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Paint myself. Have $1800 worth of spray guns. Rent a booth. Car was factory straight besides a few door dings. Used linear blocking tools. Amazing how straight they get the panels. What you see is 1/16 max filler. You tube taught. I have painted 2 cars so far. I think i might go isle of man green with black accent pieces. Mirrors, grill, m5 trunk spoiler. Like the g80 m3. I would love to find someone to Photoshop the car in that color first. Going with dark grey or black wheels. I need to look into Photoshop/paint si i can play with combinations. Anyone have recommendations or help?
Paint myself. Have $1800 worth of spray guns. Rent a booth. Car was factory straight besides a few door dings. Used linear blocking tools. Amazing how straight they get the panels. What you see is 1/16 max filler. You tube taught. I have painted 2 cars so far. I think i might go isle of man green with black accent pieces. Mirrors, grill, m5 trunk spoiler. Like the g80 m3. I would love to find someone to Photoshop the car in that color first. Going with dark grey or black wheels. I need to look into Photoshop/paint si i can play with combinations. Anyone have recommendations or help?
Damn, I'm jealous. At one point, I considered buying one of those inflatable paint booths and giving painting a try. They're not too expensive. Maybe one day I'll get to painting. For now, I stick to rattle cans and painting small things.
I'm actually pretty good at Photoshop. Had to learn for YouTube thumbnails and other things. I can PM you whatever you want. Just send me the things you'd want to see, and I'll see what I can do tomorrow.
Paint myself. Have $1800 worth of spray guns. Rent a booth. Car was factory straight besides a few door dings. Used linear blocking tools. Amazing how straight they get the panels. What you see is 1/16 max filler. You tube taught. I have painted 2 cars so far. I think i might go isle of man green with black accent pieces. Mirrors, grill, m5 trunk spoiler. Like the g80 m3. I would love to find someone to Photoshop the car in that color first. Going with dark grey or black wheels. I need to look into Photoshop/paint si i can play with combinations. Anyone have recommendations or help?
Youtube taught? Do you watch Brian's videos?
I learned to do body work on my 96 Yukon with and from him...very cool skill to have.
Don't overthink it, it's just paint. Yeah Brian is one of the guys
trust me, we give him so much shit for that for anything else...don't overthink it, Brian, it's just DRYWALL or TILING.
Did you see the 96 Yukon or the Mercedes green wagon? Those were mine...actually...my blue Acura now needs bumpers
redone because he did them when he was "bumper brian" (popular name with the boys before he changed to paint society)...
Anyway, very cool to see the info helping people out...one day I'll invest in a decent gun and try shooting myself.
Yeah have seen you sanding and taping away. Shit brian could easily hook you up with some guns. I have always had the same mentality with things i do not know about. I say "is this guy so much smarter than me?".
LMAO, indeed...
the thing is...a lot of that stuff requires experience and dedication and I feel like I'm more of a Jack Off all trades so I'm not willing to hone just that one skill.
I'm the rattle can commander though, I'll tell you that much.
Just an FYI. When you are out at the salvage yard, looking for parts to sell on ebay to help fund your project, keep your eye out for 'switches'.
I had my 'set' function crap the bed on my six speed auto cruise switch assembly, replaced it with one from my old parchment steering wheel and now good to go.
Though when I was doing my research to see how much new OEM was I learned a few things.
It appears the 35880-S84-A11 radio remote switch assembly for the automatic 02-03 TL-S & 01-03 CL-S are discontinued. If you stumble across a few in your travels, snatch them up & test them for continuity and put'em up on ebay. Steering Wheel (SRS) - 2003 Acura CL 2 Door SPORT (NAVIGATION) KA 5AT (acurapartswarehouse.com)
Also the 02-03 TL-S & 01-03 CL-S; 36775-S3M-A01 VSA off & cruise switch assembly is currently 'unavailable'. Both are like $50-60 new from acura, so if a few make it out of the yards in your baggy multi-pocket pants, there may be a market for them to help the coffers? Switch - 2003 Acura CL 2 Door SPORT (NAVIGATION) KA 5AT (acurapartswarehouse.com)
and obviously look under the seats for any marijuana that might have fallen out over the years too. Big business there!
2K rattle can clear has been a revolution for me.
Funny you mention that. When I bought my blue CL, I had driven two hours back home with it, and started cleaning it out. Found a baggy with some crumbs tucked in-between the seat & arm rest.
