So you spend all day shining up your hatchback, pop in your best cruising CD, and roll into your local chill spot feeling pretty good about your car. You hop out, prop up on your freshly buffed fender, and some guy rolls by in something that somehow makes your project look like a soapbox racer. You pick your jaw up and humbly think to yourself: "Dang, I'll be that dude someday." New Jersey's Michael Lasko is that dude. "It was the only car I ever really wanted, I knew I wanted one when I was 10 or 11. I was hooked at that point," he tells us.
Mike cut his automotive teeth in his driveway, wrenching on everything from DSMs to the obligatory sampling of FWD Hondas. After working a bunch of dead-end jobs and deciding college wasn't exactly for him, Mike found himself a job selling cars and, in time, climbed the corporate ladder, eventually landing a sales manager position at nearby Bridgewater Acura. Mike knew how to get the car of his dreams and, after selling his E36 M3, driving a $700 Jeep Wrangler, and banking every cent he could for a year, what he wanted came calling. "I bought it from the doctor that was doing my father's heart surgery-a '92 Formula Red coupe with all the service records, the original window sticker, from the original owner," Mike says. With a gearhead as its new owner, the venerable supercar didn't keep its stock components for long. Mike began with a set of Comptech lowering springs, but after snooping around the company's website, he decided he wanted a full Comptech car. "I liked the fact that Comptech stuff allows me to retain the factory warranty if installed by an Acura tech. If a manufacturer backs an aftermarket tuning company, it's obviously worth the money," he says.
By now, Mike's whistle was thoroughly wet with Comptech quality. He ogled the company's site and went nuts with the plastic. Once the goods arrived, he took his big brown parts box along with his newly lowered NSX to his local Acura dealer where the techs began cracking bolts. The stock components on Honda's flagship are far from restrictive, but Mike's the type of guy who would mod a desk chair if the right stuff was available. With that in mind, the factory exhaust manifolds were swapped out for their Comptech counterparts as well as the remaining exhaust system, which was replaced with a Comptech unit. To crank out more horsepower than Honda's potent V-6 already does, the engine was upgraded with a Comptech supercharger. Feeding the force-fed 3.0L with fresh air is a Comptech carbon-fiber airbox mated to a Cantrell Concepts intake. A JDM transmission, chosen for the shorter gears, paired with a Dave's short shift kit, help get the power to the asphalt faster, and a Cantrell Concepts carbon-fiber engine cover helps highlight all of Mike's new go-fast parts.
Carbotech brake pads, clamping down on Bradi cross-drilled rotors, get the newly acquired Volk CE28Ns stopped. The only thing better than going fast is looking good doing it, so a Gruppe M carbon-fiber replica lip was added as was a Mode 4 NSX-R replica carbon-fiber diffuser and a Downforce NSX-R replica spoiler. A brand-new 2002 rear valance keeps the taillight side looking updated and pretty. A fresh coat of Formula Red was laid over the entire car, matching the original black top and new body accessories to the rest of the machine. "They perform like Ferraris but with the maintenance of a Civic," Mike says.