NSX in Tow

On the way back to my garage to fix the transmission.

Cusco D Strut Bar and Dunlop Direzza Z1 Tires

My old Dunlop SP8000 tires that were on the FD when I bought it have been showing their age. They were dried out and cracking. The dry traction was still ok, but in the rain I couldn't start from a stop light without spinning the tires on clutch engagement. I had planned on a set of Falken Azenis RT-615's, but after reading reviews decided to go with the newer Dunlop Direzza Z1 Star Specs instead.


I doubt they will last very long, but I would like the car to hook up without buying wider wheels/tires. Here they are sitting in the living room before mounting them. Kitty is confused.


I also finally found a good deal on a used strut bar that wasn't an ebay special...a nice Cusco D-shape bar. After I got it, I sanded down the old flaking paint on the mounts and repainted them black. Installed it last night but didn't get a chance to take the car for a spin until today after I got the tires mounted. Everything feels very solid, but I won't know the true value of the tires until the tuning is finalized in a couple of weeks.

Boost controller installed

Got the OG Profec B installed last weekend and did a custom double din gauge panel while I was at it. Now my wideband gauge isn't mounted super ghetto and I have a place for my Greddy EGT gauge (which isn't hooked up yet, just a place holder right now).


Now it would be nice to replace the stock oil pressure and coolant temp gauges in the cluster with aftermarket oil pressure and oil temperature gauges, but I'm saving that for another day.

MP-Racing.net is returning

Not that I don't like the blog, but I feel that I don't post here enough. So I figured I would just keep the website updated and it would be simpler and in a more logical project format. I will still keep this site for news however. Check out the link below...

MP-Racing

More RX7 Pictures..why not.

Few more RX7 pictures for the hell of it.

NSX Snap Ring Failure Confirmed

Here is a picture of the little bits I found in the access port of my transmission.


And some metal shavings....


And this is the snap ring that I am speaking of....hopefully there isn't too much internal damage.

Fun with all the cars...

Where to start? How about with the fact that my daily driven "super reliable Honda" (i.e. Acura NSX) decide to become unreliable last night. Just cruising home from the grocery store, I hear a pop. I get off the gas while still in 2nd gear and the shifter rocks further than normal while the transmission makes a less than pleasant grinding noise. Hmmm...it appears my car that already had a transmission replaced because of a snapring failure has once again had a snapring failure. So yeah, the car is now parked and won't be moving for a while...not fun times.

Move to the '93 RX7. After finally deciding to buy a set of track wheels (17x9.5/9.0 Enkei RPF-1's), it looks like that is now put on hold due to the NSX fucking up. I don't know if this car is ever going to be track worthy. At least the motor/drivetrain is strong and I can at least drive it even if it doesn't have A/C.

Which leads into the '83 RX7....which as of 1pm today, has air conditioning. I found a place that still had R12, which I was pretty excited about...but at the last second, I decided to retrofit to R134a because it is cheap and I figured that one day I would have to anyway when everyone runs out of R12. But I couldn't be happier with the R134a in this car. I replaced the drier and they pulled vacuum on it for 30 minutes, reoiled the system, and recharged it. Now it blows a nice 40-degrees on a super humid 85 deg day. Not too shabby.

So some good and some bad, but shit happens when you like playing with cars.

News just in...4" high flow cats are still loud

Not that it matters because that was not the purpose of installing the catalytic converter on the FD. However, the exhaust is so excessively free flowing as a whole, the addition of the Random Tech converter didn't change the exhaust note even slightly.

It did change the smell of the car though. No longer will people driving behind me want to kill themselves due to the aroma of my car's exhaust. I guess that means it works?

RX-7...soon to be street legal?

That's right. I just found out that Random Technologies makes a 4" In/Out stainless steel catalytic converter. I will be ordering one, chopping out the resonator in my exhaust and welding in the cat in its place (hopefully the weekend of July 4th).


The first question one may ask is....why would I do this? Well, there are two reasons. First and less important, I will actually be able to get my car inspected without biting my nails about whether or not they will actually look under the car...which is to be expected when you drive in with a car that is entirely too loud and smells like death. Second and much more important, I will be able to compete in Redline Time Attack events in Street Class (even if there are only two events close enough to attend). Yep..a FD weighing roughly 2600 lbs with 400whp in street class will be fun.

On another note...the NSX is am absolutely amazing daily driver....comfortable and an absolute joy to drive.

NSX

A week ago I picked up a 1992 Acura NSX with only 64k miles on it to replace my '83 RX-7 as my daily driver. I'm still keeping the '83 RX-7, but instead of driving it everyday I might turn it into a project car. Maybe put a FD motor in it or an engine/dash cluster out of a wrecked RX-8. Time will tell what I do with it, but I am most definitely not selling it.

The NSX is a beautiful car that I have always wanted. Most people think I am crazy for buying one as a daily driver, but I'm not into garage queens or cars you only drive on nice days. I buy cars to drive them and enjoy them 24/7. This is one of those cars that I feel will accomplish this with ease.

I don't plan on modifying this car much at all. All I want is a NSX-R rear spoiler, some front lip, a set of black wheels, some lowering springs, and maybe hi-flow cats. It already has headers, and RSR exhaust, UNI filter, and a downforce intake scoop. The RSR exhaust is just a bit too quiet, I'd at least like to hear the car a little more.

Anyways, here are some pictures.

Even after 16 years my paint still looks amazing

I'm not a person who is super picky about detailing a car, but I have to say that every time I wax my FD with Zaino I am impressed with how deep my 16 year old black paint looks. Just spent some time on the paint the past couple of days since it was in the garage getting oily fingerprints all over it all winter. It needed the TLC...bad. So a couple of coats of wax later, these are the results. (Click on the pictures for full 1600x1200 resolution.)






