"It's the best sports car the world has ever produced. Any time. Any place. Any price. It's more of an achievement now than the Mercedes 300SL Gullwing was in its time frame, more of an advance now than the Porsche 928 was in the mid-'70s. It's far better than any Ferrari or Lamborghini ever built; it makes the Corvette ZR-1 look like something contrived under a shade tree."
We're not sure what the editors of "Motor Trend" were smoking when they wrote the above about Acura's all-aluminum, midengine NSX back in September 1990, but it must've been some superfly shit. We're not saying the NSX wasn't a breakthrough back then. It was. If nothing else it was the first car with high-performance VTEC. But come on, the best sports car the world has ever produced?
Acura must have believed the hyperbole. As the '90s wore on and other manufacturers rose to Honda's challenge with sports cars like the Ferrari F355, the water-cooled Porsche 911 and Chevy's C5 Corvette, the NSX trucked on as is. And today, despite incremental developments and improvements, it's impossible to deny its age.
We think Jeff Ling's '92 NSX is what the NSX would have become if Honda had continued to aggressively develop the car instead of letting it fall behind in competition. It's optimized rather than over the top, elegantly detailed as opposed to crassly over-decorated, and simply bad-ass instead of asinine. Everything on this supercharged machine looks like it was designed from the moment some engineer first fired up the CAD/CAM program on his Intel 386-based work station back in the late-'80s and began to design the NSX.
Ling's car took a circuitous route to its current condition. "This car has an interesting history," he writes us. "It's a 1992 NSX, U.S.-spec car that was exported to Panama. There it was modified by shop owner/racer Enrique Thompson. He was one of the first to do a 2002 headlight/taillight update on a pre-2002 car. He hired the 'NSX guru of mechanics' Mark Basch to build the car in Panama. This includes, but is not limited to a Comptech supercharger, headers, exhaust, short gears, ring and pinion, lightweight flywheel and clutch. I found the car via NSX Prime (www.nsxprime.com). Obviously I was reluctant to buy a car overseas. With reassurance from Mark though, I felt it would be a safe purchase. The car was shipped back to U.S. shores in a shipping container. I found it very appropriate that a portion of the photo shoot was located at the ports. It was somewhat difficult to register in California since they didn't have any sample titles from Panama. The DMV could not confirm the authenticity of the title. Of course, it was finally registered anyway."
Even though it made it back to Ling's home in Riverside, Calif., with items like the supercharger already atop the 3.0-liter, VTEC V6, there was still tweaking left to do to get the car into its current condition. "The car was in very good condition when I took possession," Ling reports. "However, it took about three years to build the car to my specs and taste."
But the supercharger is still the star. Comptech's supercharger kit for the NSX relies upon a twin-screw Lysholm blower that compresses air inside the blower case to produce a steady and seamless stream into the engine. Comptech claims its system is so effective that additional power starts building as low as 2000 rpm. Ling's supercharger is one of Comptech's high-boost units making a maximum of 9 psi of heave.
No supercharger thrives in isolation. This one breathes in through a Comptech carbon-fiber intake and Science of Speed big bore throttle body, and exhales through Comptech SS headers and exhaust system. The fuel system consists of a Walbro fuel pump feeding through an AEM fuel pressure regulator to RC Engineering 550cc injectors. An HKS Twin Power DLI ignition system generates the sparks and the whole thing is managed by an AEM stand-alone ECU. Dazzle in the engine bay comes from Dali Racing's stainless-steel hoses, polished belt cover and polished fuse cover. The Kevlar engine cover-hey, at any moment someone out there may want to pump the engine full of .38 hollow points-is from Gruppe M.
A JUN Ultralight flywheel and ACT clutch sit between the engine and transmission, and all five forward ratios in the box itself were swapped for the shorter gears of a JDM NSX Type-R. Those cogs then turn a 4.55:1 Comptech final drive gearset (a 4.06:1 ring and pinion was standard in the '92 NSX) that bathes in Redline synthetic gear lube. The shortened shifter linkage comes from Dali Racing.
With the huffer huffing as hard as it can huff, Ling's ride made 309 hp at 8250 rpm at the rear wheels on our Dynojet. Quite a leap up from the 270 hp that the 3.0-liter was originally rated at by Honda, and all that gain is without any changes to the short block, cams or heads.
