bricecakes

Thank to everyone that has posted about how we can tinker and fix our KA9's to make them feel much more respectable as our own. That being said, this is the first car I have owned that I have done this much modification to. This thread will only be highlighting my new Koni reds/H&R springs retrofit and my super awesome CAI! Much credit to everyone who has helped me to achieve this amazing feeling when I drive my beautiful RL now!

My suspension is retrofitted from a 91-95 Acura Legend. I am running 07-08 TL wheels (235/45/17) with absolutely minimum rub, except for dips on the highway and what not. I had Koni reds set on they're lowest perch with stock springs that brought my ride down a little, just enough to make the ride not look like a 4x4 anymore. Koni reds on stock springs gave me 3 fingers all the way around.

I needed more drop. Not too much though, so I decided on Vogtland springs. Bad news. There is a 2 week wait for them to be shipped from Germany. To give an idea of how long you'll wait, I spoke to 3 people about shipping time. All three never got back with me.

There was a set of used Eibach's for sale but knowing that they only lowered an inch, I was skeptical. I waited it out. It would have been a great deal, since Eibah springs are now discontinued.

Over new years week, I was anxious. I wanted springs, and I wanted to wait no longer for them. A quick look at ebay to see a decent shipping time for H&R's. Surprisingly, I ordered them on a Thursday and got them the next Monday.

A quick note of reference:

Eibach - 1" F&R
Vogtland - 1.2" F&R
H&R - 1.5"F & 1.4"R

Also, Koni reds have 2 perch levels on the front, and three in the back. Set them on the highest in the front for stock and middle perch for stock in the rear. If set on the lowest perches all the way around, the front lowers a little less than an inch and the rear is hardly even noticeable at less than 1/4 inch. They are also rebound adjustable.

Also also, since the RL(KA9) is heavier than the Legend(KA7/KA8), any springs from a Legend will make the RL sit, at most, an inch lower than it should. I did not know this until the day before the springs arrived. Knowing this, I decided to install the Koni reds back on their stock perch levels.

Now for the pics (and I apologize as I did not have any other camera besides my iPhone) :

Everything installed, waiting to have wheels back on


Closer pic of the install on the driver's side front


Lowered the jack, and almost not being able to take it out!

Barely 1 finger rule

Day 1

Day 2 in the parking garage, the rears settled a little and now has 2 fingers


Definite negative camber in the front

bricecakes

Removed the front mud guards







Excuse the dirty car. I had no time to wash it. Maybe in a few days

And my CAI I had installed on the day before the install



Impression:

I had rolled the rear fenders to be on the safe side prior to the install because I thought I'd have rubbing in the rear. Having been lazy to do the fronts, I had plenty of rubbing on the fender liner but it was an easy fix. I pushed the fender liner behind the front fender tabs then heat gun and rubber malleted it. No problems except on huge dips that you would say "Why the f*** is this in the road?!" Other than that, It is bumpy. I feel every bump and the tires moving on the pavement. I turned the Konis to a whole turn stiff (except the driver's front because it was being an a**hole, so I left it on full soft) and paired with the H&R's, it is wonderful. The CAI is quiet when you need it to be; I was smiling as rolled by a police car. He don't know what he think my car be hehe.

This is a stiff setup, but is smooth and comfortable on highway roads that are not made of bump crap. My neighborhood had an awesome backroad that everyone (I'm sure) loves to drive on because of it's banking corners. Body roll is absolutely not present unless your doing 90 degree turns at 40 mph. On the highway, I have the urge to go faster. I'm sure everyone knows how to control their need for speed

I am solid on this setup. I'm hoping that if my car ever gives out, the suspension will be able to live for 200k. Hopefully. I plan to keep this car for a very long time, and the stance, oh boy the stance is perfect for an off the factory performance upgrade with a little extra.

Anyone planning to run this setup, 91-95 Koni reds are somewhat hard to come by and I don't think Koni will let you use the lifetime warranty since the shocks will be installed on a different model. You can wait a long time to get Vogtland springs or get H&R's fast since Eibach has discontinued their springs. Of course you can buy anything used if it is available to you. You'll also need the forks, brake perches and spring perches off the OEM struts of an Acura Legend(KA7/KA8). Sedan or coupe does not matter. Always use anti-seize. The paint on the Konis will chip and scratch easy, but that shouldn't matter anyways, right?

Have a decent spring compressor. The spring sticks I used worked but are really frustrating. I have never used the clamshell and I was very fortunate that I was able to use an ex-boss's garage to work on my car. Snap-on tools ftw.

Always use jack stands if working on the ground.

You'll need socket sizes 10, 12, 14, and 17. Allan wrench size 5. It would be nice to use a vice grip as well.

The Konis, if they have been sitting on their sides for a while will act strange and seem like the adjusters on them do not work. Strange as in really tough to compress and decompress them. What I did was flip them so that the gases in the shocks will move from bottom to top. It it highly recommended (by me) to compress them and decompress them a couple of times. If the shocks do not decompress right away, do not worry. They are supposed to be like that. Just let them sit to decompress on their own. And stand them in the position they will be installed overnight before installing if compressing and decompressing them still are very tough.