Another thing about me picking up that car, was I got to shoot my first gun. My friend was in the military at the time, and the original owner had been too. They got to chatting, talking about guns, and I had mentioned I had never shot one before. He immediately asks "Do you want to?" I was like absolutely, and he goes to his shed, pulls out two short barrel ARs, and showed me what to do. Shot a couple of rounds at an old barn until my ears couldn't take it any more. Left them ringing & deaf for 8 hours.
Funny you mention that. When I bought my blue CL, I had driven two hours back home with it, and started cleaning it out. Found a baggy with some crumbs tucked in-between the seat & arm rest.
Another thing about me picking up that car, was I got to shoot my first gun. My friend was in the military at the time, and the original owner had been too. They got to chatting, talking about guns, and I had mentioned I had never shot one before. He immediately asks "Do you want to?" I was like absolutely, and he goes to his shed, pulls out two short barrel ARs, and showed me what to do. Shot a couple of rounds at an old barn until my ears couldn't take it any more. Left them ringing & deaf for 8 hours.
bro, you didn't at least shove cigarette butts into your ears?!?!
Oh, and I just learned today that there's a nipple on the back of the engine to drain the coolant from the block. Wish I knew about that in the past.
Meant to comment on this before. I'd seen the block drain before too, but hadn't actually tried it until recently.
I used some (10mm?) vacuum hose laying around, which fit snug on the brass fitting. There is a 12mm hex head that should be broken loose first, then place hose over fitting, and loosen hex by hand to drain the fluid.
When done draining there was an audible sound as the air pressure equalized. Service manual shows the hex torque at 7.2 ft lbs.
Already had axles removed, so was easy to get to. Roughly 1/2 gallon captured (Obviously radiator was drained first).
Meant to comment on this before. I'd seen the block drain before too, but hadn't actually tried it until recently.
I used some (10mm?) vacuum hose laying around, which fit snug on the brass fitting. There is a 12mm hex head that should be broken loose first, then place hose over fitting, and loosen hex by hand to drain the fluid.
When done draining there was an audible sound as the air pressure equalized. Service manual shows the hex torque at 7.2 ft lbs.
Already had axles removed, so was easy to get to. Roughly 1/2 gallon captured (Obviously radiator was drained first).
So glad I discovered it.
Also, those V band clamps suck! Both of them broke for no reason. Same exact spot. The circular bracket right behind the nut. I'll be getting some better ones when I order my headers. I'm tempted to say screw it and pulling the trigger on buying the headers now. Getting impatient having nothing to do lately.
That Jegs part cleaner has been one of my best purchases so far. Love that tiny tank.
Anywho, everything has pretty much been cleaned. The wiring harness will not be cleaned, just because I don't won't to damage it. There were two small tears in the casing around the shifter cables, so I just threw some aluminum tape over them. I also lubricated all of the moving parts in the shifter itself.
Unfortunately, the boot on the passenger side axle is slightly torn. When I first took the wheel off, I noticed a bunch of thick sticky green shmoo all over the suspension & inside of the wheel. I figured it was just a bad ball joint, but there was a thick layer of this 'shmoo' on top of the tear. I don't think any dirt got into this tear thanks to that layer, and is still good. Not going to stop it from leaking though.
Now, I made a post earlier saying I was going to just replace the boot with this messed up axle that I pulled from the Accord, because I wanted to reuse these axles since they seem to be in better condition than my blue CL's. But I deleted that post.
However, after attempting, and succeeding to get those pain in the ass clamps off and moving the boot out of the way, I got to the joint itself. I could not for the life of me figure out how to take it apart, and I really don't want to clean off all that grease. So I said fuck that and tossed it in the trash. I'll just get another axle from the junkyard.
Next up, i'm going to do a bit more cleaning up of the transmission with some brake cleaner, then moving onto cleaning up the motor, and taking it apart to get the components off needed for the swap, as well as fixing the valve cover gasket and oil pan gasket leaks.
FILTHY GIRL.
Last edited by Thefireball; 12-19-2022 at 02:14 AM.
Just an FYI, when it comes time to connect the CL-S6 parking brake assembly to the automatic's PB cables, using the S2000 Joint bolt; 47146-S2A-000 will make life a lot easier. The CL-S6 parking brake wires have different part numbers, due to length & one is discontinued , then the automatic CL's.
47146-S2A-000 - Genuine Honda Bolt, Joint (hondapartsnow.com)
It appears that they, S2000 joint bolt, may be in stock now?
I had to purchase a whole used S2000 PB assembly to harvest the longer Joint bolt part.
