Newbie question....how does the NSX sound?

[globalism]

Hi All,

In the far off future (after med school, residency and landing a job) I plan on buying an exotic sportscar. I was thinking about eventually getting a Ferrari but its maintenece costs really put me off (but the good thing is that by the time I'm ready to buy used 360's should be down to $70-80k). But the thing I love about Ferrari is the raw power and raw engine sounds you get from it.

I've never been in a NSX but the NSX seems to have gained the repuation (warranted or not) of a "buttoned down, well mannered" car (in other words kind of boring, feels like a Honda....in a bad sort of way).

My question is when you guys start up your NSX's does it feel exhilating? Exhilating in the same type of way that starting up a sports motorcycle is (I've rode sportsbikes before)? Or like how many describe a Ferrari 355's, 360's or Gallando's engine as sounding? Is there a lot of sound deadening material in the NSX?

Also, if I end up getting an NSX (most likely its successor) in the future, I plan on putting a supercharger in it....does it signfigantly improve or even change the engine sound?

It'd be great if any of you can attach or point me to any sound files or movie files that can give me a good idea of the sound of the NSX's engine.

Thanks in advance.

 

[Briank]

http://paddockperformance.com/launcher.html

 

[ctnsupra1]

Here's a bunch of sound and video files with exhausts.....
Knock yourself out.

Conor

 

[Meeyatch1]

Hello! The reputation that Ferraris have for sounding excellent is well earned. They do sound really great straight from the factory. The cool thing is that if you upgrade the exhaust on an NSX you can get a similar sound. Remember, I said similar. I would be lying to you if I said that it would be just like a Ferrari, because it is not. All you need to do is find the car that makes you happy to drive and own and everything else is just perfect.

 

[D'Ecosse]

Yes, it will sound different with a Super-charger - kinda whiney noise in your right ear!
You can't beat the sexy sound of a turbo wastegate - check out Gerry Johnson's 500+hp turbo NSX
Forget the super ...... go turbo!!!!!!!!!

http://www.pansx.com/gerry-500hp-nsx.wmv

edited - sorry, pasted the wrong link originally!

 

[Lazarus]

Just out of curiosity, why would you plan on putting a supercharger into a car that, at this moment, nobody knows for sure what the power output will be? Who knows, you might find the performance on the next-generation NSX entirely world-beating.

 

[PHOEN$X]

Yes, it will sound different with a Super-charger - kinda whiney noise in your right ear!
You can't beat the sexy sound of a turbo wastegate - check out Gerry Johnson's 500+hp turbo NSX
Forget the super ...... go turbo!!!!!!!!!

http://www.pansx.com/JDM.wmv

Hey Ken, that clip only shows a civic and beetle! Is it supposed to feature Gerry's car?

 

[globalism]

Just out of curiosity, why would you plan on putting a supercharger into a car that, at this moment, nobody knows for sure what the power output will be? Who knows, you might find the performance on the next-generation NSX entirely world-beating.

It was a total hypothetical, won't even be in the market for an exotic for a few years at least. I only said that after reading an NSX user review on the Internet where the owner said he put a supercharger in his NSX and got 500-something HP.

Just don't want to be smoked by some guy in a Z06 or any other car, that's all.

 

[Forums Nazi]

Hi newbie,

At the top of your screen, there is a red bar that looks like this:

Click on Gallery. Then click on "Video & Sound Files".

 

[Meeyatch1]

Pimp slapped by the Forums Nazi....LOL!!

 

[globalism]

Hi newbie,

At the top of your screen, there is a red bar that looks like this:

Click on Gallery. Then click on "Video & Sound Files".

Thanks, a lot of good media there.

ps- I hope the NSX's successor will have a T-top or targa options available. From what I've read and from pictures, the HSC's doors seem to open UP (like a Deloren). I wonder how they're going to pull off a targa from a design like that. I guess we'll just have to wait and see.....

 

[D'Ecosse]

Hey Ken, that clip only shows a civic and beetle! Is it supposed to feature Gerry's car?

Dooohhhh ..... Sorry, cut n pasted the wrong link!
Try this one -

http://www.pansx.com/gerry-500hp-nsx.wmv

 

[PHOEN$X]

Very cool, D'Ecosse - brings back memories from NSXPO. Thanks!

 

[Zanardi 50]

Hello! The reputation that Ferraris have for sounding excellent is well earned. They do sound really great straight from the factory. The cool thing is that if you upgrade the exhaust on an NSX you can get a similar sound. Remember, I said similar. I would be lying to you if I said that it would be just like a Ferrari, because it is not......