And an updated shot of the engine bay since the battery relocation. It looks much cleaner now.

Video of my old 350Z

A friend found a video I made a few years ago showing the difference of atmospheric wastegate dumps on my twin turbo 350Z to the stock Greddy wastegate setup. The open wastegates sound so much more violent...I love it.

He emailed me the video, so I figured I would post it up on YouTube to share with all.

Looking to pick up an NSX.

I have been browsing and researching the NSX for a couple of months now. This week I decided that I am going to buy one in the next couple of weeks if I can. I am keeping the RX-7's, but need something a bit more docile yet still fun to drive everyday and it seems the NSX fits the bill perfectly. They are rare, quick, extremely fun to drive, and reliable with good gas mileage. What else could you want out of a daily driver (other than more room)?

I am looking for a 91-94 with under 100k miles (preferably under 75k miles, but under 100k will do). I have looked at a few in the past couple of weeks...all red though. The one I looked at yesterday is the one that I like the most at the moment because it actually has black interior, only 64k miles, and a well known service history. At the end of the day, this will definitely do and I am seriously contemplating buying it. However, I feel like I should hold out for a silver car.

I absolutely love the way the NSX looks in red with a black roof and black wheels (like the one pictured below), but I never saw myself buying a red car.



I have owned a silver FD RX-7, silver 350Z, and have a silver FB RX-7...so maybe silver is getting too played out. I also have a black FD RX-7 and since the RX-7 and NSX look pretty similar, I'm not sure if a black NSX would be the best choice even though they do look sick. Of the NSX's the colors I would choose (in order) would be silver, black, then red and green tied. But since only 29 green/black cars were made in '94 only, my chances of finding one are slim to none.

Maybe red is my best option...I guess we will see.

Drycell Battery...Out with the old and in with the new.

After killing my Odyssey PC680 and realizing that it might not be the best battery for my car, I decided to pick up a new Odyssey PC925 and get a little extra storage room without sacrificing too much weight (like I would have if I had gone with a Optima Red Top).


It weighs 24 lbs vs. the old battery's weight of 14 lbs. The only problem is that with the HKS v-mount intercooler setup, there isn't enough room in the engine bay for the battery anymore and I had to relocate it. I decided on putting it behind the passenger's seat where the rear bins used to be, running a cable from the fuse boxes back to the bin area with a 150 amp circuit breaker mounted just before the battery for extra protection.

To make sure that everything was electrically kosher, I used 1/0 welding cable. Welding cable is much more flexible, abrasion resistant, and conductive that similarly size power wire for speaker amplifiers. It also costs a bit less too; at $1.92/ft, I got 15 feet for $30 after tax at a local welding supply shop. I do have to say that 1/0 wire isn't light though, weighing in at 0.415 lb/ft adds about 6 lbs in wiring. So now we are up at 16lbs additional weight to the car. Then you have to add weight of the battery tray I whipped up, which I would guestimate to be about a pound and we have a total added weight of around 17 pounds. The weight distribution should be a bit better though with the new location.

Here a few pictures of the completed setup...I know the welds aren't pretty on the battery tray, but I haven't welded 22ga steel before and I suck anyway.

I have always thought California was crazy...

...now I know I'm right. They want to ban black cars. They have held the opinion that black rifles are evil for a while, but now apparently black cars are evil too.

California Air Resources Board (CARB) wants to ban Black cars

Why I don't trust anyone but myself...

Last Thursday I received my new tires for my '83 RX-7 from Tire Rack. I just got a set of Kuhmo Solus 185/70-13's (there aren't many options for this car) for daily driving and a bit of snow traction if I need it next winter since I will be in Virginia. On Friday I called up a local tire shop, who seems to have a pretty good reputation, to get the tires mounted and balanced. They told me to bring it up and they could do it while I waited that afternoon, so I did.

About an hour later they told me the car was done and the keys were in it. I paid my $65 and was on my way. Left turn out of the shop and I get to about 30mph, feel a bad vibration, and think "Shit, they forgot to balance one of my wheels." I slow down to pull off the road and turn around, but as I slow down the vibration still exists, but now I realize it isn't a vibration...it is a wobble and my lugs aren't tightened down.

I come to a stop and get out of the car to check it out. One lugnut is almost all the way backed out and the other three are over half-way out. My wheel now looks like it is at 15 degrees negative camber and I am not very happy. I call the shop and tell them whats up, so they send a guy to tighten my wheels back down. Takes him a good 5-10 minutes to go a half mile down the road and what does he show up with....a jack, a breaker bar, a socket, and NO torque wrench. I couldn't believe my eyes.

I tell him to take the wheel off completely because I want to see if there is any damage to the wheel, rotor, etc. Luckily, everything is good to go. He puts the wheel back on and torques the ever living hell out of it. He says that he is sorry and that it was the owner's son (not a certified mechanic) who torqued my wheels. Finally he says, if there are any other issues to let him know and he will take care of it. I say thanks in a completely dissatisfied tone and just leave because I don't want them around anything I own again.

I was beginning to think I was being paranoid that I didn't let anyone else work on my cars but me. I used to carry a torque wrench in my car to retorque my wheels in the parking lot of a shop after similar work was done. Then the one time in my life that I didn't do this, it bites me in the ass. So the moral of the story is that sometimes paranoia is necessary to not get fucked over by the morons in this world.

I don't ever post anymore...

...but I graduate in May and have a job lined up. Therefore, I should have some extra money so that I can play with my cars soon.

Here is a new picture of my FB...


And a Rotary Haiku I wrote while bored in class...

Rotary Engines
Like Doritos on a stick
Dorito Kabob?

That is all.