Hello,

Well I've been driving my 2001 Acura CL (Not Type-S unfortunately) and as most car enthusiasts want to do, I want to put in some upgrades externally and under the hood. So far I have an AEM cold air intake, a quad exhaust(I believe thats the correct terminology. I'm a noob :P I'll post pictures soon) and new rims. The transmission was replaced before I got the car. I've been looking around and researching and I've come up with a few questions.

1. Is the Ron Jon Aero-Kit worth the money?
2. Is it worth trying to get the CL to close to 300 HP?
3. Are there any major problems I might run into trying to reach 300 HP?
4. What DIY stuff would one recommend for this car and a new car enthusiast?

I know this is pretty much text book "spoon-feeding" but I am just curious and trying to get opinions here and there so I don't waste money or do something I'll regret in the long run.

 

Can't answer 1. and 3. but I own a CL-P as well and some of the DIY mods I have done myself are installing my DC headers and installing a type s intake manifold. Both were relatively cheap for the amount of power you get, and so long as you have a basic grasp of what it is you're doing, easy. I would also suggest getting an underdrive pulley and though I have yet to install one, my father has one on his 01 type s and can vouch for the improvement in power. And as for your 2nd question, if you're referring to horsepower at the wheels I really doubt you'll be able to make that, but if you want then its worth a try. I certainly plan on squeezing as much horsepower out of mine as possible.

 

1. Is the Ron Jon Aero-Kit worth the money?

Thats subjective, but it doesnt matter since they dont make them any more.

2. Is it worth trying to get the CL to close to 300 HP?

Take it from someone that has a 300whp CL, dont do it. There are many supporting mods that need to be done to get there and keep it reliable. That all costs money, and since there arent many high powered CLs out there, its a lot of trial and error. Just save up for a proper sports/luxury car.

3. Are there any major problems I might run into trying to reach 300 HP?

Most importantly, your transmission. Thats a lot of abuse and it wont like it. Next are engine mounts and axles. Again, they dont like the abuse.

4. What DIY stuff would one recommend for this car and a new car enthusiast?

Wheels, suspension, headers, and intake (you already have that one). Id just keep it clean.

 

Thank you. Yeah I'd rather have my car looking nice and running good than breaking down often. I just wanted to get more power but then again, power isn't everything. Its too bad the Ron Jon kit isn't made anymore. Anyway, here are some pics of my car as it is.

 

Save up your money for maintenance and a new tranny in the future. That should keep you busy for a while.
105k service done yet?

 

Yeah. The car has been running great. Its at 143K miles right now. The faulty tranny that was originally recalled was replaced so its all fine now.

 

there was no fix for the auto tranny. Don't spend the tranny savings account just yet.

 

Oh they weren't fixed? Well I just assumed the tranny in my car was fixed because I read that the auto tranny failed after 40K miles so I assumed this was fixed. Guess I was just lucky or something since my car is running perfect at 143K miles.

 

Keep doing what youre doing then, but they are ticking time bombs and decide to go whenever they want to. Thats why we usually tell automatic owners to keep a "transmission fund" going just in case.

 

I got my transmission fixed at AAMCO and he was trying to be all slick by upselling me a lifetime warranty... Stupid me, I took it... Two years later when the gearset failed, "I can't believe I gave you a lifetime warranty". Me: "Yea, I hope it doesn't break again".

 

gnuts there actually is a fix now for the auto trans.. it requires drilling a hole near the valve body that controls the 2-3 shift and that allows the proper flow to get to the gear... cant remember if it was a whole new hole or just drill beside one and then merger them which is technically boreing it. but either way it's legit,
when i got my rebuild kit from Levelten.com they told me about this fix but would not mention where they drill out since it was a SECRET so they said...

well not anymore! My trans guy just found out about this 4 months ago and mentioned it to me when we were shooting the breeze. so looks like there is hope after all..

tho i don't have that done to my trans.. the level ten rebuild kit and trans cooler along with frequent trans fluid changes have stood up to my foot so far.. 40000kms now on this rebuild, which is FAR to me.. lol still chirps going into 2nd gear and the change to 3rd u can't even feel when driving normally.

 

Well I'm definitely learning a lot on this! Thanks everyone. Anyway, I'll keep doing what I've been doing and hope the tranny doesn't blow up on me soon. So, if you guys haven't looked at the pictures, I'd like your advice so check them out, see if I should change any exterior stuff. I'd get a body kit if there was one I really liked as much as the Ron Jon kit. Under the hood though, would a header be a good investment?

