More Powa! (April 2007)

One thing about the NSX...its underpowered.

Don't let all the so called "purists" tell you differently. Yes its engine make great sounds, yes the VTEC push is intoxicating, and yes the engine is a work of art with its titanium con-rods, first application of VTEC in a V6, and 8K redline. However, coming from the world of Skyline GTRs I just find the engine underwhelming. One of the reasons why the car has always been an underdog was that it just didn't post numbers that impressed the targeted demographic of buyers. Combined with that "H" on the hood and you've got an uphill battle for recognition and sales (despite the fact Gordon Murray had one and based a lot of the McLaren F1's design on the NSX).

The first thing I looked into was forced induction. At the time (2007) the method of choice was supercharging. It was compact, bolted on with ease (having all that space above the engine once the carpeted cover was removed is a bonus) and there was no need to worry about custom fab work with the exhaust headers associated with turbos. I originally looked for a Comptech unit, but they had just gone out of business (later to resurface as CT Engineering) and used units were few and far between. Someone on Prime posted a Gruppe M supercharger for sale. I emailed the seller but unfortunately he had already sold it by the time I reached him. I swear NSXPrime has the fastest turnover in sale ads out of any forum I know of! Luckily, I was contacted by Stacy Lesosky of Stacy's Sideskirts fame. Turned out he was planning to go turbo on his NSX and offered to sell me his complete Gruppe M kit. Money was exchanged and a month later it arrived.

Prior to the install I had Chris Tapp and Jason from Tapp Auto perform the 96K kms tune up, timing belt, water pump, alignment and disassembly and cleaning of internals. After that this sucker got bolted on!

On only 6 lbs boost the car jumped from the stock 270 hp to ~400 hp instantly! The power is linear, and comes on strong at low rpm which is exactly where the oem setup was gutless. It made orgasmic sounds and looked mean as hell under the glass hatch. I was in love with the car! Along with the bigass Eaton M90 positive displacement unit were RC 550cc injectors, Walbro 255 lph fuel pump, massive Gruppe M intake, kevlar engine garnish and AEM EMS with wideband UEGO tuned by Tapp Auto.

I tells ya, modifying an NSX ...of any year...is not for the faint of heart. Parts are not cheap, nor plentiful. Everyone selling stuff for it either asks too much or you get in line with everyone who got dibs before you. Its brutal. I started off haggling like a 240 guy. Hahaha...it was like, "no thanks, NEXT!". Take your run of the mill parts, 3x the price and slap on an NSX sticker and there you go. The cost of parts for this thing so far can build you an entire R32 GTR.

Parts are usually produced in limited numbers, so you're paying A LOT for the development costs. Eg. This SC setup I bought is one of only 5 in North America and the only one in Canada. Gruppe M stopped production after making 288 units worldwide. Sheesh.


Once I got it home I installed the bigass intake scoop produced by Downforce. It was pretty easy to drop in once you know what you're doing. The sound it makes, combined with the Gruppe M intake is nothing short of amazing. Check out its shape next to the oem intake piping!

In the fall of 2007, following the blower install, I noticed that the clutch was slipping. I ordered a single disc billet clutch by RPS from SoS which was installed by Darek of TAG Mechanics. Darek is probably the best qualified NSX mechanic in the region, and works on all the local cars. An interesting thing he discovered when the car was apart was that the stock clutch was actually quit new, but was installed backwards! This caused tranny fluid to leak into the clutch assembly resulting in the slipping sensation. Since everything was apart anyways, I told him to go ahead and install the new clutch. While the car was up on the hoist he also showed me a few scars from previous work done, how the car was once raised incorrectly which bent the rear suspension crossbar (he pressed it straight again), a missing metal pin which was substituted by a bent piece of cheap wire, and the spot on the delicate CAD designed lower control arms where a mechanic (who will remain nameless) had smacked to loosen the stock struts when he was installing my Tein coilovers. One thing he notices is that a few NSX's he's worked on over the year have had past owners who couldn't afford a proper NSX trained mechanic. These are very highly developed automobiles with all-aluminum construction which requires a different approach and sometimes different tools. Doing it the regular way can be disasterous.