list consists of:

    1) Reattaching the front spoiler

    2) Changing the gear knob

    3) Changing the battery

    4) Disconnecting the antenna

    Number 5 will be installing a new Shark II antenna (when it finally arrives)

    From little acorns do large oaks grow!
    Geoff

    S21 NSX red 1998 NSX T NA2 3.2 manual with pop ups
    black 2010 Renaultsport RS250
    black 2007 Honda Civic Type R gt......gone but sadly missed
    black 2006 Lexus RX400h

  4. #4

    Default

    these JDM's require a little bit more tlc

    interested to see what your thoughts are longer term re these

    agreed, the f.l's do nothing for the car apart from making it look dated ... and as for the tape deck ... LOL

    Quote Originally Posted by britlude View Post
    and the fog lights are a bit unsightly

    and its got a cassette player.......

    to be continued.....
    Last edited by nobby; 17-05-2012 at 10:46 PM.
    "The value of life can be measured by how many times you soul has been deeply stirred" - Soichiro Honda

  5. #5

    Default

    Excellent, I look forward to reading more

  6. #6

    Default

    Next installment please, would love to see the wheels you have chosen
    Scott
    1994 Red/black roof NA1 Manual
    1993 Red/black roof NA1 Auto - SOLD
    2001 Imola Orange Pearl NA2 T manual - SOLD
    2019 Mercedes GLC - Daily Drive

    Previous Toys
    Chesil Porsche Speedster
    GTD GT40 5.7 L Ford
    2008 CAV GT40 5.7 L Ford Audi 6 speed trans
    Ultima Sports 5.7 L SBC, G50 trans
    Superformance AC Cobra 427 SC
    Factory Demonstrator Ultima Sports 5.7 L SBC, G50 trans

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Sep 2005
    Location
    Garden of England
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    Default

    The continuing story…

    Oh, I forgot, the towing eye cover in the front bumper was missing, sourced through honda UK, and supplied in the correct colour too!

    When I got the car it had 68k miles showing, converted from km to miles at 48k when it came into the country in 1997. So once everything else was done a quick service of oil filter, air filter, oil, sparkplugs and antfreeze was done at 70k.

    I did all the work myself, as
    1. I can,
    2. I enjoy it
    3. the muppet who owned it before me lost pretty much all the paperwork except the receipt for a timing belt service when it first came to the UK. All it takes is a little folder!!!

    So as there wasn’t any service history, and subsequently no need to maintain overpriced service stamps as such (really, how much do dealers want to change oil and wipe with a damp rag??!!) I started to keep a record of the bits I have done to the car, hence I can make this list! Some times I noted mileometer readings, or dates, but they are all in order!

    Anyway, getting back to the plot…

    I had to do something about the numberplate…. Before and after, now tucked more into the grill opening, not plonked on the outside!
    numberplatebefore-after by jon sutherland, on Flickr

    and I did play with different methods to ‘hide’ the fog lights… tint film/tint spray….
    zKIF_0456800x600 by jon sutherland, on Flickr

    I think I lasted about 6 months before the wheels got to me, and after some searching, and an ask on the forum, I soon got a set of 17/18 staggered split-rim wheels, in the correct offsets for the NSX, from a member here!, at a good price, and a style I liked! They are from a Belgium company, called Evox … http://www.evoxwheels.com/index2.html , bright silver centres and chromed rims!

    Blingtastic!!

    They looked like this….
    Image395 by jon sutherland, on Flickr


    then I just ran the car for a while, enjoying it while I did a major update/respray/retrim on my hotrod

    to be continued…… again……
    Last edited by britlude; 18-07-2017 at 10:11 PM.
    aka Jonathan!!

    '92 charlotte green auto.... as a daily
    '37 Ford Y street rod......... something for the weekend!

    ...... if a photobucket pic is foggy, click it, and it'll take you to the clear version, yes, it's a clicking faff....

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Sep 2005
    Location
    Garden of England
    Posts
    2,772

    Default

    a bit of boring maintenance next…

    76647 miles… oil change plus new O2 sensors … not knowing if they had ever been changed/renewed, the O2 sensors came from sparkplugs.com in the good ‘ol U S of A…. http://www.nsxcb.co.uk/showthread.ph...late#post20827

    79000 miles.... braided brake lines from a member here, after they had bought them from another member here that also had failed to fit them to a car!! In the process of fitting, I did a brake fluid flush, and a nice set of new brake pads front and rear

    83375 miles.... oil change and tappets adjusted (27/7/07) my first delve into the inner workings of this engine, turns out it's not that complicated after all, just a bit fiddly! having said that, my dad and i did a cambelt change on his Renault Avantime V6 last weekend, and that makes the NSX engine bay positively spacious! anyway, an engine pic from 2007....

