My old Honda - NA1 NSX

[BuFFyZA]

So good!

[hkz286]

up next is a bit more interior work, will have a slightly more visual impact than replacing circuit board capacitors :P

some rather tasty new seats:



These are Hasemi Sport Seats. This is a company made famous by its owner Masahiro who was a racing driver in Japan and piloted the reebok skyline in the early 90's.

They predominantly make Nissan parts, however due to the rarity and obscurity of the wheels that were made in the 90's and 2000's they have become popular with other marques (specifically Honda and VW etc)

I've been looking through the Japanese tuning scene for over a decade, and I didn't even realise they made seats at all. As soon as I saw them I knew I had to have them.

The only references I can find for them are one or two seats in Japan, and this advert:



they were available in Kevlar or Fibreglass (these are the fibreglass ones) and are the exact same ones fitted to the Reebok JGTC car.

You can see how well made they are by the shape of the shell:



all the scallops etc means they are incredibly stiff, and the shape of the seat itself means they are really comfortable. The headrest is purposely titled back so you can wear a helmet and not have your head pushed forward. How cool is that?

As you can see from the first photo, some of the fabric had faded etc from the sun so I had a company re-dye them for me.

I purchased some Buddy Club rails to fit the seats and wasn't too impressed with the state of some of the welds (or lack there of)

stock:





and after some reinforcement:





after all those were done, I hit them with a little acid etc primer and then satin black.



and then fitted:





bit of a pain to get in and out of but it always has been so meh :P

looks funky though and they are hugely supportive and comfortable. Did a few hours in them and not a twinge of back pain (I have the spine of a 90 year old shoe salesmen)


Also my brother came over in his Supra, so we washed the cars and went and took a few photos.

[hkz286]

This build is awesome!!

thanks bud appreciate it

[BuFFyZA]

This build is awesome!!

[hkz286]

Some slightly more exciting stuff to tell you all about (don't worry, lots more boring stuff to come in the future :P)



bam!

wolf v550 stand alone ECU. I was always going to go with a stand alone unit due to plans for future upgrades but I figured I would get it out the way now so I can get it mapped and optimised for the current setup (nothing exciting but can always be improved upon)

First thing I needed to do was to make up a bracket so I can sit in the stock place. This is slightly more difficult that it sounds due to the standard ECU being very large but very thin.

I started out with a thin piece of aluminium (that's pronounced Al-you-mini-um :P)





measured the ECU and then bent it to shape:



fits okay





lots of anti-rattle foam tap on the inside (the face that touches the ECU)



then I fabricated a large backing plate out of thicker aluminium (see above for pronunciation :P) and welded some legs onto it for mounting the cars bulkhead:





used some of those handy zip-tie retainers that locate through a hole in the bracket:





et voila. This should fit in the stock ECU place and will plug into the factory loom as it should. I will run a new lead from this to somewhere convenient to plug the laptop into so I'm not having to strip off interior panels to gain access.

came out rather smashing if I do say so myself.

I also bought a rather pretty oil cap from Border Racing (the people who did my lip kit) these are pretty thin on the ground so thought I would snap one up whilst I can.





next on the list was something that I did when I first bought the car. The rear view mirror was cracked for some reason (just the glass part) so I figured I would upgrade instead of getting a new OEM piece. I bought a SPOON replacement to go in.





And also, because one cant have non-matching mirrors (heaven forbid) I bought some for the sides as well

[hkz286]

Another little annoyance was that the badge on the arm rest was looking a little tired (1st world problems eh? :P)



Just the clear coat was peeling and the plastic was greying a little.

So off it came and sanding it back:



Hit it with some satin black



Let it dry and then flat it back with some fine wet and dry on a very flat surface:
 


And good as new (well not really, this was mid progress, I went up a few grade of sandpaper to give it a proper shine and remove all the paint)

[hkz286]

Next on the list of stuff to fix from when previous people worked on the car, was the knee bolster.

This is the piece that sits under the steering wheel that covers the ignition barrel etc.

Pictured here (this was after the vinyl was removed, but just to give you an idea of what piece im dealing with)



It was knackered. The leather was coming off, the screw tabs were broken etc it was a mess.

Considering it’s a small bit of plastic with a bit of vinyl glued to it I thought I would try my luck with Honda. How expensive can it be, considering its not even real leather?

Turns out very. To the sum of $400. As can be seen from previous posts, I’m not averse to spending obscene amounts of money on what seem to be worthless items, but even I have my limits.

