So a little update on the latest adventures. Installed the quick release hub and new steering wheel. Took a bunch of times to get the horn to work properly. I did research a bunch on getting this working but ended up just hooking the horn button up to every pin on both connectors in the steering hub and finally found the right one. All good there. One thing i noticed right away, beside the loss of weight, is the way smaller diameter of the actual wheel. I had my OEM wheel re-wrapped with two extra layers and new leather and that wheel felt great in my hands. This new wheel feels like a toothpick in comparison. But I do like it on the track. FYI it is the same diameter as OEM at 350mm. Also replaced my Zeitronix black box and wideband sensor, as it was the culprit for the flickering display. Currently working with #jwmelvin on a new design for a LED gauge cluster for the dash. Will update when we make some more progress.
Speaking of track, I did two days at Wild Horse Pass West a couple of weeks ago. Prior to that I corner balanced the car and had it re-aligned. That was an eye opening experience. It appears that the initial setting of the suspension was way off. The front springs were pre-loaded by at least 3/4 of an inch or about 600 lbs! So I backed them down, adjusted all the coil-overs for proper height and rake and then turned the dampers down to 12F and 10R and it was like driving a new car. Cross weighting was dead on at 50% with me in the car. Then off to alignment where we were able to max caster and camber all around (equal on both sides of course) and set toe in .13 rear and out .13 in the front. The car tracked flawlessly both days. I did firm up the dampers to 20 clicks front and rear and the car remained perfectly balanced.
But all was not quite perfect. While the car did everything I asked of it, and the tuning I have been doing was bang on, some gremlins did arise. I noticed some brake fluid weeping under the brake master cylinder, onto the brake booster. Not enough to impact my track days but I would have to replace it. If you ever have to do this, be sure to bench bleed the master before you install it. Also, speed bleeders will be your friend. Also while looking around i saw brake fluid under the dash where the clutch master resides. So replace all clutch hydraulics and add a speed bleeder to the slave. Some quick tricks here are to open the reservoir and attach tubing to the bleeder with a bottle attached and open the bleeder up to drain all of the fluid out before removing the master. Way easier and no mess. And when you install the new parts, place the tube and bottle back on the bleeder and let gravity fill the system. You will do far less manual bleeding afterward.
But the most concerning part was in both afternoon sessions the car would start to overheat. I'd not experienced this before while running much hotter ambient temperatures at Thunderhill last year. So I slowed down and had to abandon both late sessions. I guess the original radiator had finally had enough. So a new Koyorad is on it's way and I'll install that in the next couple of weeks. I'm sure that when I remove the original one, the fins will be packed full of junk. I've seen this before on an NSX with more mileage. But the extra capacity of my new radiator should provide me with a better safety margin.
So when this final bit of maintenance is complete, the car will be ready for duty in 2020. It has never run better, handled better, and will be near bullet-proof. Damn, what a good feeling to own a well sorted out NSX. May you all share in this feeling this upcoming year. Pics to follow of some of my handy work;
Speaking of track, I did two days at Wild Horse Pass West a couple of weeks ago. Prior to that I corner balanced the car and had it re-aligned. That was an eye opening experience. It appears that the initial setting of the suspension was way off. The front springs were pre-loaded by at least 3/4 of an inch or about 600 lbs! So I backed them down, adjusted all the coil-overs for proper height and rake and then turned the dampers down to 12F and 10R and it was like driving a new car. Cross weighting was dead on at 50% with me in the car. Then off to alignment where we were able to max caster and camber all around (equal on both sides of course) and set toe in .13 rear and out .13 in the front. The car tracked flawlessly both days. I did firm up the dampers to 20 clicks front and rear and the car remained perfectly balanced.
But all was not quite perfect. While the car did everything I asked of it, and the tuning I have been doing was bang on, some gremlins did arise. I noticed some brake fluid weeping under the brake master cylinder, onto the brake booster. Not enough to impact my track days but I would have to replace it. If you ever have to do this, be sure to bench bleed the master before you install it. Also, speed bleeders will be your friend. Also while looking around i saw brake fluid under the dash where the clutch master resides. So replace all clutch hydraulics and add a speed bleeder to the slave. Some quick tricks here are to open the reservoir and attach tubing to the bleeder with a bottle attached and open the bleeder up to drain all of the fluid out before removing the master. Way easier and no mess. And when you install the new parts, place the tube and bottle back on the bleeder and let gravity fill the system. You will do far less manual bleeding afterward.
But the most concerning part was in both afternoon sessions the car would start to overheat. I'd not experienced this before while running much hotter ambient temperatures at Thunderhill last year. So I slowed down and had to abandon both late sessions. I guess the original radiator had finally had enough. So a new Koyorad is on it's way and I'll install that in the next couple of weeks. I'm sure that when I remove the original one, the fins will be packed full of junk. I've seen this before on an NSX with more mileage. But the extra capacity of my new radiator should provide me with a better safety margin.
So when this final bit of maintenance is complete, the car will be ready for duty in 2020. It has never run better, handled better, and will be near bullet-proof. Damn, what a good feeling to own a well sorted out NSX. May you all share in this feeling this upcoming year. Pics to follow of some of my handy work;
. 
