Michigan check-in & spotting by blodi pt.2

alum04org said:
Eric. NEED a good res copy of that photo of IOP in front of Suburban Acura. Dang that already brings back memories! And, it was a h*ll of a thunderstorm that June night :eek:
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Sure Neal, I'll PM you a link to a few different versions of it. Right, the weather turned quickly that night!
 
PSA on SCCA track time at Gingerman Raceway South Haven, Michigan

RacerXwing said:
Sure Neal, I'll PM you a link to a few different versions of it. Right, the weather turned quickly that night!
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Thank you very much. Appreciated.

Meanwhile, as a public service announcement, the SCCA just released their 2019 locally sponsored Track Nights schedule:

https://autoweek.com/article/other-...er&utm_content=body&utm_campaign=awdailydrive

5 monthly opportunities to drive Gingerman - probably the safest road course around as there are only about two hard objects to possibly hit (I recall a tire wall at entrance to pits and a tree well off the road course).
 
Thanks for the information of the SCCA Track Nights. I have never driven Gringerman and I always heard it is a nice relatively safe track.

It looks like registration doesn't open up until March 5, but it looks like the June 13 will work for me.

Anyone else looking to attend?
 
P s a

PSA for

Auto Zone sale started yesterday on 5 quarts Mobil One synthetic plus an STP Extended Life oil filter for $29.95 with a $10 VISA gift card rebate. I grabbed 5 qts + filter yesterday - will use the filter on my DD. Mobil One doesn't get any cheaper than this!
 
^DANG IT!!! Just bought some earlier this year, just missed the boat. That's crazy so $20 for oil and filter? Good looking out. May be worth stocking up for my other cars...

Hey Michiganders, with Suburban closing shop, has anyone been to the other dealerships for service yet? I live quite close to the Fox Ann Arbor Acura that's mentioned in the letter. Has anyone had experience with them? Would it be better advised to go to the Suburban Honda? I'd like to get one of the 'titanium' keys cut.
 
Greetings friends on Planet Earth! I hope you are all doing well, as it has been a long time since I've seen many of you.

I hope you are looking forward to spring as we are here on my parallel planet, which is known as Lunar Earth. Here in this parallel dimension, our planet is known as Lunar Earth because its roads are very poor...hence the name Lunar Earth because its roads resemble a lunar landscape.

In fact, I was going on one of our freeways, known to us as I-275 southbound, and got on the exit ramp to our version of I-96 eastbound. As I reached the top of the ramp, what was before my eyes but a massive crater… it must have been the result of an asteroid impact.

Unfortunately, I had no time to dodge the crater, as I was surrounded by traffic... and this massive crater spanned the width of my car! There was a massive THUD! as my car propelled into this giant hole, resulting in damage of bubbles on both front tires and two bent rims.

Lunar Earth is a horrible planet to live in! I hope things are great on Planet Earth, which I miss so much. I love driving on your clean roads! Hopefully some day I will retuun from this dimension and join you on a vibrant ride with a bevy of NSX members.

Sent from my Note 9 using Tapatalk
 
mtung note that certain of the technicians who were with Suburban Acura moved over to Suburban Honda right next door and the Honda shop will service Acura (though cannot do any warranty work).

Our Michigan resident NSX expert (master tech 25+ years w/Acura and trained on the new NSX as well) Mike Michalik is at the Honda shop. There are two techs that touch my NSX and no one else. Mike is one of them and the other is in Ontario. I can't speak to the Ann Arbor or Troy Acura dealers as I've had no need to use them for the NSX since Mike is right down the street from where I live.

Should you take your NSX to Honda in Farmington Hills ask to speak with Mike directly he's a great tech and a good guy.

Best,
Jeff
 
Patrick, sorry to hear this. The roads here keep on getting worse. Frankly I am ready to move -- have had enough. I'm about to repatriate my 04 Acura TL for late winter/spring/early summer duty and stow the Audi A6 until roads improve (if ever). As for the NSX I question whether it is worth taking it out of storage. I really want to get the hell out of here.

Best,
Jeff
 
I hear you Jeff! If this wasn't such a wonderful state to live in 8 months of the year I'd be following you out to Phoenix or wherever!

I learned that the ramp was closed the day after I hit that crater… yep they closed the entire ramp until repair could be made. A little too late for my daily driver! Well, at least it wasn't my miata because that crater was so large it would have engulfed the entire vehicle.

Sent from my Note 9 using Tapatalk
 
P s a

P.S.A.

Through tonight, purchase a set of four tires at Discount Tire (Direct) and receive a ten percent (10%) off purchase credit card “rebate.”

I am trying the Pirelli P Zero Nero GT in 215/70 and 255/70. I’ve never run Pirellis on our NSXs. Total (free shipping) was ~$533.

10 % “rebate” will be nice.
 
