New owner looking for some track advice (not new to tracking)

[Aladdin9]

Hey guys,

I recently picked up my second NSX and plan to get it out on track. For the sake of speeding things up, I'm not new to tracking and I'd like to get the car ready to go ASAP. From what I understand the coolant hosing and some of the suspension bushings have already been done. My car is on Bilstein shocks and stock springs I believe. I'm running stock wheel and tire currently. NSX-R sway bars front and rear.

My big question is - what kind of maintenance do I need to do? I've been reading up the fast few days and it looks like you guys are using some non-compliance parts. Are these a must have? Do i need steering rack stiffeners or anything of that sort? The car feels solid as is just tossing it around on the way home, but I've yet to get the car up and inspect everything for myself. That will be done over the next few weeks as I'm fairly busy with work.

I will be bleeding the brakes, they are stock and have EBC red brake pads currently. I will likely grab a set of PFC-01 unless someone has a better recommendation. Being a more advanced driver - will I need a BBK? The stock brakes don't really impress me if I'm completely honest - I have an ABS delete so maybe its just the feel but I don't think stopping distance is so hot right now.

Other than that I am looking into a wheel setup. Billy advised 17x8 +40 front and 18x9.5 +40 rear. Can I go lower on that rear sizing without any rubbing issues? It's looking like CE28 may be on backorder and I'll likely be considering the Weds TC105n for now, but the rear offset is +35 I believe.

Sorry for the many questions - I appreciate any and all knowledge you guys can throw at me. I went through RYU and IllWillem's build threads but to be honest I didn't get any solid, concrete answers. Good eye candy though.

For reference point I can turn a sub 2 lap-time in an S2000 with boltons wheels and shocks on a street tire at the famous Buttonwillow CW13 in Socal.

 

[illwillem]

Welcome. Congrats on the purchase. When you say suspension bushings have been done do you know which ones they were talking about? the front and rear are almost entirely ball joints with the exception of a few that are pretty special order to get aftermarket replacements for, the ball joints are similarly difficult as they are not meant to be serviced, rather the entire arm has to be replaced (which is $$$) I'd start by making sure everything looks OEM or properly machined and seated. For now, I'd assume for now they are talking about steering rack bushings & maybe sway bar bushings.

Ive never driven on any suspension other than the KW V3's. they stock spring rate of 430 f/r (iirc) was plenty good out of the box for our bumpy socal tracks. You can eventually go up in spring rate in the future and still not have to revalve. I have to say I'm pretty picky and i've never felt the need to look into any other shocks. Just my opinion though so take that for what its worth.

I have just about every sway bar offered for the NSX at this point and have settled for the 1" trophy up front and the Zanardi bar in the rear. As far as non compliance stuff I would say the rear beam bushings ARE essential if you are going to track the car with decent suspension and tires, without them you get a vague and washy rear end with so much dynamic toe change that any sort of performance alignment isn't really doing anything.

Personally I think the stock brakes are great. I have ABS delete and run good pads and fluid and have never felt the need to run anything else. And Im saying this while the Stoptech BBK's for the car are sitting in boxes in my storage, i just never felt the need to put them on. Properly vented OEM brakes with no backing plate and good fluid ARE more than enough for the 20min session formats that the socal clubs run. If I were you I get new tires and make the small investment in some good pads before making the decision on BBK. I have different pad compounds from MU, hawk but I always rebuy the Porterfield r4s. I really like the linear brake feel over the ECB and MU stuff with my set up.

the 17x8 18x9.5 is a tried and true set up. The +40 will rub with an Nt01 at full lock, especially of you have non compliance front clamps. Not a big deal, remove the fender liners up front before your tires do it for you and take you turn signals with them. Also with some wheels you may have to run a 5mm spacer to clear even the stock brakes at front. I have a few sets of wheels +35 +45 +50 with 235 nt01; +35 is pushing it on the fender side. For the rear you should be alight depending the spring rate camber and ride height. I have a +40 11 wide and im fine, I even run the rears with the fender liner.

Oil pressure and oil temp gauge should be on the top of your list. Oil temps especially run extremely higher ontrack in the NSX. I almost never stay out a whole session becasue of this, then again I am weary after going though 2 motors. Inspect your Crank pulley and take a peek at the timing belt, if they haven't been done its a really good idea to get them and the water pump replaced before really starting to beat on them.

Short list: Pads, fluid, lines. Oil temp/pressure gauge (water wont hurt either) Decent tires. non compliance rear beam bushings.

 

[RYU]

Willem did a great write-up as usual!

Only two things to add from me is possibly thinking more about cooling and front camber.

A vented hood and possibly a new radiator (if needed). Oil cooler has also helped my car.

