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Is my TL chassis worth moding or doing engine swap?
Wasted a lot of time typing just to get logged out and lose it all so I'll just keep it short and sweet this time
SOO...I bought this car from a guy who didn't know anything about cars and he thought it wasn't worth anything but the junkyard so he sold it to me for $200 to get it out of his hair. It had some minor problems that would appear like major problems to an inexperienced person. 211000mi. Had cracked intake filter piping
Long story short, it ran like crap and now EVERYTHING works really smooth including the a/c. The only things wrong other than the obvious paint work needed and the tears on the driver seat and center console and rear seats are a deep scratch/dent on the right side of the passenger taillight, the fact that someone stole his cat that I've patched with a fitted bolt on pipe, the driver door open/closed sensor is broken, the trunk seal had a part of the wire harness for the trunk lock interrupting the seal and letting water pour in which I fixed as well as the rear driver door that did pretty much the same thing, and it probably needs a new front driver side wheel bearing.
What I need you guys for is to help me decide what to do. I've had this car for a week, it's my first HMV car period but I've always loved Acura. So obviously I'm a noob to Honda and Acurazine but anything but a noob when it comes to cars in general. My goal is to have a TL that can push 280~300hp w/o FI if that's even possible for any combination of J-series blocks, heads, cams, cranks, rods, etc. As well as p'n'p, BBTB, shaved heads/blocks, CAI/H/E, ECU ect. Had the thought of buying a JDM TYPE-S J32 J32A2 as this is the A1 and moding it and pairing it to a 6spd MT from a CL-S or if it would be a better use of time and money to fix this to running/ visually pleasing condition and sell it and buy a 02-03 TL-S.
All suggestions welcome and I am trying to uncover new info and ideas if possible so please don't suggest a search.
swap out that auto tranny for a 6MT and you will be TONS quicker and faster....
if you try to mod the car before doing the swap; your auto tranny will just die. Honda had terrible auto transmissions during this time period which affected their entire line up; accords, CL's, TL's, and MDX's
For $200, that's a great daily driver!! Once the transmission goes to , a CL-S 6 speed swap would be perfect! Or an AV6 swap (do a search )
Great deal!
He had the front and rear bearings in the Trany replaced because that's what he thought the bad wheel bearing sound was.
Originally Posted by justnspace
swap out that auto tranny for a 6MT and you will be TONS quicker and faster....
if you try to mod the car before doing the swap; your auto tranny will just die. Honda had terrible auto transmissions during this time period which affected their entire line up; accords, CL's, TL's, and MDX's
Was it a certain AT part in particular or just the AT as a whole was crap?
i'm not a transmission builder, so I couldnt pinpoint what was happening. no matter the model, throughout the late 90's and mid 2000's, honda suffered from automatic tranny woes.
2000 accords were the main model, with the acura TL and CL's also affected. the first gen MDX also shared the same tranny.
bad clutch packs?
bad fluid engineering?
If I were to do a MT swap, should I do a rebuild or would I be better off buying a lower mileage J32A2 and pairing it with a 6MT? And I need an ECU from a MT car right?
at this point, whatever is cheapest to you. and I dont know the specifics of the 2nd gen TL 6MT swap...you could browse this section for the people that have done it.
For $200 you got a beastmode-capable car. Nice find (although the interior is quite gross)!
Be careful putting too much money/power into the car. The fatal flaw with this model is the FWD drivetrain. It can only have so much power before you just spin your wheels all the way to 4th/5th gear. Figure out how to get more traction and then look at power upgrades if you want to go to 300 whp or beyond.
Damn! For $200?! That's a straight steal! Good luck with the repairs, OP. In all honesty, I think keeping it reliable would be the number one priority. The mods can come later. Just focus on keeping it on the road lol.
10-05-2018, 01:00 PM
, a CL-S 6 speed swap would be perfect! Or an AV6 swap (do a search 
)
