Project: TL Type S

[WRXtranceformed]

Good question, I'm not sure that a lot of TL guys have swapped gearsets. I want to say that the autos come standard with 3.93s or some very steep gear and MTs were 3.73s.

[D_Eclipse9916]

They definitely slow him down a little too. We had a fun little stoplight to stoplight jaunt a few months ago (on a closed course, of course... haha) and I pulled him by about a half car up to ~70mph. His intake sounded so mean when he hit VTEC though, I'm pretty stoked to pick that up with the combo of my exhaust

Well in that case, actually being fast > looking the part.


How much labor is involved in re-gearing your car to overcome the gear you "lose" with the 19's?

Unless the overall rolling diamater has changed (not likely) then there was no change in "gearing" Most likely it resulted from A) lack of sidewall for a drag start B) Weight is further from the hub meaning the car has to work harder C) we all know MMers CANNOT LOSE!

Also a lot of people dont realize that at speed, most new air-inboxs are designed using more than just fluid dynamics but resonance and pressure zones of the front end. Your friend may have lost power going more than 10mph on that intake. Why that wont show up is because a dyno is sitting there at 0mph, with maybe 5mph of wind from a stupid fan, nothing that actually takes into account real aerodynamics. He probably lost power using that CAI at speed.

[Steve85]

B) Weight is further from the hub meaning the car has to work harder .

I was watching a show with a Ford Focus redo and I think they went up two sizes and lost a surprising amount of WHP. I had no idea it had that much of an effect.

Lee, your friends TL looks great. does he have any suspension work or is that the normal stance of the "S" model?
I'm sill not over the fact we got rid of our TL (non-S). I loved that car...

[WRXtranceformed]

Yeah Steve he is slammed on one of the Tein model of coilovers with EDFC. He's parting that out too, but I've been there / done that and don't really have a desire to change up the suspension. It does look awesome though!

[D_Eclipse9916]

Yeah Steve he is slammed on one of the Tein model of coilovers with EDFC. He's parting that out too, but I've been there / done that and don't really have a desire to change up the suspension. It does look awesome though!

Yay for junk coilovers!

[WRXtranceformed]

I picked up three auto transmission pressure sensor switches and corresponding gaskets to go ahead and swap them out at my next oil change. One of the Acura forum guys has a built GNX that he drag races, his transmission builder took apart his DD A/T TL and found that the transmission is actually fairly well built and could handle a lot of power. What has been failing for a lot of people (mostly 04-06, 07+ was fixed) was the pressure sensor switches were going bad and frying ppls transmissions. My car has been a little jerky / sloppy on gear changes lately in auto mode so it's just a cheap bit of insurance to keep my transmission in good shape.

I still plan on doing some oem mud flaps and chopping out the mid-muffler, potentially a-spec kit if I have some more cash burning a hole in my pocket.

The parts are number 12, 13 and 17 in the pics.


Any of you guys with autotragic Hondas may want to look into replacing these. The guy's builder said he would recommend replacing them every 60k miles or so for peace of mind. I also spoke with a service tech / friend that I trust at a local Honda dealership and he said they replace these very frequently on Accords and CRVs.

[.RJ]

Alternatively you could have your buddy plug in his dealer scan tool and drive the car to see if the sensors are working properly before replacing them. I assume the FSM has an expected voltage output for them.

[WRXtranceformed]

Alternatively you could have your buddy plug in his dealer scan tool and drive the car to see if the sensors are working properly before replacing them. I assume the FSM has an expected voltage output for them.

I may do that before I have him swap them out. I'll need them eventually anyway.

Here's the original post if you're bored, there's some decent information in it.

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[ViPER1313]

My 63k GM transmission still shifts great, even after 33k miles of rental car neutral drops and my abuse. Damn unreliable American POS.......

[WRXtranceformed]

I'm not sure there's an actual problem with my transmission, I'd just prefer to be proactive about it even though it's still under warranty. I drive so much that it's important this car doesn't get knocked out of commission.

[Mike]

it's no secret that honda can't figure out an auto trans mated to a v6... they've always been shit.

[WRXtranceformed]

Sensors are in, just ordered a K&N drop in off fleabay just so I don't have to worry about buying new filters with as much driving as I do. I'm about to hit 71,000 miles already!!

Amsoil unfortunately doesn't offer a drop in filter for the car, just the Injen intake system with their cone style filter. I don't want to put a CAI on this car because it won't make a difference to it.

Also picked up a set of prepainted OEM mud guards on fleabay as an impulse buy. They look a lot like the OEM rear bumper strakes I had on my old WRX, so it should give it a somewhat widebody look. I can't find any good pictures online so I'll post some up when I install them.

[.RJ]

What is the air filter interval?

I would not use a K&N - thats just my $.02. They dont filter nearly as well as their marketing would lead you to believe. OEM honda is best for most things on a daily driver car - filters, fluids, brake pads, etc.

[WRXtranceformed]

I'm not sure, 10k miles I think? 15k? I'll have to double check.

I've tried to keep it as OEM as possible for the most part, although I've rotated between Bosch and PureOne oil filters. The pads I definitely switched up because they dust WAY too much and are super expensive for the Brembos.