I would also try to maximize your front camber. At the Bilstein lower ride height on stock springs (I had your exact same combo a few years ago and ran Spring Mtn) with the Type R front bar, stock rear bar, and 235s up front on 17x7.5 +42 we were only able to dial in about -1.6 deg front camber max. My outer tire sidewall showed a lot of wear and the car pushed a lot in the high speed sweepers (like Riverside). If you dont' want to slam to your car to gain that additional camber you might consider some kind of camber bushing solution but I think you'll decide that after your first few track days with the car. On this setup, I also melted my fender liners from the rubbing. It was like molten lava flowing - pretty entertaining to see actually. Wish I took a photo.

I'll be the last to talk here simply because of Jeff Leung's BW performance on his near stock NSX. He had the original 15/16 wheels on Star Specs with Bilstein dampers on stock springs. HE WAS FAST and it was dreadfully entertaining to watch

Good luck! Hope to see you out there soon.

 

[liftnot]

+1. What they said.

Ramon at Niguel Motors in South OC 949-348-2476 is your man for the maintenance stuff. he is proven, quick, reasonable. a must visit.

Should you need ball joint replacement, look up SMGNSX as he has a long proven record on Prime and the only vendor doing it right.

http://www.nsxprime.com/forum/showt...-Ball-Joint-replacement?highlight=steve+ghent

at the minimal, you should consider a baffled oil pan or have one welded in. SOS has it.

http://www.scienceofspeed.com/produ...e_products/NSX/scienceofspeed/oil_pan_baffle/

You should consider other dampers later like Moton/JRZ/Penske. EMI Racing in Huntington Beach is your set up man. KW v3 is very nice but they have stainless steel body if you care about unsprung weight.

perhaps one day you may consider our bladed anti roll bar(ARB) 2.0 for your suspension set up. Technically it has a wider/(infinite) range of adjustment frt and rear and it allows precise corner balancing w/o removing the endlinks and unlike the one piece ARB, it always maintain the proper geometry.

http://pole2flagracing.com/bladed-anti-roll-bar-20.html

ditto on the 15/16 wheels but its difficult/impossible to get ideal tires in that range.

 

[GUNDAN323]

TitaniumDave sells the non-compliance parts and will even set you up with a baffled pan.

http://cedarridgefabrication.com/NSX

He set me up with the oil pan below with a welded 1/8 NPT bung for an oil temp sensor.

 

[nsxtasy]

I've been reading up the fast few days and it looks like you guys are using some non-compliance parts. Are these a must have?

No.

Do i need steering rack stiffeners or anything of that sort?

No.

will I need a BBK?

Probably not. See more below.

Of course, what is "must have" to one person may not be "must have" to another. It depends on how much track experience you have (in your case, extensive) and whether you are looking for every last tenth of a second in lap time. If you're a good driver, you can get some darn good lap times out of a bone stock NSX, which ought to tell you what is and isn't essential.

The stock brakes don't really impress me if I'm completely honest - I have an ABS delete so maybe its just the feel but I don't think stopping distance is so hot right now.

The biggest factor in stopping distance is tires, not brakes. What good brakes give you on the racetrack is not so much shorter stopping distances but rather, better heat management, keeping the braking performance from dropping off when the brakes get hot. You can accomplish that without bigger calipers (as illwillem also attests above). Part of it is a matter of driving ability (you'll use less brakes with more track experience; novices use way more brakes than they need to), and there are other measures you can take (bedding and ducting) to keep your brakes effective when they get hot. I can't tell you how many people have complained that the brakes don't feel so great on the track when what they're actually experiencing is "green pad syndrome", i.e. lack of effectiveness when hot because the pads were never bedded properly. Once the pads have been bedded and heat-cycled, they'll give you WAY more braking performance when they get hot on the track.

Other than that I am looking into a wheel setup. Billy advised 17x8 +40 front and 18x9.5 +40 rear. Can I go lower on that rear sizing without any rubbing issues?

Two things you need to keep in mind: (1) Rubbing depends on tire sizes as well as wheel sizes. (2) Tire sizes depend on availability. The wheel sizes he mentions are popular fitments for the NSX. For street use with no rubbing, people typically use 215/40-17 and either 255/35-18 or 265/35-18. For track use, some folks go to 235/40-17 in front (yes it will rub at full lock) and 275/35-18 or 285/35-18 rear (which doesn't usually rub). Rubbing at full lock may or may not be a big deal on the track. Similarly, whether the TCS works with the tire sizes may or may not be a big deal on the track, depending on whether you run with TCS off and/or if you need to use the same tires on the street.

