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Back in late July (has it been that long already???), I started modding the wagon with some aftermarket goodies. I started out with some authentic CDM parts, just like you might find on the Spirior. I present, the sunshade:
I really don't know how I made it two years without buying a sunshade, but now I have a "Select Level ★" auto-shade that keeps my vehicle up to 44°F (25°C) cooler. It is pure science ironed flat into a lightweight and twistable product.
Fun Fact derail: These collapsible sunshades, like their relative the toss-and-pop-up tent and other type products, fold in on themselves according to a hyperbolic paraboloid shape. That's the same shape as a Pringles® brand potato and wheat-based stackable snack chip. So even if you're like the clumsy derp on the late-night infomercials that can't do anything right, you should still be able to fold up these collapsible products by thinking of a tasty, tasty Pringles® brand potato and wheat-based stackable snack chip. Just fold the left and right sides up towards each other and then fold the front and back sides down towards each other. Slip the right side over the left and the front over the back. Bam! A circle is made and the shade is collapsed. Note: This cannot be done with a delicious Pringles® brand potato and wheat-based stackable snack chip as their crispy texture does not allow for folding. But it does allow for awesome snacking!
How do you install this part on your vehicle? Well, let me walk you through the steps:
1. Obtain the proper size. I chose the Jumbo sized sunshade after rigorous research involving: reading the back of the package. As you can see, this part is common across much of the Honda and Acura model lines:
2. Open the package by carefully removing the tab from the slot so the folded sunshade can slide out of the packaging. Or don't. You may choose to just rip the packaging open like a wild animal and that's fine too. We won't be able to be friends, but it's fine. I'm sure someone will love you; you absolute savage beast:
3. Carefully remove the shade from the packaging. Carefully. Keep a tight grip on it so it doesn't pop open and smash you in your face. Some people are so ugly that getting hit in the face by a springing-open sunshade isn't the worst thing in the world, but others should take care:
4. Now carefully allow the shade to spring open. Be careful not to hit yourself in the face with it, as mentioned prior. If you are extremely clumsy and/or unlucky, you might choose to wear safety glasses in this step. Go ahead, I won't laugh... pffffttt, you look ridiculous! Hahahahahaha, gettaloada this safety nerd over here everyone! Hahahahaha!!!:
5. With both sunshades in the expanded configuration, place them underneath the windshield. Try not to screw this step up or else your dad will be so disappointed in you again. I like to wedge the bottom edge between the windshield and the dash, and the top edge between the windshield and the roof. I've found that I can pop the inner corners of the shade behind the rear view mirror, and the outer edges between the A-pillar and the windshield and it will stay in place. I figure that by not using the fold down visors to hold it in place, I'll be able to save approximately ten billion cycles on the hinge and that it will now last for 376 eons. I might have mathed that wrong, but it's probably right:
6. If you didn't screw up that last step, this is what it should look like on the outside. If you did screw up that last step, you'll probably only see your reflection in the windshield. See how sad you look. Sad and ugly. This is why you drink. Go ahead... you should call your dad and tell him how much of a disappointment you've remained:
Congratulations! If you made it to this postscript, you're done and done right. Enjoy your up to 44°F (25°C) cooler car! I know I have been enjoying mine. I also enjoy Pringles® brand potato and wheat-based stackable snack chip with only 150 calories per 28 gram (approximately 15 crisps) serving for the Sour Cream & Onion flavor.
After I finished installing my sunshades, I found this large box on my porch:
Yes, he spent all his monies on the box/house replacement and will now live in aforementioned house replacement. Now he is going to throw the shiny pipes, that growl when blown into, out.
got a noob question though...I have the same sunshades but mine have a 3-4 inch black strip on mine. Do you know what size wrench I need and also should black strip go to top or bottom?
I like black on top so have been using that method. Just checking with the pros...
Well this story goes back even further to the January time frame. @AckTL05 from EndlessRPM announced that he was looking to start producing a bolt-on cat-back exhaust for the 2G TSX. He was starting by offering a pre-sale to get a handful of orders in before jumping into full production. Right off the bat, a few wagon goons (wagoons?) started in about the possibility of supporting the wagon as well as there was a minor difference in length between the wagon and sedan exhausts.
After some back and forth about how to accommodate the wagon, I was absolutely shocked when in May, Bruce announced that he'd be producing a wagon specific exhaust if there were interest. After a slow start, there were a handful of interested wagoons who got in on the pre-order sale and Bruce started some prototype work.