I'm sure I'm forgetting stuff. Please feel free to PM me with questions. Please comment and ask questions here. I don't often check the forums so give me a few days in the least.

And for comparison:

'02 Stock shocks and springs


Konis on lowest perch and stock springs


And finally, Konis at stock perch with H&R springs


I will be getting an alignment within a week to see about zeroing the toe and seeing how much negative camber I have. If I get really bothered by the camber, I'll get a camber kit and another alignment to get back to OEM specs.

bricecakes

And of course, more pics soon

Ken1997TL

Looks great!

Loved my '02.

bricecakes

They are beautiful cars, man. If I could drive her all night long it would be so awesome haha

3.5RLv-tec?

iTrader: (2)

Looking good bro, but what make you chose the koni over coilover?So how much is the set up cost you. BTW, you need to give the wheels a really good wash

bricecakes

Lol I plan to take the wheels off on the next wash to clean them individually. That will also be a first since the wheels were painted a couple months ago.

I had a lot of mixed reviews between coilovers and shocks/springs. My cuzzo and a friend of mine both give me crap about not gettin coilovers and how much nicer adjustability is and what not. I liked the idea of being able to put more time into working on the ride. The posts that I read were all KA7/KA9 based. All said coilovers will break your back. Having a track performance on a lux car wasn't my cup of tea.

The shocks I got from ajusa for about 500 for the whole set. And the springs I overpaid at 240 because I wanted them right away. You could easily pick up the strut pieces at a junkyard for at least 30-100 max. I overpaid for some of those too

And I know with that much money, I've could've gotten a nice tein ss system. I was more worried about ride quality. I'm sure ride height adjustability is very nice

bricecakes

I'll definitely say this. If any of the suspension pieces fail and will be tough to replace, coilovers are 100% the back up plan haha

kid spartan

Have you found any problems with suspension parts wearing out faster? I want to drop mine a bit but I'm afraid of the 3800 lbs hanging so low, putting extra stress on the suspension.

silver3.5

Nice stance! The front is a little too low for me though. I have Eibachs on stock springs and I think that is as low as I'll go. Nice CAI! How did you do it?

bricecakes

At kid spartan:

Weight was the first thing I questioned myself. After doing about a year's worth of research though, I was set that I wouldn't have any issues at all. Make sure all of your bushings are fine and what not, any cracks on them and I'd be weary of them going out soon. I, however, didn't look at my bushings too well during the install. I was really anxious to throw the kit together. But for an 11 year old car with 170k on it, before the upgrade it still performed as it should have when I first got it. (I got mine in '09 with 115k, I drive a lot)

Reading how the konis/springs ran on our ka7/ka8 friends, I figured retrofitting from the legend would be better off on the ka9 chassis as it possibly would perform the same. I can't say this is true because I've never ridden in a legend. I'm not too sure if I'm answering your question. I went with a legend retrofit based on legend users because it suited my own nature to have comfort still in the ride quality.

Always have your suspension checked out before doing anything drastic, I guess. If you lower your car, you pay to play, and you must take risks. I'm very confident that this setup will keep its strength in the long run.

Pretty much, it's best if you get springs to pair them with performance shocks so they will balance out each other. The things that will see the extra weight will be the springs and bushings I'd assume. I'm still a noob so I'm sure someone can give a better answer.

At silver:

I like how low it is is man! Its so agressive with the tl wheels! I actually intended to look for bumps while driving today to see if I'd get anymore rub. There was none at all. The rears actually sit a bit higher than I expected. If I really wanted to, I could drop the backs to the lowest perch but I'm quite satisfied the way it is.

Intakes are interchangeable from our G2 legend cousins as well. I picked up a short ram without tcs off of eBay and cut off a piece to fit with the tcs we have in our cars. Then I got a 90 degree mandrel bent pipe to run into where the stock box sits. You must take all of the stock intake box out, including the parts behind the fender well. Once out, you can see where the pipe will run to. Shove a filter and some couplers on it and it'll be golden. I'll post some pics of that too a little later as well. It makes it easier if you take off the passenger wheel and line it up from the underside as well. I've gotta get back in there when my k&n filter comes in

bricecakes

But then again the bushings on the car can already withstand the weight of the car..... I dunno exactly...

rockstar143

iTrader: (6)

Love to see older cars still being kept up and modded classily...get that baby washed and take some hi res pics...I'm interested in seeing it.

bricecakes

I snuck in a nice wash session for my baby. Another thing I'm sure we all love about our cars is how they clean up well! My neighbor came up to me and talked to me about my car when I was done and he couldn't believe my car had 170k! KA9 FTMFW!

I usually wash my car religiously, but this winter I've waiting for the cold to pass by before I washed it. I got lucky today in cloudy 60 degree weather with no sun to bother me while I worked.

Representing H&R













Again, I am still using my phone to take pics. Sorry...

