Honcho's Long Road to Imola Type-S Zero

[Honcho]

Re-Assembly 21

Front Bumper

Not a lot of pictures here due to the effort. My 6-year old son helped me fit this- I'm so proud of him. He did real work. Now I know why Kaz hates fitting the front bumper so much. Any adjustment in one spot causes the other spots to move. The bumper is quite flexible, so lining everything up can be tough. Also, I found it necessary to loosen the fender bolts and adjust the fender and bumper at the same time to manage the gaps. Even worse, I couldn't find any bolts for this. Spencer and I took it off over 2 years ago and, at the time, we thought it would go back on in a short time. I had to pirate bolts and nuts from other, properly labeled bags. Now, I have to remember to order those bolts so when I get to those parts, I'm not in the same boat.

On this NSX, it was necessary to raise the bumper beam as high as possible to manage the step from the fender to the top edges of the upper bumper. The overall height of the bumper is governed by the 4 visible top bolts that connect it to the bumper beam brackets. Even then, I still had to adjust the fender down to make it acceptable. One spacer was required on each side of the bumper skirt to make the edges flush with the fenders.

Also, using the Type-S/R A/C guards revealed a fitment issue on the passenger side condenser. it was pushed about 10 mm front and down compared to the driver side. Using the frame repair manual, I measured and measured, and could not find any issue with the body. Ultimately, I was able to get acceptable fitment by mounting the condenser as high and rearward as possible- there is some adjustment in the mounting holes. I used a few spacers on the rubber mounting hole closest to the body. I suspect the condenser was pulled down when the prior owner hit whatever he hit that ripped the lower bumper off the car. That probably bent the thin aluminum retainer piece. It's a bolt-on part, but since I got ok fitment, I won't replace it. Thankfully, it does not appear to have damaged the main frame of the car. All of the measurements are within spec.

The turn light is just set there for fitment- I wanted to make sure that the condenser issue wasn't going to affect the light. It didn't. Welcome to the world of hand built cars.

Almost caught up on the blog. A few more engine bay projects and wiring to document. I have to say the painter did an excellent job matching the bumper. It's so close I can't tell, which is impressive considering the added flexibility agent and effect of the static charge on the pearl flakes.

 

[socalx]

 

[socalx]

Na1 nsxr aluminum bumper beam

 

[RYU]

Looking like a car again. This car will always be more interesting at meets because of the documentation on Prime of the rebuild. If you had never done this folks would never know. I hope you will video the first time you light the fires ....

Dude... you're spot on. You have no idea how my default reaction to seeing repainted NSXs typically make me cringe. I'm sorry to the owners as a few are probably meticulously painted, but at first glance I cringe nonetheless. Paul's is straight up awe and jaw dropping.

Front Bumper

You reminded me of my efforts with the 02+ conversion. It was all stock - OE parts or nothing. I eventually swapped out the fenders to DF fenders and those required some massaging to get right as well, however I can't imagine how annoyed i'd be if the front bumper assembly wasn't OEM. Nice work as always Paul!

 

[Honcho]

Dude... you're spot on. You have no idea how my default reaction to seeing repainted NSXs typically make me cringe. I'm sorry to the owners as a few are probably meticulously painted, but at first glance I cringe nonetheless. Paul's is straight up awe and jaw dropping.


You reminded me of my efforts with the 02+ conversion. It was all stock - OE parts or nothing. I eventually swapped out the fenders to DF fenders and those required some massaging to get right as well, however I can't imagine how annoyed i'd be if the front bumper assembly wasn't OEM. Nice work as always Paul!

Thanks Regan. Your engine is going to be the next awe and jaw dropping...

 

[docjohn]

I forgot to ask are you going to clamp the compliance pivot beams?

 

[Honcho]

I forgot to ask are you going to clamp the compliance pivot beams?

No- the compliance pivot is such a unique Honda innovation that I consider it to be part of the personality of the car. I want to keep that feeling, even though it will cost me some lap time at the track. I am doing the non-compliance rear beam though.

 

[RYU]

No- the compliance pivot is such a unique Honda innovation that I consider it to be part of the personality of the car. I want to keep that feeling, even though it will cost me some lap time at the track. I am doing the non-compliance rear beam though.

I also prefer a compliant front end :biggrin:

 

[Honcho]

Re-Assembly 22

Fuel Filler

Lots of progress this week. Not many pictures due to the effort, but the fuel filler and door were completed. Lots of fitting required at the fuel door to ensure it does not hit the body when opened and also even gaps and acceptable flush fit to the quarter panel.

New grommets because I lost the old ones.

My fuel door required two spacers on the lower screw and one spacer on the upper screw. Yours is probably different.

Checking the opening.

I had to use the wire wheel to strip the red paint off of the mounting screws. These will be finished in Imola Orange when I return to the paint shop for final touch-ups and buffing. Not pleased with the look of the old flange screws, so I ordered new ones. Also, installed a new gas cap and greased the release cable.

Release cable installed at the filler tube.

 

[Honcho]

Re-Assembly 23

Purge Canister, Control Box

After restoration and a coat of 303 protectant, the purge canister is installed. Due to the space constraints, installation was quite difficult. We also added back the airbox brackets.