S2000 parts #1 & 4 below, or similar, are necessary to make the connection to the CL-S6 PB assembly because, if you go this route, you'll have to drill-out the pressed connection to remove the shorter factory CL-S6 Joint bolt.
Also, there is an aftermarket steel braided clutch line that can replace the (red) rubber brake hose to remove the clutch damper (yellow); however, I can't seem to find it.
Just an FYI, when it comes time to connect the CL-S6 parking brake assembly to the automatic's PB cables, using the S2000 Joint bolt; 47146-S2A-000 will make life a lot easier. The CL-S6 parking brake wires have different part numbers, due to length & one is discontinued , then the automatic CL's.
47146-S2A-000 - Genuine Honda Bolt, Joint (hondapartsnow.com)
It appears that they, S2000 joint bolt, may be in stock now?
I had to purchase a whole used S2000 PB assembly to harvest the longer Joint bolt part.
S2000 parts #1 & 4 below, or similar, are necessary to make the connection to the CL-S6 PB assembly because, if you go this route, you'll have to drill-out the pressed connection to remove the shorter factory CL-S6 Joint bolt.
Originally Posted by zeta
Also, there is an aftermarket steel braided clutch line that can replace the (red) rubber brake hose to remove the clutch damper (yellow); however, I can't seem to find it.
I'll look for it in the future. Want to focus on getting this in, because right now, I'm starting to forget where everything goes. Good thing I have my girl's car as a reference lol.
Originally Posted by CLtotheTL32
I'm not sure how I missed this thread, but this is AWESOME! I'm glad you're brining the car back to it's deserved glory
2 conversions, one thread. Am I the first to convert a CL into an automatic? Probably not, but maybe the first to show it.
Slight update; not much has progressed, memory is regressing as to where everything goes, but I'll figure it out.
Went to the store to buy some paint for the transmission. They swapped out brands, so they didn't have the same color I used on my motor. Bought the closest thing I could find, and it's going to be hidden by the intake & wiring anyways. So no one will notice, probably. The blue will distract from it anyways.
But when I was comparing the colors, I first noticed a very distinct smell before popping open the hood. Kind of like warm or burning coolant.. then I opened the hood, and what do I see?
It's definitely not coolant. Motor has sprung an oil leak; real nice. Checked my oil levels, and she's real low. Gotta look through my bottles of oil and see what I have left over from previous oil changes. Should have enough to get by. Main suspect is the valve cover gasket(s). Can't imagine I lost that much oil from a screw. Keep in mind, I cleaned everything under the hood during my J35 swap, so all that oil on the motor/trans is new. Maybe the cold weather has something to do with all this? Any guesses as to what or where it could be coming from? Take your bets now!
Issue will be getting addressed when I pull the motor/trans, which should be rather soon since I'll have the funds for headers soon as well.
Not only that, girl was driving the 3G TL, and the sidewall on the tire completely exploded all the way around. So that's cool, just more money going somewhere else that isn't towards this project, nice. Thankfully, she's alright, and didn't get into an accident. Could have been much worse.
As for actual progress, I got the B20 off the stand, threw the transmission on it. Managed to get it on my stand without a hoist. Just pure strength. Just lifted the bitch, and slid her in.
Going to do some further cleaning, and start painting. I should still have enough paint left over from previous work to finish the job. Probably have to pick up another can of clear coat though. I'm going to be skipping some areas on the trans itself. I'm not going into detail spraying every little crevice & hole; fuck that. No one's going to see the majority of the paint job anyways. I just want to 'spruce' it up a bit, y'know?
Might have to redo the paint on the cable bracket. The paint was way too runny. It's small enough for me to just strip the paint off and try again. But you get the color combo I'm going for. Other brackets still need to be painted.
Might have to redo the paint on the cable bracket. The paint was way too runny. It's small enough for me to just strip the paint off and try again. But you get the color combo I'm going for. Other brackets still need to be painted.
Looks pretty good.
Used some of that aluminum look paint for H23. It's not bad for the price.
Nice work! I haven't checked in for a while. You have a lot going on and it's nice to see the progress.
I'm a bit late to the party, but if you work on a lot of Japanese cars and motorcycles I'd recommend picking up a set of JIS screwdrivers. They were a game changer for me and I wish I had bought them sooner.
Vessel is probably the most widely known brand and you can get them from Amazon in sets or individually, including the impact versions.
Nice work! I haven't checked in for a while. You have a lot going on and it's nice to see the progress.