 

Your pics for some reason arent showing up, but here they are:





It looks clean from what I can see.

IIRC, a lot of the auto CLs are running the DC Sports headers with good results. Id also lower the car.

 

headers on our car are the best investment... no question or debate on that.

 

Are these the headers that people are using in their CLs?

 

If anyone is keeping their car till they run into the ground and content on their original transmissions, the Aamco lifetime warranty is the way to go. The cost is pretty high though, if I remember right.

 

LOL, yes, stop embedding links in your text, I just thought it was an invisible pic. Just copy/paste the URL to click on.
Here's another off brand that many members have had good results with, but require a bit of rework.
http://xs-power.com/acura-honda-nonturbo-headers-2.htm

Yes, the transmission repair at aamco was very expensive. ~$3Gs.

 

just got mine in at ammaco , they are telling me $2gs to rebuilt it with the upgraded torqe and everything else, im still deciding on what to do, but i like those headers i might grab me a set. thanks everyone this was a good read

 

Yeah I'm saving up my cash now to get the upgrade parts. I'm looking at upgrading the front and rear sway bars to Eibachs, DC header, Lower the car about 1.8", and then maybe some sound system upgrades. Car's been riding smooth and I still can't get over the gas mileage on it and how long I have to wait to fill my tank up. I'm so lucky I got this car for only 4.5k.

 

hello,

I purchased one of the last Ron Jon aero kits, but have not installed it and looks like I might not be able to install it. it is a great looking kit, just had my plans change. If you are interested I can sell it to you for what I paid for it. let me know

 

2. if you don't beat the crap out of it 300HP is not un reliable.....people get the power and then pound the crap out of the car and bam.... I just got headers and with 109K on it and have not had to replace any suspension/driveline parts. Motor mounts are coming due but that would have happened regardless of the additional 30HP. I am going to do mine here this summer (front and trans). 300 hp is easy to get on this motor- all you need is air intake, manifold, and headers, or a comptech blower (if you can find one).

3. CL transmission could care less about 300HP as that is not the issue. The issue is lack of lubrication due to faulty design of the cooling passages. Even the base CL has trans issues and it uses the same basic design with 35less HP and 1 less clutch pack for 3rd....

 

that's abot 2G's less than the acura dealer....

 

Don't headers only add between 5 and 18 horsepower, to an engine that brand new from the factory outputs ~260HP (Type-S)? That does not seem like very much stress to the car's parts when compared to a heavily modified engine with a 'blower'. Lowering the car further puts stress on the parts too does it not?

(not being a jerk, just want to learn more about my wonderful car )

Wouldn't be surprised if my Type-S does less than 220 at the wheels due to 233,000 km bone stock.

 

Headers for these engines pick up 20whp on average. Some even as much as 30whp (not peak, but at a given RPM).

 

Well the basic CL is 220 horsepower so I'm gonna aim for maybe 280 WHP instead. One reason I'm trying to bump up the power is because I feel that the car is deserving of a little boost. Another reason for this is that there is this guy at my school with a Golf GTI that he is dropping money in left and right (and it's his parents' money too, whereas the only thing I ever got my parents to pay for my car was some air fresheners) and with this GTI he claims to have 300 WHP in it because he dropped in stage 1 turbo, a new exhaust with cutouts, lowered the car, and yeah. I'm planning on just shutting him up. It probably sounds immature or something but I'm just tired of him so I might as well hit him where his ego is at.

Anyways, I'm looking into getting Eibach front and rear sway bars, DC headers, and maybe tuning the car to get some extra horses out of it. If there is a better solution to the horsepower than chipping the car, please let me know. If my motives seem wrong or something, let me know too as I don't want to seem like a D-Bag.

 

I somehow missed this post.

Theres a very big difference between 300hp and 300whp. The typical bolt on CL makes ~250whp. Thats just barely 300 at the crank. Add 30whp onto that for the supercharged guys. I dont want to use myself as an example, but I have an NA engine making ~300whp and 275wtq depending on the dyno. Thats more torque then the supercharged guys. And whats the point of building up to that if you arent going to use it? Im not saying that the engine is reaching its limits, but the rest of the powertrain is....

HP doesnt kill transmissions, torque does. Even the 6MT doesnt like the torque, there have been quite a few high whp 6MT CLs that have eaten bearings. This includes low and high boost pulley superchargered CLs as well as NA. And I do understand that this forum is but a small sample group of all CL owners, but when its happening to a few guys all at different mileage, it deserves to be addressed.