Replaced the ancient fuel drain hose with a new part.

Drain snapped in place. You can see the NSX-R damper-less joint here too.

 

[Honcho]

Re-Assembly 24

Front Cowl

Waiting for parts from Japan to complete the headlights, so we moved to the front cowl and lower windshield trim. Not pictured is the HVAC air intake filter we installed, which uses excess speaker mesh material from the door panel restoration. Not HEPA by any means, but it should keep most of the large debris out of the blower and evaporator while permitting acceptable air flow.

All new windshield washer tubing pre-positioned for the hood fitment.

Just a cool picture.

 

[Honcho]

Re-Assembly 25

Control Box, Heat Shields

Vacuum control box restored and placed back in the engine bay.

Front engine heat shield installed.

Rear engine heat shield installed.

Also managed to clean the rear window with steel wool and glass cleaner. The last vestiges of the sticker farm are gone. Disappointed to see some condensation residue made it between the glass panels. No way to clean this, so may have to replace the window with the single-pane version down the road.

 

[Honcho]

Re-Assembly 26

Spoiler

Removed the high-stop tail light and replaced the broken wire harness connector. Once the repair was complete, I installed the Imola Orange screw covers. Perfect match.

 

[Honcho]

General

General update for the blog. Most of the interior wiring is complete and we are ready to install the dashboard, floor carpets and steering rack. When those are complete, we will finish the build out of the doors, windows, body seals and side skirts. With these steps complete, all projects that can be performed with the car still on the roller dolly will be finished. Then, we will have to wait until the chassis is back on jack stands to complete the major remaining tasks:

Install center tunnel coolant hoses
Install fuel tank
Install front subframe
Install rear subframe/transaxle

In the meantime, we will tear down Spencer's NSX for its paint job. During this time, I will complete the engine refresh and transmission rebuild. When Spencer's car leaves for the body shop, the Imola NSX will go back on stands for the final assembly.

Then, we turn the key and cross our fingers...

 

[Honcho]

Engine Refresh 31

Manganese Bronze Valve Guides

Stopped by the machine shop today to check the progress on the cylinder heads. Mainly to see the work on the new managnese bronze valve guides. Because I am using the 36mm intake valve, it is recommended to change out the Honda guides, as they can crack and fall out of the head in this configuration. The machinist had to heat the heads to 300 F several times to get all 24 guides out. Thankfully, there was only a tiny amount of galling on a few guides and the new guides went in without issue.

Prior to guide removal, the heads were washed for 2 hours in a hot bath ultrasonic cleaner. There will be several more wash cycles after the valve seats are cut. He also did not like the state of the block mating surface, so he will mill them, taking off the absolute minimum amount of metal. He was impressed with the smoothness of the Honda castings in the valve ports and the quality of the alloy. He said it was far superior to most of the other makes he sees.

Unfortunately, several of my NA2 intake valves measured out of spec, so we decided to use the Supertech versions. That will induce a 3-day delay for shipping, but these heads should be ready in a couple of weeks.

 

[docjohn]

were those my old heads or from your auto...

 

[Honcho]

were those my old heads or from your auto...

These are from my AT. Yours are on their way to Regan for his ITB 3.6L beast project.

 

[docjohn]

ahhh so you pimped out my heads.....

 

[Big McLargeHuge]

Always nice to see some good heads, shiny and chrome.

 

[docjohn]

stay chrome honcho boy............

 

[solidol]

Paul, do you mind sharing the cost for the valve job? Here or privately. Everything looks amazing.

 

[RYU]

Hey! Include me too

Paul, do you mind sharing the cost for the valve job? Here or privately. Everything looks amazing.

 

[Honcho]

Paul, do you mind sharing the cost for the valve job? Here or privately. Everything looks amazing.

Hey! Include me too

Cost is "whatever it takes to get it perfect". It's evolving, as most engine work tends to lol. I'll let you guys know the final tally though. I like this shop enough to recommend shipping your heads to them for service.

 

[Honcho]

Re-Assembly 27

Ignition Switch and Key Interlock

Removed the key interlock device on the steering column. On the AT NSX, there is an interlock device that prevents the key from being removed from the ignition unless the gear lever is in Park. It's a fairly simple device- a plunger-type solenoid that actuates a small lever, which blocks the key. A bit fiddly to remove the lever, but not too bad.

Also, since I do not know the age of the original unit, I replaced the ignition switch just to be safe. It's not an expensive part and the access will never be better than it is right now.

 

[Honcho]

Re-Assembly 28

Window Glass

We started the big job of building out the doors, which will be the final body project before we start tearing down Spencer's NSX. One of the first jobs, which I have been putting off, is removing the ancient, crappy tint from the windows. Using a heat gun and razor blade, I was successful. I hate window tint. I just do. The tint left a sticky residue all over the glass. It smelled awful. I resorted to my tried-and-true glass method of well-lubricated scraping with a razor followed by cleaning with fine steel wool. I use Safelite glass cleaner as my lubricant and wipe thoroughly with a microfiber to finish. The result is a nearly-new looking piece of glass, like Honda intended.