JMC's Slow build

[JMChristopher]

The reupholstering adventure

I got ambitious and decided to do something about the frilly leather on the door inserts and the bubbling coating on the trim.

First the finished door panels:

How it started:

The fabric purchased from Amazon:

Remove the panels. This can is easy, just fold the metal tabs up and pry the panels off.

Backside of the panels:

Tear the leather off. The foam and adhesive residue can be removed with some paint stripper. Just let the metal panels soak for a bit.

For the door handle inserts, be very careful removing the foam. It might be best to try and leave it on. I removed it with paint stripper and kind of ruined the inserts:

Get some 1/8" foam from Amazon or someplace and cut some generously sized patterns for each panel:

Use contact cement to adhere the foam to the panel:

Trim them down with a knife:

Do the same thing with the cloth/leather. You can use the same contact cement:

Trim it down so there is about 1/2" extra that can be folded around the panel. Add some extra cuts so it can conform to the shape of the panel:

End result: Its a little sloppy, but you don't see this side. If you get any contact cement on the good side, use a bit of water to clean it up before it cures.

Do the same thing with all the inserts and then just put them back in the door. If you use alcantara or some kind, you wont have to worry about the felt strip added to keep things from squeaking.
End result:

Looks pretty Fresh:

 

[Butters]

Lovin' this refresh you got goin' on!

 

[Professor X]

Nice build. Clean car. Do you have a link from amazon for the the fabric?

 

[JMChristopher]

Sorry for the late response. Yes, This is what I ordered. A single yard is plenty for the door inserts.

 

[NSXGB]

One thing to be careful when covering the door handle inserts is not to wrap the foam around the edges and make sure the fabric wrapped round is as thin as possible i.e. Don't overlap any fabric if possible. If you do it will make it difficult to remove the panel in the future.

 

[JMChristopher]

The second half: Repainting the trim. The finished product first:

It came out a little more metallic than I expected.
Turns out that I never took before pics of the trip, but there was some mild wrinking/bubbling on the plastic panels.

I used this guide:
http://www.nsxprime.com/forum/showt...refinishing-bubbling-or-peeling-interior-trim

First step is to remove the interior door panels. Then remove the trim. This is pretty easy to do. It is just held in with a few screws. When removing the window and locking controls from the trim, be careful not to break any of the clips. If you do, a little bit of epoxy will help hold it in place. Sorry for not having a pic of this.

As explained in the guide, you can strip the trim with some ferric chloride, this will take a while. It took a couple months for all the little bits of coating to come off. Ferric chloride will stain everything if not rinsed off immediately, so be cautious that it doesn't leak.

Once it is all stripped, clean it up with some water and rubbing alcohol:

Put some primer on. I used three conservative coats:

After that I used some very fine steel wheels and a buffing wheel to smooth it out. After that, put some paint on. I used this:

After three coats:

It will be just a bit matte until the clear coat goes on:

If I had to do it again, I would choose a darker color with no flake. It still turned out nicely though.
Once complete, put it all back together:

Next up, the center console:

I ordered the SOS carbon fiber center console:

Backside:

It doesn't have any mounting hardware, so I need to come up with a solution for that. Once I get that figured out, I will give it the same treatment as the door trim.

It has been pretty hot in Texas, too hot to work in the garage, so this has been off and on for a few months. It is cooling off again, so it is time to take on some bigger projects. The next components will be wheels, suspension, the ABS unit/brakes. I know most hate the fat fives, but I like them for their stock look. I think the ride height is what should be addressed first, especially since the struts and bushings are still original. New suspension seems logical since it should preserve the ride quality.

 

[JMChristopher]

I wasn't kidding when I meant slow. Had some other stuff to deal with so the NSX mods and repairs were put to the side for a bit. I have completed two main things. The center console and some front and rear trim pieces.
The center console:

The end result of a bunch of sanding, bondo work and a bunch of coats of paint.

This is the SOS CF center console:
https://www.scienceofspeed.com/index.php/scienceofspeed-composite-center-console.html
it looks pretty good, but it needed some adjustment to fit properly.

It does not include attachment points for the coin tray and shift boot, so I had to improvise. I just used some bondo:

It took a bit to get things in the right spot. There were likely better ways, but this ended up working out alright.

Had to sand it down to prep it for paint and fitment.
All sanded smooth:

It took about five coats to get everything nice and smooth. Some areas kept "pitting" and would end up a little rough. After a few coats of paint:

It took four coats of paint or so. Then it was time for the clear coat:

Back home with its friends:

This took about $250 for the center console and then another $70 for paint, primer, clear coat and sandpaper.

I don't have a pic of it, but I also attached magnets to the backside so a phone or tablet will rest on that nice big surface there. It works great. Just need to rig up the a way to charge those devices.