You should absolutely check on tire availability so you know which tires you want to run before you buy wheels. Here's some of what you'll find. If you want to run supersticky "extreme performance" street tires on the street and on the track, you'll find that the Dunlap Direzza ZII Star Spec, Yokohama Advan Neova AD08R, and Falken Azenis RT-615K are available in 215/40-17 and 265/35-18. If you want to run R compounds for the track only, I believe the only R comps available in 215/40-17 for the front are the Kumho Ecsta V700 and V710. If you go up to 235/40-17 R comps in front, choices include the BFG R1 and R1S, and Toyo R888, RA1, and RR. I didn't look up rear sizes but 18" rears are usually easier to find than 17" fronts, so I'm only mentioning the latter here.

FWIW, I drove over 13K actual track miles on my NSX, in HPDE events where I wasn't trying to set the track record, just having fun along with the other instructors. I had the same suspension setup as you (Bilstein shocks, stock springs), didn't bother with any non-compliance parts, kept the stock brake lines (eventually replaced them with stock as preventive maintenance), stock oil pan, stock gauges, street-track pads (mostly Hawk HP+ - nothing against track-only pads, I just didn't want to have to change pads before and after every track event), high-temp fluid (mostly Motul RBF600). I had holes cut in the splash shields behind the front brake rotors and flanges welded to them, then ducts running from the front air dam and attached to those flanges. I kept the alignment set to the original '91 alignment specs (read more about them and the revised specs in the wiki) with camber set to the maximum negative end of the recommended range. Since I still had the stock '91-96 calipers and I wanted to be able to fit my R comps inside the car and drive to the track on my street tires, I used the stock '91-93 15"/16" wheels with the stock '91-93 tire sizes (205/50-15 and 225/50-16), for which there are many many choices of R comp tires. Of course, I replaced consumables pretty frequently - front brake pads every 400-600 track miles, rear pads 700-1000 track miles, front rotors 800-1100 track miles (due to cracks, inspect regularly), and R comps 1000-2000 track miles.

I'm a big believer in keeping it simple, trying it out stock, and only replacing items where I feel there's an actual deficiency and/or need to be addressed, and not spending money to buy parts just because someone else said you should. You might want to try the same thing - run the car as it already is, then replace only the parts you feel are needed to meet whatever personal objectives you may have based on your experiences with the car. You might find, as I did, that there's no need to do anywhere near as much to the car as some people advise.

Oh, and one other thing I did, after it was too late , was to get Titanium Dave's shield in case the crankshaft pulley comes apart. This is an inexpensive part that can prevent your engine from self-destructing. The crankshaft pulley consists of an outer metal pulley and an inner round hunk of rubber (like a hockey puck). It's possible for the rubber part to separate from the metal pulley, then rub into and then through the timing belt cover. If this happens, it can jump the timing on the engine and turn it into a giant paperweight. With the shield in place, if the pulley comes apart, it starts making a lot of noise, hopefully giving you enough warning to pull over and get the pulley replaced.

Good luck.

 

[Aladdin9]

Welcome. Congrats on the purchase. When you say suspension bushings have been done do you know which ones they were talking about? the front and rear are almost entirely ball joints with the exception of a few that are pretty special order to get aftermarket replacements for, the ball joints are similarly difficult as they are not meant to be serviced, rather the entire arm has to be replaced (which is $$$) I'd start by making sure everything looks OEM or properly machined and seated. For now, I'd assume for now they are talking about steering rack bushings & maybe sway bar bushings.

Ive never driven on any suspension other than the KW V3's. they stock spring rate of 430 f/r (iirc) was plenty good out of the box for our bumpy socal tracks. You can eventually go up in spring rate in the future and still not have to revalve. I have to say I'm pretty picky and i've never felt the need to look into any other shocks. Just my opinion though so take that for what its worth.

I have just about every sway bar offered for the NSX at this point and have settled for the 1" trophy up front and the Zanardi bar in the rear. As far as non compliance stuff I would say the rear beam bushings ARE essential if you are going to track the car with decent suspension and tires, without them you get a vague and washy rear end with so much dynamic toe change that any sort of performance alignment isn't really doing anything.

Personally I think the stock brakes are great. I have ABS delete and run good pads and fluid and have never felt the need to run anything else. And Im saying this while the Stoptech BBK's for the car are sitting in boxes in my storage, i just never felt the need to put them on. Properly vented OEM brakes with no backing plate and good fluid ARE more than enough for the 20min session formats that the socal clubs run. If I were you I get new tires and make the small investment in some good pads before making the decision on BBK. I have different pad compounds from MU, hawk but I always rebuy the Porterfield r4s. I really like the linear brake feel over the ECB and MU stuff with my set up.

the 17x8 18x9.5 is a tried and true set up. The +40 will rub with an Nt01 at full lock, especially of you have non compliance front clamps. Not a big deal, remove the fender liners up front before your tires do it for you and take you turn signals with them. Also with some wheels you may have to run a 5mm spacer to clear even the stock brakes at front. I have a few sets of wheels +35 +45 +50 with 235 nt01; +35 is pushing it on the fender side. For the rear you should be alight depending the spring rate camber and ride height. I have a +40 11 wide and im fine, I even run the rears with the fender liner.

