hope you guys dont mind but im gonna copy and paste the whole thread.

Hey guys. my names mackie. noob at this forum, obviously. im an acura tech here in virginia but ill be relocating in the west coast in august. ive been lurkin the forum for months now. finally registered and now making this thread.

i come fro building this



3rd gen preludes. the odd balls of odd balls. slowly being discontinued. even the rear upper balljoint you cant get from the dealerships anymore. even japan has rarely anything for it. we usually use parts from other hondas to make it work and keep that chassis relevant so im accustomed to oddball builds. i kinda like it actually that not alot of people have what i have/building.

anyway. on to the build/progression thread.

the prelude build came to an abrupt halt that id rather not talk about so i went to look for my next ride. i figured i wanted a 4 door this time. ive been working professionally for honda/acura for 5 years now and i like the product so i knew i wanted to stay under the honda umbrella. thought of all the 4 doors and the budget i had going for me. someone at work suggested this generation RL. i came home that day thinking about what he said. i realized that this chassis is about the few honda makes thats doesnt really have that much problems (compared to all the transmissions ive done to other v6 honda makes).

i went on a little research and came to this forum. saw what you guys are doing and some particular builds/cars sealed the deal for me. took me a few months to finally find one in my price range and condition im willing to work with.

the day she came home with me. the deal took about 2 weeks since i had to go for an interview the day after i got a hold of the previous owners. between the bank and the unwilling owners and a 2 week absence, it took awhile but i got her home.



theres alot of litle things with the car. biggest issue i had was this.



i had buffed the car and took all the paint transfer off. there is about 3 dents on that door and that spot thats beginning to rust. the dents arent really noticable and neither is that spot but ill be trying to take care of that asap.

the CEL is on for a right knock sensor and cat converter. the srs light is on for the opds unit/sensor. ill take care of these when i have more time and get settled in out west. meh.

of course i couldnt just sit there and not do anything to the car. i had some leds laying around from the prelude. i used what i can/had on her. at 1am. on a saturday night. i was bored.

map lights








had a few festoon bulbs for the courtesy lights.



so far these have been your normal superbrightleds bulbs.





had some blue t10s i wanted to try. they came out like mood lighting on the newer tls and rls though lol.





next i worked the headlights.









so far i havent spent money on this but that didnt last long... i look and i find shit i want. its an addiction i tell yah.

found a nardi for pretty cheap. i opted for the black center to match the interior a bit. i might wrap the "wood" interior closer to the wheels color as far as the wood. i want to use a short hub adapter with the resistor and a quick release.



the wheels needs a little works and hardware



a little comparison of the between both woods.



not long after i found these. they came off of a tl. yes theyre used. he had aggressive wheels that hit the bodies a little. i figured for the price i them it wasnt a bad deal at all so i had to jump on it.



from what i understand, the tophats that works for the front with the studs and rear works without spacers.



i had them shipped to were ill be living in the west cost. so i wont even see them until august. ive never bought anything and wait that long just to even see them. i just have to ship the car from coast to coast to really start getting in to it.

i bought lights from the seller warden_jp



the t10s that they sell is too long for the map lights



and got the cluster converted. the t6.5 they sell is a bit small, that or the sockets i have are old or something. i had to move all the prongs inside each socket just to even hold the bulbs. after that i had to rig the cluster to turn the lights on so i can adjust each bulb in each socket and find polarity just to make them work. after a couple of hours i finally had all of them working (or so i thought) when i put the cluster back together, one of the bulbs moved enough to loose contact as seen.



also if you order from warden_jp. theyre "warm white" is not white at all. i ordered the festoon bulbs they have that says "warm white" and the picture they posted was white but when i got the bulbs theyre actually the stock bulb color with the yellowish tint. i was livid to say the least. they told me i should have looked at the picture they posted in which i did and saw the picture being white. anyway im sending them back and getting a refund for them. aside from that their lights are actually pretty well made and are a little cheaper than superbrightleds.

ive done some maintenance on the car. all the flushes i could. aligned the car yesterday. uhm. what else. i think thats it for now.

like always comment, suggestions and constructive criticisms are always welcome!

 

she got here safe. if any of you guys are looking for a transporter id recommend them "Golden Key". hassle free and the drivers were friendly as heck.



also been working for about a month now so thats good. found these online for cheap so i got them.



fitted tsx tires on them 215/50/17 and my acura centercaps thats just layin around



while working on lowering the car i had full articulation on the front and rear to see if they hit.



no proper photos yet since my phone decided to take a dump

 

its been awhile. heres whats been happening.

as you can see i did lower the car. i dont know if i mentioned that the rears are stuck and wouldnt adjust any lower or higher, luckily theyre at a place that lowered the car about 2.5 inches evenly. the front are fine.

i bought new tires for the 5zigen typhoons. a week later air was leaking out the bead of one of the wheels and practicaly destroyed a tire. tok it off and cleaned the bead and rode on the tire for a while.

plasti-dipped the wheels to see how white would look. it was ok but 7s just didnt cut it.

i went plasti dip crazy for awhile there plasti dipping everything. grill, wheels, i even made eyelid plastidip. it looked ok but somehow retarded.

photos in no particular order.

