Hey guys, my names Martynas. I am 19 since today, I live in Chicago, IL but was born in Vilnius, Lithuania (Eastern Europe), and I've been a ghost on Acurazine for the past 3 weeks.

4 weeks and 2 days ago I bought my first car ever, which happened to be an 04 TL Navi... It had a downside to it, it was rebuilt title with a popped passenger airbag and a cracked non OEM bumper. But for some reason when i got in the car I fell in love with it.

The past 4 weeks I spent reading your forums and learning everything and anything about 3G acura's, because me myself I am a Nissan fanboy, and my dream car is an EVO 9 which is nowhere close to a TL.

I've always been a petrol head, and I blame Fast & Furious for getting me into it. I always wanted my first car to be a 240sx or an s14 just so I could build it with my bare hands to be this cool low stance drifter beater / daily. But, seeing the availability and some outrageous prices on thsoe things , I tried to shoot for my second favorite engine after the sr20det which was the 2jz found in a supra or an is300. However, when I saw this TL something in my head pushed me to buy it the same day. And I'm loving everyday of it.


The reason my forum name is the ugly duckling is not because that's my car's name, her name is Gizelle. The Ugly Duckling comes from the fact that my car will be performance first, looks later. I haven't even tinted my tails or windows yet, but I already managed to buy an AEM V2 and some other small necesities that are all DIY. Today (my birthday btw) I'm getting my v2 delivered and it will be the first major mod I do on a car, and if i succeed, 99% of the gratitude goes to you guys who put so much effort in sharing information and experience with fellow 3G owners.

Some of my future mods include:

- Replacing the cracked non OEM bumper to an OEM bumper (I chose not to convert to A-spec or the TL's Style just because too many people do it, but I still appreciate the look of it)

- Getting a new dashboard to fix the ugly silicone seal for the passenger airbag

- Possibly Straight Pipes (already have some work to the resonator that gives it a deep rumble)

- New Slotted Brake Rotors + Calipers + Brake pads lol

- Possibly A new Exhaust system

- XXR 19 inch rims + tires (might come sooner than I think)

- Wheel Spacers (duh)

- Maybe new suspension components (coils, springs, etc)


The old proverb in car language says "that a project is never complete", and I intend on adding to this car with my part time job money, blood sweat and tears, until I can finally afford my dream car, the EVO 9.


So yeah, finally good to be a part of this forum, and I hope I can contribute not only to the forum, but also to the Chicago Car Scene.

And here's a sneak peek at Gizelle (she's been cleaned and detailed by hand by now):

 

Welcome to AcuraZine.

 

Happy Birthday! congrats on the car!

 

Don't waste your time modding for performance if it's a automatic.

I've been down that path and regret it with my TL. Not worth it at all and I'm also tuned...

I have $2,000+ in performance parts (RV6 V3 Pre-Cat Deletes, RV6 V3 J-Pipe, ATLP Quad exhaust, Injen Cold air Intake, Hondata FlashPro)

Also how are you going to say you're aiming for performance 1st priority but you're going to get 19 inch wheels? XXRs on top of that? Do you realize how much those will weigh and affect handling and comfort?

 

said performance first, and I'm not saying I'm gonna do all that, just a few things like the obvious CAI, and clean up in the engine bay to get the most out of it, obviously not going for a super charger on full XLR8 or ATLP set ups. Then I also said looks second, thus after I take care of the rotors and clean up the calipers I can allow myself to buy a set of XXR's (which are way cheaper than you might think) at a shop near myhouse owned by some cool jdm dudes. Plus it's my first car, there will be regrets for even buying this car, so wahtever mods I do I already know what I'm getting into, and I'm ok with it. I beat a GTO before, but I'm not lookin to compete with a GTR, just keeping it subtle, but aggressive when I want it to be and making personal to myself.

 

even a 5.7 GTO will smoke the TL.

 

and i smoked a 5.7 GTO (claimed he had twin turbos) last friday twice in a row..

It was a stick shift too, and 2 drivers tried me. One slipped 3rd gear, but I was already half a car length ahead... The same night I also beat a gs300, and another 2004 TL by a car length and a half... My Unicorn's special somehow...

 

GTO lost because either one of the two reason.

1. He doesn't want to waste gas by racing you.

2. The GTO doesn't know how to drive.

looks like the guy can't drive for sh*t since he claims twin turbo GTO (possible but many owner don't want to give it away).

