Back in '01 my NSX was found by the PO at Stevens Acura in Ca. It was purchased with 31K miles and went to Denver from there. While in Denver the car was upgraded at 36K to a 6spd and headers, RPS clutch, 4.55 R&P, Brembo Indys and CT exhaust added.
From there the car went to Mark Basch for supercharging. Sorry, no pics there. The PO of 740 was transferred to St Louis. When Dan Hessey downsized Sprint the PO put 740 in the Prime marketplace and after a PPI a deal was made. 740 headed further east to Cincinnati.
Looking sexy yet dated 740 arrived in Cincy looking like this:
With a fresh retune the car made 384 linear WHP and felt nice. After much consideration I decided to lose the chromies and decided on Advans:
Darkening up the wheels drove me to darken up some other bits:
Now that we have the body nailed down, where are we at on the motor? 740 had already went from this:
to this:
Which looked cool and the Paxton sounded cool, but 384whp felt like weak sauce after a while. I decided to go turbo and shoot for 400whp of turbocharged power so at Thanksgiving of last year 740 went to Traverse City for a LoveFab turbo. Upon initial visual inspection a vacuum line was disconnected from the motor and Cody said that on other FIC managed builds this hose being disconnected was not a good omen as this hose would have helped the FIC pull timing when necessary.
Worst did come to worst. A cylinder was discovered down and it didn't make sense to continue with the turbo conversion. So go big, right? A build using these was begun:
LoveFab stage 2 build with CP 9:1 pistons, converted rods, no sleeves, ARP studs, Cometic gaskets, RC750's, WAI, 67mm turbo.
Cody got the car done but bumped into tuning issues. The best that we could manage on the FIC was 508hp @ 360tq:
The FIC just would not allow sufficient timing management and Cody got distracted by Pikes Peak so I brought the car back to Cincinnati. I'm SOOOOO lucky to have Source 1 Automotive here in Cincinnati. While Cody sowed his oats and we contemplated the tuning issues that we were experiencing with the 95 ECU, Brian replaced the 4.55 final drive with the factory 6 speed R&P sourced from Shad at Driving Ambition.
Even though the motor was underperforming it was still strong enough to kill the RPS clutch so Brian replaced the RPS with the SOS Dual Carbon unit. While there Brian also installed his end link kits which both tightened up the suspension and restored some compliance at the same time.
We sourced the AEM Series 2 from SOS also. Cody felt that the AEM Series 2 EMS would give us the timing control that was needed to allow a better tune, especially part-throttle. I got a son off to college and another one married then a friendly weather window opened. I drove 740 back to Traverse for a Series 2 EMS and retune. The retune yielded more like what we were hoping for, here's the improvement:
The AEM series 2 proved to be the key. The SOS Dual Carbon has a stock pedal effort compared to the RPS squat bench effort and clamps down effectively. As I appreciate Source 1 and Brian here I also appreciate what SOS brings to the table. I suppose one could source an AEM EMS, or a Dual Carbon clutch or some other bit directly or from another source but why? Chris has already done the R&D and the NSX parts that he supplies come with exactly what is needed for the application. The EMS came with the requisite cables and the clutch likewise. Thanks for making it easy Chris, I'm happy to continue to sport the SOS decal.
And here's some other shots to fill in the spaces:
I can't even begin to describe what the NSX is like with 600+ whp, a great tune and some aero bits. The Series 2 EMS allowed retention of TCS and it along with the SOS Dual Carbon keeps that power going through the drivetrain effectively. The car is just so smooth and so composed at low speeds, then it is incredible when the boost comes on. What a wonderful car.
Thanks Primers!
From there the car went to Mark Basch for supercharging. Sorry, no pics there. The PO of 740 was transferred to St Louis. When Dan Hessey downsized Sprint the PO put 740 in the Prime marketplace and after a PPI a deal was made. 740 headed further east to Cincinnati.
Looking sexy yet dated 740 arrived in Cincy looking like this:
With a fresh retune the car made 384 linear WHP and felt nice. After much consideration I decided to lose the chromies and decided on Advans:
Darkening up the wheels drove me to darken up some other bits:
Now that we have the body nailed down, where are we at on the motor? 740 had already went from this:
to this:
Which looked cool and the Paxton sounded cool, but 384whp felt like weak sauce after a while. I decided to go turbo and shoot for 400whp of turbocharged power so at Thanksgiving of last year 740 went to Traverse City for a LoveFab turbo. Upon initial visual inspection a vacuum line was disconnected from the motor and Cody said that on other FIC managed builds this hose being disconnected was not a good omen as this hose would have helped the FIC pull timing when necessary.
Worst did come to worst. A cylinder was discovered down and it didn't make sense to continue with the turbo conversion. So go big, right? A build using these was begun:
LoveFab stage 2 build with CP 9:1 pistons, converted rods, no sleeves, ARP studs, Cometic gaskets, RC750's, WAI, 67mm turbo.
Cody got the car done but bumped into tuning issues. The best that we could manage on the FIC was 508hp @ 360tq:
The FIC just would not allow sufficient timing management and Cody got distracted by Pikes Peak so I brought the car back to Cincinnati. I'm SOOOOO lucky to have Source 1 Automotive here in Cincinnati. While Cody sowed his oats and we contemplated the tuning issues that we were experiencing with the 95 ECU, Brian replaced the 4.55 final drive with the factory 6 speed R&P sourced from Shad at Driving Ambition.
Even though the motor was underperforming it was still strong enough to kill the RPS clutch so Brian replaced the RPS with the SOS Dual Carbon unit. While there Brian also installed his end link kits which both tightened up the suspension and restored some compliance at the same time.
We sourced the AEM Series 2 from SOS also. Cody felt that the AEM Series 2 EMS would give us the timing control that was needed to allow a better tune, especially part-throttle. I got a son off to college and another one married then a friendly weather window opened. I drove 740 back to Traverse for a Series 2 EMS and retune. The retune yielded more like what we were hoping for, here's the improvement:
The AEM series 2 proved to be the key. The SOS Dual Carbon has a stock pedal effort compared to the RPS squat bench effort and clamps down effectively. As I appreciate Source 1 and Brian here I also appreciate what SOS brings to the table. I suppose one could source an AEM EMS, or a Dual Carbon clutch or some other bit directly or from another source but why? Chris has already done the R&D and the NSX parts that he supplies come with exactly what is needed for the application. The EMS came with the requisite cables and the clutch likewise. Thanks for making it easy Chris, I'm happy to continue to sport the SOS decal.
And here's some other shots to fill in the spaces:
I can't even begin to describe what the NSX is like with 600+ whp, a great tune and some aero bits. The Series 2 EMS allowed retention of TCS and it along with the SOS Dual Carbon keeps that power going through the drivetrain effectively. The car is just so smooth and so composed at low speeds, then it is incredible when the boost comes on. What a wonderful car.
Thanks Primers!
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You have a very clean nsx! The wheels and carbon go great together and you have to have one of the shortest shifters out there lol