Oil pressure and oil temp gauge should be on the top of your list. Oil temps especially run extremely higher ontrack in the NSX. I almost never stay out a whole session becasue of this, then again I am weary after going though 2 motors. Inspect your Crank pulley and take a peek at the timing belt, if they haven't been done its a really good idea to get them and the water pump replaced before really starting to beat on them.

Short list: Pads, fluid, lines. Oil temp/pressure gauge (water wont hurt either) Decent tires. non compliance rear beam bushings.

Will - thanks a ton for the advice. I've seen you and your car out on track here and there. I think we cross-competed once at an XS event. You were driving an RSX?

I have two questions for you - do you think I'll need the oil gauges if I do only 2-3 hot laps at a time before pitting? The thought of doing a 20 minute session is almost unrealistic given that street tires won't last more than a few laps at spirited pace. I plan to use 235/275 street tires.

Could you please share where you picked up your non-compliance bushings? Did you do the install yourself/was it easy?

Willem did a great write-up as usual!

Only two things to add from me is possibly thinking more about cooling and front camber.

A vented hood and possibly a new radiator (if needed). Oil cooler has also helped my car.

I would also try to maximize your front camber. At the Bilstein lower ride height on stock springs (I had your exact same combo a few years ago and ran Spring Mtn) with the Type R front bar, stock rear bar, and 235s up front on 17x7.5 +42 we were only able to dial in about -1.6 deg front camber max. My outer tire sidewall showed a lot of wear and the car pushed a lot in the high speed sweepers (like Riverside). If you dont' want to slam to your car to gain that additional camber you might consider some kind of camber bushing solution but I think you'll decide that after your first few track days with the car. On this setup, I also melted my fender liners from the rubbing. It was like molten lava flowing - pretty entertaining to see actually. Wish I took a photo.

I'll be the last to talk here simply because of Jeff Leung's BW performance on his near stock NSX. He had the original 15/16 wheels on Star Specs with Bilstein dampers on stock springs. HE WAS FAST and it was dreadfully entertaining to watch

Good luck! Hope to see you out there soon.

Scaring me a bit with the melted fender liner haha. What tire were you using? If I run a street tire do you think I'll be okay?

I have a type R hood, and will be redoing all of the coolant lines and radiator before going out for sure. What oil cooler are you guys using?

Tons of great information guys, I appreciate all the help. Certainly making all of the prep seem less daunting.

- - - Updated - - -

TitaniumDave sells the non-compliance parts and will even set you up with a baffled pan.

http://cedarridgefabrication.com/NSX

He set me up with the oil pan below with a welded 1/8 NPT bung for an oil temp sensor.

View attachment 120482

View attachment 120483

Sweet! Thanks for the link!

No.


No.


Probably not. See more below.

Of course, what is "must have" to one person may not be "must have" to another. It depends on how much track experience you have (in your case, extensive) and whether you are looking for every last tenth of a second in lap time. If you're a good driver, you can get some darn good lap times out of a bone stock NSX, which ought to tell you what is and isn't essential.


The biggest factor in stopping distance is tires, not brakes. What good brakes give you on the racetrack is not so much shorter stopping distances but rather, better heat management, keeping the braking performance from dropping off when the brakes get hot. You can accomplish that without bigger calipers (as illwillem also attests above). Part of it is a matter of driving ability (you'll use less brakes with more track experience; novices use way more brakes than they need to), and there are other measures you can take (bedding and ducting) to keep your brakes effective when they get hot. I can't tell you how many people have complained that the brakes don't feel so great on the track when what they're actually experiencing is "green pad syndrome", i.e. lack of effectiveness when hot because the pads were never bedded properly. Once the pads have been bedded and heat-cycled, they'll give you WAY more braking performance when they get hot on the track.


Two things you need to keep in mind: (1) Rubbing depends on tire sizes as well as wheel sizes. (2) Tire sizes depend on availability. The wheel sizes he mentions are popular fitments for the NSX. For street use with no rubbing, people typically use 215/40-17 and either 255/35-18 or 265/35-18. For track use, some folks go to 235/40-17 in front (yes it will rub at full lock) and 275/35-18 or 285/35-18 rear (which doesn't usually rub). Rubbing at full lock may or may not be a big deal on the track. Similarly, whether the TCS works with the tire sizes may or may not be a big deal on the track, depending on whether you run with TCS off and/or if you need to use the same tires on the street.