TL isn't a quick car for straight line performance, yes this including the Type S. I don't dump all the money into car anymore well unless its a nice car like a IS-F, M3 or GT-R. I would keep it stock looking so when the car need to be sold it can sold quickly.

 

1. He asked me to race on an empty road during a smaller branch out meet after i beat the gs300

2. Possibly, but then there were 2 drivers and one shifted quite nicely from what my passenger said / recorded

I'd say when it's quicker 0-60 than a brand new camaro or mustang v6, then it's pretty damn quick. But I agree, I'll only mod things like rims and CAI that I can take off and resell the car. Thats why fixing up the bumper and dashboard are my top priorities, so that resale value increases.

 

It was probably a first generation GTO.
If it was a 4th generation you're either lying or the driver is complete shit. Car and Driver magazine tested the car at 4.6 seconds 0-60 mph and 13.0 seconds at 106 mph for the quarter mile, so there's no way a base auto would touch that.

My parents have an 04 base and it is noticeably slower than my car. It was faster than my Prelude by about a car length.

 

^the 5.7l GTO is the first generation and still would whoop the TL at any speeds.
my friend has the 6.0 and when I'm flooring it, he still has LOTs of pedal to go.

p.s. my decently modded six speed TL sprints to 60 in about 5.4 seconds.
a 5.7l GTO will reach it in 5 seconds

 

it was 4th gen and im not lying, theres a video but i gotta find the guy who has it... I would believe the 2 guys sucked at driving, because I went into the race knowing I would lose but ended up winning twice, but then again my tl isnt completely stock, theres a lot i dont know about it

 

Welcome to AcuraZine, Martynas.

 

Welcome Martynas. What do you mean your car is not completely stock? Even if you have a V2 intake (which it doesn't sound like you had when you raced) that's not going to contribute at all to your car's performance. It'll only make it sound good. I'm not even going to get into how stupid racing on the street is. You're 19 and bulletproof anyway.

Here's a tip. If you include the price of your TL with the money you want to spend on modding it, you'll have enough money for your 9th gen Evo.

 

Modding the TL is almost not worth it, but just know your money will go a lot further on an RSX or other sports car than it will in a TL.

 

are you smoking crack? I have an auto CLS and headers with their 30HP (peak) gain are definitely noticeable...

 

but you're just as quick as a late model camry

 

^ Lol exactly.

 

Welcome and congrats on the car!

 

Last I checked we were in the 3G TL forum discussing 3G TL performance mods.

The 3G TL doesn't have headers.

Pre-cat deletes are the closest thing we have to headers and they sure as hell do not add 30whp.

When I said "don't waste your time modifying for performance if it's a automatic" I was referring to the 3G TL

There are plenty other cars that are auto and can still be made faster

 

Bulletproof, of course not, I know the risks but dicking around is a typical teenager thing.. A phase...

And every one that's telling me not to mod the tl make it sound like I'm gonna buy a supercharger.. The only rigs on my list right now are just repairs like brand new dash and bumper to pick up the cars value from what I got it for ($5700) other than that I'll buy new rotors brake pads, mdx caliper covers and just a cheap set of xxrs that I can always just transfer to my next car or sell used...

Other tha that I'm still very pleased with the way this car performs, I kept up pretty evenly with an ap2 s2k with launch control yesterday night and lost by a fender to a 350z, so for a 3600 lbs luxury sedan id say this car is a dream, not to mention the way it sounds with the intake and 75% straight pipes...

Another reason fr doing small time mods whether it adds hp or not is so I can learn to work on cars, installing the intake took me 7 hours instead of 3 mostly due to all the rusted bolts and residue glued tubes... I went through the pain in the ass bumper removal and install with 100% effort and in the end I got a solid result that I did on my own with no practice or previous knowledge, and that's all these mods will be onthe tl.. Just a learning experience, passing the 300hp mark will never be on my agenda but if it happens I'll take it

 

Congrats and welcome to AZ!

 

Congrats on the TL, but keep the "racing" on the track.

 

a pre- cat delete and a better J pipe are a noticeable improvement in performance....along with removal of the resonator.... does a 09 TL intake fit on the 3rd gen TL? if so that's even more power...

A late model Camry v6 is 286 hp so that' pretty good

 

i could vouch for the pre cat delete, mine has that + a little bit of straight piping which made it quite a bit faster than another 04 TL AT... eventhough there hasnt been any solid proof that stages 1-4 improve performance... then again I don't even know what really going on in my car for sure yet