Hi all,

I am currently a full time college student and working full time. One thing I love to do with spare time is play with my 07' TSX and take short drives by myself for some alone time. Over the past half-year that I've had the car, I have done a lot of cosmetic mods but very few performance mods (see hefty signature below, lol). I want to start doing performance mods but not having a reflash makes half of the performance mod's worthless. I want to in the future, hopefully after getting a reflash, install UR pulleys, heatshield, a Comptech header, and Tanabe exhaust, or if available a supercharger or turbo kit. At the moment, I am very torque hungry and for that reason I am considering trading in the TSX for the new STI or 3.2FSI A3. Both cars are AWD which is a plus but I don't mind not having FWD, but I do mind engine lag and wimpy torque. Therefore the reflash would be so satisfying. At the moment, there is nothing I can do to have Hondata give the 07's a reflash which is leaving me very impatient.

As I've told the Subaru and Audi dealers reps, I love everything about my TSX except for it's torque, and in my opinion, no car can match the features and luxury of the TSX at it's price. With the Audi, paying an extra 15K for a couple lb's of torque is stupid. As for the STI, 13K for crazy HP and torque is not worth losing half of the electronic features, luxury, and love for the TSX.

I have a couple question's for those more TSX enthusiastic than I am and hopefully this thread will assist the other TSX owners who share the same issues.

1. What would you do in my case? Sell the TSX? Praise Hondata? Hand in my license to the DMV and stick to public transportation?
2. Is there anything performance wise that can be done w/o the reflash to increase torque?
3. Besides those mentioned, any other torque or general performance mods available?

*** I do not want to swap my ecu for that of an '06!

 

Hondata hasn't made any progress since the 06's. The 09's are being unveiled soon. If you wait, you might be waiting for a long time.

You need to decide what's important to you. Luxury or performance? Personally, I like having all the gizmos standard...if I were to upgrade to a new car, it will have to have all of the stuff that I've become accustomed to (bluetooth, navi, etc)...which would mean thousands of extra dollars.

If you really want that torque, you will have to either win the lottery or give up the luxury and go for a manufacturer that prioritizes the engine over the cabin.

Your 07 is pretty new...if you're still financing it, you might take a hit.

By the way, why did you get an auto...everyone knows that the torque converter always robs power...

 

well I bought the car cash and as of today it has 4200k miles. The two biggest regrets that I have about buying this car is not getting it PWP and MT. NBP is the best color to get the TSX as it looks more refined especially with tints, but it is a b*tch to detail and keep clean. I thought that being in NYC driving manny would suck. Seems that I kinda rushed into buying the TSX but SShift has treated me well. If I were to get a STI I would probably pay the difference in 24mos since they have this 0% Interest rate deal goin on. I would get the Audi b/c its best of both worlds, luxury and power but lacking reliabilty.

 

Even without hondata getting an aftermarket header will still improve performance. Besides the pulleys, don't forget that lighter wheels and tires will make a difference as well.

 

This is key. Yesterday I swapped my Advan Kreuzer Xi's back on, and even with the 235/40/18 Pirelli's on they were noticably lighter to pick up than my OEM wheel+tire setup.

Driving to work today I could already notice the slight pickup increase.

 

Anytime the engine has less rotational mass to overcome is a good thing.

 

i just installed the pulleys and you can definately feel a difference, even with an AT (mine is also a 07AT).

car feels a lot different.

 

If you're all about the performance, go with lightweight stock diameter wheels and the pulleys.

 

You can do a whole lot before you get to hondata. You don't need to start there at all.

-Lightweight, stock diameter (and width) rims and lightweight tires make a big difference with an auto transmission. Don't forget, its also benefits braking and ride comfort, especially with an upgraded suspension.
-Pulleys, again great for AT.
-Intake, headers, and high flow cat will make your powerband meatier by helping the engine breath better.
-TB spacer and thermal gaskets adds a little bit more air for the engine to use. for the money, its great for response and breathing.

Add an RSB and coilovers and you're set, way before you even have to think about Hondata. Hondata is great, but while you wait for it to come out, do these things instead.

My sig has the mods that I've made to my car. With I/H, lightweight rims and tires, and TB spacer for performance, I'm pretty happy with the feel and the power I get now over stock. I'd like to get pulleys and a high flow cat next, before I even attempt to get the reflash for an 05 at.

 

Fidanza Lightweight Flywheel FTW!!!

 

I guess next on my list would be the pully mod. Would you trust a family friend mechanic to do the install?

 

What about pulling an ECU from another TSX that can have Hondata, get it reflashed, and install that one in your 07? You may find one at a junk yard or in the black market forum. Just a thought.

 

If he pulled an '06 AT ECU he'd at least lose TPMS, not that that would be a big loss compared to the gain from Hondata. Otherwise, are they compatible?

slickrab, have you seen this writeup of a 2004 AT to 2005 AT swap? It talks about some of the costs...

 

supposedly hondata doesn't recommend swapping an 06 ecu into an 07.

this leads me to believe that it's not just the TPMS that's different between the 2. besides, that would be a lot of money/time to invest in. it'd probably be a lot faster and cheaper to find an 06 and an 07 (same trannys of course), swap ecus, and see if the 07 runs properly with the 06 ecu in it.

 

^^it'd be great if some ppl could do that.

 

Doesn't the warranty go out the window with all these mods?

 

^^for the warranty to be voided the dealer has to prove that the defect was because of the mod that you installed.

 

Wow, near 1,000 dollars for a swap and that was probably the cheapest of options. I would rather sell the car and use that $1000 towards a G35 with a 100lbs more torque and 98 more horses.

Plus I mentioned in the first that I'm not looking to swap ecu's. I am not that bitched by Hondata.

 

You guys lost me with "pulleys." Qu'est-ce que c'est?

 

damn pullies work that well for our cars?? i guess so because everybody claims that the gains are really noticable... which pully? unorthodox? i am interested now ahah alittle extra ump is always good...

 

What do you think, that there's some kind of big warranty judge out there? Don't get confused about who's in the driver's seat when it comes to warranty coverage. Prove what to whom? The dealer doesn't have to prove anything. They just say no. Then the burden's on you to convince them and/or Acura otherwise.

 

pullin a boat? don't get it...why do you need torque so much??? wait for a 2010 TSX diesel or sum shit.

the answer is drive it like it's meant to be driven...rev the shit out of it, that's what honda is all about. you need to be in vtec at all times if you want acceleration.

 

UR pullies. it's not crazy HP. but you feel the car rev quicker and there seems to be a little more power. there are a ton of threads about them in the performance mods section.

actually, i was thinking about that ecu swap test between the 06/07--wouldn't you need to also swap immobilizers since they're paired with their respective ecu? i think you'd need to.