So, I guess this is a bit of an introductory post, and a story about my first year and a half of NSX ownership, and well, due diligence.
This might get a bit longwinded, and I'm not the best writer, nor a native English speaker.
I'm Arlo, 42 years old, and live in Belgium near Ghent.
I've always been a car guy, owned and driven Honda Integra ITR DC2, BMW E30 M3 and 325, E36 M3, Lotus Exige, different air-cooled Porsche 911's (I just love them, but fallen out with the hipster-fication of the brand) and my first car was a GMC Typhoon, man do I miss that thing...
The NSX has always intrigued me, and about a year and a half ago, as my personal life was in quite a mess (mother had late stage Alzheimers, father diagnosed with cancer and a whole heap of other stuff) I decided life is too short, and started browsing for an NSX for sale.
That's when I found a 1993 Berlina Black NSX, chassis number JHMNA11500T100266 for sale in Holland. The car seemed to check all my boxes, higher mileage as I wanted a driver not a garage queen, snapring range gearbox replaced including JDM gears and NSX-R diff upgrade, not red
, Germany delivered car, and after checking everything Christian from ATR told me to check, the deal was done.
Here's the car when it first arrived:
The day the car arrived, I found the second Dutch owners name in the paperwork (not the previous owner that sold the car to me to be clear), and after googling his name, I came across some of his old threads here on prime. Some of the long time members here might recall him, his prime handle was Dutchblacknsx.
Now imagine my surprise when I found a post where he mentions the original engine was blown due to overheating and replaced. The sellers response after I contacted him was that he didn't find this relevant information to share...
At the same time I became a member of the different facebook NSX groups, and while I was searching for the sellers posts, I noticed the guy was deleting all his posts where he had the heads off the engine, selling cams etc. He had told me when I was over at his place checking out the car that he wasn't very mechanically inclined, so this really made me doubt if I bought the right car. I lost all trust in the seller and the car at that moment. To be honest, I felt like shit.
So then I thought, lets turn these lemons into lemonade, and let karma sort it out for the seller.
Here's the car as it stands now:
Things on my winter to-do list:
-replace the Dali Racing sway bars with NSX-R front and stock rear
-replace the BC coilovers with KW (still debating V3 vs Clubsport or V5
) and new alignment and corner balance
-replace ABS unit with 2002 upgrade
-replace the NA1 brakes with NA2 or BBK
-fit NSX-R chassis bars
-refresh the interior and maybe fit Recaro PP
-oil pan baffle
-fit my brand new BBS Type S wheels
The car has testpipes and Taitec headers, I fitted an RFY GT4 silent version exhaust, but when a Fujitsubo Super Ti exhaust turned up for sale here in Europe I had to have it, as I plan to track the car and we have pretty strict noise regulations on tracks over here. This was another adventure, taking more than a month to get from Germany to me, and was damaged during transit... I did my best to repair the exhaust tips myself and they turned out allright. I did get a rattle from the exhaust but this magically disappeared after a while.
All the coolant hoses were also replaced, had to replace the battery and battery ground cable after a couple of intermittent starting problems, but the car has been reliable for the time being (it's a Honda, right?). Changed the Alcantara wrapped flat bottom Honda wheel the PO fitted with a MOMO one, that changed the feel a lot more than I thought it would.
After driving the car for a couple of thousand kilometers, we still haven't 'clicked' though to be honest. I don't like the slow steering, the longish gears, and the pedals as I like to heel and toe in my cars but just don't seem to gel with the NSX pedals. I hope some track time will change my mind.
To be continued.
This might get a bit longwinded, and I'm not the best writer, nor a native English speaker.
I'm Arlo, 42 years old, and live in Belgium near Ghent.
I've always been a car guy, owned and driven Honda Integra ITR DC2, BMW E30 M3 and 325, E36 M3, Lotus Exige, different air-cooled Porsche 911's (I just love them, but fallen out with the hipster-fication of the brand) and my first car was a GMC Typhoon, man do I miss that thing...
The NSX has always intrigued me, and about a year and a half ago, as my personal life was in quite a mess (mother had late stage Alzheimers, father diagnosed with cancer and a whole heap of other stuff) I decided life is too short, and started browsing for an NSX for sale.
That's when I found a 1993 Berlina Black NSX, chassis number JHMNA11500T100266 for sale in Holland. The car seemed to check all my boxes, higher mileage as I wanted a driver not a garage queen, snapring range gearbox replaced including JDM gears and NSX-R diff upgrade, not red
, Germany delivered car, and after checking everything Christian from ATR told me to check, the deal was done.Here's the car when it first arrived:
The day the car arrived, I found the second Dutch owners name in the paperwork (not the previous owner that sold the car to me to be clear), and after googling his name, I came across some of his old threads here on prime. Some of the long time members here might recall him, his prime handle was Dutchblacknsx.
Now imagine my surprise when I found a post where he mentions the original engine was blown due to overheating and replaced. The sellers response after I contacted him was that he didn't find this relevant information to share...
At the same time I became a member of the different facebook NSX groups, and while I was searching for the sellers posts, I noticed the guy was deleting all his posts where he had the heads off the engine, selling cams etc. He had told me when I was over at his place checking out the car that he wasn't very mechanically inclined, so this really made me doubt if I bought the right car. I lost all trust in the seller and the car at that moment. To be honest, I felt like shit.
So then I thought, lets turn these lemons into lemonade, and let karma sort it out for the seller.
Here's the car as it stands now:
Things on my winter to-do list:
-replace the Dali Racing sway bars with NSX-R front and stock rear
-replace the BC coilovers with KW (still debating V3 vs Clubsport or V5
) and new alignment and corner balance-replace ABS unit with 2002 upgrade
-replace the NA1 brakes with NA2 or BBK
-fit NSX-R chassis bars
-refresh the interior and maybe fit Recaro PP
-oil pan baffle
-fit my brand new BBS Type S wheels
The car has testpipes and Taitec headers, I fitted an RFY GT4 silent version exhaust, but when a Fujitsubo Super Ti exhaust turned up for sale here in Europe I had to have it, as I plan to track the car and we have pretty strict noise regulations on tracks over here. This was another adventure, taking more than a month to get from Germany to me, and was damaged during transit... I did my best to repair the exhaust tips myself and they turned out allright. I did get a rattle from the exhaust but this magically disappeared after a while.
All the coolant hoses were also replaced, had to replace the battery and battery ground cable after a couple of intermittent starting problems, but the car has been reliable for the time being (it's a Honda, right?). Changed the Alcantara wrapped flat bottom Honda wheel the PO fitted with a MOMO one, that changed the feel a lot more than I thought it would.
After driving the car for a couple of thousand kilometers, we still haven't 'clicked' though to be honest. I don't like the slow steering, the longish gears, and the pedals as I like to heel and toe in my cars but just don't seem to gel with the NSX pedals. I hope some track time will change my mind.
To be continued.