 

Chips dont do a damn thing. There are piggy-backs too, but the stock ECU overrides them.

Also, dont use some douchebag kid as motivation to piss money away. Have you at least run him yet to even see where you stand?

 

You must have changed your mind again about getting a new car. It is always obvious when this happens just from reading how members/owners turn from positive to negative about the car.

 

Meh save the money you would dump into this car and get a real one, I know at one point I will be getting me an NSX, saving all my mod money for that :P

 

I already had a run with him and I beat him, but now he got that stage 1 turbo put in and now he wants to race again, claiming he has 300 WHP (which is funny because the stock GTI is 190 and really... I don't think stage 1 turbo would bump a 4 cylinder up 110 horsepower...). He's not the only motivation for it. I love this car and I just want to give it the power I think it deserves. This car has zero problems for me and it is my baby. I plan on investing no more than $1200 in this car (not counting labor costs) and with my new job, thats not going to be a problem to get. When the CL goes down (I plan on using this car until it is completely done), I do plan on getting something with a bit more bite.

 

Ive always said the chassis doesnt well to a lot of power. Thats the #1 reason I sold the turbo parts.

Its a great car. It does what it was built for very well. But you cant turn a ho into a housewife

 

Sigged haha

 

My fingers cant keep up with my brain sometimes

 

CL dsn't really need more power. It just needs less weight.

On a side note I just watched a Evo video where they say they like the renault megane 265 trophy over the subaru brz. They said it was the more fun car to drive and faster around a track. Surprising since its fwd.

Motor trend has a video comparing brz to mustang v6 with Randy Pobst driving. He mentions the brz engine is happy at high revs, but not like an acura vtec engine.

 

To get less weight you have to remove most of the things that made the car an Acura. Im not saying I have a problem with stripped cars, but to get it below 3000lbs you have to remove quite a few creature comforts. The CL is my daily. Im not removing seats, headliner, a/c, so on and so forth. It sees 35k miles a year. For the most part, it takes them in stride. Buts its a daily driver, not a track car.

Re: FRS/BRZ - Im getting it due to the first point you raised - light weight.

The Renault is an amazing car, buts its not available here. Also interesting to note, the Civic Type R (also not available here), is actually faster then the Renault in the technical sections on most tracks, despite the Renaults substantial power advantage.

I would love to stick with a Honda VTEC engine, but they make absolutely nothing that is remotely exciting. The last exciting car they made was 3 years ago, and unfortunately for me, they hold their value exceptionally well. Im not buying the FR-S for the engine, Im buying it for the chassis.

 

I've looked into stuff I've wanted and I'm probably going to take Civics advice and keep it clean and add headers in it. Originally I was gonna put in sway bars, lowering springs , and make it sort of a racing car. It looks like if I did do that, I'd spend more money than I paid for the car. Instead, I'm gonna put in some sub woofers, get the DC headers, and maybe the lower springs. And since that guy with the ron Jon Aero kit messaged me, I will probably really consider that too.

 

Best advice I can give you is use it as a daily with some sounds, and a nice exhaust, the aftermarket is stunted for this car and if you can find the parts for it they will probably be expensive or out of stock.

 

Looking into it, I found the following:

DC headers : $380 ish
Eibach front and rear sway bars: $270
Tien S. Springs: $220 vs Eibach Springs : $240 (Eibach lowers 2" vs Tien's 1.8")

I would focus on sound system after this too. It'd make the car sound nice with the music and sound nice with the exhaust. The sway bars, from what I've read, have made the car's handling a lot better. The lowering is preference if I decide to. I may not because I don't wanna scratch up the bottom.

 

headers move the HP peak up 500 rpm and add 32HP at the new peak so instead of making 260hp at 6100 you are doing 6600 and 290hp (up from 258) using the old standard. Calculate a drivetrain loss of 20% for the AT (based upon comptech's dynos) and the CLS puts down 208hp. You get roughly 232hp from the the addition of comptech headers at the wheels. a lot of the dynos listed here show 195-200 but those are not corrected and some are using the new standard and others have MRC issues.

Comptech is long gone and so are their dyno charts. Those cast iron headers on the car are EXTREMELY restrictive. You can consult the CL-S fact to verify what I have told you.


Civic,

It'll take a lot of torque to kill the CL-S trans as it's a helical design, you can kill it fast using a turbo or nitrous due to the sudden jolt in power which will demolish the already overworked fluid.

 

Then I guess Rondy, Street, myself and a few others have been anomalies.