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I was inspired by wagonfanatic's thread and I originally wanted to wait until I had a lot more done to tell a complete story, but I couldn't stand it any longer. I've had my 2012 CW2 Tech for about two months and have loved every minute of it. I am the second owner and it had 47k miles on the clock and was completely stock. I have mainly been into DSMs and Evos and was looking for a chill cruiser that I could daily without people trying to race me at every light or just flat out run me off the road if I dare drive in front of them with a big wing and loud exhaust. So here goes. The first thing I did was pull the fuse for the DRLs, take off the front tag bracket and install some cheap ebay LEDs in the foglight and high beam positions. Then, I replaced all the interior lights using the LED bulb kit from Amazon.
The car needs brakes, tires and I discovered my struts were leaking. It had a bit of a wallowing ride and was choppy over certain bumps. I knew I was going to lower the car, I just didn't know how or how much. I knew from the jump I didn't want to go too low because I want to get bigger wider wheels with a slightly more aggressive offset and I do NOT want to have to roll the fender wells. I'm also old, and I can't deal with having a slammed car anymore, plus I have a wife, kids and might actually want to carry stuff in the car, and I don't like to scrape everywhere. I also didn't want "coil over" ride with this car, so lowering springs were always my go to, because air ride isn't in my budget. I had KONI yellows and Eibachs on one of my DSMs and I loved it, but I didn't feel like I wanted to spend that much this time on this car. Luckily, TEIN just recently announced stock shaped replacement shocks. I got the non-adjustable kind and I got RSR Down Sus springs that are designed specifically for the wagon. I think it came out perfect. They dropped it about an inch in the front and less than an inch in the back. I just threw some cheap Autozone pads on to hold me over until I research brakes more. I want a BBK, but I also want the wheels I'm getting to fit over them and now that I know Evo brakes won't work, I need to research the whole Genesis, RL, 350Z, S2000 yadda yadda thing. Tein EnduroPro and RS-R Sport Service Down Sus Springs Before After
I think the ride is excellent and I am extremely happy with it. I considered Truharts when I was looking for a cheaper solution other than Konis but they told me the RSR springs were not a low enough drop to work with their short stroke design. How do they feel?
A little stiffer than stock. Almost like a factory sport shock upgrade. Comfortable for road trips but lets me tackle corners. I went with them since the TL,Tsx,Accord of the same gen all share a simillar platform and the TL was the heavier of the 3. I took a chance but it paid off lol, it was cheaper than the rsr wagon spec coilovers too.I def got the drop I wanted and retained comfort.👍
I installed a TL-type S rear sway bar along with new endlinks and and new front links. It handled well stock but now it feels planted with less body roll. So much for being a daily I wasn't going to touch, I need to stop treating it like my integra but it's too fun to drive 🤣🤷 2k miles on the setup, so far so good!
Cool. I was seconds away from ordering them, but a Truhart rep told me they wouldn't work. Glad that's not the case and they worked fine for you. I am all about improving handling too. With my turbo Mitsus it was always about going for more power right away, but with this car, it is a lot of fun making it turn (and stop) better. Makes me dream of being a Realtime driver back when they kicked ass with TSXs in World Challenge Touring Car. I may still upgrade to those wagon spec coilovers from RSR, but not until I really feel like I am maxing out this setup. I will look into a TL Type-S swaybar after I get my new wheels and tires.
18x9.5" +40 F1R F21's Gold Machined
245-40 Toyo Extensa HP II's I think the polished lip plus the chrome the car has matches perfectly. I even love the beak. No Honda grill swap for me. I love the deep dish look and the size seems just right. I'm glad I didn't go any lower than +40. Front wheel pokes a little. Stock brakes barely clear. I had some gnarly bullet style lugs that didn't work, I guess this is fine.
Looks good! It's crazy how much wheel you can fit under these!
Also. For the bbk you can run genessis calipers with nissan rouge with 3 row seating front rotors. I'm 90% sure you can run Tlx dual piston calipers along with the tlx rotors. Depends on if you want bling or bang for buck. I'm sure both will be enough for the wagon. I work at an auto parts store and and plan on ordering the tlx setup to try out as it's an oem setup and cheaper on the wallet. The Wagons in europe did come with dual piston setups and the tlx is the closest I could find that match it with out having to search up uk honda parts dealers or wreckers. I'll keep you posted!
Last edited by Mildsquare; Oct 24, 2020 at 11:23 PM.
I appreciate the advice, but I dont't think I can with these wheels unless the upgrade takes up no extra space at all than the stock calipers. It is as close as it can get without being an obstruction. I'll get a picture here in a bit.
If they are that close you'd def need spacers for the genessis calipers. You can run them on stock wheels but placement of wheel weights can get in the way and its close to the face as well. I saw a video of a wagon and It explains it. I think the tlx calipers should work fine as they look the same width but Still not 100% on that though. Here is a link for the genessis calipers. The poster gets into more detail.
