- 2,790
- Vancouver, BC
- liampage123
A supercar car that won't breakdown like the others. Fantastic purchase!
Danoff's NSX
- Thread starter Danoff
- 56 comments
- 5,106 views
- 6,287
- Ottawa
- Pyano1132
Jealous, I always thought it would have felt like owning a piece of Formula One history with all the Senna involvement. Nice purchase!
Danoff
Premium
- 34,039
- Mile High City
Managed to secure the elusive stock keyless entry system to replace mine. Someone had lost my fobs and they have to be paired with the receiver in the car. So I had to find a matching set of fobs/receiver that would work for my year. Somehow I did and it works.
What amazes me is that the fobs are brand new, like not a single scuff or scratch on them. Only a few things left to do. The engine cover is currently being fixed.
Danoff
Premium
- 34,039
- Mile High City
As promised, a better shot of the finished interior. Technically, that center console armrest is not completely stock. It should have an NSX emblem on it, the armrest is from a later year. I could move my old emblem to the new armrest but it would require cutting into the new one (the part can no longer be ordered for my year). I'm also considering dropping the cash to buy a second armrest just to have a spare in case the cutting goes badly. On the otherhand, maybe I'll do nothing with it. I'm pretty happy with the interior as it stands.
This is the engine cover re-upholstery before and after. Prior to getting it re-upholstered it was pretty well scratched up as you can see. I think someone either stored something back there that flopped around, or they removed the cover and stored it somewhere where it got damaged (piled something on top of it in a garage or something). Someone had previously redone it and scratched it again, so it has seen a surprising amount of action for something that should sit behind glass and never get touched by anything. Because it was so badly damaged and had already been re-touched, I had to have them put on a completely new surface. Anyway I think the finished product looks great, and it's a proper restoration, as best can be done, of an original part. The only thing that's left really is the door dings. I've been having trouble getting motivated to go leave it in someone's hands so that they can mess with the body, but it'll happen eventually. When I do get that finished it'll be a good time to do a real photo shoot.
This is the engine cover re-upholstery before and after. Prior to getting it re-upholstered it was pretty well scratched up as you can see. I think someone either stored something back there that flopped around, or they removed the cover and stored it somewhere where it got damaged (piled something on top of it in a garage or something). Someone had previously redone it and scratched it again, so it has seen a surprising amount of action for something that should sit behind glass and never get touched by anything. Because it was so badly damaged and had already been re-touched, I had to have them put on a completely new surface. Anyway I think the finished product looks great, and it's a proper restoration, as best can be done, of an original part. The only thing that's left really is the door dings. I've been having trouble getting motivated to go leave it in someone's hands so that they can mess with the body, but it'll happen eventually. When I do get that finished it'll be a good time to do a real photo shoot.
- 11,903
- Marin County
You're inspiring me to keep my Boxster completely original. I, too, would like to get a set of wheels from a newer model, but that's kind of all I want to do. Maybe euro-spec (lower) suspension.
- 5,606
- Druids Bend
- Z4E_Midnight85
Amazing choice of car! Much respect!
👍
Danoff
Premium
- 34,039
- Mile High City
I've been procrastinating on adding interior photos for a while now. Pay no attention to the dirty floormat. The center console armrest is new, the shifter knob is new, the center console trim is new. Aside from a little cleaning, I think the interior is done. One thing left on my to-do list for the interior possibly get the stereo working. I had been thinking I wouldn't do that, but then I installed the built-in car phone in the armrest (came with the car, PO removed it) and realized that it doesn't work, most likely due to the stereo being broken. So if I want to get that sucker powering on, I might have to just bite the bullet and fix the stereo. Still not sure I want to go to the trouble for stuff that won't be used. The only point would be to say that it works.
Right now, the car is in storage for the winter. Next summer i have vowed to get the door ding fixed and take some proper photos.
Right now, the car is in storage for the winter. Next summer i have vowed to get the door ding fixed and take some proper photos.
- 51,484
- Australia
- SpacedustDaddy
Love it. A car I still want. Though the '02 wheels are cool, I might be one of the few that prefer the 5 spoke wheels- just makes it look period correct. More power to you though. You've got a historical vehicle there and you knowing what you have, gets you the thumbs up. 👍
Danoff
Premium
- 34,039
- Mile High City
Update time!