 

this is sort of a comparison before drop and after


i went ahead and sold the wheels. if anyone is wonder the specs were 17x9 +40 215/50/17



i peeled off the "A" symbol so now its chrome


when i sold the wheels i out the stocks back on with 205/60/16s i got from work. naturally i plasti dipped them black because i dont know




aside from the regular oil changes, rotates and maintenance checks i havent really dont anything to the car. this was the start of it.

 

alright by now i have known that the car leaked alot. a few things needed to be addressed so in the past month or 2 i have been slowly gaining motivation to work on it. these are the things ive done so far:

knock sensor
replaced a leaking radiator
timing belt service
spark plugs
cleaned egr port (actually removed intake and undercover to clean)
^writing this now made me realize i might have a intake leak (fuk)
rear main seal
oil pan reseal
while working on the oilpan i stretched and broke a abs sensor (replaced)
front pads. resurfaced rotors
both inboard boots
rolled rear fenders
installed aux plug in for ipod/rca (with dash plug)




had to drive ma dukes whip to work on my car for 2 days. V the jeff bridges looking war mongerer looking guy is a sales guy from work.


so far only the cam end plugs and a broken right motor mount is whats left to replace other than the opds unit.

i lowered the car a bit more sitting at 3.5-4" lower?

went on a little vacation to monterey with the clam
no front plates now since ma duke pulled out the driveway with the hummer and swiped the front of the car taking out the bracket and a bit of paint.







oh and i got tl wheels from work for cheap. planned on rocking them so i bought adapters for them.




fitted the wheels. no tires atm







but then i bought a set of wheels ive had my eye on for awhile now. a more aggressive setup that i need to drop the car even more to make it look right so now i have my oem rollers, the tl wheels that needs lug nuts and tires and the other set thats coming thats going to need tires.

 

i just mounted 225/40 on the tl wheels. i havent put them on yet since im waiting for the nuts for the hub



this happened last friday... our porter didnt hold the hose while he was draining the oil catch tank.













cleaned her best i could.

the other set of wheels came in. needs more down and out but its daily-able. in hindsight i wish i waited to buy the tires for the tl wheels since these need tires.

 

raised the front back up about 31mm


also cut the covers off since the balljoints are just there already






todays the second day driving at this height. i thinki can afford to go up another 30mm on the front

selling the nardi wheel because of reasons
selling the tl wheels with adapters nuts and locks with new tires to pay myself back for the autocotures
putting back the function ds back when i get tires for them

 

blew both inner boots that i just rebooted like two weeks ago...

 

All that work.....
It will NEVER be as spotless as mine bittersweet.....

 

And if any Acura Technician put my car underneath another vehicle and spilled motor oil all over it.....ALL HELL WOULD BREAK LOSE....i WILL not be considering Acura of Deadwood city anytime soon.....Welcome to a small world....

 

Hi Mackie, how is the ride with ksport? Is it too stiff for daily driving? Can you tell me how you installed the TL coilover? I need a coilover ASAP! Thx.

 

i guess there will always be people like you no matter what coast im on...

actually james, this isnt an oil spill like you think. lets just say im also glad you dont come to where i work.

i come from a sub par strut spring combo to these. its a bare-able ride but i think i have a good tolerance for it. the guy i got them from didnt like them. he said they were too stiff for him. the car is also pretty low and i think the spring rate could stand to be a bit more stiffer.

i used a washer/spacer for the back and just used the rl tophats to make them work. i was pressed for time when i did them so i skipped the whole elongating holes deal.

 

so this car is a daily driver. she takes a beating everyday. pretty hard to keep it clean but does get me reliably where i want to go. although i dont like going to places that i dont know how the roads are.

 

so its been awhile. i actually sold this car to a family member a few months back and got this.



the last time i took the intake off to replace the knock sensor, i had taken the intake apart to really clean the egr ports but i didnt have the gaskets needed at the time so i resealed it with hondabond. well, that didnt work too well since ive been getting a p0505 code but before i fixed it i had, as previously mentioned sold the car. i had to put it back to stock height.





a week or so back the car was given back to me. i havent modded anything in awhile and the kb2 was taking awhile to get results so ive decided to just go ahead and mod the ka9 instead, at least for now. i got the car back with a knock sensor, cat conv., idle control and a whole bunch of srs dtcs so im slowly fixing it again.

monday i took the intake off to properly fix the intake manifold





the car idles properly, doesnt surge after a long drive and p0505 doesnt return any longer. a few drive cycles have been done and the readiness codes all pass so no p0420 or knock sensor dtcs either.

i also went ahead and finally replaced both rear tires of the autocoutures. ive had the tires for months and just didnt change them. see the cute baby stretch



theres a few more things that needs to be taken cared of like the pass mount being broken and the cam end plugs leaking (last of the leaks).

ive already sent in an order for the suspension and hopefully this monday ill have another mod to show you guys. anyway, thanks for looking at this trainwreck of a thread.

