Rising from the ashes - Valhalla

[Valhalla]

Great question. I guess that depends upon who wrapped it and how you wanted it done in the first place. Mine looks amazing because I;

1) Chose a black car
2) Had the door jams done also (they cut around the stickers inside the jams, see post 51)
3) Had the best shop do it.

I'll post some pics tomorrow. I showed it off to Ramon and Les today and they had a hard time believing it wasn't paint. The detail that Joey and crew put into the wrap and how he finished the seams is first class. You'll see tomorrow for yourself after I add some pictures. I'm more amazed at the car every day.

 

[Jinks]

Great question. I guess that depends upon who wrapped it and how you wanted it done in the first place. Mine looks amazing because I;

1) Chose a black car
2) Had the door jams done also (they cut around the stickers inside the jams, see post 51)
3) Had the best shop do it.

I'll post some pics tomorrow. I showed it off to Ramon and Les today and they had a hard time believing it wasn't paint. The detail that Joey and crew put into the wrap and how he finished the seams is first class. You'll see tomorrow for yourself after I add some pictures. I'm more amazed at the car every day.

No doubt man, it looks spectacular! I am just curious to see how the wrap around the fenders and such make it blend with the original color is all. The door jams look great too.

 

[RYU]

Congrats on the new ride!

 

[liftnot]

Congrats......Looks great JC...totally stoked for you:^)

 

[Valhalla]

Yeah, thanks guys. I'm really happy with how it turned out. Here are the seats and interior;

I like it and think they did a very nice job. Still waiting on the pics and video that Joey shot. Couple more little things to do but I'm mostly there. Now to enjoy and drive....

- - - Updated - - -

Here is the video of me taking back possession of the car. A little grainy but at least you get to hear a Taitec GTLW exhaust!

 

[RYU]

Wow, that's great. I'm guessing around $3k for the wrap in terms of costs?

 

[Valhalla]

Wow, that's great. I'm guessing around $3k for the wrap in terms of costs?

Less than that. I paid a little more than Mark did for his pearl white but I wanted to have the door sills wrapped too. If I remember it was only a couple of hundred dollars more. I think it was worth it.

 

[RYU]

Looks like a very thorough job

 

[Jinks]

Yeah, thanks guys. I'm really happy with how it turned out. Here are the seats and interior;
View attachment 125994View attachment 125995View attachment 125996

For Jinks, this is how they did the seams and breaks for the wrap. The trunk first;
View attachment 125997View attachment 125998View attachment 125999View attachment 126000

And now under the hood;
View attachment 126001View attachment 126002View attachment 126003View attachment 126004
.
I like it and think they did a very nice job. Still waiting on the pics and video that Joey shot. Couple more little things to do but I'm mostly there. Now to enjoy and drive....

- - - Updated - - -

Here is the video of me taking back possession of the car. A little grainy but at least you get to hear a Taitec GTLW exhaust!

Thanks for answering my question. I thought it would look way too weird but it actually looks quite well. I think I may pull the trigger on a wrap in the very near future. I was thinking of keeping it black anyways. Maybe a different color. Maybe.....

 

[Valhalla]

I looked at this two ways;

1) I wanted to have a Spa Yellow car again and this was way less expensive then stripping the car and then spraying the entire naked vehicle. That would have been a fortune and the car would have probably lost value. Not that I'm worried too much about that as I'm not in the market to sell this one.
2) Think of this as color enhanced clear bra. The wrap will protect the paint below it so no need to worry about stone chips. Even if a panel gets some damage, I only have to re-wrap that one panel. Easy.

I just went for sushi and the owner of the store walked out the front door and had to drool all over my car. He made mention of how clean it was and how nice the paint looked. I told him it was a wrap and he bolted out the front door to look at the car again. He is looking to get into one, so the 20 questions followed next. I'm sure that will not be the last question from him.... maybe I'll get a discount on my specialty rolls going forward!

 

[Track Addict]

Car looks phenomenal JC! Way to go. I am sorry that I will have to miss this drive as the new postponed date lands on my GFs bday. I will see you soon I hope

 

[Valhalla]

Thanks Jonathon, sorry we will miss you (again). Just got done fixing the brake lights. The idiot light on the dash said there was a problem so I took a peak. Started with the bulbs first and what do you know, there was some kind of crud like 100 year old grease on every one of them. Cleaned up the bulbs and scrubbed up the connectors and voila, the idiot light is off.

Also installed the WiFi backup camera that Clean_Green wrote up and it works perfect. Wired the Guppy antenna up to 12V power and now I actually have a radio. Just a bunch of little things at this point. Still need to get the AC sorted and get this installed;

And I have scored, maybe the last known set in existence, of the famed brushed aluminum gauge cluster rings. Oh yes I did!

Still waiting on the photos and video from Joey but once I get them, I'll post them up. Now to get some seat time and see what this beast will do in the canyons. I'll resurrect this thread once there is something more to post or if I decide to do something more.....

 

[Valhalla]

So a little history. Matt (D1Guy) texts me and asks the vin number of the car. I give him the last four digits and he writes back that he bought that car for a good friend of his in Mississippi years ago and even sends my pictures of the car! Talk about a small world.