You should absolutely check on tire availability so you know which tires you want to run before you buy wheels. Here's some of what you'll find. If you want to run supersticky "extreme performance" street tires on the street and on the track, you'll find that the Dunlap Direzza ZII Star Spec, Yokohama Advan Neova AD08R, and Falken Azenis RT-615K are available in 215/40-17 and 265/35-18. If you want to run R compounds for the track only, I believe the only R comps available in 215/40-17 for the front are the Kumho Ecsta V700 and V710. If you go up to 235/40-17 R comps in front, choices include the BFG R1 and R1S, and Toyo R888, RA1, and RR. I didn't look up rear sizes but 18" rears are usually easier to find than 17" fronts, so I'm only mentioning the latter here.

FWIW, I drove over 13K actual track miles on my NSX, in HPDE events where I wasn't trying to set the track record, just having fun along with the other instructors. I had the same suspension setup as you (Bilstein shocks, stock springs), didn't bother with any non-compliance parts, kept the stock brake lines (eventually replaced them with stock as preventive maintenance), stock oil pan, stock gauges, street-track pads (mostly Hawk HP+ - nothing against track-only pads, I just didn't want to have to change pads before and after every track event), high-temp fluid (mostly Motul RBF600). I had holes cut in the splash shields behind the front brake rotors and flanges welded to them, then ducts running from the front air dam and attached to those flanges. I kept the alignment set to the original '91 alignment specs (read more about them and the revised specs in the wiki) with camber set to the maximum negative end of the recommended range. Since I still had the stock '91-96 calipers and I wanted to be able to fit my R comps inside the car and drive to the track on my street tires, I used the stock '91-93 15"/16" wheels with the stock '91-93 tire sizes (205/50-15 and 225/50-16), for which there are many many choices of R comp tires. Of course, I replaced consumables pretty frequently - front brake pads every 400-600 track miles, rear pads 700-1000 track miles, front rotors 800-1100 track miles (due to cracks, inspect regularly), and R comps 1000-2000 track miles.

I'm a big believer in keeping it simple, trying it out stock, and only replacing items where I feel there's an actual deficiency and/or need to be addressed, and not spending money to buy parts just because someone else said you should. You might want to try the same thing - run the car as it already is, then replace only the parts you feel are needed to meet whatever personal objectives you may have based on your experiences with the car. You might find, as I did, that there's no need to do anywhere near as much to the car as some people advise.

Oh, and one other thing I did, after it was too late , was to get Titanium Dave's shield in case the crankshaft pulley comes apart. This is an inexpensive part that can prevent your engine from self-destructing. The crankshaft pulley consists of an outer metal pulley and an inner round hunk of rubber (like a hockey puck). It's possible for the rubber part to separate from the metal pulley, then rub into and then through the timing belt cover. If this happens, it can jump the timing on the engine and turn it into a giant paperweight. With the shield in place, if the pulley comes apart, it starts making a lot of noise, hopefully giving you enough warning to pull over and get the pulley replaced.

Good luck.

You're more in line with my thinking. The thought of having to throw a bunch of stuff at the car prior to going out is not appealing to me. I'm more focused on things that could detract from the experience. I don't want anything to break/overheat and spoil the drive. Thank you for the advice on the shield - I think some of the issues with the car are blown out of proportion (I hope) but it looks like there are quite a few "better safe than sorry" preventative mods to do.

You were fine without needing an oil temp and pressure gauge? Did you have oil analysis done? Just curious, I want to make sure the car/motor last.

You guys have been extremely helpful - can't thank you enough for taking the time to help me out.

 

[2slow2speed]

BTW: One more part worth looking into if you are going to open the engine for a timing belt/water pump inspection.

Competition - Cam Belt Tensioner

http://www.ct-engineering.com/Produ...CamBeltTensioner(NSX)/tabid/1004/Default.aspx

The timing belt on my NSX skipped, and it was a real pain to have it diagnosed.

 

[nsxtasy]

do you think I'll need the oil gauges if I do only 2-3 hot laps at a time before pitting?

No. I never needed one, despite many many 20-30 minute sessions.

The thought of doing a 20 minute session is almost unrealistic given that street tires won't last more than a few laps at spirited pace. I plan to use 235/275 street tires.

I wouldn't recommend using those oversized street tires. If you want to use street tires - presumably for the convenience of not having to swap tires before and after track events, and because you're willing to accept slightly less performance on the track - then go with the sizes you can use on the street, where you don't want tires to rub at full lock such as in parking garages etc. On 17"/18" wheels, that's 215/40-17 and 255/35-18 or 265/35-18. (On 17"/17", 215/40-17 and 255/40-17. On 16"/17", 205/45-16 or 215/45-16 and 245/40-17 or 255/40-17. On 15"/16", 205/50-15 and 225/50-16.) OTOH if you want to use wider sizes only for the track because you're looking for the best traction, then you may as well get R compound track tires for the same reason. Remember, the big factor in performance is the tire's performance capability (make and model of tire), whereas tire size is much less important. Which is why you can get such terrific performance using R comps in the original, relatively narrow 15"/16" sizes. And why there's not much point getting oversized street tires.