I'm a bit late to the party, but if you work on a lot of Japanese cars and motorcycles I'd recommend picking up a set of JIS screwdrivers. They were a game changer for me and I wish I had bought them sooner.
Vessel is probably the most widely known brand and you can get them from Amazon in sets or individually, including the impact versions.
Not too much to check back into while I wait on the headers. As soon as they're ordered, the real work begins. I'm both eager and completely unmotivated to take apart another car, especially with this cold weather.
They look pretty good, and not too expensive. I'll add it to my list since I don't have any quality screw drivers lol. Most of the time, I just use them to pry crap off.
Transmission is done. Ended up redoing the shifter cable bracket. Have to wait for the new clutch release boot to come in, as mine crumbled apart when pulling it off.
Headers have been ordered and are on the way. That means it's time to bring in my shitwhip and get started on it. I'm hoping to start tomorrow, but it'll be dependant on how soon I can get my garage cleaned & organized, and whether or not I have the motivation to do it tomorrow.
I also have something I'm pretty excited about on the way. Won't be here until late January. Only hint I'll give is that Zeta recommended it in another thread some time ago.
I also have something I'm pretty excited about on the way. Won't be here until late January. Only hint I'll give is that Zeta recommended it in another thread some time ago.
Something exciting I recommended?
I'm having a hard time remembering because
Something exciting I recommended?
I'm having a hard time remembering because
I had to use a different branded chrome blue because they didn't have what I normally use. I actually like this one a lot better. Tempted to redo my intake manifold, but stripping all of that paint off would be a nightmare.
It's hard to remember where you've been when you've literally been everywhere here on the forums lol.
Anywho, my shit whip is now in the garage, on jack stands. Didn't need to raise the rear wheels off the ground, but figured I didn't want to put excess wear on the rear tires. Also because I've never done it before, so I did it.
Took a quick look under the car to see if I couldn't spot a noticeable oil leak, and it's only left me even more puzzled as to where it's coming from. There's some oil around the drain bolt, it's all over the underside of the transmission, some around the oil pump housing, and even on the back side of the block. Perhaps I didn't seal the oil pan correctly when I had it out last? I'll figure it out when the motor is out I guess.
Oh, and here's my welded Y pipe to my cat situation. I'm not too sure how I'm going to get the P2R headers installed. I'll have to cut after the Y pipe, but I'm not sure if there will be enough room for a sleeve clamp to connect the two pipes. Furthermore, the cat is moved up forward a little bit more than stock, so I'm not sure how close the new Y pipe will sit. I might have to cut the pipe a bit after the cat. I'll figure it out when I'm at that point.
Now, this time around, I want to do things a little different. I want to see just quickly I can remove the engine & trans. Posts on here have said that it's a 4 to 6 hour job. I want to see if I can't do it in 3 hours. Being that I have a little kid that's hungry every 10 minutes, not sure how doable it's going to be. The only thing that won't be counting towards the job is putting the car on jackstands & draining the coolant, at least from the block. Coolant just takes forever, and quickly makes an annoying mess. Being that I'm ADHD, I decided to make a list so I don't get side tracked and then wondering "What the hell do I need to do next" as I stare at my engine for 10 minutes.
It's not in any particular order, just what came to mind when looking around under the hood.
Now, it's already 7:30, I'm tired, and don't feel like working on my car today. I have the next two days off, so I'll either start the timer tomorrow or Monday. Either way, I'm keeping to what I said. The real swap will start next year.
Oh, I also found this at the junkyard awhile back. It was sitting the trunk of a 3G TL-S, uninstalled. I plan on replacing the unit that's in my car currently with this. It's a touch screen from the looks of it, and it has ports for a backup camera, which is something I've wanted to add for some time now.
It's almost time to say good by to this old shift stick. I'm going to miss that shift knob. Might just keep it. I have a replacement with the wood trim that I took from the yard that I can put in the black car.
Appreciate the kind words friend. Happy new year to you, and everyone else following me on this journey.
Today is a nice beautiful day, and it feels amazing outside today. Filled myself up on a banana, grapes, and cantaloupe. Took my ADHD meds, some ibuprofen, and I've got a full can of NOS to top it off. Not a fan of energy drinks due to how bad they are for you, and NOS is the only thing that actually gives me energy and really helps me focus. I'm normally an every day straight black coffee drinker. Also have a big bottle of water in the garage. Got my P2R J series Tshirt on underneath my coveralls, vape is filled up on juice, freshly charged batteries. Got Justice ready to play, and with their entire discography lined up, including planisphere, I've got about 4 hours of music to work to.
