Hello guys, My name is Eugene and I am in the process of rebuilding a 2006 Acura RL tech. This is not an unfamiliar task for me as I've gone through this process many times, with a bit of hook up and help here and there. This vehicle will be for my gf. I have always been a part of the Honda community and recently becoming a part of Acura as well, as we purchased a flipped 2011 RDX and rebuilt it for my mom. If you guys would like and have interest I can keep a log and update this page as the process goes, either way this is what we started with : (btw if I decide to keep this going I'll start taking better pictures since I just decided to do this outta boredom on 3rd shift so just have whatever pictures I happened to be taking so far..sorry)

-1 week ago
We bought this 06 RL from a Philadelphia auction with 67k and brought it back to Erie PA. This is the primary damage:



The secondary damage is hard to tell from the picture but the quarter is bad as well:



-5 days ago
Purchased both new doors for a steal of $500 from a junk yard in buffalo


-4 days ago.
Stripped off faulty parts and w/e will be in the way



-Today.
The quarters came in, the guys from LKQ in Buffalo went a little nuts with the cutting and cut off basically half a car and put it on the pallet while I only rlly needed the skin of the quarter and the center pillar. Along with the whole rear left quarter which ended up being whole 1/4 a car got em again for a steal for $1100 shipped to Erie total outta the door

And all the extra electronics I was able to salvage from the quarters so far


Now that all needed parts are here can start drilling out the quarter panel skins and begin the real work.

Just to add this is my current daily :

And this is how it came off of auction before repairs:

Sitting on the frame machine



Off to paint

Fitment:

2010 v6-6speed*** ^^^

That accord is sick! Can't wait to see how the RL comes out! Looks like u have good taste! Subscribed!

Thanks for sharing the build process. It would be interesting to know the process a wrecked car goes through as it is fixed up. Most of us don't even think about it, we just drop the car off at the auto body shop, pick it up a few weeks later, and freak out about the paint job and whether there was frame damage. I take it these cars are salvage titles. How do you even get insured for the road in these? I have no idea, so I ask.

So I think we'll learn something here.

Do you own your own body shop or do this for a hobby?

^^ thanks!

And yes reconstructed salvage title. I do not own the garage but a good friend of the family does, he is a dealer with many dealer auction licenses which are not too easy to obtain. Has his own frame machine which there's only a handful in town. It is actually quite easy to insure and get back out on the road once they are fixed..PROPERLY. After all is fixed and done you take in to a special certified inspection station that does reconstructed inspections (only 3 in my city) they basically go inch by inch through the whole car, and pass or fail. If pass after an hour or so of paperwork and notary you have a completely normal vehicle out on the road with the only difference from anything is the RECONSTRUCTED across the title when it comes in. Other than that insurance and that other stuff is completely like any other vehicle

Very impressive, will be nice to see this come to fruition. The Accord looks fantastic.

This is definitely fascinating stuff to learn about... so definitely keep the posts and pictures coming!

By the way, in case you weren't aware, your 2006 RL is NOT the Tech version. Acura was screwy in not keeping the "Tech" naming consistent from 06 to 07+. In 2006, Tech meant your car would have the Active Cruise Control (ACC) and Collision Mitigation Braking System (CMBS). In 2007, Tech meant your car has NAV and not the ACC/CMBS. Yours is the standard 2006 RL. Just FYI...

It will be interesting to watch and see what you learn about our car.

Not part of your rebuild, but that sterring wheel and shifter knob does not look OEM or OEM Accessory?

That Accord is beautiful. I'm impressed.

The RL looks just like the one I just traded in. Without the damage of of course.

Thanks for sharing this! It's always interesting seing this kind of project coming to completion. Keep the updates coming!

I would be interested in knowing how much money one can save doing this? If the car can be repaired completely, it seems like a good way to save money. Resale value would be non-existent but if you just plan on keeping and driving it that wouldn't matter.

Would you mind giving some ballpark numbers on how much the car was at auction, and then how much to buy the replacement pieces?

Thank you for bringing your experience to our community! Could you do us a big favor and measure that speakers in the doors? Diameter and depth are of most interest. Also, if you could take a picture of the back of the speaker, it would be greatly appreciated.

Our sound system is a bit of a mystery around here.

Thanks!

Awesome, I would love to see how you achieve the final product! Please update as frequently as possible

The car was 5,000 off of auction, mostly due to that left rear picture which made the damage look very slight which in real life tuned out to need a whole new quarter panel, because of that I don't expect too significant of a savings but still should come out about 4,000 under retail. This car is not a good example of the benefit of going this route due to taking a hit on the extra damage that wasn't evident in the auction images. The Accord however is a better example, I purchased it when it was only 8 months old and it ended up coming out to total of $12,000 with the coilovers and wheels. The lip kit was on there since its the HFP edition accord. At that time these were selling off the dealer lot for $24,000-$27,000

As far as the resale being non existant that is quite incorrect actually since over sold every car personal reconstructed car before and haven't made anything. It profit so far. My last vehicle was an 05 Accord coupe that ended up coming out to total of $7,000 which was years ago and after 2.5 years of owning it and 40,000 additional miles I sold it for $9,500 Obviously the buyer was informed of all that was fixed and replaced. There's a lot more reconstructed cars out there than you think.


Definetly will get that for you guys at some point tommorow

Sure! Today was just too got here, we were able to mostly get the quarter panel skins drilled out of the new parts. More work and pictures to come on monday

No edit feature? Third shift/iPhone typing. Let me rephrase that:

As far as the resale being non existant that is quite incorrect actually since ive sold every reconstructed car before and haven't made anything but profit so far. My last vehicle was an 05 Accord coupe that ended up coming out to total of $7,000 which was years ago and after 2.5 years of owning it and 40,000 additional miles I sold it for $9,500 Obviously the buyer was informed of all that was fixed and replaced. There's a lot more reconstructed cars out there than you think.

That is very interesting and a great price to pay on that Accord. Can I ask what the breakdown on the Accord was? Price at auction and then how much it cost to repair it?

There's an edit button next to "quote" for 15 minutes after you post.

Yea I'd like to know that information as well. (on the Accord) I sold my 09 because I got tired of making the payment from buying it new. To get the same exact one (minus it have recontructed on the title) for almost half the price would be fantastic

definetely looking toward the turn around of your acura....hopefully it looks two times better than the honda coupe

I vote with the others: beautiful work on the Accord, fascinating thread, and welcome to our little community. Clearly your presence has already begun to enrich it!

To the OP - Dude, you have some skills!

Looking forward to hearing about your work and how the project goes. The Accord looks fantastic! I would definitely consider this if I had the time and the resources to do so...both of which you have Have fun the RL is a machine which can go 300k easy.

Chris

Subscribed and looking forward for final pictures.

Love the look of the Accord and as I'm just researching what to do to my 07 RL AWD... it will be cool to see what you do for your girlfriend.

You get the for the longest username in AZine history. Congrats!

Shoulda got the SH-AWD.
it's better

Lol they are all sh-awd.

it was a joke, pointing at 2 Gen RL AWD in Vancouver's username

Don't be too hard on him - he's from the TL forum!

3G gets an obvious pass, but I expect more out of 4G member.

man your accord is clean. i cant wait to check out your rl when its finished..!i cant wait to get new rims and suspension for the rl and get that fitment i want!

Sorry guys, have been super busy between the car/work/and finishing up with my radiology program. To sum up a lot really fast, I'll just let the pics do the talking.


Quarter panel skins out of the part car


Quarter panel skin outta the car



Sorry for the missed step in pictures of the center piller out but here's after the new one in along with the replacement quarter panel skin welded in






Car is going off to paint Monday morning. I decided to go with a different shade of gray, Daytona gray pearl they use on the R8s. I like it since a little flashier and slightly less blue hue



Sorry for the speaker dimension update lag. Everything is still apart and one of these days will get the measurements

Your work on the Accord seems top-notch judging by the pictures. Can't wait to see what you do with the RL.

How many hours of labour does something like this take, on average? Did you account that into your price?

Definetly, however it's hard to gauge the actual time spent on the car since unlike a body shop where 8-5 u spend working on something, this is in between other things and sometimes goes untouched for a few days. But counting out the Bs in between, there was about 5 solid work days put into it of where it's fixed now. After paint is done there will be an additional day for assembly and fine tune aligning