[.RJ]

Weird, honda pads usually dust very little.

You should be able to push the air filter to 30k if you're not in the desert.

[WRXtranceformed]

I know I was surprised, it's a common issue with the TLs with Brembos. I would wash my car and then literally a day later my wheels are dirty. I am pretty easy on the brakes too, I don't do a lot of aggressive driving. I swapped them out for Duralast Gold CMAX or something like that per the recommendation of the forums and the EVO crowd and I'm happy. They were cheaper, dust way less and have a lifetime warranty.

[WRXtranceformed]

So, just got back from the Honda service center. My friend works there as a tech and I made friends with the service advisor. Got my oil changed and had these switches installed, and he went ahead and swapped out my transmission fluid for free.

I was a little skeptical as I usually am on seat of the pants stuff like this, but because my car was shifting harder and sloppier lately I thought I'd go ahead and do it. Wow, this made a huge difference in the driveability. VERY noticeable. I stomped on it after the car was warmed up and I couldn't "feel" the car shift like I could before, it just jumped a gear and smoothly rose back through the RPMs again. No more jerkiness on partial throttle shifting either, just very composed I guess is the word I can think of.

Highly recommend this for anyone with high mileage A/T Hondas, night and day difference.

[WRXtranceformed]

Bored waiting out a few hours for an appointment this afternoon so I figured I'd update this even though probably nobody cares :lol:

I was really on the fence lately about potentially selling / trading this car in to get something new. For a few reasons, the main one being the ridiculous deals and financing options dealers are giving out right now for new and preowned cars. As many of you know I have severe ADD when it comes to video games, girls and cars. I will usually go through at least one car every year to a year and a half. I also REALLY would like the utility of an SUV. I was looking specifically at previous gen FX35/45s (I don't like the new body styles) or the newest MDXs which are really nice vehicles. Even though I have a ton of trunk space in my car (I can fit ~3 golf bags if I smash them in) I hate having to borrow a friend's SUV or truck if I need to pick up or haul stuff.

After checking my payoff on the car (~$22k) and my mileage of 75k+ (I'm on the road 75% of my working day) and the damage on my bumper from where I backed into a concrete pillar in a parking deck (don't ask), I would most certainly get hosed on a trade in. And I'd like to for once just pay a car off and not have a car payment. Above all that though, this has been *knock on wood* a very reliable and very very good car. For as much time as I spend driving it has almost everything I need (I would trade heated seats for AC seats here in the south) and gets pretty reasonable gas mileage especially on the highway.

A few small issues that have come up:
- Leather seats on driver side are cracking noticeably. This is very common in Hondas in general. I may consider taking it to Katskin or something like that if it gets a lot worse in the future, for now I'm just trying to keep it conditioned. Any recommendations on a good product? I use some cheap generic Turtle Wax shit I found at Target.
- Stock rotors are getting chewed up by the new ceramic pads, which I was warned about and expected. I planned to just burn through them and get some different rotors where this isn't an issue, but I haven't noticed any bad pedal feel or vibrating yet. The rotors on these cars from the factory are actually woefully small, I think the newest gen Accord has bigger ones.
- The motor for the auto mirror turn down on reverse on the passenger side is starting to go. It's kind of jerking when it rotates down. I would switch it off or switch it to the driver's side but I've gotten so used to it I'll just replace the motor when it burns out I guess.
- This car just eats tires, there's no way around it. There's something about the suspension setup from the factory that causes excessive wear on the inner edge. I'm rotating my tires at every oil change to prolong their life, but I'm curious as to how much I actually get out of them.

Other than that it's been great. Even with all of the new car models coming out, it still looks aggressive and very stylish. I get lots of compliments from clients, and even got a compliment on my JMU Alumni license plate frame haha. I installed the mud guards a while back which look awesome. I don't have a pic of them yet because my car has been so dirty but I'll take one eventually. I'm going to buy my buddy's Progress RSB this Christmas as well as a Jpipe eventually just to add some more horsepower. I still love the exhaust note on this car, I'm going to open up the exhaust by removing that second resonator at some point in the near future and that's it. Since it looks like I'll probably keep this one around for a while, I figure I'd have some fun with it

[ScottyB]

definitely get some upgraded pictures Lee.

i feel the car ADD thing as well, but is there really anything you'd absolutely have to have right now? i think you said you're big on the C6 as your next project, i think it would work well for you to pay off your TL and then hit a C6 once the prices have really come down. lots of people buy them and you'll be able to have a pick of the litter especially if the C7 is on the way in 2-3 years.

how often are you hauling the big stuff? as long as you have a buddy with a truck who's cool to let you borrow it at a whim, keep using it 8) throw some brews his way sometime just for good measure. owning an SUV is fine as a second car but i wouldn't want one as my primary.

[D_Eclipse9916]

Eating tires? May be the factory alignment. Ive found a lot of cars with a ton of toe on their cars to help "induce" understeer. This ends up eating tires hard. So actually zeroing out the toe or having just a little bit in front (like 1/16) will improve tire wear AND performance.