PPI in Pittsburgh area

[BrianB]

Hello I've got a good friend that is looking to buy a NSX in the Pittsburgh PA area. He's like to get a PPI done. Any recommendations on who to take the car to? Or anyone on here that would be up to checking it out? He would like a compression test and the car generally went over. Please PM me, or respond here. Thanks!

 

[Yinzer]

I can't think of any NSX specialist in town, the closest ones are 4+ hours away (Redbird92, LarryBastanza, SourceOne).
@vivanshah, @PghMiller, @consynx?

One option for a good professional enthusiast garage to consider is George Riggin specialty auto in Zelienople. Certainly they could be trusted to look for mechanical and body condition, and their PPI could possibly be enhanced by walking in with NSX-specific things to look for that can be obtained on this site. There are a few checklists and the wiki and faq, if I find them, I'll add them here unless somebody else beats me to it. I think there is a decent list in a Honda tuner magazine that has been shared often on the site. There are a few extra things to look at and verify for 92's and older vs. 93's and newer such as transmission serial # snap ring range and maybe one more obvious one that escapes my mind at the moment (long day today).

There also apparently is an NSX trained technician at an Acura or Honda dealership near Boardman, Ohio. I have never reached out to them to find out, but I've heard it from a few people. Maybe worth inquiring.

I'll see if I can find the list. I'm sure others may chime in here with additional ideas.

Feel free to PM me with any specific questions including where the car is at, such as if it's at a local dealership. If it's near enough, perhaps a few local orders or I might be able to get a quick eyes-on it.

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Here it is

https://sso.sourceinterlinkdigital....om/features/htup-0810-acura-nsx-buyers-guide/

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Not much here:

http://blog.caranddriver.com/origin...gined-supercar-for-the-price-of-a-new-accord/

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From the wiki. Lots of good info here:

http://www.nsxprime.com/wiki/Category:Purchasing_an_NSX


hagerty:

https://www.hagerty.com/articles-videos/Articles/2012/07/03/Buyers-Guide-199196-Acura-NSX

Car throttle:
http://www.carthrottle.com/post/used-car-buying-guide-acura-nsx/


i'm posting all these because the more he reads various articles, the more he'll see repeat info and get a feel for what the major NSX-specific items are to look out for and take to whomever.

 

[vivanshah]

I wouldn't be surprised if it's consynx's car.. @BrianB Is it a supercharged '94?

Yinzer basically covered all the good options locally for a PPI. If I were buying an NSX in pitt I'd go to Riggins as well (based on reputation alone, I have no experience with them). But i'd definitely take a list of things to look for (like the "checklist" from prime) http://www.nsxprime.com/wiki/Purchase_Process#What_Should_I_Know_When_Buying_A_Used_NSX.3F

 

[Yinzer]

Vivan, good idea, I was just thinking the same thing.

Brian - Whether it's Steve's or not, it would also be good to ask the seller if he knew of any inspection options, assuming your friend hadn't already done so. Or ask the owner if he still has a copy of any PPI he may have done? Pardon me if the links above or these suggestions are obvious things that you may have already suggested to him.

 

[PghMiller]

Spitzer acura in Peters township has a long time nsx tech

 

[vivanshah]

Spitzer acura in Peters township has a long time nsx tech

oh right. Didn't NsxDotCom (matt) say he used them for his timing belt?

 

[BrianB]

Yes it's the supercharged 94 lol. I figure you guys wouldn't take long to figure that out! He's been talking with the owner and is extremely serious / pretty much buying it. Good news is it would stay in PA!

With that being the case any info on the car would be great!

 

[PghMiller]

The car is pimp!

 

[Yinzer]

With that being the case any info on the car would be great!

I've known Steve for about a year now through Pittsburgh cars and coffee. He strikes me as being extremely straightforward and honest. And a really good guy in general. As far as the car, its stance is one of if not probably *the* best-looking "lowered and flushed" I've ever seen in my life, and I've seen quite a few lowered and flushed NSX's. Like Bryan said, it's sharp. I kind of hate the idea of it leaving Pittsburgh.

 

[consynx]

It is mine. I'm with the prospective buyer now. I told him I will look for the PPI I paid for. Please provide Brian b with any feedback you can that is helpful.

 

[BrianB]

It is mine. I'm with the prospective buyer now. I told him I will look for the PPI I paid for. Please provide Brian b with any feedback you can that is helpful.

Just tell Sajy to buy it already Lol!! That's what I've been telling him. But he's doing the proper thing wanting it checked. Main thing I think would be compression test. Other then that your old ppi would be fine considering how low of miles you've put on it.

