I just purchased a 2000 Laguna Green TL. Although I love the car, I would like to make it even nicer looking, are there any cheap changes I can make (I still owe on the car?) Thanks!

 

how cheap are your talking?

you can clear your headlights, debadge the rear emblems, buy exhaust tips, all for close to nothing.

for less than 300 bucks u can do tint, drop it on springs, get an intake, etc..

 

take a look at mine http://www.acurainspired.com/gallery...1890&uuid=1313


and theres no way in hell you can do tint, a drop, and intake for under 300 bucks unless your putting shitty parts on the car

 

I already did a mini write up kinda on cheap mods you can do for new owners and members to the forum. Here it is, i copy and pasted the whole thing from another thread.

ok, I can give you some good info since i been a loyal member on this forum. Since ur new to the forum and the TL car itself, there are some cheap mods you can do for now until you tackle the major things. I know some members have already mentioned some of these mods you can do but ill make sure i cover most of them anyways.

Cheap Things/Small Mods

1.Remove your intake resanator. It will give you a better sound thats more agressive sounding until you actually get a cold air intake. You can find the Do it yourself guide on www.abunchofcars.com

2. Debadge your trunk. Get some goo gone and some floss or fishing line. Let your car sit in the sun for a lil while so the adhesive behind the Acura Lettering and Symbol as well as the 3.2 badge heat up and become soft. Then just slide some floss or fishing line behind them to remove them from the trunk. Then take some goo gone and let it soak into the adhesive and wipe it away. You might wana come through with some wax or polish to remove any residue afterwards or any kind of light shadow of where the badges were. Its gona give you a nice clean appearance.

3. Chrome Shift Plate. If you have the 99 Model TL, your in luck. When acura manufactured the 99 TL, they made all the shift plates chrome. They then decided the chrome might reflect the sun into the drivers eyes so they revamped it and had them all painted over with silver paint. You'll notice your shift plate right now is painted silver. Simply get some Grafitti remover. Remove the shift plate from the car, you can find out how by searching through the forum. Spray the Grafitti Remover all over the entire shift plate and let it sit. then get a plastic credit card or similar to that and start scraping away all the silver paint which will then reveal the original chrome beneath. Adds a much more sharper and classyer appearence to the inside of the car.

4. Paint your Engine Cover. Remove your engine cover from the engine. Lightly sand the entire engine cover and battery cover if you choose to, just enough so that the covers are scuffed up. Make sure you wash the covers before sanding and wash again after sanding. Dry as well after each wash. Get a can of sandable primer from a company called Dupli Color. It can be found at pep boys and some other places i believe. Prime the entire cover lightly. Dry, Then do a second coat. Let that dry and then Get a can of High Temperature Paint or any other type of spray paint and spray a couple thin and light coats of the color paint you chose. If you get a high temp paint, Dupli color makes high temp paints which are great but there are some other brands as well. If you wana go into further detail with the painting of the engine cover, wet sand after you prime the covers.

5. Mesh Grill. You can take your stock grill out and take it apart. Bunch of screws on the back side of the grill you take out once the grill is off the car itself. Go to Lowes and get some Gutter Guard Aluminum Mesh. Do a search on Mesh Grill and you probably find the thread from when i did mine with some pics if the pics are still there. Your gona have to take the mesh which comes in regular aluminum silver color and cut out the shap of the grill. Its a little more complicated when ur doing it but do a search on that mod and you'll figure out exactly how to do it. I did it to mine and you can see my grill which is my Main pic under my member name. Its a cheap mod, mesh costs like 2.50 a sheet. Get two sheets, one for practice or rough draft. But if done right the end result is nice. You can finish it off by painting it black or whatever you want.

6. Get some nice chrome exhaust tips if you want to improve the look of the back end.

7. Change your intierior lights to LED bulbs which is not super cheap but around $50 max for all your bulbs. That would include the trunk light and license plate light.

8. As far as performance goes, there isnt really any mod thats super cheap. The cheapest mod in that department would most likely be the Unorthodox Racing Ultra S Crank Pulley which is $175 shipped from the vendor Excelerate on this forum and will cost ya about 60-100 bucks for the install of it. Its gona give you more bang for your buck i think. Add like 8-10hp and more torque. Your also gona have to change the belts which is about 30 bucks since the new pulley is smaller and ligher. Do a search for Unorthodox Racing Ultra S Crank Pulley and you'll find the Write up i did on that mod when i had it put in.

9. Paint your Brake Calipers. Get some Dupli Color High Temp paint, must use high temp paint for ur calipers, nothing less. It can be another brand but make sure its High Temp paint. Clean your calipers with some soap and water and take a wire brush and scrub your calipers up with it. the wire brush will remove heavy grime and brake dust build up. Rinse it down after with some more soap and water and let them dry. Then just lightly sand the calipers up with some sand paper and clean them off again. Dry and then get to painting. Do two thing coats. Not one big heavy one. This will add a nice look behind the rim.

And if you wana buy some performance parts, you can buy them from EXCELERATE which is a vendor on this forum. Ive bought several things from him. Great service and best prices. Quick Shipping too. You can pay him with Pay Pal or Money order.

 

Thanks for the ideas. The "3.2 TL" was previously debadged, I think I'll leave the rest. The first things I'll do are change the headlight covers, tint the windows and lower. The lowering may wait until next summer, that way I can save money and not deal with raising it for the snow. As for the tint, I have 20% on my other car and am happy with it, but it's a dark car with black accents. As for the TL, I'm not sure what to go with? Rims should put everything together nicely, can't wait to get some.

 

you dont have to raise it for snow if you lower it.

 

happy modding, good luck.

 

i meant tint or drop or intake for cost of less than 300 bucks.