Honda NSX NA1

Alister purchased this stunning Honda NSX NA1 in late 2019 and it’s in near perfect condition for its age. It came with a whole host of modifications and Alister has improved the car even further with a few finishing touches plus the addition of period correct, double staggered TE37’s that really finished the look off perfectly.

Along with the extensive mechanical check and service, Alister had a few other areas he wanted checking over. This included:

• A full cambelt and water pump service
• Major service including all fluids and filters
• Diagnose & repair a small oil leak
• Front brake check over (due to a vibration on track)
• Investigation of a clicking sound while reversing
• Washers not working
• Investigation into an occasional noise from the from when the car is first started
• Finally, a good nose around during the service for anything else that might require attention

For a full service which includes a cambelt change, we do not usually remove the engine. It can all be done in the car but access isn’t great and the chance of getting the timing misaligned is much higher. With the engine out, it’s far easier to change all the parts a do a more thorough job. Also, the oil leak was coming from the sump and Alistair wanted us to check the OEM twin plate clutch so it made sense to have the engine out. We also found three of the drive shaft cv boots had split, 1 completely. So they got a full strip, clean and rebuild.

Another service item which is far easier with the engine out is valve clearance. Plus a couple of new rocker cover gaskets under the magnesium NSX-R rocker covers.

The front discs were warped so that was a surprisingly easy fix even though an aftermarket 2 piece disc kit had been fitted in Japan. Our friends over at Reyland had an off the shelf replacement disc! We also shimmed the calliper carrier as they were not centred.

It then came time to reinstall the engine and box. Anything that required cleaning was done at this point prior to installation. All bolts were cleaned a greased to reduce the risk of future problems. After that all new fluids were filled. Genuine Honda coolant and gearbox oil was used and complemented with Millers NT+ engine oil and Millers Racing brake fluid.

Once the car was back in one piece, we checked the wheel alignment to set the rear back to where it was when the car came to us. We then ran the car run up to temperature and carried out a level check. The INOP washer was a faulty pump so another straight forward fix. Then finally a road test to confirm all is good.

The noise from the front was traced to a faulty ABS unit. This is common on early NSX’s now and the joy is that later spec ABS Honda modules can be retro fitted! A job for the future.

All in all another very satisfying job on one of the all-time greatest cars ever produced.

If you have an NSX or any Honda for that matter, please don’t hesitate to Contact Us for any work requirements. Please also check out the gallery below for a couple of photos we took along the journey.