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mtung said:
Hey Michiganders, with Suburban closing shop, has anyone been to the other dealerships for service yet? I live quite close to the Fox Ann Arbor Acura that's mentioned in the letter. Has anyone had experience with them? Would it be better advised to go to the Suburban Honda? I'd like to get one of the 'titanium' keys cut.
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We have used Ann Arbor Acura a few years ago for a 2006 TL timing belt/water pump/spark plugs/serpentine belt (105K mile) service. They did have a senior technician who was recommended and did us a good job. I hope he is still employed there. mtung as others have stated, use Mike M at Suburban Honda, Haggerty Rd, Farmington Hills, MI.
 
Hey guys and gals,
It appears that EstFest is on - I've added our names to the list. It would be great to get a nice showing from the Michigan NSX contingent, eh?
Look in the Canadian section for details.
 
I already added Laurie and me to the list
 
Sounds good everyone! I will be dropping by the Farmington Honda then for service!! Thank you for the recommendations.

Any history on the yellow car? Especially regarding what collision etc gave it the rebuilt status?
 
mtung said:
Sounds good everyone! I will be dropping by the Farmington Honda then for service!! Thank you for the recommendations.

Any history on the yellow car? Especially regarding what collision etc gave it the rebuilt status?
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Make sure you speak with Mike Michalik directly. Best service advisor to work with is Jeff Smith. No upselling, no BS. Tell him and Mike that Jeff Z (/94 Formula Red) referred you. You will like both of them -- good guys -- they will put you at ease.
 
I'm looking to get a key cut (Ti of course!!). Attempted to reach Mike at Honda, but was unable to spoke with Adam who was very pleasant and honest. He recommended I try one of the Acura dealerships since they are unable to look up the key code since the Acura dealership closed. Talked to Fox in Ann Arbor and they were honest and said their key cutter is non-operational. The Acura dealership in Troy is available and I'll stop by there this week. Just need to bring in Title/reg/license and keys! I'll let you know how it goes :)
 
the "key" is monel :wink:
 
Sighting: Black NSX, on Six Mile just east of Beck, making a U-turn in a subdivision entry. Looked like a later Gen 1 (popup) model with aftermarket silver wheels. Very nice! Anyone here?
 
pjr300 said:
Sighting: Black NSX, on Six Mile just east of Beck, making a U-turn in a subdivision entry. Looked like a later Gen 1 (popup) model with aftermarket silver wheels. Very nice! Anyone here?
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Patrick, it was me. I got tired of Formula Red. Brian painted it for me over the winter. In fact he painted your car too -- have you been to his place lately?

Best,
Jeff
 
Yeah, I was there Friday picking mine up. Yours was still there, still red, peeking out from under the cover. But wow, Brian proved me wrong... didn't think you could stack that many boxes on top of the hood and trunk of a car in the garage. Sweet!

Sent from my SM-G973U using Tapatalk
 
Patrick I have no worries about that. She is much tougher than you would imagine. I will explain next time I see you.
 
Hey all, I think you guys will enjoy this story. I had the pleasure to speak to a gentleman named Pete this past weekend. The warehouse in Ypsilanti I store my car at has an 'open house' every first Saturday of the month. Usually there's a guest speaker (June 1 will be Dave McLellan Corvette chief engineer from 75 to 92). The crowd is older, but passionate and extremely knowledgeable. Anyways, I was pulling mine out to drive for the weekend and chatted with a few people, well one guy had an NSX hat on. We chatted more and started to talk about how he was in product planning at Mazda then at Honda. One of his tasks was to monitor the NSX and make a case study for the Integra Type R. Anyways he told us a few stories, I want to share two. The first one was about how the name Spa Yellow came into existence. It was originally supposed to be Indy Car Yellow, but Indy was suing Cart, and Honda was the main Cart engine manufacturer so Indy Car Yellow had to be renamed. Obviously Senna Yellow would be great, but apparently it's difficult to use the Senna name. Pete even found a flower from a Brazilian Tree named Senna that matched the color profile, but it was still a 'no-go'. Well countries used to be represented by colors Silver-Germany, Green-British, Blue-French... Yellow was for Belgium. Spa (in Belgium, was a track Senna won 5 times at) so ... Spa Yellow became a thing.

The second and best story was part of why the Zanardi came into existence. By 1997 Honda was loosing money on each car due to the exchange rate between the yen and usd. He pitched (or was part of the team that pitched it) bringing a type R to the states as a way to help offset the loss. Essentially charging more would help close the gap, plus give the Honda brand a nice boost. It didn't need to be a type R, a type S or type S zero could work. Well he ended up leaving before the plans got finalized. He said when he heard it was called the Zanardi edition he was ecstatic! 'Couldn't have come up with a better name'.

He was fantastic to chat with and I loved the stories. Figured you all would enjoy them as much as I did! It's pretty cool the people you can run into, and the passion everyone has for these cars.

**Edit forgot to mention Acura of Troy was able to cut the monel key for me. I was able to test it in my ignition and trunk lock and it works great! So far so good with them.
 
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