Then started the long patience. The days ticked off the calendar, one-by-one as we waited for enough people to fulfill the pre-order to kick off actual production.
And then one evening, I was sitting in an airport with an almost comically delayed flight (7 hours!) when I got a phone call from an unknown number. So I did what anyone does... I ignored it. But they called back and called back and then I answered and it was Bruce from EndlessRPM. Basically, he was like: "Wagon exhaust. You want this one?" and I was like: "Yep."
So Bruce mailed it to me. And then it arrived at the end of July. Which, in Houston, is pretty much hell but with with sticky wet clothes. I had a major conflict between weather (murderously hot-humid / torrential downpour) and actually being in town so it took a while to get to installing it. And when I finally did, I couldn't. I quickly reached the threshold of my driveway work space and just couldn't get clear access to the stock cat to unbolt the system.
So I sucked up my DIY pride and got in touch with a local exhaust shop to give me a hand. And by "give me a hand" I mean, install the cat-back in exchange for pieces of paper with pictures of Andrew Jackson on it. And today, in about the time it takes me to get my car on jack stands, the pros got the whole thing installed and aligned.
What's in the box:
Everything breaks down real nicely for shipping and it all arrive safe and sound. Front flange to bolt to the catalytic converter, then a resonator or straight pipe, the y-pipe, and both mufflers, plus the necessary band clamps:
Laser etched logos on the humongous exhaust finishers:
I feel fat. I have some junk in my trunk:
Up on the lift with the stock exhaust on borrowed time:
And roughly an hour later with the new shiny:
I skipped lunch today and got some results by sweating. It seems Endless:
All-in-all it pretty much fit right on. Watching the guy put everything together and I'm glad I went the route of getting professional assistance. In addition to the lift, he had some nifty tools for popping off the rubber hangers, and supports for holding the exhaust when it was loose (instead of letting it slam to the ground like I would have inevitably done), and all the right doo-dads to get it done efficiently.
Plus, there was just a little bit of "field fitting" the muffler hangers to get the finishers to sit right in the valence cutouts. As it came in the box, the finishers were high and touching the valance. It wouldn't have taken long to melt it. So I was thankful and glad to have the right person (not me) doing the job. Plus his attention to detail was impeccable; getting everything lined up, taking the mufflers off and putting them back on when to get the band clamps facing the right direction, and then when he was done, he polished the mufflers and finishers! It was a level of service that you rarely see anymore. And while I don't know for sure, I have a sneaky feeling that the local ricer shop wouldn't have been so thorough, so that's worth a couple of bucks to me.
Also, support local small businesses, 'murica, etc.
So now the wagon goes brrrm brrrm.
When I picked up The Spawn™ this evening, we left a stop light and he says: "Oooh, I like that noise!"
Me: "What noise?"
Him: "The brrrm brrrm sound. Who made that sound?"
Me: "The brrrm brrrm? We made that sound. That's our car now."
Him: <giggles> "I like that."
I'd say that the all important WagonJr. test was successfully passed so it would seem that all systems are now go.
Oh, yeah. Guess I didn't explicitly say that. I chose to go with the resonator. Had I been able to do it in the driveway, I probably would have done the straight pipe first, just to see, but I'm pretty sure I know what it would sound like and it's too loud / buzzy.
Maybe I'm just getting old but even the resonated pipe might be a little bit too much. I need to give it a couple weeks to see how it sounds once everything normalizes.
Was that a Seven reference?
What a great read, Joe.
I love Bruce, his level of commitment to this band and supporting the aftermarket and the onslaught of facebook 3g derpers is unsurpassed...he's a patient man and I'm glad to see his business doing well.
PS...the S2000 wouldn't have look that good in the opening anyway...these fit so nicely.
Give it some time, you went from no noise to some noise, it'll grow on you!
Yeah, more/better pics should be this weekend. Also need to sort out my camera/mounting/mic situation a little bit and I'll get some video clips too. I've got the sequence in my mind, just need to go execute and process it. Hold tight.
Was that a Seven reference?
What a great read, Joe.
I love Bruce, his level of commitment to this band and supporting the aftermarket and the onslaught of facebook 3g derpers is unsurpassed...he's a patient man and I'm glad to see his business doing well.
PS...the S2000 wouldn't have look that good in the opening anyway...these fit so nicely.