Could you please share where you picked up your non-compliance bushings?

Again, I don't think they're a "must have", but if you want to get them, you can get them from SOS. Go to their website at www.scienceofspeed.com and click on NSX products, then suspension accessories. The full URL is http://www.scienceofspeed.com/produ...mance_products/NSX/suspension_accessories.asp

Scaring me a bit with the melted fender liner haha. What tire were you using? If I run a street tire do you think I'll be okay?

As noted above, there's not much point in getting oversized street tires, and this is one of the reasons. If you get oversized track tires, you presumably won't be running them on the street (other than maybe to and from the track) so you shouldn't be at full lock where you would rub.

What oil cooler are you guys using?

None.

You were fine without needing an oil temp and pressure gauge?

Yes.

Did you have oil analysis done?

Only once, and it showed no anomalies. FWIW, I always used full synthetic 10W30 from major brands (mostly Mobil 1 and Pennzoil).

 

[stuntman]

Ameer - You're quite fast and will probably be one of the faster NSX's out on track. You MUST GET AN OIL PAN BAFFLE!!!

The CRF baffle looks idential to the STMPO baffle that I have. I stitch welded the baffle where it meets the ledge on the driver's side to further prevent oil from sloshing up onto this ledge and starving your engine. Make sure to stitch weld or at a minimum, make sure the baffle is tight against the ledge like the image Gundan posted. Iv'e seen a few baffles with 1/4" gap that greatly affects the baffling ability when turning right. Riverside at BW or T8 & T9 at WSIR can kill our motors without a baffle.

Once you get the baffle, an oil temp and pressure gauge would be a good investment to give you piece of mind and keep you on top of things. I use M1 0W40 or Shell Rotella T6 5W40 in my car.

Non Compliance clamp isn't necessary nor is steering rack bushing. Both are nice but I don't have either in my car. You know enough about suspension to decide when you need an upgrade and what to use. As far as KW V3's being stainless, only half the weight of a damper is unsprung, so it's not that big.

Brakes - I use stock calipers with Porterfield R4S pads. PFC 01s would be better for what youre looking to do. Ryneen daily drives 01's but they are a race pad. If you are going to do a BBK, it may be a better idea to buy a wheel in anticipation of that. Advan RG3 and RSII have some of the most caliper-spoke clearance of any wheel out there. I went with RS II's for my PFC BBK.

Don't waste your time with a 7.5" wide front wheel, get an 8. He meant he melted his INNER fender liner, not the aluminum fender. Remove your liners and you'll be fine. Or buy a Downforce wide front fender or the fender i'm working on when it ever gets finished.

YOU will want an NSX-R wing at a minimum. It's up to you if you want to throw a big wing on there but get yourself an NSX-R. Wait, your car has an NSX-R hood and wing on it right?

Get the JDM gears (THE BEST mod you can do to the car) and either the NSX-R LSD settings or an OS Giken LSD.


0.02

Here's my 1:58.9 on 235/275 NT05s before the repave (i'd guess mid 1:57's now):

 

[Aladdin9]

Sweet. Thanks Billy. Hopefully looking to match that time without the gearing/lsd for now (the repave should help some)

I'll work on getting that stuff done over the next month or so. I was hoping to not do the baffle but it looks like it is unavoidable. Might be a good idea since the oil pan gasket probably needs replacing as well. All this talk is making me excited!!

Thanks everyone, for the help. =D

 

[RYU]

I'm on 235/40-17 & 275/35-18 but I also have slightly wider front fenders now (not necessary for 235s really)

Melted inner line like Billy said

I alternate between NT05s, Star Specs, or Maxxis RC1s.

I love to tinker with my car as much as I like to drive it. The bad part is it results in something always changing, couple that with not having a lot of seat time each year which results in my lap times being inconsistent and slow. However, I made huge gains in my lap times this year and achieved PBs almost every time but that was because I stopped messing with it and getting great pointers from Willem.

I think we will all agree here that you don't need very much to have a track worthy NSX. It just depends how big of a worry wart you are and what kind of performance do you want to achieve. It also depends how hard you drive your car. I hear of guys that track their cars regularly but are also not as hard on it out there... It's all relative sometimes.

Btw... Willem and I have gone thru our fair of issues like swap motors and transmissions. His car blew the stock oil gear that cost him roughly 3 motors equivalent. I'm on my 4th tranny partly because I wanted to try different gearing but mostly because my car use to loves going thru synchros and clutches. I finally think I remedied that last year.

Anyway, I can't think of a better car to track out there though I want to drive the new GT4 hehe

 

[Aladdin9]

I'm on 235/40-17 & 275/35-18 but I also have slightly wider front fenders now (not necessary for 235s really)

Melted inner line like Billy said

I alternate between NT05s, Star Specs, or Maxxis RC1s.