I got her washed using the 2 bucket method with grit guards and a cheap soap gun to presoak. I used a really nice yellow car wash soap from Meguiars I picked up at Walmart (it smelled nice too). To finish, I used Showroom Shine polymer spray (this smelled nice too, like bubble gum) over the entire car and wiped down with high quality microfiber cloths that I DID NOT get from Walmart. The 5 day full detail I did last summer still shows

I then took the wheels off one by one and cleaned them last because I wanted to get all the brake dust on the insides.

Then topped off with some rub on tire gel and we good

Now the CAI:

I got a cheap short ram off or ebay for 25 bucks for a 91-95 Legend without TCS.


If you can find one with TCS, the better to you. If not, you can hacksaw a piece off to make it fit. Not very hard at all!

Then you need to pick up a 3" 90 degree mandrel bent pipe like so:


Just go on ebay and look it up. I picked this up for 20 bones. I also picked up a K&N filter to replace that garbage in the last pic, but it has soon to arrive yet....

Now for cutting....

Lay the short ram over the stock intake and just eyeball and make a mark where you need to cut. Cut that beast an enjoy the short ram for a few minutes, then whip out the other pipe and eyeball the cut for that guy too. Again, you want to remove the stock intake from the TCS, all the way to the fender well so you can fit the CAI down in there.




You can see the pre cut hole from the stock intake in the pic. What I did was stick the 90 degree pipe down in the hole and cut where you would put the coupler to connect the pipes. It's easy to see where to cut with the short ram already installed.



You can pick how much pipe you want to go down in the hole by cutting however much off. I left mine alone because it was just enough to have the filter sit just below the hole.

The rubber tubes also need to be maneuvered around. The blue tube on mine came with the intake, so on it went like so. the larger one comes with our cars, and I found it a lot easier to flip it the other way around. Don't worry, with the clamps, it'll definitely stay on . The smaller tube that runs from the TCS.... I needed a longer tube since the stock one wasn't long enough. Advanced Auto Parts ftw for only about $1.50!! You will need (2) 3" couplers you can also pick up at the store or get them off of ebay for cheaper

bricecakes

Check these links too for more info on how to DIY an intake into our cars!

http://forums.acuralegend.org/ebay-i...cs-t22287.html

http://forums.acuralegend.org/cold-a...cai-t696.html?

STGTLS

iTrader: (5)

RL looks way good. Good job

kid spartan

You definitely did, any info helps. thanks. I just don't know if I can pay to play as you said. With all the variables like camber wear, rubbing, and a suspension that isn't even made for our car, lowering the RL on a budget is a big gamble. It would probably look stupid to lower on the stock 16s too, I've never seen anyone drop with stock wheels. Ideally I'd want it to look like this...



Whatever, I'll just do more reading.

bricecakes

Check this thread out, here's a pic too:
http://forums.acuralegend.org/some-p...nd-t11591.html

His name's civiceg94 on acuralegend.org. Not sure what he's slammed on, but slammed with 04 stockies ain't too bad lookin. I still have my 02's sitting in my shed with mint tires. My back driver's side tire is going bald on the inside of my TL's, but I'm not too sure if that was before I lowered.... I got a replacement tire coming in a couple days then I'll go and get an alignment to zero my toe and decide on a camber kit.

Just don't do this....


There's also a guy that's selling a set of TL 18x8 A-Specs for $500 with tires. Maybe I'm gettin ahead of myself....

By any means, take your time to do it right. If you jump into something that you're not too sure of, chances are that you will be really worried about what can happen. I had to build up confidence before I lowered mine. Plus I begged my mom to let me tune this car for the longest time before she said yes. I can definitely say that driving the ka9 now puts a giant smile on my face and even the smallest drive is enjoyable.

bricecakes

At ken:

I forgot to mention something about taking out the stock box for the cai. Just a little FYI in case you haven't found out already.
Hopefully you haven't started ripping the box out yet and messed up something.....

The intake boxes behind the fender well are held in by two bolts and a clip that holds your passenger fog light wiring. The first bolt is the easiest to see. The second bolt, you would either hafta take the entire bumper off, reach in from the fender well, or go from the front of the radiator. I went through the fender well. You can feel around the box towards the front of the car to find it. I believe both of the bolts are 12 mm (don't quote me on that). These bolts are pretty long too. Once the bolts are out, twist a little and the rubber that aligns the box should pop out of place. If you feel a little below the second bolt, you can feel the clip for the wiring. Pry the clip and you should be good to go! I'll get pics of the soon too

bricecakes

That's a nice rl. If your lookin into something like that, I'd test fit some wheels and think about the lowering options. If you plan on dumping her, go the tsx route because you'll have more clearance. If you're looking for a little drop and a very sporty, one-off upgrade, go the legend koni/spring route. If you're still worried about weight issues and could care less about ride quality and want to et rid of all body roll, legend ksports. Lots of info out there as you probably already know. Figure out what you want, research and unsterstand the gist of how our car might behave, then execute. Then there's always air bagging like pendoza's setup