Yeah, I wish I was a baller like that dude and could afford air and Works for my car, maybe someday. With these cheap wheels, I just don't care to run spacers and next time around I will do more research. 19" VS-XX's in gold would be the ticket for me.
Not a whole lot has changed, I've pretty much gotten the car to where I want it to be and am focusing on my Evo. I do have a few things planned, but I won't talk about it until I'm closer to actually doing it. For now I have changed the plugs, put in a drop in K&N, debadged the rear, and tinted the windows. I am surprised by how much attention this car has gotten me. I am really happy with how it turned out. The "Acura" and "TSX" badges had to go. That JDM rear bumper is calling my name, but... not now. And yeah, I know the tag doesn't fit the capability of this vehicle. It came off one of my DSMs and I didn't want to let it go. Mesh wheels are a bitch to keep clean, but they look so good. I missed a spot, or twelve - but my back hurts so this will have to do.
I added MSD coils, but I keep the cover on so I don't get the extra HP boost from them being red. I did notice a smoother idle and an 1.5MPG improvement. Yes, i did tighten the oil cap those last few degrees to even it up right after I took this.
After months of waiting, my GReddy cat back finally came in. I watched all the YT vids I could and determined it was the only one I wanted. It has a nice deep smooth tone that I love. The only problem is... it is as loud as I want it to be and I am afraid if I install the DP and HFC it will take me over my comfort threshold. RV6 was discontinued and Skunk2 had too many bad reviews so PLM it is. Yes it comes up short like all the others on a wagon.
Nice! My Greddy exhaust just came in today and I'm hoping I can get it installed this weekend. I've already got the RV6 dp & hi-flo cat with a custom cat back currently on my car. I decided to change to the Greddy so the full exhaust had a consistent pipe diameter up until the Y split. The custom cat back is slightly smaller in size because it still utilizes the OEM resonator in addition with a Vibrant resonator and Magnaflow mufflers. I don't know your noise preference but I wouldn't consider my current setup anywhere near unbearable and wouldn't expect the Greddy to go into that realm either. Once I'm into VTEC, the Injen intake noise (cold air config) is more prominent than the exhaust is.
If you haven't already gotten a Flashpro, I would highly suggest doing so and then getting tuned as it will wake up the motor and also quiet the exhaust down compared to running the stock tune with a full exhaust. Just got done getting an E-tune from E-tunez.com and I couldn't recommend them enough. Once the exhaust is on and I grab a CT icebox to replace the Injen I'm going to get it retuned and have the VTC adjusted as well. The car is currently so much more enjoyable to drive now compared to the stock tune and doesn't feel like a dog driving around town, especially when the A/C is on. My only other engine mods are the MSD coils like yours and a Fluidampr crank pulley.
Also, how short is the Greddy exhaust from the rear bumper? Doesn't too bad from your pic but that's also not the best angle to illustrate.
My plan was to eventually do a CT Icebox and get it tuned with Hondata. I hope it is worth the premium over a traditional tube and filter style intake. I like the looks of it and it's stockish appearance. I looked into the Fluidampr but I was worried it was only for 2010s and back... but maybe they just haven't updated their site.
I want to get a JDM rear. One of the other members has it with the GReddy it looks like the rear bumper has a more recessed lower valance that lets the tips sit in the right spot. A better look at the placement with the USDM rear. 304 Stainless is beautiful. Great craftmanship. It was worth the wait.
For me the icebox is more for peace of mind. This is my wife's car even though she drives my BMW almost exclusively now and the car also sees all 4 seasons. I don't want want a typical short ram on this car and the placement of the filter in cold air config is a little worrysome. Heeltoe did a comparison and showed the Ingen is better for top end and the icebox is better for low end. Plus with this car I'd prefer to hear exhaust more than intake when on it.
Fluidampr fits just fine on my '14, I think the shop said they just had to use a slightly longer belt. Get it, kills more vibration in the car than you could imagine a pulley could. Also have one on my Legacy GT wagon and the motor runs incredibly smooth. Going to grab one for my S2000 as well.
Mmmm that SS is pretty, way better looking than the custom I'm about to remove. Tips placement isn't all that bad, may just get those extended. Appreciate the pics.
I do not want a lot of excessive intake noise either, low end power is more important to me and I definitely don't want a filter sitting down at wheel level. My area is prone to the bottom falling out every so often which would require me to go through a puddle or two.
I've attached a picture of Jobata23's car. His build thread suggests this is when the car had the GReddy exhaust along with a JDM bumper. Looks perfect to me, but I messaged him for more details. Looks like "factory" style tip clearance.
So, the PLM DP is on as well as the RV6 HFC... and a CEL as well. I didn't use the top elbow, but I'm not sure if it would fool the emissions system anyway. I would think backing the 2nd O2 sensor would do that, but there's no provision for that. I was expecting that so it isn't a crisis, but I am hoping to come up with a solution eventually. I do plan on getting Hondata, so hopefully it can be disabled.