I have a question for you. I'm CTSC'd as well, not high boost thou. I had a fic and 550's but the car idled awful until warm and got poor gas Mileage. So switched back to ct fuel management and car runs great. Any issues like that? I know the FIC is hard to tune in a obd1. But I also saw you had ct and shad work on the car in the past. So I figure it's probably tuned about as good as it gets.

Hopefully things work out for both of you!

 

[BrianB]

I've known Steve for about a year now through Pittsburgh cars and coffee. He strikes me as being extremely straightforward and honest. And a really good guy in general. As far as the car, its stance is one of if not probably *the* best-looking "lowered and flushed" I've ever seen in my life, and I've seen quite a few lowered and flushed NSX's. Like Bryan said, it's sharp. I kind of hate the idea of it leaving Pittsburgh.

It does look good! It wouldn't be far away from Pittsburgh thou!

I'm a huge steelers fan, but never been to the stadium. I'm jealous you guys live so close lol.

 

[consynx]

Sorry for the delay, I overlooked your first message.
Every now and then the idle bounces a bit during cold startup, (roughly 500rpms), but it stops after ~30 seconds. I also told Sajy about this.
The culprit seems to be the high speed idle air valve, according to other ctsc owners on prime, but they all seem to live with it, since it is only temporary

 

[BrianB]

Thanks for all the help guys!! He went with George Riggins, they did a great job on the PPI for him.
Depending on when Sajy goes to pick up Steve's NSX I'm going to take mine up to bring him to pick it up. So hopefully we can meet up with a few owners while in the area. I'm looking forward to checking out Pittsburgh if we have time and get some good pictures. Also if any of you are going to supercars on state street in Harrisburg August 22nd I'll be there with a bunch of the MD/VA NSX's as well.

 

[pawz1200]

Thanks [MENTION=25046]Yinzer[/MENTION]. Valuable info from other sources I had not seen before. Used the wiki one

 

[BrianB]

So after inspecting the NSX myself, I'd not recommend that Riggins shop for a PPI in the future! Atleast on paint and body conditions. Mechanical they seemed to do a ok job. But I think they rated the paint/body like a 8-9/10. It's far from a 5/10 imo. Several issues needs a respray to get to a 9/10... So yeah my friend might not say anything. I felt I needed to atleast say something. It looks great in pictures and a distance atleast! But I feel bad for him not getting a full disclosure on the paint work from the place he paid to check it... Wish I could of went with him to pick it up. On another note the car runs great so that's good!

 

[Yinzer]

So after inspecting the NSX myself, I'd not recommend that Riggins shop for a PPI in the future! Atleast on paint and body conditions. Mechanical they seemed to do a ok job. But I think they rated the paint/body like a 8-9/10. It's far from a 5/10 imo. Several issues needs a respray to get to a 9/10... So yeah my friend might not say anything. I felt I needed to atleast say something. It looks great in pictures and a distance atleast! But I feel bad for him not getting a full disclosure on the paint work from the place he paid to check it... Wish I could of went with him to pick it up. On another note the car runs great so that's good!

Thanks for the follow up. I have no relation to Riggins, but with paint and appearance items, one man's 8 can easily be another man's 5 especially if they handicap it up or down in regards to it being a 20+ year-old car... I don't know if Riggins is a paint shop or if a paint expert reviewed it there, but when I was seeking PPI's, I never trusted a repair shop to give me a paint review and in one case I used a painter to get his PPI thoughts in addition to my getting a separate mechanical PPI since I knew the car was resprayed. His review was literally: "for the regular guy who's going to be driving it, this paint is in great condition. But to me though, I could look at it and find everything wrong screaming out to me." Sounds like it's not the case that the buyer didn't get a full disclosure, but instead he got a paint review according to the opinion of the person doing the PPI, just like you gave your opinion above? Sounds like you're saying you felt they did a good mechanical PPI, right?

 

[BrianB]

Mechanical seems to be spot on yes!

Paint and body rating a 9/10 with bad panel alignment all over the car especially the hood/fender lines(hood rubbed fender!!), solvent pop on a passenger rear quarter, a poorly done respray on the passenger door (didn't even disassemble tape lines around mirror and window moldings), drivers rear quarter paint color doesn't match in certain lighting, there's a much longer list but that's a start.

Honestly anyone who knows cars the slightest should of been able to find these issues. They listed the dings in it. So they went over the body...

There's 4-6k worth of work to get it to a 9/10 in condition.

If they weren't capable to examine the paint and body condition. Imo they should of informed him to arrange a body shop to assess it.

Thanks for your help Yinzer, this has nothing to do with you, you were very helpful. More to do with the shops info, and honestly even info given by the PO didn't mention most of these issues. Unfortunately the sale price was 4-6k too much considering what the condition of the car really was IMHO.

Yes that only my opinion thou.