I love to tinker with my car as much as I like to drive it. The bad part is it results in something always changing, couple that with not having a lot of seat time each year which results in my lap times being inconsistent and slow. However, I made huge gains in my lap times this year and achieved PBs almost every time but that was because I stopped messing with it and getting great pointers from Willem.

I think we will all agree here that you don't need very much to have a track worthy NSX. It just depends how big of a worry wart you are and what kind of performance do you want to achieve. It also depends how hard you drive your car. I hear of guys that track their cars regularly but are also not as hard on it out there... It's all relative sometimes.

Btw... Willem and I have gone thru our fair of issues like swap motors and transmissions. His car blew the stock oil gear that cost him roughly 3 motors equivalent. I'm on my 4th tranny partly because I wanted to try different gearing but mostly because my car use to loves going thru synchros and clutches. I finally think I remedied that last year.

Anyway, I can't think of a better car to track out there though I want to drive the new GT4 hehe

Your multiple transmissions and Willems multiple motors have me worried. What were the failure points?

I plan to drive the car hard during my ownership. Slow is unacceptable, unfortunately. It helps that I'm consistent, fast and have a lot of experience under my belt but this car is not really all too similar to an S2000 or most cars I have owned for that matter. I will be doing the baffle and one member here PM'ed me an offer for some DEFI gauges. I'm looking into getting all that done soon. I may just track the car on the 97-2001 stock wheels for now and just make sure the car can run for a day without grenading anything massive or blowing through synchros.

My S2000's have been largely bulletproof. I expected the same here but I'm starting to think it's not quite going to be the same. =P

 

[RYU]

Your multiple transmissions and Willems multiple motors have me worried. What were the failure points?

Unfortunately, for us... a bit of our misfortune is partly due to bad luck. His exploding oil gear is well documented on here and we suspect lingering pieces of metal floating around in the engine caused the 2nd rebuild of the same motor to be problematic. We don't know yet and he's probably best to describe his circumstances. A blown oil gear could just be one mis-shift away for you.

In my case, at around 100k miles a dying clutch was causing intense wear on my synchros (little did I know this at the time). Eventually, I locked up 2nd gear and there went tranny #1 . In my infinite wisdom I decided I wanted to go supercharged and pulled out my OEM clutch to put in something stronger. I had a USDM tranny with only 50k miles at the time during the early years with a blower. I didn't track the car much at this time because I spent most of this 1-2yrs sorting out the tune and learning how to run it safe. That's 2yrs of valuable seat time lost. I then came across a JDM tranny with an advertised 20,000km from Japan. I bought it along with an OS Giken clutch. Love the clutch but about 5k miles later and many different kinds of fluid changes my 4th gear synchro on the JDM trans would grind at high rpm shifts (even with a near perfect rev match). Unfortunately, i'm not a perfect rev matching driver (but i'm learning fast) so the last time at BW on this trans I was exclusive on 2nd and 3rd gear - I was essentially coasting thru the last half of both straights. I then got this trans rebuilt and it's now been in my car for a few months. I'm breaking my PBs every time out since. I have a Type R spec trans sitting at home in my dooms day NSX parts stash in case I blow up this tranny too lol. Also, since i'm supercharged I eventually blew the head gasket and switched to cometic HGs last year. The early 91 headgaskets are known to be weak. I'm not mad nor do I blame the NSX for breaking down. I also don't abuse my car (no silly burnouts and I rarely take it to redline especially since i'm learning to use the low end torque of the SC) but I do like to drive it hard. I'm pretty sure I would not have noticed these issues if I just babied the car and kept street driving it. These problems hardly were an issue while street driving.

My point is... to be fast you've got to push your NSX out there. As a benchmark for you, I believe Jeff ran a 2:04'ish on his near stock NSX? If you're on Facebook, we have a Socal NSX Track Day page where you can PM him. I forget his Prime username.

I don't abuse my car but I push it hard and I overdrive my car and essentially have some bad habits and muscle my car around the track. I'm working on being smoother on my inputs for both throttle, brake, and shifting. This should make my parts last A LITTLE longer, not to mention 4yrs of things breaking and tracking most of the car is pretty much bullet proof now (knock on wood). I'm pushing about 380-400wHP with BBKs so i've got a much faster car than my abilities.

You are more in Will's automotive demographic. You both are really fast and are both NA. I would heed his advice. He's one of the most efficient drivers I know out there. He's taught me a lot about shifting alone (I use to come into most turns one gear too low. Was hard on the brakes, hard on the trans, and hard on the rev limit. Now, obviously i'm much smoother and carrying more speed but more importantly harder on my tires and suspension but easier on the powertrain).

