YeeHaw! Back on the road!

It's spring time again. Time for renewed passions and enthusiasm and time to take the toys out of storage.

The NSX spent the long winter napping in my home garage whereas the GTR had to be stored offsite in a heated garage in Stittsville (about 15 kms away).  I actually think the GTR had the better deal here.  The heated unit was secure and hooked up to a battery tender with overinflated tires on top of carpet pieces was all she required before the long nap. Went to the unit in March, one turn of the key and Godzilla barked to life.  Due to a mishap with a huge dead porcupine on Huntley Rd in the fall I had to replace the GReddy front lip with an ugly oem thing I got free from a fellow MNP GTR owner in southern ontario (thanks Paul!).  Over the winter I sourced a replacement authentic lip off Ebay and sent it to Fiore at S&G Auto Body who matched it to the midnight purple.  Went to Autovation last Fri for the spring cleaning oil change and installed the replacement lip. My baby is back to true form :)

Over the winter we had a few really warm days where the weather was above freezing and roads clear so since the car was at home I decided to try and start her up. Big mistake.  The fuel pump did not make any sounds and the starter just cranked and cranked and cranked with no ignition.  Nothing like a slumbering JDM supercar to piss you off even in the off-season.  I removed all the interior rear bulkhead panels and diagnosed it as a dead main relay, which is a common NA1 ailment of this vintage (she's 20 years old now).  Ordered a replacement from Mark Johnson at Dali Racing and 2 weeks later it arrived and was installed. Still nothing.  Now I'm getting worried.  Called my buddy John Arthur of Mortimer Racing who showed up with a multimeter and all fuel systems fuses were checked and OK'd. Must be a dead fuel pump.  Ben Wong loaned me a Walbro he had lying around and I started making arrangements to have her towed to Autovation for the inevitable fuel pump install.  This was in early Feb.  By late Feb we had a good week of unseasonable 25+ C weather and on a whim I got back into the NSX again and cranked it.  VROOM! First crank and she starts. WTF?  No idea what it was but for some reason this car does not like being disturbed during winter and will hit you in the wallet and brain if you try.

Since then its been smooth sailing.  I had her out with other NSX owners last Fri for the first meet of the year.  Great to see Kevin, Steve, Brad and newbie potential owner Dan.  Afterwards I gave the NSX a good washing to get the garage grime off, re-aimed the drivers side headlight (it was blinding oncoming traffic) and snapped a few pics with my new HDR iPhone ap:

looking lean and mean

Gruppe M, cleaned up and shiney

Best view of the car IMHO

Giving props to the guys at Speedmerchants

Plans for this year:

1. Get oem console and door switchgear panels done in real CF wrap with Lars (350zr of Midnightruns).
2. Remove harness bar and Takata harnesses so I can start driving with the wife and kids.
3. Maybe lose the rear wing, mirrors and rear valence to make the car more streetable and hopefully get more regular use out of it.  This is a big maybe...
4. Get out to cruises more. Maybe a track day or two, but I'm going to shift my attention to the GTR for track outings this year.

I've been on the fence about selling the car but I have to admit, every time I take it out for a nice drive and look at her I just can't see myself living without it.  This car is so well sorted and there are so many many subtle things done that no one can ever appreciate what went into this car.  I posted a sale thread on NSXPrime to test waters and all offers have been for either lame trades (LanEvo X, S2K) which I think is not on the level of the NSX or market prices for a car that's far superior to an all-stock NSX.  Best thing is to part it or keep it. The latter appeals more to me.  With this summer's project being the modification of the garage door and a storage lift (or two) I should have no more storage space issues.

Happy Spring and Happy Motoring!

J

PS. I have officially registered the domain name www.thensxblog.com (not sure why I didn't think of this sooner), so happy birthday to the URL today ;)