dbrooks619

I decided to give a shot at retrofitting the V6 engine bay covers in my 2009 TSX.

The covers do fit with some modifications.

The modifications needed:

1) Remove prop rod
2) Install gas strut openers (requires fabrication… 4 cyl missing mounting points)
3) Trim some plastic off engine covers where it contacts engine bay components
4) Trim under hood insulation or get the V6 part since it gets in the way of hood openers.

Other than that, the cover pieces mount to the car body using the existing mounting holes. The only places where there aren’t existing mounting holes are on the strut tower brace. Not really and big deal so in my case, I am just letting it rest in place. The other mounting points are enough to secure it.

I haven’t finished the project yet. As you can see in the photos (red hood prop), I still have to retrofit the hood openers. This is going to require a bit of fabrication… involving either some welding or riveting.

The total cost for parts (covers, fasteners, hood openers) is around $280.

Nammib0i

It looks good. I think I prefer to see everything in my engine bay though lol. Are there any benefits to having the cover? Or is it just for looks?

Tishkevich

iTrader: (3)

What's the point? I mean It looks cool that ya did it. I guess i'm just not a fan of engine bay covers at all

ed_423

when i first read this i misread and thoguht u swap the v6 engine into the 4cyl car i got all excited

not everyone's cup of tea, but def. did a great job. first one doing it too! welcome to the forum haha

hondu

+1

dbrooks619

What the point? There's none other than sharing the information with the community. Some will find it useful, others wont. It wasn't to ask if someone liked it or not.

Car mods, heck even a lot of stuff in life is a matter of personal taste.

I guess I should have expected these types of responses from internet forum posts. lol

TSXCali

I think it looks great. Great mod and keep up the good work, we need more DIY projects like this on this forum.

itr_1211

looks good. Any chance on doing hydraulic hood props?

dbrooks619

The hydraulic openers are the last pieces to this project. I have them, just not installed. I'll probably tackle it this weekend.

It's not a simple bolt-on process. The 4 cyl doesn't have the mounting points near each of the front shock towers. Also the hood doesn't have threaded holes to accept the other end of the opener.

The oem hydraulic do come with the swivel ball mounts with M8 threads though.

So essentially some blind rivet nuts will need to be installed in the hood and tabs fabricated/welded (or riveted) for the shock towers.

09TSXTech

Looks good.

How much did the parts end up costing you? I would be interested in the hydraulic hood opener mod also.

ed_423

+1 on hydraulic hood opener! the pop rod or w/e its call makes it look cheap

mtdew456

I hope we can figure an easy way to retrofit the hydraulic hood openers! I am all for this modification if it can be done easily.

defconskylude

+1

awesome DIY.

justnspace

iTrader: (1)

Lol does any one read????

tsx_ridah10

man you really need the hydraulics for the hood or something kinda looks weird without it

riovolt

it gives the engine bay a really clean look

ttk5

its called hood dampers i think

Tishkevich

iTrader: (3)

nah the question was, what drove you to want to do this ? Where was the original point of interest? Just doesn't seem like something someone would say " I can't wait to put my engine cover mod on"

Just a question.. not an insult.

dbrooks619

Initially, I wanted to put in the hood lifts in to replace the janky oem hood prop.

The engine bay covers also shroud the mount for the hood lifter strut (near the shock towers). Makes for a cleaner retrofit. So I decided to do the covers. I also like the look of engine covers. I have an A4 also which has engine covers available as an oem part.

pickler

nice but doesnt that add weight to the front of your car?

ttk5

its just plastic how heavy can it be

drunkm0nk3y

damn that looks nice. makes the engine bay much cleaner.

do you have the part numbers?

09TSXTech

Try this link:

http://www.acuraautomotiveparts.org/...s=&view=normal

black label

Close, they are hood struts.

defconskylude

wrap those pieces in cf vinyl

civichbdx

X2

dbrooks619

I got around to installing the hood lift struts this weekend.
I had to do quite a bit of fabrication to get it to work/fit properly.

Here are some notes in case others want to tackle this diy.

1) Need to cut hood insulator. The oem insulator extends into the area where the lift struts are. Or replace with V6 insulator. I cut mine but I also went ahead and ordered the insulator.

2) For the strut mounts on the hood, I fabricated a heavy guage steel plate. It's about 2.5 inches long and I bent the long sides 90 degrees for added rigidity. At first, I was going to use just rivet nuts for the strut ball mount, but the metal is too thin. The steel plate is riveted in place and the ball mount bolted to that. I was worried about the hood possibly flexing at the mount point with the pressure of the struts, but the steel plate seems to distribute the load well. I need to get some paint to match the hood.

3) For the mount points near the shock tower, simple L-brackets will not work. There is a lot of force exerted on these mount points. I ended up fabricating a triangulated bracket.

Photo of installed struts (sorry for crappy photo)

09TSXTech

Fantastic job Very impress with your ingenuity.

Nammib0i

It looks really nice and clean. I wouldn't mind having the lift struts, that'd be sweet.

ed_423

great job man. next project: swap v6 engine in?

coffeefingers

I avoided having to do all this work to my TSX by just buying the V6 model.

robpp

iTrader: (2)

i would like to look into the hood struts...

all the pics are gone


can some of you v6 guys point me to some pics of the oem ones???

then i can see whats missing; i will continue to search but....

robpp

iTrader: (2)

think this will work?????

opboarding

I'll take some pictures of my hood struts later today for you

opboarding

ed_423

DIY on hood struct?

ssjoeboe9

I didn't know y'all had that. Cool

opboarding

Us V6ers are fancy like that.

robpp

iTrader: (2)

I see some kits from a good place for gen 1

I also see some hong Kong kits that say 04-12 tsx

All are on eBAY.

Going to message the guy that sells the good set even though his say 04-08. Maybe if there were more than 4 modders on this site