The elbow should be used for the secondary O2 and eliminate the CEL. I didn't notice it before but it seems odd that it came installed in the primary O2 location since that sensor location is before the primary cat on any OEM or aftermarket pipe and doesn't need a defouler. Does the elbow not fit in the port that's plugged in your pic of the dp? That's where the elbow is installed on my RV6 dp.
How's the exhaust sound for you now that you've got everything installed? I got my Greddy installed yesterday and it's only marginally louder than the custom cat-back I had. I'm looking forward to swapping the injen intake for the icebox to eliminate some of the intake noise at WOT. I don't know what it is but I'm not a huge fan of the JDM bumper. I don't like the recessed tips either but I'd only jump on a JDM bumper if I was able to source the Mugen rear lip for it first, otherwise the back end just looks to round to me.
Ahh, that makes sense. I will take a look and see about putting the elbow downstream. It came shipped that way... so... ahh, nevermind.
Everything got a little louder and maybe the tone changed just a bit higher pitched, but otherwise no major change in volume or tone and no introduction of any tinny or raspy elements.
I wasn't crazy about the bare JDM rear bumper either, but I was also looking to add side skirts and get rid of my mudflaps and see about bumper extensions for the rear and A-spec fangs for the front if I can find any.
Great, it figures the icebox goes on backorder and is probably discontinued when I get around to wanting it. I feel like the party is over with this platform and it is going to get a lot harder to get parts for it from here on. It's not like building an Evo when at it's peak I could choose between like... 40 different catbacks, 50 sets of coilovers, a few dozen intakes, etc etc...
Oh well. I hope it comes back. Flashpro, icebox or some other intake and Fluidampr and I think I'm done modding as far as performance is concerned.
I'm curious what happened with the icebox production because at face value it just seems odd. The poduction/pre-order period was like 2yrs or more (COVID time...is what it is), once available sells out in a short time, seemingly gets asked about availability enough to add the message "Supply inquiries will be ignored" to the product page and mentions no future production plans. Still hope it comes back too even though I don't agree with the premium on it. I've bought less useful things for my cars that cost more so.....
Forget the intake altogether unless you can get your hands on the icebox. Flashpro, Fluidampr and a good pro-tune and you'll be wondering why you didn't do it sooner. If you get the Flashpro, I'd recommend not running the Hondata OTS and just go straight for the pro-tune. I ran the OTS map for a bit when I had all the same mods as you with the exception of a the Injen CAI & custom cat-back. Randomly decided to take a datalog one day and the knock count was 300+ after a 25 minute drive and I wasn't even beating on it. Just my anecdotal experience. I'm at the point where I'm done with performance until supercharger time, except for maybe a rsb upgrade.
Speaking of the rsb's - you mentioned you installed the TL type-s bar, is that the 20mm one? Any clearance or other issues during install?
Yes, I agree. I've decided I don't want to do a traditional CAI at all. I only want the icebox.
I never got around to upgrading the swaybar. The car handles okay, but the springs I have are really too soft to do any sort of hard cornering. If I decide to seriously get into improving the handling, I'm going to switch to coilovers before I do anything else... but as this car is just for cruising and looking good, I really want air ride.
Thanks for the advice about the tunes. I have always been leery of base tunes for cars and I'd always taken my DSMs to a dyno to be tuned. I didn’t think it would be that crucial for a lightly modded N/a but your experience confirms my fears.
Fyi Hondata will disable the 2nd 02 and that pesky cel will go away 😈.
My wagon is full bolt on with flashpro and a street tune. I will be installing an rsp intake manifold from an fn2 civic type r and plan on getting dyno within the next month.
should help with the low and mid range but let me rev to 7500.
Honestly forget the Ice box, save your cash and mod your stock box.
Its on Version 3.0 now and have gone with a 4in intake tube and a 6in velocity stack. I think a 3.5in tube would be better to help with velocity and wouldn't need the velocity stack.
Almost every cai on the market for our cars are 3.0in from end to end and too small for the k24.
stock intake arm is just under 3.5in diameter before tapering down to the throttle body.
I tried looking at mods to maximize tq since our wagons are thicc. 👍 lmk if you have any questions
Thank you. I installed the elbow and the CEL cleared.
I think you have all the benefits of the icebox with your modded stock intake. I do like the CF the icebox has so that's a strong enough consideration for me to wait on it and focus on other things for now, but it is good to know there is a viable alternative if it never comes back.
My low beams went out, maybe because my detailer went a little ham with the pressure washer when I had it done a while back. Either way there was a whole bunch of moisture inside the lamps and either the ballasts or ignitors were toast. I decided to go with ANZO angel eyes and after getting a damaged or bootleg pair sent to me and a bogus set of knockoff HID components, I sent everything back and tried again. This time getting the lamps from an authorized distributor and buying take off ignitors and ballasts.
This was a PITA for me, but in the end it paid off. I went with 6000k D2S bulbs. The high beams are pitiful H1s instead of the factory size. I could do better with two birthday cake candles. Looking to replace them soon.