 

[stuntman]

You'll be fine Ameer, they are reliable cars Ryneen has tracked the crap out of his car with no issues. Just do the oil pan baffle and if/when you do the trans rebuild, take it to a quality NSX specific shop like Nick at Applied Motorsports (did my trans and the FXMD NSX's race trans) or Shad at Driving Ambition.

 

[Aladdin9]

You'll be fine Ameer, they are reliable cars Ryneen has tracked the crap out of his car with no issues. Just do the oil pan baffle and if/when you do the trans rebuild, take it to a quality NSX specific shop like Nick at Applied Motorsports (did my trans and the FXMD NSX's race trans) or Shad at Driving Ambition.

Yeah I snagged a ride in Ryans car and fell in love. Absolutely think that setup is money.

Is he not on here?

 

[stuntman]

He is, "Ryneen". He's just busy with 2 startup businesses and does not get to the track as much as he'd like. You have a good plan going. Stay NA, eventually get an oil cooler, and don't abuse your trans, and it'll be fun and reliable.

 

[RYU]

As mentioned before, I think you'll have to decide what sweet spot (in terms of mods) is good for you. Hopefully I've been able to give you some insight into perhaps the opposite extremes.

Let us know what you decide. Hope to see you out there and meet you in person soon!

 

[Aladdin9]

As mentioned before, I think you'll have to decide what sweet spot (in terms of mods) is good for you. Hopefully I've been able to give you some insight into perhaps the opposite extremes.

Let us know what you decide. Hope to see you out there and meet you in person soon!

Absolutely appreciate all of the information given in the thread.

I'm going to err on the lighter side of mods. I will do the baffle, redo the cooling system, see if anything else needs refreshing for now and slowly get wheels/shocks. From there I will be doing the gearing and LSD and that's mostly all the car will see. I want to keep the car close to stock as I plan on using it on weekends as a street car. I'm more a club racer type than a full blown racer, and believe in doing more with less - so my formula is fairly simple :smile:

Thanks again everyone!

Only real qustion I have now is: Will Weds fit in the following sizes? 17x8 +38 (42 also available) and 18x9.5 +35 ? Kinda worried that the rear offset is too low...

 

[stuntman]

Yes, i'd go with the +42 fronts. Rears should be fine.

 

[HDA]

Great Post!

I also went from S2000 to NSX (some videos here https://www.youtube.com/user/Andrehci/videos )
I am getting my 92 ready to see some more track action as well and I am installing the followings (for now):

Baffled oil pan
Koni yellow (i loved them on my S2000 with GC - I hope for a repeat)
Eibach Springs
17/18 Enkei RP01
225 and 255 tires (TBD but no R-Comps)
Front Brake air ducts (Dali racing)
Defi din Gauges (If I can find them)
OEM radiator hoses replaced
Tranny fluid replaced with synchromesh
Harder (Newer?) Steering Bushings
Headers + Exhaust

I will want the gauges as here in TX it gets hot in the summer and I remember on my S2000 the oil would get HOT HOT HOT.

Good luck!

 

[stuntman]

I went from Koni Yellow GC setup to KW V3s. What 225 17" tires are you going to run? How wide are your rear wheels?

I've had a lot of success with the Honda White Cap trans fluid.

Make sue to get your oil temps from the oil pan or pre-cooler.

 

[HDA]

At the moment I have some 215 Pirelli Pzero (absolutely junk - chinese level stuff - stay away not even to go to the grocery store). I was looking to add some beef in the front and remove some from the back (At the moment I have 265) to reduce the mid corner understeer. Yes, I know, sway bars but those will come at a later stage... Sorry for "polluting" the topic with my descriptions but I feel like me and the OP come from a similar background and are at a similar stage of the journey to bring the NSX to track ready.

 

[stuntman]

How wide are your wheels?

 

[nsxtasy]

I would recommend driving it with the stock gearing/clutch/transmission to start out with, and see how you like it. You may find that there's no need to make any changes (again, along the lines of, do the changes YOU want, to address specific areas, rather than just throwing parts at the car). The stock tranny already has a LSD-like function. On the five-speed, there are stock gears, and there are "JDM gears" which replace only gears 2, 3, and 4 with ones with shorter ratios. The big difference is, the JDM gears reduce the spacing between gears 1 and 2, and increase the spacing between the upper gears. The JDM gears are preferable at stoplights because the improve acceleration between 40 and 70 mph, but they hurt acceleration above 70 mph. However, on the track, you're rarely below 70 mph, and the JDM gears make second gear too short to be usable. I love the stock USIM gears for this reason - second gear is a usable gear since it goes up over 80 mph, and the gears are more closely spaced above second. If you ever get a chance, try both setups on the track (maybe drive a few laps of someone else's car with the shorter gear setup) and see which one you like better. I've tried both, and I prefer the stock setup.