Honda NSX Tuning

"A very NSXy car indeed."

A stunning supercar, the NSX was Hondas attempt to show the world it could out Ferrari Enzo himself!

The car was fettled and setup under the watchful eye of an F1 racing driver and Honda proved that you can have a reliable and fun supercar.

The cars are imposing on the road with their low bonnet and in your face rear wing. The challenge here is to actually improve on perfection. Honda showed us what can be done with their Type R NSX.  First off TorqueCars suggest that you fit uprated suspension and lower the car by 15-20mm. Larger drops tend to compromise the ride quality and handling balance.

Turning our attention to the NSXs engine we need to get a bit more power out of the bottom end as the engines, like in most Honda's need to be revved hard.

Honda NSX Tuning modifications.

One of the best mechanical mods you can do to the NSX engine after getting the head flowed and ported is to fit a fast road cam. Don't forget to uprate the fuelling when you are increasing the power - the power gains make the car more thirsty. Improve your cars response to the throttle with a Fuel pressure boost valve. Uprated injectors will enable you to supply sufficient fuel to the engine. When increasing your fuelling you will also need to get a bigger fuel pump to supply it although there is some scope in the OEM NSX fuel pumps to push out more power.

Honda NSX Intake and Exhaust.

The next area for modification is the intake and exhaust. Maximum power gains come from a full induction kit and top quality sports exhaust with a high flowing sports cat. Sports exhausts balance the flow of air through the engine. But if your NSX's exhaust is too large (over 3 inches bore) you will lose back pressure and compromise the performance.

A good fast road power clutch will help to keep that power going where it should. Never skimp or expect a standard clutch to cope when you have tuned the engine. If the high compression ratio is causing detonation you should add a water injection kit to control knock in addition to running a higher octane fuel.

Honda NSX Wheel modifications.

The benefits of alloy wheels include a lower unsprung weight and more efficient brake cooling. Large NSX alloy wheels can decrease performance. If you get big alloy wheels you will be changing your final drive ratio. For this reason we would advise sticking to the OEM wheel size.

Please join us in our forum to discuss the NSX options in more detail with our NSX owners. It would also be worth reading our Honda tuning articles to get a full grasp of the pros and cons of each type of modification.