Got the stereo rebuilt (some guy across the country apparently worked out the schematics on his own and is doing this). So it works! The car phone does not light up, which I have traced back to (at least) a bad power source in the trunk. I don't think it's worth buying a new power source just to get the phone to light up, so that's gonna stay broken. Also I got the door ding(s) fixed. I took a before photo of one of the door dings (which is not easy). The easiest way to see the ding is to look at the roofline and gutter line of the house in the reflection. Paintless dent repair got that one, and one on the front fender and one on the back quarter panel, but couldn't quite remove another one on the door. So it's not flawless but it is close. Once again, that's how it's gonna have to stay. They also couldn't quite get a scratch in the side window out, that's gonna stay too.
I think I consider my NSX to be "done". The interior is spotless, the engine cover is spotless, most of the paint is original, mechanically it's in wonderful shape, the dings are ironed out, the stereo is fixed. There is some mild corrosion on some of the components under the car that I could probably work on. Also the fuel cap doesn't spring open quite right, you have to pull it open with your fingers. Picky picky. The second photo below is just eye candy after the paintless dent repair.
Got the stereo rebuilt (some guy across the country apparently worked out the schematics on his own and is doing this). So it works! The car phone does not light up, which I have traced back to (at least) a bad power source in the trunk. I don't think it's worth buying a new power source just to get the phone to light up, so that's gonna stay broken. Also I got the door ding(s) fixed. I took a before photo of one of the door dings (which is not easy). The easiest way to see the ding is to look at the roofline and gutter line of the house in the reflection. Paintless dent repair got that one, and one on the front fender and one on the back quarter panel, but couldn't quite remove another one on the door. So it's not flawless but it is close. Once again, that's how it's gonna have to stay. They also couldn't quite get a scratch in the side window out, that's gonna stay too.
I think I consider my NSX to be "done". The interior is spotless, the engine cover is spotless, most of the paint is original, mechanically it's in wonderful shape, the dings are ironed out, the stereo is fixed. There is some mild corrosion on some of the components under the car that I could probably work on. Also the fuel cap doesn't spring open quite right, you have to pull it open with your fingers. Picky picky. The second photo below is just eye candy after the paintless dent repair.
Danoff
Premium
- 34,039
- Mile High City
I've done PDR a few times now, and it's always amazing and cheap. I paid $275 to have 3+ dings removed from the NSX. The one I posted the photo of was like a 3 inch line of a dent, not a circular pock mark, which are even easier.
It used to be that aluminum cars were rare and PDR specialists who were trained and had tools to work on them were impossible to find. These days they see so many aluminum dents after a hail storm that they don't bat an eye at the difference. They'll literally go through removing hundreds of hail dents, and the car will look perfect afterward (my buddy had this happen on his mazda 6 after a hail storm).
Access to the back of the panel is sometimes tricky, and it's the reason I still have a very slight dent in my door - because there was a support brace in the way preventing him from getting leverage. I offered to disassemble the door for him, but he said it wouldn't matter.
They removed the dings in my door without taking apart the door or drilling holes (magic). Though when I got the dent fixed in my honda accord, they drilled a hole in the side of the door that meets the door jamb and accessed it that way. They put a rubber plug in it when done.
They have all kinds of techniques. Spikes they can stick down between the window at the door panel. Suction devices. Temporary glue devices. And drilling in from the door jamb.
Anyway, I highly recommend PDR to anyone who has a ding. You really can make it go away!
Edit:
Keep in mind that my photo with the red arrow is a before shot of the PDR work. I couldn't see the point in taking a close-up after shot since it was so hard just to get a shot where you could see the dent in the first place.
- 27,219
- United Kingdom
It's funny, you think of the SW20 as being quite an exotic-looking car in isolation, but park it next to an NSX and it's immediately apparent how much wider and lower the Honda is (and longer, presumably). Seems to have even more glass area too.
Danoff
Premium
- 34,039
- Mile High City
Thanks.
Yea I almost always keep one of those two cars "off site" at other parking. No immediate plans to add parking to the main garage. I might add a lift to my storage parking though so that I can accommodate one more. Not sure what that would be yet.
