So...I am thinking of restoring my NSX...advice/help please.

[Meeyatch1]

So for the past couple of months I have not had hardly any chances to drive my '94 NSX. It is just been sitting around, as I now work about 110 miles away from where it is stored. Anyway, it has been a great car, but it is showing the age of it being a '94 NSX with 93,774 miles on it. Now as most of you are aware, I drive my cars quite a bit usually, so wear and tear does happen...and I am okay with that. What I was thinking of undertaking is a project of restoring the car to an almost 'as new' condition. Here are my challenges, and I need your help to give me pointers on if this project is worth while.

1.) Repaint entire front end to remove chips and damage from road driving that happened before I put the clear bra on the car.

2.) Fix gap problems on the hood. I suspect that my car had to have been in some minor fender bender because on one side the gap is just not right and the hood sits a little higher as well. (**How hard is this to fix??**)

3.) Fix gap problem on headlight. Again, the one headlight has a gap that is just not correct. I did not see any damage to the frame of the car or other major areas, but still think that some fender bender had to have caused this. How can you measure alignment points so this can be fixed??

4.) OEM wheels have some scrapes. I would like to find a place that can refinish my OEM wheels to look like they did from the factory. Some refinishing shops can make them look all nice and overly glossy, but that is not how they looked from the factory. I know, I am picky, but that is my OCD.

Those are my major stumbling points. The rest I can deal with. The interior is very clean, my OEM seats are almost perfect because I have had Sparco seats in there forever. The suspension underneath I will be working on this weekend to try and make perfect...so what do you think?? Any tips on getting the other things fixed, or am I just nuts.

 

[MJK]

I think you should do whatever makes you happy - whatever makes you walk out the garage late at night and say to yourself 'damn, that is perfect - I can't believe I own that.'

Enjoy it, that's why they built it. (well, there is the profit thing too)

 

[Meeyatch1]

I think you should do whatever makes you happy - whatever makes you walk out the garage late at night and say to yourself 'damn, that is perfect - I can't believe I own that.'

Enjoy it, that's why they built it. (well, there is the profit thing too)

Yeah...I have spent most of the day in the garage UNDER the car scrubbing the suspension, undercarriage, and other parts nobody but myself and the mechanic will ever see just so I know it is as perfect as possible.

The funny thing is that I am now covered pretty much head to toe in grease, dirt, rust proofing, and other goop. Evidently they sprayed a ton of it on this car when it was new and it was covering all of the pretty aluminum pieces.

So what did I do?? Made my own 'parts cleaner' consisting of gasoline, Simple Green, bug and tar remover, and a bit of some other cleaners....then started taking the parts off of the car and cleaning them. It is like being the mad scientist of the garage!! BWAHAHAHAHA!!

 

[W]

So what did I do?? Made my own 'parts cleaner' consisting of gasoline, Simple Green, bug and tar remover, and a bit of some other cleaners....then started taking the parts off of the car and cleaning them.

Hopefully you're not cleaning any of the aluminum parts with Simple Green.

 

[PoohBEAR]

My first step was to steam clean everything under the car..................than go from there. My car will be sitting in the shop for the next couple of weeks getting rid of all blemishes. I'll take some pictures.....when done

 

[enesexdreamer]

good luck and enjoy! :smile: i myself is in the proccess of restoring my nsx.

anybody here every tried "the ding king" for minor door dings??? it worked wonders for me when i had my 95 legend. but how will work with aluminum??

3M rubbing compound works great for swirl marks, light scratches, oxidation, water spots, and restores fading finishes.

 

[comquat1]

So what did I do?? Made my own 'parts cleaner' consisting of gasoline, Simple Green, bug and tar remover, and a bit of some other cleaners....then started taking the parts off of the car and cleaning them. It is like being the mad scientist of the garage!! BWAHAHAHAHA!!

Excuse me Sir, I am with OSHA, I'd like to see a Material Safety Data Sheet for that your cleaner.... :tongue:

On another note, does this mean you've already changed your mind about finding another set of Prodrives?

 

[Meeyatch1]

Hopefully you're not cleaning any of the aluminum parts with Simple Green.

Why??

 

[Meeyatch1]

Excuse me Sir, I am with OSHA, I'd like to see a Material Safety Data Sheet for that your cleaner.... :tongue:

On another note, does this mean you've already changed your mind about finding another set of Prodrives?

Ummm....I have that data sheet right here.....somewhere....ummm...

I am not sure what I want to do with wheels yet....really have not thought much about it. Give me a few days to figure it out. I may run my OEM wheels for a while until I figure out where I want to go with this car.