When the car was down in Panama, Enrique Thompson added wider Taitec rear fenders and Marga Hills front fenders, matched with a Marga Hills front bumper and side skirts. The headlight and taillight conversions were also done. The scooped hood is from RM Racing while the rear is kept ground bound with a Comptech adjustable Aggressor rear wing. Everything was then drenched in Formula red paint, including the roof and pillars, which were originally black.
The thicker fenders allow the fitment of 215/40ZR-17 front and 275/35ZR-18 rear Bridgestone Potenza S-03 tires on Prodrive 17x8-inch front and 18x10-inch rear wheels. The thick meat is pushed to the pavement by HKS coil-overs front and rear and kept level by Comptech anti-roll bars. The structure is stiffened with a Comptech strut bar and Type-R front stress bar.
Big Brembo cross-drilled rotors (a full 13.0 inches in front), four-piston calipers and Pagid brake pads turn the car's vast capacity for speed into heat and dissipate it into the atmosphere. Stainless-steel brake lines distribute Castrol SRF brake fluid fore and aft according to adjustments made with a Wilwood proportioning valve.
Ling did most of the interior work himself. He bolted in the Sparco black leather Milano seats and Sparco steering wheel, added the GReddy boost and fuel pressure gauges, and secured a Comptech harness bar and Simpson five-point harnesses. The floor mats come from a 1999 Zanardi-edition NSX and so does the emergency brake handle.
Terence Lew did the electronics installation, including an Alpine sound system that includes a six-disc CD changer, DVD player and MB Quart speakers. A custom rear camera was added in case something interesting ever occurs behind this car. There's also a Halon-charged fire extinguisher aboard should the car ever decide to spontaneously combust and Jeff decides to use his free will to fight cruel fate rather than just give in to the grim grind of predestination.
"I wanted to build a unique, reliable, and of course, fast car," Ling tells us. "It was one of the first to receive the AEM ECU/Comptech supercharger combo. Autowave of Huntington Beach and Jason Siebels of AEM worked out the bugs for the two to work together. I am very pleased with the outcome thus far. Don't tell my wife, but the car is never done."
What Ling has come up with isn't so much a car as it is a driving instrument-a machine for slicing the road open with scalpel-like precision and chainsaw power. The sort of sophisticated machine you might expect Dr. Jeffrey Ling, Doctor of Optometry, would build. This isn't some temperamental racecar barely tamed for the street that can't hold an idle and pukes up a green stream every time the ignition key is shut off. It's a car that still retains much of what made the NSX so wonderful a decade and a half ago: day-to-day friendliness and comfort mixed with instantaneous reflexes and exotic proportions. We also think it's one of the most beautiful street cars we've ever seen.
Comptech Supercharged 1992 Acura NSXEngineEngine Code: C30A4Type: 2977cc, V6, supercharged, four valves per cylinder, DOHC, VTECExternal Modifications: Comptech supercharger, Comptech carbon-fiber intake, Comptech SS headers, Comptech SS exhaust, Walbro fuel pump, RC Engineering 550cc injectorsEngine Management Modifications: AEM stand-alone ECU, HKS DLI ignition, FJO wideband O2 sensorMeasured Wheel Hp: 309 hp at 8250 rpmMeasured Wheel Torque: 229 lb-ft at 5400 rpm
DrivetrainLayout: Transverse mid-engine, rear-wheel driveDrivetrain Modifications: Honda five-speed transmission with NSX Type-R short gears, Comptech 4.55:1 final drive gearset, Jun Ultralight flywheel, ACT clutch
SuspensionFront: HKS coil-overs, Comptech anti-roll bar, Comptech strut tower bar, Type-R stress barRear: HKS coil-overs, Comptech anti-roll bar
BrakesFront: Brembo 13-in. rotors with four-piston calipersRear: Brembo rotors and calipers
ExteriorWheels: 17x8.0-in. (F) & 18x10-in. (R) Bridgestone ProdriveTires: 215/40R-17 (F), 275/35R-18 (R) Bridgestone Potenza S-03Body: 2002 headlight and taillight swap, Marga Hills front bumper, Marga Hills side skirts, Marga Hills wide front fenders, Taitec wide rear quarters, RM Racing vented hood, Wings West rear spats, ETR rear valance, Comptech Aggressor rear wing
InteriorSparco Milano leather seats, Sparco steering wheel, Dali Racing titanium shift knob, Dali Racing short-shift kit, Simpson five-point harnesses, Comptech harness bar, Tora Sport carbon-fiber trim, GReddy 52mm boost gauge, GReddy 52mm fuel pressure gauge