Hello all, I am new to the NSX scene and will be gathering information for months to come in preparation for purchasing a NSX. Along with everyone's help, I would appreciate input from personal experiences in dealing with NSX's if this would be the right car for me. I am going to be using the NSX as my daily driver, so with that being said what can I expect as far as day to day reliability, performance and overall fit and finish. My price range will be around $20,000 or less, so the years would be between 91-93 I imagine. I am here to gain as much knowledge and what to look out for when looking over NSX's in person. Thank you in advance to everyone helping me out! I am coming from the BMW world as I have owned M3 (E36's and E46), E39 M5, and a few stage 3 S4's.
Looking to buy NSX
- Thread starter b4rstiwsnc
- Start date
If you plan on daily driving the NSX plan on spending $5K-$6K(maybe more) to bring the car up to snuff if you are starting with a $20K or less example.
Parts for the NSX are more expensive than your average Honda/Acura so keep that in mind. Take a look at the wiki for average replacement costs of common items, ie. TB/WP, clutch/slave cyl/master cyl, etc.
Parts for the NSX are more expensive than your average Honda/Acura so keep that in mind. Take a look at the wiki for average replacement costs of common items, ie. TB/WP, clutch/slave cyl/master cyl, etc.
At that price, you're going to get a car that's either a salvage or otherwise beat to hell. So say goodbye to your quest for reliability.
Save some more pennies and look at cars in the $25-$30K range. It's going to end up costing that much with your other car anyway, eventually -- but with a lot less heartache.
+ 1
It's in California, but seems like a good deal:
$19K
130,000 miles
New Clutch
http://www.autotrader.com/fyc/vdp.j...on=&max_price=30000&cardist=31&standard=false
But I agree, depending on the service records of the car, a Clutch/Timing Belt/Water Pump/etc... can be pretty expensive and labor-intensive.
$19K
130,000 miles
New Clutch
http://www.autotrader.com/fyc/vdp.j...on=&max_price=30000&cardist=31&standard=false
But I agree, depending on the service records of the car, a Clutch/Timing Belt/Water Pump/etc... can be pretty expensive and labor-intensive.
Your situation is exactly what I did. I tracked (HPDE stuff) an E36 for years and needed to step up to a more competent car before I pushed the BMW passed it's capability and into a wall. So the NSX was a great choice for me. It's a more capable car but also requested more from me as a driver. I paid $20K for a 1991 with 117K miles BUT it came with VERY little service history. I'm a fair mechanic so I checked all I could visually and put it through it's paces on a test drive and didn't find any big issues. The records that did come with the car, and from the local Acura dealer, showed the car had some upgrades ($12K from RM Racing) in transmission (short gears), sway bars, wheels and tires (bigger and wider), headers, exhaust, etc., with standard oil changes, so I was hooked. I like my cars right, so I found I would need (all prices are approximates):
TB/WP/TENSIONER/HARMONIC BALANCER $600
HOSES $200
CCU REBUILT $180
SUSPENSION STRUTS $200 used from a 2000 w/15K miles
MISC GASKETS (Valve Covers, Spool Valves) $150
ALL FLUIDS $150
BRAKE MASTER CYLINDER $180
(I still find little things to keep me learning about the car)
I did most of the work myself and enjoyed most of it. I have about $2K in parts and feel the car is in fairly good mechanical condition (clutch could go anytime - I don't really know of any good tests). I have tracked it once so far and it's a joy to drive. This car begs to be driven and driven fast. I probably paid a little too much initially but I wanted a Black with Ivory interior, and there it was not 20 miles away.
If you love cars and driving, you'll love this car. Whatever year you buy, have fun and let us hear about your experiences from time to time. We like to hear the excitement, it reminds us of how we felt when we woke up the next morning and looked in our garages just to make sure it wasn't a dream. Happy Motoring!
TB/WP/TENSIONER/HARMONIC BALANCER $600
HOSES $200
CCU REBUILT $180
SUSPENSION STRUTS $200 used from a 2000 w/15K miles
MISC GASKETS (Valve Covers, Spool Valves) $150
ALL FLUIDS $150
BRAKE MASTER CYLINDER $180
(I still find little things to keep me learning about the car)
I did most of the work myself and enjoyed most of it. I have about $2K in parts and feel the car is in fairly good mechanical condition (clutch could go anytime - I don't really know of any good tests). I have tracked it once so far and it's a joy to drive. This car begs to be driven and driven fast. I probably paid a little too much initially but I wanted a Black with Ivory interior, and there it was not 20 miles away.
