Honda changed the definition of a supercar forever when it released the Acura NSX. Suddenly, supercars could be reliable, driveable even, and best of all, no longer had to have kit car interiors. But what didn't change was a supercar's defining essence: a machine slung on four huge patches of rubber so uncompromisingly engineered that any further tuning toppled it over the fine edge that separates racecars and street vehicles.
Twenty-five years on, the NSX is still the car dreams are made of. It's one of a handful of mass-produced Japanese cars that no longer depreciate. And even with so much worldwide experience in tuning and racing, most still find this 80s-engineered exotic difficult at best to improve upon-mechanically or aesthetically.
Most NSX owners realize only too late that they were already falling off the fence at terminal velocity, ready to land face first onto the racecar side. There's so little more to be done with the fastest and finest creation out of Motegi that it leaves tuners scratching their heads looking for a magical horsepower or two on their 20th revision of an exhaust design.
Yet the allure of becoming one of the elite and owning an NSX is insurmountable. There's a little NSX lover or wannabe in everyone. Matt Piercey, owner of this 2002, model finally succumbed to temptation soon after his family opened Planet Acura in Downey, California. In an act of obsessive haste (as most NSX purchases go), Piercey found the immaculate Silverstone 'sex machine' in Northern California and flew out that night-still in his work suit-to close the deal. His only stop after the purchase was a Target-for something more comfortable to wear during the six-hour drive home. The next morning, Planet Acura's head tech, Ed Parris, started going through the stock car completely, to make sure they were starting on solid ground.
Piercey's no stranger to tuning, having owned several Nissan 240s and Honda S2000s tuned from race to show. He was well aware of the pitfalls of tuning a daily driven supercar. In the case of the NSX, while the chassis exhibits spectacular handling on track, the limited power and mid-engine handling dynamics make for a not-sospectacular street drive. The key was to build on what Honda's engineers had already designed in, while still staying balanced on that racecar/street car fence.
For those who've had the privilege of driving an NSX, a common first impression is how far short the power falls from supercar expectations. Like most Honda engines, the C30A (or stroked C32B in later models) are torqueless wonders, not the howling, necksnapping V12s we normally associate with cars of this caliber.
To find more useable low-rev grunt for the street would require the addition of forced induction, which often comes at the cost of reliability and civility. Piercey went with the smog-legal and reliable non-intercooled Comptech supercharger kit, driven to 6psi of boost. The Version Two unit uses a positive displacement Autorotor compressor, which (according to Comptech) is 10 percent more adiabatically efficient, easier to package and offers better maintenance access compared to the original Whipple 1600A compressor, which was phased out for sourcing reasons. This gave some much-needed low-end push for the street, where high engine speeds aren't easily maintained.
Managing the supercharger is a piggyback ignition timing computer included with the Comptech kit. For added insurance, flowmatched 270cc/min RC injectors were installed along with a 255lph Walbro fuel pump (which requires the removal of the fuel tank) to ensure the expensive stock bottom end doesn't succumb to the additional six pounds of boost. This proven combination makes a claimed 350 wheel-hp while being reliable enough for daily commutes and regular weekend track abuses.