dips009

Well after leaving work early yesterday and looking forward to enjoying one of the few summer evenings left here in NJ, I decided to work on the TL. The 4 things on my list were to:
1: Install short ram intake + cold air kit
2: Uninstall resonator/air box
3: Paint the emblems gunmetal grey
4: Install lip spoiler
5: Somethign I didnt expect

1: Install short ram intake + cold air kit
Last week I bought a short ram intake for the TL. Then went to Pep Boys and bought an extension kit for intakes. My custom cold air intake cost me a grand total of $85, not bad at all compared to $250+ for a name brand aluminum pipe.







Result:
Whewww!! i love it. The growl is much better, you hear a slight whistling for a second or two when you accelerate. And accelaration has improved especially at red lights from 0-40mph. Hopefully this will have a good effect on the gas mileage as well.

2: Uninstall resonator/air box
The uninstall of the resonator was pretty simple except for one the screws that sits in an awkward space. A bit hard to reach. You have take the front air grille out to reach it with a wrench.



3: Paint the emblems gunmetal grey
I used Dupli-color's gray/gunmetal spray paint along with its clearcoat. 4 coats of paint and 4 coats of clear coat.



4: Install lip spoiler
Done.




The unexpected:
When I took the stock air filter and its cover off, I found this in air container:




It's a plastic bag that and a whole lotta sand. To make sure this doesn't happen again, I plan on putting a piece of mesh grille on the intake opening. The stock airfilter had a deformaty where this plastic bag might have been sucked in to it.

Things to come:
35% tint
Tein S Tech : anyone know any good installer in sth NJ?
Carbon Fiber hood: I am still debating this one. Not sure how it will look on the TL.

brian92873

dips, very cool, how did you take the emblems off and reapply them?

dips009

Hi,
"ACURA" is held in place with a soft doublesided tape. I took a flat screwdriver, covered the tip with a terry cloth and genlty pryed off the the emblem.

The "A" has the same sticky double sided tape on the round ring. But, in the exact center of the "A", ther r two prongs that snap in to two holes in the trunk lid. use the same technique as above..

hope that heps.

brian92873

yes thanks, i think that looks like a fantastic (and seemingly very simple) mod...

Ron A

So there is no bolt holding the A emblem onto the trunk, just two prongs on the emblem that push into the clips in the trunk?

Looks like I have been giving out some wrong info, since you said you removed it easily, so that is what I will tell people from now on. Thanks for the update and good thread.

dips009

Yup... just two prongs that u push back in and use epoxy around the ring.

badazzTL

nice emblems!

crazymjb

Nice, I thought you had a bag of pot in your air intake fora second. I would be hesitent to build my own CAI, but thats me. I think I will get an AEM off ebay for 200 for fathers day. I love the gunmetal emblems.

TL'n IT UP

dips009 Nice Emblems! Hmm I wonder what WDP and gun metal emblems look like... whats the specific color number ? Where did you buy it at? Thanks for the info

Teh Jatt

why did u put "ACURA" on right side?

dips009

here u go http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/ucsbchris2001/my_photos , just go through the album and you'll see the gunmetal emblems on wdp. I got the Dupli-color paint from pep-boys. Just look for the flaky gray paint. Don't forget the clearcoat.

dips009

i cound't decide to just keep the "A" or put "TL", "A" and "Acura all on..so i basically compromised with myself..left one side blank but not the other....sortaa

EPVQ30

shaved butt best choice

PoochaKannInc

And not just for cars!

Looks good dips009. I might end up doing just that this weekend. Thanks for the idea!

Iceman23

...thats dirty, but too bad he speaks from experience.. (indian women)..

dezzzmond

I like that gunmetal look, too bad im debadged already......

PoochaKannInc

By the way dips009:

How long does it take for the paint to cure? Also, are there any problems with the paint sticking to the badges? Thanks...

mio

good job~ and could u please tell me what dose cold air kit do with the short ram?

why don't u just install a Cold air intake? any different? is it (cold air kit) easy to suck water into ur engine?

fsttyms1

Can i ask why your concerned about putting a piece of screen in teh factory airbox when you now have a chort ram intake that doenst go into your air box?

dips009

Hi,
3 coats of paint and 3 coats of clearcoat with 20 minutes dry time between each. If i wasn't lazy, i would have added a coat of primer in the beginng but no problems the way they r rght now.

dips009

I ordered a short ram from ebay for $50. I was passing through a pep boys to buy paint, i saw a cold air hose for $15. So, i thght y not try it, its only $15. A cold air intake would cost me $200 +. This does the same as an cold air b/c instead of a long aluminum pipe, i am using a hi temp plastic tube. No worries of water running to the engine b/c the plastic pipe runs direclty into the filter (acutally into the small opening in the frnt of the filters) just like the water filetrs in cold air intakes.

dips009

Hi
If you look at the original pics I in the beginning, the 3rd pic down is the front air dam. I ran a pvc cold air kit from the short ram air intake to the the opening pictured there (the front air dam). I was planning on putting a small screen in the opening of this pipe so trash, leaves, paper etc will not get sucked into the filter. Hope that helps.

tmitch2315

I also did the gun metal treatment but went to the expense (about $50) of buying new badges because when you remove the badges the adhesive gets damaged and I was concerned about a good seal. It looks great on wdp.

I used the exact same procedure and materials (duplicoat graphic)that is noted by dips except I used about 5 coats of clear and a longer time between coats. Had some problems with paint build up on the edges of the "A" but careful use of a razor blade took care of it. I did rough up the badges with #400 paper in hopes it would help keep the paint on. After ripping the trunk lid apart I also discovered the "A" is stuck on with the pins and tape. Be sure to mark the spots where the badges go on the corners so you can get them level and even.

So far so good and it has gone through 2 machine washes with no problem.

It was a fun and rewarding project.