If you love cars and driving, you'll love this car. Whatever year you buy, have fun and let us hear about your experiences from time to time. We like to hear the excitement, it reminds us of how we felt when we woke up the next morning and looked in our garages just to make sure it wasn't a dream. Happy Motoring!
how many hrs labor is it typically to replace the valve cover gaskets or spool gaskets and what is the difference?
It took me about 4 to 5 hrs. to do all of them, but I don't know what a dealer would rate the jobs at (I usually take my time). If you don't know the difference between a spool valve and a valve cover then I'm guessing you're not much of a do-it-youselfer (no harm intended). That would tend to sway my thoughts away from you getting an older car because it's my opinion that dealers will see an NSX coming and jack you up (I don't like dealers at all). The little things on a car that's almost 20 years old will let the dealers pick your pockets, and you can expect a lot of little things with this car (even more than with an E36 IMHO). Happy Motoring!
No worries, I have wrenched on a few of my cars, but nothing more than a turbo install, exhaust, intake ecu, a few cosmetic upgrades, intake manifold etc. I am sure I could do the valve cover gasket since I have on my E36 m3, but nothing more serious than that. Sounds to be like timing belts, A/C, VCG, and coolant hoses seem to be problematic on the NSX, so I will look into those thoroughly, but if anyone is looking to get rid of their NSX PM me!
where are you in nc?there are a fair number of us in the middle part of the state
Charlotte, NC
20,000 for a NSX man your going to get a beat one for that price and you wont be as happy save up till you have 30 to 35,000 and if your willing to wait you can find one in great shape in years 91 to 94 for now
^+1 to Saleen's post. Unless you want a beater for the track you are headed down a road that will lead to lots of after purchase maintenance items. I know - heck you have those usually with a nice one - that would be deffered maintenance - why do most people sell- don't want to get into the maintenance aspects. Depends of course on what you plan to do with the car. It's actually not easy to find one that cheap. If you do get your check book ready for the next round of work.
What makes me wonder is why does someone that apparently know cars and has obviously had some nice ones come to the NSX expecting to pay so little and actually get what he wants - I am totally puzzled by this thread. However, Pilgrim makes a good statement and is either reading between the lines here or has had conversations with the OP that started the thread. But if you read between the lines on his post he's done a lot of work himself and if his clutch could go anytime he'll then have over 3k in parts - not including anything for all his time and if you have to pay for it better add another 2k to his list and you can bet you'll need all the stuff he just ran off unless you get extremely lucky and I can't imagine how you would get that lucky. But I've been surprised before by OPs purchases here. But not down in price this low.
Thing is you won't find a 91 with all the service done that Pilgrim did after he bought it for say 25.5k - You find one with all the service up to date within the past few years and it will cost you more than that 25.5k I mentioned. At least that's my educated guess - guys that have cars with the maintenance up to date don't usually sell - but times like this funny things happen. People need money right now; so good luck to you and like another said - let us know what happens cause it's all fun! You'll surely love the NSX.
I got on the expressway on Sat. coming back from the golf course and was at about 5.5k revs on the on ramp and stepped on it - man what a sound and what a blast as I shifted into 3rd and got over a hundred real fast! That's what we're all talkin bout on this site! It has plenty of torque when you get it up in the revs! Don't let anyone kid you - these are seriously fast cars to most sane individuals...:biggrin: (hey at least I qualified my statement!):wink:
What makes me wonder is why does someone that apparently know cars and has obviously had some nice ones come to the NSX expecting to pay so little and actually get what he wants - I am totally puzzled by this thread. However, Pilgrim makes a good statement and is either reading between the lines here or has had conversations with the OP that started the thread. But if you read between the lines on his post he's done a lot of work himself and if his clutch could go anytime he'll then have over 3k in parts - not including anything for all his time and if you have to pay for it better add another 2k to his list and you can bet you'll need all the stuff he just ran off unless you get extremely lucky and I can't imagine how you would get that lucky. But I've been surprised before by OPs purchases here. But not down in price this low.
Thing is you won't find a 91 with all the service done that Pilgrim did after he bought it for say 25.5k - You find one with all the service up to date within the past few years and it will cost you more than that 25.5k I mentioned. At least that's my educated guess - guys that have cars with the maintenance up to date don't usually sell - but times like this funny things happen. People need money right now; so good luck to you and like another said - let us know what happens cause it's all fun! You'll surely love the NSX.
I got on the expressway on Sat. coming back from the golf course and was at about 5.5k revs on the on ramp and stepped on it - man what a sound and what a blast as I shifted into 3rd and got over a hundred real fast! That's what we're all talkin bout on this site! It has plenty of torque when you get it up in the revs! Don't let anyone kid you - these are seriously fast cars to most sane individuals...:biggrin: (hey at least I qualified my statement!):wink:
