Absolutely crazy guys. I think you all just saved me. The driveshaft is 50 percent gone where the crack in the rubber is. What's a good driveshaft replacement?

 

Now I have to check mine!

 

Oh yeah that's definitely on its way out. Good catch! It looks like its still available new OEM on the Acura parts sites if you wanted to go that route. Interestingly, it looks like its the same P/N and fitment on the automatics too so if you wanted to go for a clean used one it should be easy to find one. I used a new Napa axle on the 03 Accord failure and didn't have any issues with it. I think they are under $100.

44306-S0K-C11 - $276.90

2003 Acura CL COUPE PREM, PREM (NAVIGATION), SPORT, SPORT (NAVIGATION) 5 Speed Automatic, 6 Speed Manual
2002 Acura CL COUPE PREM, PREM (NAVIGATION), SPORT, SPORT (NAVIGATION) 5 Speed Automatic
2001 Acura CL COUPE PREM, PREM (NAVIGATION), SPORT, SPORT (NAVIGATION) 5 Speed Automatic
2003 Acura TL SEDAN TL, TL (NAVI), TYPE-S, TYPE-S (NAVI) 5 Speed Automatic
2002 Acura TL SEDAN TL, TL (NAVI), TYPE-S, TYPE-S (NAVI) 5 Speed Automatic
2001 Acura TL SEDAN TL, TL (NAVI) 5 Speed Automatic
2000 Acura TL SEDAN TL, TL (NAVI) 5 Speed Automatic
1999 Acura TL SEDAN TL, TL (NAVI) 4 Speed Automatic

 

Since NAPA uses Cardone for their supplier I decided to purchase a new Cardone off Rockauto. NAPA was 25$ more and for 55$ from RockAuto it's worth a shot over the 276$ oem one. Comes with a lifetime warranty so what the heck.

 

Just an fyi none of the aftermarket axles for our cars that I've ever seen include the damper/balancer rubber donut. You "may" experience a vibration after installing aftermarket axles.
I had a similar thing happen a few years ago when I put on new tires. Felt a vibration while accelerating on the way home from the tire shop. Thought it was the tires, but it only happened when on the throttle so I knew it had to be axles. I replaced both axles with OEM new and sealed the rubber dampers with Honda bond. That fixed the issue for me.

 

Took the driveshaft out today and you can see it at a better angle.

 

That's good to know, thanks. If it ends up being a bust then I'll go spend the extra money. I was thinking the same. None of the aftermarket axles have that damper which is very interesting

 

For the June update I thought it would be cool to share some dollar figures. Enjoy me trying to be a YouTuber lol

BTW: The new axle is in and when it turns nice I'll give you all an update if aftermarket paid off.

 

Very cool!

 

Well you are sure at a good start to your YouTube career, you got Tyson the Legend commenting on your vids lol. Seriously though, thanks for sharing and keep the vids coming. Saving the cost on labor for all the work you did yourself definitely helps even it out a bit.

 

Thanks! Tyson has been a huge help with the restoration process on the document side - it's been a pleasure to have his expertise and knowledge. I'll keep them coming and thanks again.

 

Update on the car. Still working on the car and driving it some trying to diagnosis a weird clutch feel and difficulty driving it. Finally figured it out!

 

July 2020 Update

 

I did the exact same thing on the slave cylinder with my TL. It makes such a world of difference. So easy to get out of first now and 1-2/2-3 are so much easier. I have no idea why they bother with that delay valve.

Overall congratulations on saving a great car.

 

Definitely a game changer for sure. Thanks!

 

Still driving my 2003 CL-S MT—been asked so many times "what is that color called?" (Aegean Blue Pearl)—including from a lady bus driver at LAX who pulled up to me in traffic and opened the bus door to ask. Still looks great...

 

Awesome restoration! Certainly, the number of 6 MTs on the road has to be pretty low by now.

My car's been groaning on the passenger side recently, turning, took the tire off last night—need to replace the outer tie rod. Will take it in for this, especially since I suppose it will need an alignment after.

Crazy seeing all the corrosion, since I'm on the west coast. I have 135k miles but it doesn't sit in the sun much, since I work from home office, so it looks pretty clean. The only modifications are that I replaced the ballast/igniters with Chinese units from DDM Tuning when one of the originals went bad, and installed a GROM Audio interface for my iPhone.

I should have the timing belt replaced, would upgrade the suspension but not sure if I actually want to drive the same car till the end of time. This car has definitely outlasted my expectations.

 

Hi Everyone! It's been a while. This weekend I decided that it was time to determine if I could fit the CL against the back wall of my garage for storage.
My wife and I just purchased a 2020 RDX A-Spec and with winter coming we want to be able to fit all 3 cars in the garage this year. Everything turned out fairly well. The wheel dollies were a bit of a learning experience.

 

Any tips on the wheel dollies? Ironic that I was just thinking of doing something like this in my garage the other night! I dont know if I will have enough space for the car as I it havent measured the width of garage at back yet.

 

Yes! lessons learned with the wheel dollies, for sure!

1. Make sure you have a smooth and clean surface for the dollies to roll on. Any little debris will cause the wheels to just stop. .
2. Get a friend - one to help push/pull the car into place, but also to make sure you don't hit anything like the wall or a workbench
3. Get the car mostly into place by driving it. I tried this a couple of times thinking I could 18 point turn it, but you don't need to be that exact and beside you have to place the dollies under the car so leave room for the jack to fit.
4. Know your dimensions. As you see in the photo, i didn't have a ton of room but i knew everything could fit if i simply just mapped everything out. Also add a margin of error because you're not going to want the car 1mm off the wall or objects around it. So plan on giving it some room in your dimension calculations.
5. Have some soft materials around to protect the corners of the car in case the car gets away from you. We ended up using a microfiber towel folded over a couple of times for the pass. rear corner and i'm thankful i did because the car at one point rolled right into a stud, but the towel saved the paint.

Otherwise, it's just trial, error, and brute force.

 

Hey Guys!

I know it's been a while since I've done an update so I figured that I'd provide some details on what has occurred since the last update. Summer is all but over here in the north east and specifically in Vermont it's come time to store the car away for the winter. With winter comes a lengthy process of rust removal and sprucing up.

The most important update is that the car is back from the body shop and has had a new OEM hood placed on it and the front nose of the car has been re-sprayed to match the rest of the car. This was a hefty bill considering that I got the OEM hood from Acura. Both my shop owner and I didn't think it would be in the best interest of the project to purchase a used hood because it may not be OEM and if the goal was OEM then it's best to get it from Acura. Since the hood is still available and was only going to cost $300 more than a salvage hood in unknown condition; I said do it. The car looks fantastic, but it's hiding some serious rust on the underside having spent 17 years in the north east. Today I started the length process of mitigating the rust by addressing the rear bumper support. The original place was to grind down all the rust and repaint with flat rust preventative and rust covering paint. Well... needless to say... that was not possible once I found out how bad the rust on the rear support was. This was further evident by the stud I snapped off trying to remove the support. Since this project is about being "all in" I've ordered a replacement for this.

In other areas, I've started to address the under hood bracket rust to have a nice hood appearance. Additionally, I had to do some plastic welding for the front cover because it snapped off. I'll post more pictures soon on these items so you all can see what i'm talking about. it didn't come out back, but it definitely didn't come out OEM in appearance. Considering I ordered a replacement OEM part but it came in snapped too, i'm willing to go with this.


Fueled up and Stabil added

Tucked away for the winter

Fits nicely in the back of the garage

Replacing the Type-S badge that was worn, faded, and pitted.

New one on! looks nice

The start of the rust removal

Oh geez


Snapped a stud and had to drill it out

 

Video update:

 

Wow huge progress! The paint looks great. Definitely the right call going with a new OEM hood. Have you given any thought to doing paint protection film on the front end now that it’s fresh? We have a lot of overlapping similar projects on our cars. I’m going to do some underhood cleanup next and have very similar rusty brackets that are on the list to get cleaned up.

 

I have put some thought into protection. I'm not sure if it will be film or ceramic coating... Or both. Before I get to that decision, I want to wet sand the orange peel and polish it which won't happen until early next year.

​​​​​​I started in last night with removing RR wheel bearing and starting in on rust removal. Not bad so far.

Can't wait to see what you have on your list

 

Fantastic update, I love cleaning shit up!

 

PPF will protect against rock chips where ceramic coating won’t. At minimum I’d recommend doing the front bumper and hood in film to keep that fresh paint perfect. It won’t help if something big hits it hard, but for the daily road rash it will prevent most of it and can be removed and reapplied if it ever gets damaged. I’d recommend either Xpel or Suntek.

This is Xpel, mid install on my TLX A-Spec. When it was complete you couldn’t even tell it was installed. Kept the front end of that car perfect!

 

Do they make one specific for the CL or do you have to cut it yourself? I just did this with 3M on our RDX but I couldn't find a CL one.

 

Happy Thanksgiving!

 

my dad ordered an 84 prelude, so i must have been 7ish. ive been hooked since. ive also been driving professionally for a living for over 20 years now. ive had about everything but an s2k or nsx. drive a beautiful 2 lane 20 miles to get to my dump truck every day, so ive always had a good honda for a daily, the wife too. i had a great 01 gsr, got the wife a 91 prelude si, but she liked the gsr better. so i got her a 4th gen 4ws prelude. that didnt work, so i got her a 5th gen......... still she kept my gsr. finally got her an 06 tsx and that worked. not long after she wrecked it. went to get her another tsx but ended up with an 05 tl. i fell in love fast, so as soon as i found a black on black cls6 i got it and sold the gsr. absolutely love my cls6. now the wife has gave me the go ahead to find one for her or a 6spd legend coupe. or an 07-08 tl-s. my cls6 was from Florida so no rust, but def not perfect. but having fun with it.

 

 

Currently Own: 2003 Acura CL-S 6 SPD, 69,500 M, San Marino Red w/ Black, Navi, On-star phone, Etc. all stock options, still running fantastically.
2020 Acura ILX A-Spec, Platinum White

Hello, Nice job on the restore, very informative posts and pic's. All that rust really freaked me out but I live near Seattle so little snow/ salt use. My 03' had a rear strut go out last May and considered selling it but am sooo happy I didn't. Think I'll just invest back into it with some new upgrades and enjoy it another 15 yrs. (I'm 68 yrs old) Everything else about it is still in near perfect condition except for a few paint nicks from over 17 years. (NO RUST or paint peel ANYWHERE) It's always been garaged, fully serviced and taken care of. Bought a new 2020 ILX A-Spec Auto 8 SPD out of boredom in July and found I enjoy the manual drive way too much. I just don't feel the car on the road w/the auto even in sport mode. No manuals were available w/dealers closed and actually little choice so I just went with it. Is that a late 50s'/60s' TR3 picture on your bench?
Previous cars owned 65' Chev Malibu SS conv., 61' TR3-A, 73' Porsche 911-S Targa, 83' Toyota Supra, (all 4 SPD's)

Thanks again

 

Oh, probably. Hard to say, those are all the rockauto.com magnets they give you

I see you have a 03CL6S with 69k. That's impressive - don't see many around with that low mileage.

 

Looks a lot like mine!

 

Thought maybe those were some cars you may have done. I had a 61' TR3 and a 73' Porsche 911S Targa in the early 70's when I lived in HI. I'm considered old and just drive around for fun. Both my boys 37 & 38 wonder why I continue to maintain my cars as they never had the interest, I just smile and tell them it keeps me going. Had so many cars but had an 03' Mazda RX8, 08' Infinity G37 Journey along w/the CLS why the low mileage. Your posts as I said make me want to bring back the finish as it needs some scratch refinish / polish out and some shocks I guess those coil overs would be great. I'm not too knowledgeable about all the upgrades which AZine has been a wealth of information for. Never really done much on Azine but look. Still find it hard to navigate within the site, I need some help.

Cars are meant to be enjoyed while you can but don't provide much resale unless maintained. I should have keep my 65' Chevy Malibu SS Convertible which I had in High school (1968). paid $1700. Old school muscle. OH the memories and tickets.

 

I grew up with a grandfather really into cars so I've turned some wrenches on some classics, but can't say i've ever had the opportunity to work on a TR3 or 911. If I ever had the chance I would jump at it though!
Hopefully my posts and restoration provide you with some ideas on the potentials. Along the way I've toyed with everything from turning the car into a track car, to showroom condition, to supercharging it while maintaining streetability. Each car is unique and taking the time to factor in all the variables, I'm landing somewhere in-between.

 

 

Keep it up I'll be watching & noting for future reference.

Good luck