 

[JMChristopher]

The next thing was the restoration of the windshield trim and the rear air intake:
Not very exciting. Just used some plastic restorer and polished her up:
Before:

After:

Windshield Trim:
Before (washed):

After:

Turned out alright. Definitely rejuvenated, but still has imperfections from 25 years of use.

 

[JMChristopher]

Now for something a little more interesting. I rigged up some USB power!

With the new face plate complete I still needed a way to power my phone and dash cam, but I removed the cigarette lighter in the process. The plan was to use the 3 pin plug from the lighter to power a USB hub that could power some modern devices. I founds some products that would work pretty well for this.

4 port micro USB hub:
Amazon
Motorcycle 12v to USB adapter:
Amazon
The 3 pin cig lighter connector:
Jinks

The USB Hub and power adapter and plug:

The first step was to connect the plug to the usb adapter. I did some research and looked the repair manual. The 3 pin plug has red, black and blue/white wires. The blue/white wire is 12v, black is ground and the red is for the dimmer, I guess. I hooked it all up:

I plugged it in and tested the voltage. I don't have a picture but it was reading 11.9 something volts. I then plugged in the USB hub to make sure it wouldn't melt for some reason. The hub stayed solid so I plugged in my phone to see if it would charge and it did!
Next I had to shove it all into the car. I started by positioning the hub in the glove box. I thought that would be the best place since all It would be a quick and easy way to hide any wires and my dash cam if I needed to. I "mounted" the hub with some adhesive velcro. Not the most elegant solution, but it was better than drilling holes in it or gluing the hub down...so actually maybe it was the most elegant...

Lucky for me, there are some nice holes that are just big enough to fit the usb plug through:

I then hooked up the rest of the wiring:

I ended up using some more adhesive velcro to run the wiring under the dash. Tape wasn't holding it in place very well.
With everything back together, there was just a little bit of cable management to do.

If I need to conceal everything I can just throw it the glove box and no one would ever know:

 

[JMChristopher]

Told ya this would be slow...
Picked up some RPF1's and Bridgestone tires on CL for $900

 

[RC-DEVIL]

http://i.imgur.com/NuBiEKO.jpg[/IMG]

I reinstalled the passenger side door this morning and it seems to have worked just fine.

-Make sure you have enough clamps to do each door in one pass. Each tab required a larger clamp and a smaller one to hold the metal to what remains of each tab.
-Use some Loctite epoxy, the kind that comes in a double syringe. It sets pretty fast and is pretty hard.
-Use a plastic bag of something to prevent clamps from sticking.

If you have any questions, just let me know.

wow this is just what im looking for!!

 

[JMChristopher]

I recently picked up the Pride V2 exhaust!
I will post pictures later, but I'm sure everyone already know what it looks like. The important thing is how it sounds!

You can look up videos and get an idea of what it sounds like compared to stock, but let me attempt to explain how it changed the car for me.

For starters, it is about 20 pounds lighter than stock, so with all the other mods, I estimate my car to weigh about 2875 pounds: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1ZlpwUx1K1g09YwPOcgZhZZxz78e5NzsaeVGxcenLSQg/edit?usp=sharing

Installing it was pretty straight forward. I was able to do it myself in an afternoon with no help. Spray some penetrating oil on the bolts, let it sit for a bit and gently loosen the them. I used a jack to hold the muffler in place while removing the hangars and loosening the bolts. Pretty drama free.

I was anxious starting it up since I wasn't sure how it was going to sound. It could be too loud, have excessive drone or be raspy and sound like some cheap civic exhaust. I watched a bunch of videos on it. Some sounded pretty good, others sounded kinda buzzy and obnoxious, so I just didn't know quite what to expect.

Upon starting it up, the sensible rumble was replaced with a louder, deeper burble. Some quick revs brought throaty growl that was still surprisingly quiet. I thought it would require ear protection to rev it my garage, but it wasn't too bad.

My wife and I took it for a spin and of course that is where real difference is most obvious. The NSX always sounded good, but was sensible and subdued and had a very calculated musical note to it. You could drive up tp a car show in it and people would see it before hearing it. With the Pride exhaust the NSX went from sensible to incredible. It takes on some S2000 raucousness, but doesn't sacrifice drone or cabin noise much. It is very livable, but adds that extra layers and volume to the exhaust note that should have been there in the first place.

Cruising at low revs around town, it is a little louder and deeper. In the midrange the engine starts to howl and take on some kind crazy combination of Nissan VQ moan combined with a ferrari like wail. The stock NSX sounds are still there, just layered under new more exciting sounds. The sounds as redline approaches are not as loud as I thought they would be, they just sound better.

Overall, this exhaust has changed the way the NSX feels to drive. I now feel like I am driving a classic exotic sports car instead of a really low Honda. I now want to drive it every day, just to hear the glorious exhaust. It has also renewed my interest in modding this car. Brakes my be next, but some coil overs should be coming eventually.