Also did a canyon run up GMR (Glendale Mountain Road) to Mt. Baldy then over to Crystal Lake and back down Azuza Canyon. The handling of the car was flawless. The brakes are so impressive. Had the AC going full tilt boogie and the thermostat did not budge all day even at 7k rpms and more. With the Recaros and belts, I felt like the car was strapped on my back and would go where ever I pointed it. The vision I had for this build has been fulfilled. I love it.

 

[RedWings]

Looking forward to seeing your car/build... maybe go for a drive
I'm living in SanBerdoo these days

 

[Senninha]

What an incredible journey from the last stunning NSX to this even more incredible creation ... speed, attention to detail and a great team around you to bring it all to life ...

One question ... was the radiator cover already on the car or is it a part you have had made / sourced from somewhere please?

http://www.nsxprime.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=126002&d=1437510600

Thanx Paul

 

[Valhalla]

What an incredible journey from the last stunning NSX to this even more incredible creation ... speed, attention to detail and a great team around you to bring it all to life ...

One question ... was the radiator cover already on the car or is it a part you have had made / sourced from somewhere please?

http://www.nsxprime.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=126002&d=1437510600

Thanx Paul

Thanks Paul for the kind words.

Just got back from a nice drive out to Palm Springs and back. I had some NSXPO stuff to attend to. The two cars could not be more different. After Layla had committed suicide, I did not immediately know what I was going to do. I was a wreck as well, emotionally, financially, physically, just spent. But my wife talked me down off the ledge. In the following weeks of that accident, besides reliving the crash 47 times a day, I was thinking in the back of my mind "would I build another NSX?" Pam and I talked it over and she said "Go get another one", so I started looking but first, I wanted to imagine what this car would become in the end. So I kind of built it before actually looking for a car.

Layla was a '97 and she sure had her issues. But over the course of several years, I had the motor refreshed by Shad at Driving Ambition, fixed the EPS with the help of my good buddy Matt (D1Guy) and installed twin Areodyne turbos with the assistance of Dave Dozier and Autowave. I spent a lot of time on her and she was incredible. But she is gone.

My new car is a 91' coupe and is very different. The handling of this car is far superior to Layla. This car is lighter, stiffer, sticks to the road like crazy and stops with some real authority, time after time. I'm just getting used to her but she sure turns heads. I still have the turbo system, haven't sold it yet. Still haven't determined whether I will put them on or not. This car does not scoot like Layla did but there seems to be more balance.

As to the shroud above the radiator, that is a piece that was offered up from Source One (Brian) and I was able to retrieve it from Layla. It got a bit bent up but we were able to straighten it back out. Here is their website;
http://www.s1automotive.com/

I don't know if he is making these anymore as they are not listed on his site but contact him, he may still have some.

 

[RYU]

Since you seem to be at a crossroad, albeit not urgent, I might suggest exploring the option of a lightweight clutch/flywheel combo and Type R spec short gears. I would use the money from the turbos to fund such an endeavor. $0.02.

 

[Valhalla]

Since you seem to be at a crossroad, albeit not urgent, I might suggest exploring the option of a lightweight clutch/flywheel combo and Type R spec short gears. I would use the money from the turbos to fund such an endeavor. $0.02.

The clutch is holding fine for now so no big rush on replacing it. But when I do, I will be looking for your guidance, Oh Master of One Thousand Clutches, as to which one. Type R short gears? With an additional 100hp, who needs short gears?:biggrin:

Oh, BTW, real cool video of you. I've watched it several times. Can I get your autograph?

 

[Mac Attack]

Congratulations! Looks great!

Dave

 

[Senninha]

Thanx for the info ... rgds Paul

 

[Valhalla]

Just finished up the last remaining issues and now the car is done. Going to clean her up and shoot some photos of the finished product. I can officially state that my car is ready for NSXPO. I may not be, but the car is.

A shout out to Ramon at Niguel Motors and all of you Primers who have helped along the way. it's been a whirlwind of the past couple of months but I have an amazing car to look at and wonderful friends who have supported me thru a very trying year. Thank you all.

Pics to follow.

 

[MexiRicer]

Awesome read JC. I enjoy your posts, you put so much of your personality into them and it flows so well lol. Same with your car- an extension of your personality. I love your meaty tires and how rigid everything looks/is. See you very soon my friend!!

 

[Valhalla]

Awesome read JC. I enjoy your posts, you put so much of your personality into them and it flows so well lol. Same with your car- an extension of your personality. I love your meaty tires and how rigid everything looks/is. See you very soon my friend!!

Just trying to keep up with you my social media maven! You do the same. Enough talk, some pics;

 

[ThaiT]

Wow, when I was looking for a nsx that was when i noticed your damaged beautiful 97. Congrats on getting back up and coming back again! I'm new to the scene as i just got mine last month but Hoping to see you and your wrapped car at Tony house! Im about to go under the wrap knife this coming week

 

[Valhalla]

Thanks for the kind words. What color?