    Image004 by jon sutherland, on Flickr

    on a side note, the engine internals colour hadn’t got any worse in the subsequent 5 years between the above 2007 pic and the 2012 pic below….
    WP_20160506_16_22_07_Pro by jon sutherland, on Flickr

    ....if anything, with the frequent oil changes it’s actually got cleaner, so all good there then. The theory I have with timing my oil changes is this… when the oil is new, it shows 2 marks on the gauge at tickover when the oil is hot, as it degrades over time and the oil gets thinner, the hot idle reading on the gauge falls. When it starts to get near the single mark I change it! Its worked out an average of 6000 miles, and it’s cheap insurance!

    July 2007 (or 83700 miles)
    fit shiny new stainless exhaust headers, as i can't understand the reasoning behind fitting cast iron boat anchors as manifolds! I also got to replace hideously corroded exhaust fittings, the exhaust system makes perfectly good nuts and bolts dissolve!
    attachment-1 by jon sutherland, on Flickr

    see this thread…. http://www.nsxcb.co.uk/showthread.ph...-on-Ebay/page3
    Last edited by britlude; 18-07-2017 at 10:17 PM.
    aka Jonathan!!

    '92 charlotte green auto.... as a daily
    '37 Ford Y street rod......... something for the weekend!

    ...... if a photobucket pic is foggy, click it, and it'll take you to the clear version, yes, it's a clicking faff....

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Sep 2005
    Location
    Garden of England
    Posts
    2,772

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    84000 miles
    I was getting a knocking/whining noise from the rear of the car when it was driven, and couldn’t pin it down. I pulled back the drive shaft boots both sides, and on one and the grease had been thrown out, leaving the coupling dry, and when I checked the other side I’m convinced a small amount of water came out.

    Now I can’t be sure it came from inside the joint, but it wasn’t there before the gaitor was removed and it was after. It could have been a freaky coincidence, but I ordered a pair of low mileage replacement drive shafts from Dirk, and a pair of rear wheel bearing/hub units.

    Fortunately this order coincided with Dirk making a trip to London, so that helped!

    Note that the auto drive shafts and the manual drive shafts are different, just to be awkward! With the driveshafts out, the defective wheel bearing was identified and replaced at the same time.
    The wheel bearing/hubs bolt on, so makes life easier!
    While I was under there I replaced the transmission fluid. Simples!

    April 2008… abs sensor went down, throwing up abs light and TCS lights on the dash, a quick short of the service connector showed the corner responsible and a replacement ordered. I did wonder what had happened….
    Image279 by jon sutherland, on Flickr

    hmmm maybe those 2 broken wires poking out of the metal plate are supposed to go somewhere…??


    Here’s the tread …. http://www.nsxcb.co.uk/showthread.ph...sensor-how-to!
    Last edited by britlude; 18-07-2017 at 10:18 PM.
    aka Jonathan!!

    '92 charlotte green auto.... as a daily
    '37 Ford Y street rod......... something for the weekend!

    ...... if a photobucket pic is foggy, click it, and it'll take you to the clear version, yes, it's a clicking faff....

  10. #10
    Join Date
    Sep 2005
    Location
    Garden of England
    Posts
    2,772

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    September 2008 with the new headers on, and declared to the insurance that it had non standard exhaust, I had a play with the rest of the exhaust system! Well, it would be rude not to! as I mentioned earlier, the original box was showing some stress one end…. This was replaced with a custom system I knocked up over a weekend! I initially made with steel boxes, just to prove the concept, and later replaced with stainless boxes once I found some for a reasonable price in the ’muffled’ , rather than ‘chambered’, variety
    Boxes mocked up
    zImage618640x480 by jon sutherland, on Flickr

    basically 2 separate systems
    zImage626640x480-1 by jon sutherland, on Flickr

    that interlink
    zImage627640x480 by jon sutherland, on Flickr

    Here’s the full thread…. http://www.nsxcb.co.uk/showthread.ph...my-new-exhaust

    to be continued........... once i write up the next bit!..........
    Last edited by britlude; 18-07-2017 at 10:20 PM.
    aka Jonathan!!

    '92 charlotte green auto.... as a daily
    '37 Ford Y street rod......... something for the weekend!

    ...... if a photobucket pic is foggy, click it, and it'll take you to the clear version, yes, it's a clicking faff....

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