 

One thing I learned from a poster before you, and now you, is these cars do not like to be slammed! Things break every time...

I am loving mine, had some body damage from a windstorm a month ago and am looking to get it into the bodyshop to fix that before it gets worse.

Yours looks absolutely stunning, btw. Props for making it happen!

 

^^^You got it bro. I Went through 2 axles after being lowered, $500 total plus another 200$ for the front engine mounts. And now my steering rack boot is torn again, just replaced the damn unit a year ago! WTF. Well you have to pay to play. The design of the RL gives the car a great stance after lowered. I love driving my lowered RL! I'm going to lower or slam it even more lol

 

unfortunately everythings that's broken and failing right now isn't because of me lowering it. that comes later ahaha

 

went to the us distributor and checked the place out. pretty cool peoples over there.

 

took me over a month to get my coilovers. someone somewhere down the chain dropped the ball. i did finally got them though



while waiting for the coilovers, i did a little research and heard that the spc rear upper camber arms are a little longer fully screwed in than the stock ka9 ruca. i then went and measured as much ruca i could find with the same suspension design as the ka9 (when i remember) and found that the mdx had the shortest arm out of the tsx,tl,rl and mdx (about 1.5" shorter iirc) . i then remembered that i pulled a set out of a customers car because it had a bad bushing that caused a horrible noise. i measured the length and sure enough its shorter at full adjustment.













i went ahead and looked for a suitable poly urethane busing that would work inside the tube and on the car. i found one that had the perfect bushing o.d. and i.d. but the barrel length was a little long and the overall length was a little too short so i had to cut a little off of the bushing and sleeve and used washers on the car to take up the slack (its more rigged than anything atm)

























while i was at it i tried to make toe arms for the rear. i think my measurements on them are right but by the time i was ready to put them on, the supplier for the spacers sent me one wrong spacer, ill just wait until i get another alignment to put them on. the tube and heim joints are chomoly. the heim is pfte lined










im not allowed to buy more wheels until i sell some and since these are 2pc welded then spacers would do for now. need to adjust the thickness on them though












also i found a set of autocouture center caps for the wheels instead of the function ds they came with. theyre not perfect but for $22 shipped from japan, why not.









and then, if you havent shot yourself from reading all this, yah boi made a 6 min vid of me running around the shop installing and adjusting and shit.































im still adjusting everything as far as the ride height and dampening but so far the ride has been a lot better than the tired ksports. also i know the headlights are oxidized. im working on it.

 

Nice!

 

thank you! and thanks for the title change.

 

When are you going to Slamit the Buick?

 

The Buick is a cruiser and a long term project. No plans for now really but to get it to drive safer and longer oh and get a new motor for it. Yall can see the pic




Had racked the car and lowered it like 1/2" also took the rear spacer out.









Then had he car aligned by a reputable shop in the area. I would have done it myself but the cars not able to get in our rack.

 

nice man!
very useful info on the suspension parts
thanks!

 

Nice RL! Glad to see someone else is putting in work on the RL's!

I see you're in California too! Are you in socal somewhere? I'm out in the SGV.

 

JK, I see you're in Norcal. I saw you went to Remus's USA Distributor... Michael's a cool guy!

 

ThankA. You guys are awesome. The tl wheels and tires will be up for sale soon

 

damn, i didnt know you had the upper underhood cut... im really thinking about doing this now to get that demon drop when i dump my ride in parking lots! lolz

 

I was riding 2"from the ground static. I think it was necessary.

 

dope progress! tl wheels looked nice on there. better than i thought they would. how did they ride with the adapters?

 

Any new progress in the car? How do you like the exhaust? I have been thinking about getting a specific Axel Back from Remus/Sebring and was wondering how it would fit since there are no cutout on the rear bumper.

 

So much win.

 

Any new progress on your car? I am curious with your exhaust as I have been contemplating on putting on a Remus with my RL.

 

Just letting you guys know that they have remote control valve muffler on Amazon and EBay. It's expensive but I'm planning to get one because you can change from going quite to loud at a press of a button.

 

can you post a link to the specific one that will work with our car? 3.5RLv-tec

 

It is an universal muffler so it will fit. The only thing you need to pay attention is the length of the harness. You can search it on Amazon and EBay, they have it. I'm getting one after I get my wheels.

 

they rode great and still rock the same adapter on the tlx. thanks to you and the link to motorsport. theyre my go to manufacturers!

sorry for the late reply but no new progress. i actually sold the car to a coworker of mine. i had to take everything off the car except the muffler since i lost the stock one lol. its just the muffler from remus that i had welded on. it sounded great. no drone and i loved the tone.

my service manager actually creeped your car before i lowered his ilx. he was looking at yours because of the lip.