Give it some time, you went from no noise to some noise, it'll grow on you!
It was absolutely THE Seven reference! I actually looked for the full dialog of that scene but couldn't find it real easy. And ain't no one got time to watch the video and transcribe it. But yes. You can imagine me with that large package in the garage yelling "What's in the box?!? Tell me what's in the box!!!" over and over again, and that's pretty much how it played out in real life.
EDIT: Except it was an exhaust and not, you know, my wife's head. Just in case that wasn't clear.
EDIT EDIT: Bruce didn't send me my wife's head in a box. Just to make sure there's no confusion there.
LMAO...that's how you know we're soulmates...that was a pretty vague reference.
It helps that I worked in the movie theater when that was out and I watched it about 10 times...
LMAO...that's how you know we're soulmates...that was a pretty vague reference.
It helps that I worked in the movie theater when that was out and I watched it about 10 times...
Yeah, I'm starting to realize that among me and my cohorts, simply saying "what's in the box?" normally will usually elicit someone else saying it in a whiny-aggressive manner which then results in a back and forth of the scene.
But among others, it gets lost due to the classic nature of the movie. i.e. "it's old"
Yeah, I'm starting to realize that among me and my cohorts, simply saying "what's in the box?" normally will usually elicit someone else saying it in a whiny-aggressive manner which then results in a back and forth of the scene.
Same here....such a great movie too and lost on so many folks...
(Had i made it to donuts, i was gonna shout "whats in the box" but alas i never did make it cuz im lazy and dont like driving 250 miles for donuts.
When I had the EndlessRPM exhaust in pieces in the garage, I threw them all on a scale* and weighted them. All said and done, the catback with the resonator weights in at 49.6 lbs.
Once I got the stock exhaust back to the house, I put it on a scale* and weighed it...
...and it comes in at 49.0 lbs.
So, kids, if you're following along at home... You cannot reasonably argue that going to this aftermarket exhaust will be significantly lighter than stock and will therefore make your car faster because of the diet. Unless you go with the non-resonated, straight pipe, option. In which case the whole kit will run 3.6 lbs lighter and you'll just barely be lighter.
OEM Cat-back Exhaust System: 49.0 lbs (22.2 kg)
EndlessRPM Resonated Cat-Back: 49.6 lbs (22.5 kg)
EndlessRPM Non-Resonated Cat-Back: 46.0 lbs (20.9 kg)
I will admit that being able to look at the stock system, and after weighing it, I am a bit impressed at the efficiency Honda put into it. It's not terribly heavy, it's a pretty unrestricted design, and the materials seem very durable. All-in-all, I'd say it's actually a pretty solid system. A+, would keep.
But now that I know that I've actually made the car heavier by adding the cat-back, I'm glad I installed the V6 fog light surrounds with their open vents (less plastic) and I really need to get around to installing the V6 lower grille with the more open cutouts (less plastic). I'm gonna need to keep cutting out weight to get back to OEM spec.
Hmmm... Maybe this would be a reason to get new, lighter, wheels!
*In case my wife ever finds this thread, it was totally not the bathroom scale. I borrowed an industrial scale from this guy you don't know. He goes to a different school. In Canada.
Well I will say that not losing weight on the exhaust is annoying, although it wouldn't affect my desire for one as my 3 wants are looks, sound and some performance.
Nicely done Joe...
Also, I had missed your sunshade post before and stumbled on it now, what a hilarity. Much laughs!
Well I will say that not losing weight on the exhaust is annoying, although it wouldn't affect my desire for one as my 3 wants are looks, sound and some performance.
Nicely done Joe...
Also, I had missed your sunshade post before and stumbled on it now, what a hilarity. Much laughs!
Yeah, it's pretty insignificant. And the two systems might actually be a little closer in weight, but the bathroom industrial scale I used is only precise to 0.2 lbs and a few measurements dithered before settling on a low number. So the real weight of a few pieces might be 0.1 lb heavier, each.
The next performance metric will be gas mileage. I'm sure with a less restrictive system, the MPGs will be noticeably higher this next fill up.
Great post! Love that you measured the weight of everything; sucks that the OEM one was actually lighter. Shoulda got the sedan version for weight savings! .
Has the new exhaust "broken in" a bit yet? Any difference in sound?
08-11-2016, 01:57 PM
box 
i.e. "it's old"
.