Thought I share with everyone a little bit of technical insight as to why Ferrari V-8's sound the way they do and cannot be duplicated to perfection in our rumbling NSX's by merely swapping out mufflers:

taken from http://autozine.kyul.net/technical_school/engine/smooth4.htm#V8
:

Hopefully the excerpts taken from the above link won't bore you to tears....

Enjoy!


V8 engines
May I say all V8s are 90¡Æ ? really, I haven’t heard any non-90¡Æ V8. 90¡Æ is the only configuration achieving good balance for V8. However, there are two types of crankshaft arrangements, which delivers very different characters. They are cross-plane crankshaft and flat-plane crankshaft. Most of the world’s V8s are cross-plane V8, including all American V8s and all sedans?V8s. However, the most exotic European sports cars, including Ferrari, Lotus and TVRs, employ flat-plane V8s.

Flat-plane V8 (left) and Cross-plane V8 (right)
Share the same crank pin

No matter which kind of V8s, they have 5 main bearings. A cylinder in bank A shares the same crank pin with the corresponding cylinder in bank B, therefore the crankshaft of V8 is actually simpler than V6. Both V8s generate no vibration in vertical, transverse directions or between bank and bank.
Cross-plane V8

However, for cross-plane V8s, there is vibration from end to end of the engine, this is because the first piston of bank A is not in the same position as the last piston of bank A (the same goes for bank B), unlike an inline-4 engine. No problem, the 90¡Æ V8 solves this problem by introducing an extra-heavy counter weight to every cylinder. The counter weight is heavy enough to balance the weight of crank throw, con-rod and piston of that cylinder, thus resulting in lack of vibration.

Now you must be wondering why such counter weight is not used in other kinds of engines. It is because this counter weight must be used in 90¡Æ V-type engines which have shared crank pins. It our previous study, you’ll find only V8 fulfills all these requirements. Why are there such requirements? good question. As you know, all engines have counter weights just enough to balance the weight of crank throws and part of the connecting rods, leaving the remaining weight of connecting rods and the whole, all-important pistons unbalanced. This is because the rotating counter weight can only balance rotating mass. Unluckily, the whole piston moves vertically rather than rotates about the crankshaft, while the CG of con-rod is somewhat rotating but also somewhat going up and down. If we insist to use heavy counter weight, it will cause side shake.
Considering the illustration. Assume the counter weight in vertical position is heavy enough to balance the crank throw, con-rod and pistons. When the crankshaft rotate 90¡Æ, the counter weight is repositioned to the right, but the piston doesn’t go to the left, and the con-rod just partially moves to the left. Only the crank pin moves completely to the left. Now you can see the system is not balanced. The counter weight will generate a net force towards the right.
However, for 90¡Æ V8, when such a heavy counter weight moves to the right, the piston from another bank will cancel it completely, because their movement are exactly opposed at this moment. (see illustrations below) The same result can be found for the counter weight moving to the left. Therefore 90¡Æ cross-plane V8 employs full-weight counter weights can achieve near perfect smoothness.





Flat-plane V8 for high performance cars
However, the disadvantage of cross-plane V8s is also about the counter weights - not only increase the weight of engine, they also contribute to rotational inertia, thus making the engine less responsive and less revvy, dropping upper rev limit and top-end power. Moreover, the larger counter weights usually requires a larger crankcase to house them, thus raising the height (and more important, center of gravity) of the enigne. Therefore Ferrari all V8 models, TVR Cerbera AJP V8 and Lotus Esprit V8 employ flat-plane V8s instead.

Flat-plane V8 is named according to the shape of the crankshaft, which is in a flat plane. It is very much like two inline-4 engines mated together. In particular, it achieves end-to-end balance because the first piston and last piston of a bank is exactly in the same position, so are the center two pistons. This is just the same as straight-four engines, therefore the sound of flat-plane V8 is usually somewhat like a pair of four-pot engines screaming simultaneously, unlike the rumble-bumble of cross-plane V8s.

As both banks run like an inline-4 engine, there is second-order vibration. For a 90¡Æ flat-plane V8, the sum of second-order force generated in the 2 banks is - by simple vector analysis - 1.41 times (root-2) of the force generated by each of the inline-4 it consists of. And the direction of vibration is left-right instead of top-down. In other words, while displacement increases 100% compare with the inline-4, the second-order vibration increases just 41%. That makes the flat-plane V8 more refined than an inline-4 although it is not as smooth and quiet as cross-plane V8.

To exotic sports cars, less refinement is not a big problem. Especially they usually employ short stroke and light weight pistons / con-rods, the second-order vibration is greatly reduced.

cheers!