Looks like I'm all set and ready to dive in. I've got a spare phone mounted up in the corner of my garage for my twitch stream, so if you've gotten nothing going on and want to chime in, feel free to hop in and watch and/or chat. Just be aware, phone is next to my sound bar, so music might be extra loud lol. Just makes things a little bit more interesting knowing some one out there is watching, and it's nice chatting to some one.
Timer will start a little bit after this post is made.
5 hours & 13 minutes on my timer. Damn, 2 hours over. Ah well, motor & transmission is out. I'm covered in coolant & oil, my thumb is bleeding, and my floor is also COVERED in coolant. All because I forgot to drain the block. I'm going to spend this time to clean up my garage while I'm still dirty.
I could have saved about 30 minutes, but when I was pulling the two, I heard a snap. I looked under, and noticed the shifter cable. Well shit, I didn't realize the automatics also had a shifter cable.
It took me forever to figure out HOW to remove that fucker. Thankfully the manual showed me how, but then I ran into the problem of the clip that covers the inside bolt being bent towards the head. I couldn't see what I was doing because the engine & trans were dangling above me. So I got under my car completely from the back, and just laid there in the coolant, frustrated, then pryed the fucker back after I figured it out.
All in all, the manual transmission is WAY easier to work with than the auto's. I really do not look forward to installing the auto into the other car with how much of a pain in the ass that was.
Oh, on another note, the shop who put this accord trans in did this to one of the trans mounts bolt.
That doesn't look like a rust spot. That looks like some one cut the fucking subframe due to a stuck nut. This is why I do my own work. Now, I'm not too worried about the subframe. Might just want to put a washer over the stud before putting the nut on. Not to mention, that mount is completely busted. I guess that's why the car slightly shook when shifting gears.
Guess I'm swapping subframes.
And here is my ballpoints.
Guess I found the source of the knocking noise when I turn.
IMHO, I believe you'll be better off with the sixer subframe, even though it's more work.
To be honest, I was going to do it anyways, and make a surprise post saying something like "I lied". But after seeing that damage, it's a no brainer. It's not that much more work honestly. Like what, 6 bolts total? Only issue is getting it without it falling on me. I have an idea of how i'm going to do it though. Plus, there's the other fact that I don't know how to weld, nor do I have the money for a welder and the supplies at the moment. I'd have to practice a bit on something to learn how to do it correctly, then chance it and hope I don't mess things up.
Oh, I also might be replacing the axles for brand new ones. The passenger side has a bit of play on the inner joint. It's still good and useable, but new axles are only $50 each before shipping and tax. It'll be a bit before my car is back up and running anyways, so i've got time to save up the funds for them. I'll just get new ones, and throw the old ones on the black CL. Saves me time, so no junkyard run for me. Only issue with this is that i'll have to upgrade to stronger axles in the future to meet my power goals. But that's a long way ahead of me, so i'll worry about that another time. One big project a year for me it seems. I think I already know what my next big project will be. The 3G TL needs some love..
Edit: On a side note, anyone have any reason as to why my brakes will squeel when cold, but stops once they've been warmed up? Pads still have PLENTY of meat on them. The brakes absolutely SCREAM when I first brake a couple of times. Really annoying. Friend said I needed to grease the rotor or pads? What sense does that make? I have the RL Calipers with 350Z rotors. Both pads and rotors were brand new when putting on the calipers.
Last edited by Thefireball; 01-01-2023 at 09:43 PM.
Edit: On a side note, anyone have any reason as to why my brakes will squeel when cold, but stops once they've been warmed up? Pads still have PLENTY of meat on them. The brakes absolutely SCREAM when I first brake a couple of times. Really annoying. Friend said I needed to grease the rotor or pads? What sense does that make? I have the RL Calipers with 350Z rotors. Both pads and rotors were brand new when putting on the calipers.
I had issues with squealing new brakes on the 3G TLS until I switched to Brembos. Which pads do you have?
Also, I believe the SM recommends silicone lubricant (comes with the pads) be applied to the back of the pad for Brembos. Probably the same for RL Advics.
IMHO, I believe you'll be better off with the sixer subframe, even though it's more work.
+1. It's not that hard with the motor & trans removed.
I used jack stands on either side and a jack on the front. Went down a couple notches at a time until it was close enough to the ground.
Don't forget to disconnect the steering linkage from inside. Recommend removing driver airbag as well to avoid the chance of breaking the clock spring.
12-13-2022, 09:54 PM
