Detail time

So, for the first time in her 11 year life, my NSX gets an exterior detail, or "colour correction" in the parlance of the detailer.

Eric of Detailed Reflections did the work. He's amazing, professional, honest, on time and has that crazy anal retentiveness that all detailers seem to possess.  The guy's a maniac and truly loves his work.  Seeing the car in the sun for the first time Saturday morning he looked like a kid in a candy store, dying to get his hands on the car.  "I love black cars!" he said.

After nearly 7 hours, the car never looked better.  All the swirls, most of the rock pits and some gouges were smoothed out.  The Downforce skirts, hood, mirrors and lower front bumper will need a respray in the fall due to the sheer amount of rock chips (the realities of a low, black car) but for the rest of the driving season this does the trick.

I'll let the pics speak for themselves:

 Before: swirls upon swirls

The same panel before

 ...and after

Here's a direct contrast shot:

Afterwards in the sun.

Tan-dah!!!

She's LEGAL!

9am, showed up at Autovation in Stittsville and the boys quickly got the car saftied and e-tested with flying colours.  No surprise as Charles had the timing belt, water pump and PPI done at Burrand Acura last month so I knew everything was fine.  There is a slight leak in the valve cover gasket, but nothing that needs to be addressed immediately.  I'll likely have it done prior to winter storage. Ugh, winter...I don't even want to think about it.

Following this, I took the NSX to the nearby coin op car wash for its first cleaning and wipe down.  I discovered a bubbling in the paint on the Downforce hood near the passenger side of the windshield, various rock chips in the lower part of the side skirts and front bumper.  I'll pay a visit to my detailer on Saturday morning to get his opinion on the paint and whether it warrants a respray or hopefully just a touch up and buff.  After that, a full tank of 94 octane was pumped, roof panel removed and stowed in the trunk and off we went for a nice afternoon of cruising.  When I got home I followed the DIY resetting of the EPS from the DaliRacing website and lo and behold we have power steering!

Some immediate observations of this car vs. my old NA1: the targa, though very cool and I love how the car is transformed into a barchetta, definitely makes the car looser. Cowl shake is very present. This is something I was actually surprised to notice as I have a lot of faith in Honda's engineers in maintaining the chassis rigidity.  Second, POWER STEERING. What a revelation. I know a lot of NA1 snobs (myself included) like to point to the fact that the NSX originally was devoid of a PS system and presumably was meant to not have one.  However, it is a very nice setup: light effort at slow speeds but very communicative at all times.  I'm a believer.  Lastly, I cannot say enough how much I miss the sound of the intake whoosh to my left, the growl of the C32 behind me and the IMAXesque expansive view ahead.  You don't realize what you've missed until you've lost it and regain it again.  Holy cow this car is a glorious driving experience.

Arrival.

So, my car shipped out of the port of Vancouver on March 31.  Almost 2 weeks later (16 days to be exact) she rests comfortably in my garage bay.  Everything arrived intact.  There are more rock dings and scuffs than I imagined for a car with such low mileage but the seller was very good at disclosing every knock in the original paint job before the sale, so I'm satisfied.

BLCBIRD showed up at 6am sharp as promised and I only had a few minutes to start her up, drive (without plates) once around the block before I had to tuck her away until I get back from work.  I'm pretty damn excited and relieved.

Next order of business when I get home: wash, dry, vacuum (car was pretty dirty after its journey), mount my plates and check fluid levels and tire pressure. Tomorrow morning I'll have it inspected for safety certification, e-tested and legally ready for the road.  This is going to be a sweet weekend.

TFX International has been nothing short of phenomenal throughout.

It's roommate in the transporter was a pair of Porsche GT3RS, an old 356 Speedster, a Bentley Continental, and an Aston Martin.  I might be biased, but I actually thought my 11 yr old girl was the best looking.

BLCBIRD II shipped out of Vancouver yesterday

After 6 weeks of emails back and forth, photos, phonecalls and more emails, Charles was ready to ship the NSX to Ontario.

Here she is in her bay in Bowser, BC for the last time.  I can imagine what he was thinking when he snapped this pic.  I know what it's like...

The car was packed to the gills with extra parts: seats, fluids, oem parts, aftermarket parts.  I have to say, Charles (the seller) must be a master of Tetris.

Things were a little iffy the night before when I received a semi-panicked email from him wondering where the driver was. He was supposed to receive a call to arrange a pickup time and place but never got one.  A quick call to Patty at TFX sorted everything out.  On the morning of the agreed date the car was loaded up:

...and off she goes!

ETA is 7-10 days.  I'm pretty stoked.

OK, I'll go on a limb here and say the car's pretty much as I would have it. I even love the wheels (one of my weaknesses is constantly changing shoes on my cars), though I might have the Volk CE28Ns resprayed or Plastidipped in bronze.  I hope I won't need to do any extensive mods as everything's been done as I would have. However the one thing missing is the engine cover.  The previous owner discarded it after having the SOS blower installed (I assume due to the fact the cover didn't clear the height of the supercharger) but I always disliked a missing cover.  It looks unfinished, and the lack of rubber seal around the window which the cover provides creates a risk of accidentally cracking the expensive rear glass when you close it.  I've already picked up a new rubber seal, hinges and prop from FB NSX Owners Group member Johnny Chen, now waiting for the CF/Lexan cover to be in stock from Downforce.  I also impulse shopped an oem centre console with the intention of cutting a double DIN hole in it for a Apple CarPlay headunit.  No rush, and right now the car comes equipped with a Ipod adaptor so I'm good, but it would be sweet to ditch the cassette deck down the road.

When I sold my last NSX I have always told people that if I could do the project all over again, I'd take a mature road with a lightly modified OEM feel to it: CTSC, KWV3 coilovers with a mild drop, NSX-R braces, Brembo brakes, NSX-R hood and wing, and some nice Volks.  This car hits all the targets.  I'm so proud and excited.