Project NSX

A buddy of mine picked this gem up for a steal and recruited me to help build it. 1994 NSX with 64,000 miles that has been sitting for at least 7 years. We stumbled across this in some pics of some other supplies we were buying. Turns out the Car was with the building when the current owners bought it and they just never did anything with it. Missing the engine and transaxle but otherwise all there. Initial impression was a little scary but after about 2 solid days of cleaning and detailing we now have a really nice car to build. The amazing thing about this is that we had kicked around different engine ideas and after deciding to do a J series swap the next day we found a 6 speed 3.2CL Type S with a Comptech supercharger for $1800.00 that was puking oil and not making boost. Turns out the belts were garbage and the leak was a rear main seal and since we are rebuilding it anyhow it is perfect.

This is the Car as we found it

That's cool. I always wondered if the rest of the Honda V6's would slot into place. 

Well this will be interesting, good that you could save the car. 

I have a 2005 that is just fantastic, it will be interesting to see how the J swap works out in yours.  

Looking forward to this.

Turns out the Car was with the building when the current owners bought it and they just never did anything with it.

I don't see any mention of a title/bill of sale/etc? Don't know if you're here in the states but I would be very nervous about rebuilding a car I had no legit documentation for. Now if you've got all the paperwork: excellent find! I look forward to seeing it back on the road! Just make sure you're not doing all this work for someone else ;)

Basically a non-issue if he only plans to track the car and not register it, long as the previous owner doesn't come crawling out of the woodwork with documents.

Sorry to be the fun police! Best of luck!

There are procedures in the US to get a title for a car that's been abandoned (it varies from state to state) but I agree it should be resolved first.  

I'm trying to wrap my head around the idea of someone abandoning an NSX, though.  What kind of crazy person does that?  

In reply to stuart in mn :

I generally believe the story is thus: nsx is squirrelled away during a divorce. Squirreler dies nsx is forgotten.

Medchin said:

Turns out the Car was with the building when the current owners bought it and they just never did anything with it.

I don't see any mention of a title/bill of sale/etc? Don't know if you're here in the states but I would be very nervous about rebuilding a car I had no legit documentation for. Now if you've got all the paperwork: excellent find! I look forward to seeing it back on the road! Just make sure you're not doing all this work for someone else ;)

Basically a non-issue if he only plans to track the car and not register it, long as the previous owner doesn't come crawling out of the woodwork with documents.

Sorry to be the fun police! Best of luck!

Paper work was sorted out before we picked the Car up. Basically the Car was in Kansas and abandoned on property in Kansas and we has do apply for an abandoned car title and go through the proper channels then we had a Kansas title that we then had to trade in for a Florida title

In reply to stuart in mn :

The way we understood it is that the shop owner ripped off a bunch of people and basically abandoned everything. The current owners bought the shop from a state auction with all contents which included the car

ErikTheSwede said:

In reply to stuart in mn :

The way we understood it is that the shop owner ripped off a bunch of people and basically abandoned everything. The current owners bought the shop from a state auction with all contents which included the car

Wow.

I’m so jelly. Nsx is high on the list of cars I wish I could own

I also wish to stumble upon an abandoned NSX one day.  I just might win the lottery first though. 

Some pics of when we got it and started sorting it out. I'll post up some current pics of the cleaned up car and the drivetrain build progress later this week

There are rumors of this car having run 10s in the past and I am inclined to believe that. It has a very large heat exchanger in the front for an air to waster intercooler and has an ice box. It also has a large oil scavenge pump for some low mounted turbo. We plan on running 8 to 10 psi from the supercharger through an air to water intercooler. I will be happy with 350 whp.

This is the CL donor setup before we pulled it. Just waiting on a couple little things before we reassemble it.

In reply to 79rex :

Trust me, I know. The guy that bought this thing finds deals like no one I have ever met. Bough a 95 supra 5 speed with a clean title and zero body damage with all vin tags in place in driver condition for $7k. Then buys a running driving clean body Grand National for $5k.. He steps in crap and comes out smelling like roses. He is the guy you will hear about that finds a Porsche 930 turbo in an estate sale for $5,000

This looks like a great start to a fun story. I’m in to follow. 

Amazing.

Glad to see her rise from the ashes.  Such a sad state to find a beauty queen in.

It's been a while so I'd thought I'd do a progress update. Engine has been freshened up and a new set of headers installed. Engine is mounted in the engine bay but it looks like the supercharger isn't going to fit so for now it will stay naturally aspirated. We are hoping to be driving it by February. 

What a beautiful start to the new year 

color me jealous ! 

Somehow I missed this the first time around.  Great find!  I look forward to watching your progress.

ErikTheSwede said:

That's an angle grinder and an NSX in the same picture... I love this forum.