 

[Dan Ciezniewzki]

hey man,
If you'd like you can store one in my storage unit till my cars finally fixed if ya like. If ya get a 30ft unit too, you can barely fit both
Also, just had my wheels refinshed, they told me who did it, but I forgot. If ya wanna see them to see if you like it just let me know, or you can stop by Penske, ask for Mark Evans or maybe even Mark Cooper and let em know I said it was cool. You could always lightly "crash" your car and Insurance will pay for everything lol, mine was an offroad accident, but any little thing that even had a scratch they replaced no problem

...oh and brake cleaner cleans everything!!!!! its the duct tape of cleansers, don't know how it is with aluminum though

 

[Meeyatch1]

Dan....thanks. I may have to swing by there and check it out.

I am getting all paranoid now about the use of Simple Green and some of the other stuff that I used to get some of the tar/rustproofing off of some of my aluminum pieces. I hope I did not compromise safety by cleaning my car.

 

[comquat1]

Dan....thanks. I may have to swing by there and check it out.

I am getting all paranoid now about the use of Simple Green and some of the other stuff that I used to get some of the tar/rustproofing off of some of my aluminum pieces. I hope I did not compromise safety by cleaning my car.

Get a citrus solvent. Takes off grease, tar, rubberized undercoating, and it's very safe, plus in most cases it's water rinsable. It comes in aerosol or gallons alot of times. Stop at any janitorial supply house and they will most likely have it. The one I stock is one called DG-90 by Carroll company, I also have an aerosol call Zenex Zenasolv Orange, that stuff is the Shiznit.

 

[Meeyatch1]

Get a citrus solvent. Takes off grease, tar, rubberized undercoating, and it's very safe, plus in most cases it's water rinsable. It comes in aerosol or gallons alot of times. Stop at any janitorial supply house and they will most likely have it. The one I stock is one called DG-90 by Carroll company, I also have an aerosol call Zenex Zenasolv Orange, that stuff is the Shiznit.

I may be giving you a call....actually, could you please PM me the prices for your stuff if it is safe on aluminum? Thanks!

 

[MCM]

Having restored a dozen cars, I would not do an NSX just yet.
They are still out there at very good prices in great cond.
Figure out what your car would sell for as is, then the price of a cherry
thats never been hit with perfect factory paint.
I will have to guess the resto will take more $$$ than the cost to
replace. I could be all wet, but there are still clean lo mi. 94's in the 30's and very few sell for less than mid to high 20's.
Something to kick around. :biggrin:

 

[Meeyatch1]

Having restored a dozen cars, I would not do an NSX just yet.
They are still out there at very good prices in great cond.
Figure out what your car would sell for as is, then the price of a cherry
thats never been hit with perfect factory paint.
I will have to guess the resto will take more $$$ than the cost to
replace. I could be all wet, but there are still clean lo mi. 94's in the 30's and very few sell for less than mid to high 20's.
Something to kick around. :biggrin:

While that is probably the best idea, I am one of those softies who wants to save one that has had less than a pampered life. While I have taken very good care of my baby during the time I have had it, I would like to fix what previous owners did and restore the 'as new' pride it once had. Thank you though.

 

[KANE]

lets see some undercarriage pics!

 

[Meeyatch1]

lets see some undercarriage pics!

I will take some in a few days when I see my car again. I really need to buy a good digital camera anyway....

 

[Big_nate]

From what you listed I don't think you're talking about a very serious restoration. I would just take the car to a body shop and see if they can tell you if the hood just needs some alignment tweaking. I suppose if its bent you could look for a straight used one. I've heard good things about this place http://www.indypowdercoating.com/auto.html as far as wheel refinishing goes, would give you the option of doing something different from the stock color as well. You know change things up, keep the relationship 'fresh' :biggrin:

Nate

 

[dlynes]

Hopefully you're not cleaning any of the aluminum parts with Simple Green.

What will simple green do to the body of an nsx?

 

[comquat1]

What will simple green do to the body of an nsx?

It might blacken the aluminum a bit I think because of it's akalinity(sp?). I had that problem once when I sold a food degreaser to a food processer, he had all stainless steel machines but one had two parts that were exposed aluminum I think, they soaked the pieces in my degreaser and it was so caustic that it turned them black. Needless to say, I lost that business very quickly.... :biggrin: That's why I recommend a citrus solvent for cleaning the aluminum pieces like suspension and so forth.

 

[KANE]

not for sure but supposedly boeing had a bulletin regarding the harmful effects of simple green (corrosive) on aluminum as it relates to aircraft construction.

 

[Sulley]

The military used it at one time cleaning aircraft. I think mostly helicopters and found that it lead to corrosion on aluminum. They quit using it.
I thought I saw something awhile back about Simple Green coming out with a version that was safe for Aluminum.

I doubt it did any damage to your car. Rinse it off and go on with life.
Sulley

 

[KANE]

The military used it at one time cleaning aircraft. I think mostly helicopters and found that it lead to corrosion on aluminum. They quit using it.
I thought I saw something awhile back about Simple Green coming out with a version that was safe for Aluminum.

I doubt it did any damage to your car. Rinse it off and go on with life.
Sulley

I agree it was probably not present on the aluminum long enough to cause any damage