I figure I would see how bad it was, try and fix it, and if it doesn’t work out, go to Honda and bend over and think of England.

So off came the vinyl:



You can see here the missing screw tabs to the secure the piece to the car:



One of the only tabs still intact:



Here I am making a mould to build a new tab from epoxy resin:



New tab:



New bottom tabs made from some aluminium flat bar and the riveted into place:







Some fresh vinyl and new underlay:
 




You will have to forgive the dents caused by the clamps, they have relaxed now

and fitted:



Not perfect by any stretch of the imagination, but its secure, the vinyl is fresh and soft and it doesn’t rattle. It will tied me over until I either find a nice second hand one or lose my mind enough to get a new one from Honda.

[hkz286]

I'm so in love with this thread already

haha just wait, it might go downhill from here :P

This is by far one of my favorite threads on here, I just love seeing someone take care of all the little details of a car the proper way and really bring it back to what it should be and better.

thanks, means a lot.

yeah, prior to this I was doing a really big build and hardly made progress over the years, I prefer to take care of details like the above, rather than looking at the big picture

Gah, this thing is straight up gorgeous!

Hats off to you, good sir.

thanks bud

Damn, there's no cabin air filter on these cars?!

nope, weird eh? that's why everything gets so gross and even to the point where some of the drains near the air con evaporator get clogged. I don't think this car has ever seen wet weather so its wasn't too much of a problem but they can get really bad.

[becausephilchow]

Damn, there's no cabin air filter on these cars?!

[Scape-Zs]

Gah, this thing is straight up gorgeous!

Hats off to you, good sir.

[hinrichs]

This is by far one of my favorite threads on here, I just love seeing someone take care of all the little details of a car the proper way and really bring it back to what it should be and better.

[loekaaz]

I'm so in love with this thread already

[hkz286]

Just thought I would share a recent shot of the car at a cars and coffee.





…and a few more with the recent addition of my AsphaltKnights sticker:





tacky?...yes. Ricer?.....perhaps, but I love it! So, ner!

More boring work I'm afraid chaps.

Due to the lack of a cabin filter (completely open to elements) the heater and air con system tends to get covered in crap which sits there for years on end leading to smelly air con and heater air blowing into the cabin.

So off came the windscreen cowel to get access to the various bits:





These clips always brake so will be replaced:



bleugh:



…and out with the heater box:



ewwww:





After a good wash with anti-bacterial spray:





Gave this area a good wash as well, you can see the exposed air inlet on the right of this picture (big square hole):






Next onto the aircon evaporator:

Before:



During:



And after:



A lot of the tabs on the windscreen cowel had been damaged from over tightening the screws and some of the anti-rattle / isolation foam was damaged:

:



So I used some fibreglass to repair and re-inforce them all and also replaced the foam (blue stuff):





…and some sanding, shaping, painting and drilling (sorry for the awful picture but my hands were a mess):






New clips to put everything back together:



I also added a new filter onto the inlet. You can buy proper air filters for this, but because the design of the system originally didn't include one, I wasn't sure how much extra load it was going to place onto the fans etc. This is really just open cell foam but it will stop the big debris and dirt getting into the system.



…and everything back together with new clips:






I never noticed before but now the air coming out of the air-con and heater has zero odour. It wasn't bad before, just the standard air-con smell that you usually get, but now it’s just like having a window open. Well worth the time and effort (I think :S)

[hkz286]

This is great. Someday i wish to get an r32 gtr imported and treat it similar to this. fix all the small mistakes from the factory, small, sensible upgardes to make it that much better etc. Well done, keeo it up. Also, i envy your wiring skills, i **** wiring. Come wire my 240 for me? haha

Christ you must be bad if you envy MY skills :P

nah I don't know a huge amount bud, just a few things I picked up and your certainly better off without me when it comes to wiring an entire car :S unless you like fires in you 240 :P

Yeah I've always loved r32 gtr's but I had a S14a 200sx (240sx to you) and cars rust like nothing else in my country. Nissans are quite notorious for it and got a bit sick of de-rusting things :S so until I can do a real restoration on one, I'm off Nissans :P

Yeah I find the small stuff the most rewarding, even though it can turn out quiet expensive

[laextreme5]

This is great. Someday i wish to get an r32 gtr imported and treat it similar to this. fix all the small mistakes from the factory, small, sensible upgardes to make it that much better etc. Well done, keeo it up. Also, i envy your wiring skills, i **** wiring. Come wire my 240 for me? haha