It does look a little more "normal", and I was hit by that a little too. This was the first time I had gotten both cars together to really compare. Also holy crap the hood of the MR2 is heavier than the NSX.
The NSX photographs big, when you don't see it in person you just think, that's a long big corvette kind of car (or Ferrari). But in person it's often surprising how small it is, even to me, and I'm pretty familiar with it. I generally think of the MR2 as being a small car (at least by US standards), but I intentionally put it next to the NSX to make me realize just how comparable the two are in overall dimensions. The NSX is a little lower, a little wider, and a little longer, but not by a ton.
Before last weekend I might have said the Toyota (and I think that speaks highly of the MR2). I know that's got to sound weird, but if the experience is similar, and one of them costs like an 8th of the other one, it makes sense to keep the cheap one (less liability, frees up money for other things, etc). Driving the MR2 to pick up the NSX I got to experience them back to back, and the NSX really does just take the experience to the next level. Everything is more... precise, comfortable, thoughtful, I'm not sure exactly how to describe it. I guess the main word is expensive. It's not that it feels like a luxury car, but you can tell that it's uh... better (I think my next career as an automotive journalist is not going to pan out).
The exterior is also quite a bit more special. I love the way the MR2 looks, but the NSX is something else.
And then there's the engine, and the sound. The NSX has way more power, and while I don't prefer the sound at very low RPM (it sounds like a truck), the mid and high RPM sound is wonderful. Especially when compared to the MR2. Also the MR2 has a lot more vibration in the cabin.
And so the answer is NSX. And it's not as close as I would have thought.
Another thing about the NSX is how light and easy to use (and maybe delicate) everything feels by comparison. The clutch (MR2 is brand new) feels lighter in the NSX, the shifter is lighter and shorter, the turn signal is lighter. I'm not saying that this is necessarily better, there is something to be said for heavy controls, just something I noticed and have been thinking about. This might be a honda vs. toyota difference of philosophy.
Danoff
Premium
- 34,039
- Mile High City
I've been driving the MR2 all summer. Today I took my second drive of the season with the NSX. I have to say, I already knew this, but it bears repeating the heel-toe is just so much harder in the MR2. I can hit it every time with ease in the NSX, and that's so much more enjoyable. Your foot just kinda knows what to do, and everything is easy and it magically happens just right. Whereas with the MR2 there's some grasping around and stretching and hoping.
I parked the car at the restaurant where I met my wife for lunch (we meet there often). We got a table on the patio. She humors me that if possible I like to get a table where I can eyeball the car in the parking lot. It's not too hard to see because I generally park it like 10 open spots away from the nearest car.
While we were eating I drew her attention to the two young men that had gathered to check out the car. She was like "what are they doing? are they going to like... scratch it or something?". I reassured her that they were just enjoying the view. They circled the car a few times, pointing at things, and walked off.
It is getting to the point where I can't take that car out without having at least some kind of story like this. Someone gives me a thumbs up out the window in traffic. Someone honks at me in a honda and waves through the sunroof. It's funny to me how much it gets noticed. Nobody bats an eye at the MR2 and you can see how similar the two cars are in the photos above.
Anyway I enjoy the enthusiasm. It doesn't seem to draw the ire of Ferraris, just genuine interest and love for the car.
I parked the car at the restaurant where I met my wife for lunch (we meet there often). We got a table on the patio. She humors me that if possible I like to get a table where I can eyeball the car in the parking lot. It's not too hard to see because I generally park it like 10 open spots away from the nearest car.
While we were eating I drew her attention to the two young men that had gathered to check out the car. She was like "what are they doing? are they going to like... scratch it or something?". I reassured her that they were just enjoying the view. They circled the car a few times, pointing at things, and walked off.
It is getting to the point where I can't take that car out without having at least some kind of story like this. Someone gives me a thumbs up out the window in traffic. Someone honks at me in a honda and waves through the sunroof. It's funny to me how much it gets noticed. Nobody bats an eye at the MR2 and you can see how similar the two cars are in the photos above.
Anyway I enjoy the enthusiasm. It doesn't seem to draw the ire of Ferraris, just genuine interest and love for the car.
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- 4,213
- Puerto Rico
- motortrend
ROAD_DOGG33J
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- 14,294
- IL, USA
- holyc0w1
- holyc0w
