‘06 Accord 6 speed sedan build thread.
 

I bought the Accord in February 2018, it was in great shape aesthetically with only 90k miles. I got it as a DD/family car and I have already put 31k miles on it. But, coming from an ‘04 Mazda 6s 5 speed, while the transmission and engine are yards above the Mazda the chassis and clutch are (were) decidedly weaker. So, I caught the mod bug. Started with upgraded front brakes (legend GS calipers with accord coupe brackets and rotors). 19mm RSB from an 03 TL-S was next. Then a new slave cylinder with the check valve delete. Gm synchromesh tranny fluid, RV6 precat deletes, intake resonator delete, and a slightly ported/fully polished intake manifold are the rest of my current mods.

Along the way I’ve also done: full timing belt kit with water pump, pulleys and tensioner, did a valve adjustment, replaced a bent rim and all 4 tires, spark plugs, oil pan gasket and one ignition coil. The previous owner didn’t do much maintenance evidently.

Altho this thing started as a pretty basic commuter car that’s still fun to drive, I have really enjoyed modding the car and learning as I go. Right now the goal is to go full sleeper mode. I have zero mods to the car’s look and I plan to keep it that way.

In the next few weeks, the plan is to Re drill the battery support and move the battery over a few inches, and then build a custom 4” intake with the filter next to the battery. Then, fully port and polish the throttle body and runners and finish porting my intake manifold. Also I’m planning on doing an EGR delete and probably an oil catch can.

Eventually I want to buy a junkyard j32a3 and replace all the bearings and rings, get the block and crank re-honed, get some RL heads (with the RL cams of course) and port them myself, and basically be able to drop a new engine in the car. I’d do a j36 build but I don’t want to pay the ~$1500 extra to go thru all the necessary steps to get hondata in the Accord. This is and has been a super duper budget build. I’m cutting costs wherever possible. I figure a fully refreshed j32A3 with all my current mods plus ported RL heads with the cams should get me all the power I’ll need. I need a new clutch and flywheel soon so I figure I may as well start the engine build soon so it is ready to go whenever I pull the current engine to do the clutch.

:popcorn:



The 7G Accord is my favorite car!



Ask anyone....

lol at spending mucho deniro on engines and porting and polishing but doesnt want to take advantage of tuning.
tuning WILL tie all of the mods you are planning together...it will immensely improve drivability and the best thing yet, prevent knock.
without the tune, you'll be running SUPER lean.

Don't cheap out!

Do I want to get a proper tune? Yes. If there was a plug and play option I'd be all over it. But in order to get hondata in the Accord, you need an 07-08 TL ecu, custom harness, buy hondata, repin and rewire a bunch of stuff, and then pay for the actual dyno tune. I can get a junkyard TL engine for $300, RL heads for $300, new bearings and rings for ~$250, block honing and crank honing for around 400. I'll have around 1300 bucks into this build. Hondata would be more money than the entire build.

Subscribed from the tone and enthusiasm for economy!

sure, but what if you LOSE power?

i plopped on the 3.7l heads from the '10 MDX and LOST power. got the dyno to prove it too. was too embarrassed to ever show it
you're going to be running super lean with the ecu not optimized for the newer parts, you're planning.


and I did the ECU conversion. I found an 07 type-s 6MT ECU for $100 at a junkyard. I rewired my OBDII port and added teh canbus wire harness.
if you want the power, you need to get tuned!

Eh, I’ve done a lot of research and guys are still making power on the stock ECU, by and large. I am not going to keep my j30 ECU, I’ll get an ‘06 TL ECU. The stock ECU runs rich, actually, my car is running rich right now actually since I haven’t really done much in the way of airflow mods and have the precat deletes.

Also, not planning on tuning is one of the reasons I’m not going to get the 3.7 intake/throttle body combo. I’ll just port the stockers, put in the P2R thermal gaskets and call it a day. Probably leaving some power on the table going that route but I hear the drivability of that mod without tuning is pretty bad.

Post some pics of this thing, my friend has a pretty built 06 2dr 6mt and makes around 260whp-dont quote me on that but my type-s and his is a really good race

Aggreed!


:pics:

Rotrex the Accord!!

Haha. Sorry, definitely keeping this thing N/A. This is a daily driver, I’m mostly doing this build for reliability and fun, not max power. Plus, if I was going to boost a 6 cylinder family car I’d be buying a g35. Front drive means that all that power from a supercharger is mostly wasted.

Please develop your hypothesis...

No! Just needs sticky tires, good suspension and deal with the torque steer...


C'mon... Saying you have enough torque to cause torque steer in a Honda is badass! :D

I mean, I said mostly wasted, obviously all that power would be pretty badass. But traction and wheel hop are already big enough issues as it is and that’s a whole other set of mods that would need to be done to the suspension, bigger sticky tires, solid mounts, etc. in addition to the cost of the supercharger. for a budget daily driver boost is not for me.

What color/trim is your Accord, BTW?

It’s an ‘06 sedan, ex-v6 6mt, non-Nav, and the color is carbon bronze pearl with tan leather interior. To be honest I don’t love the color, and the interior leather is not the prettiest either, but it’s in great condition and black leather would be pretty brutal in the SC heat. minus the stock 17” 5 spoke rims and dual exhaust and red v6 badge it looks like any old plain Jane Accord. When I bought it it was the only 6mt accord sedan on sale in the entire US with under 100k miles, that i could find online anyway.

OMG! Carbon Bronze is my FAVORITE color! :drool:

Question for all you knowledgeable J series gurus: so I have been thinking that if I am really gonna do a refreshed J32 with RL heads in my Accord, I may as well swap the RL crank and rods and do a J35. A bit of research on car-part.com showed that I can get a full RL engine for less than $500.

The question: any issues with the J35A8 RL crank and rods in the TL block?

Also, if I got a 3.5 TL-S 6 speed ECU, that should run the 3.5 build without issues I would think, as long as I used the right injectors, wouldn’t it? That’s without hondata (which I could add later). I’d have to prolly build a custom harness but that’s doable

Why not a J35A6 (05' Odyssey LX)?

It's a direct drop in and will get you exactly what you want and save you a ton a money. :2cents:

Because I am going to rebuild whatever motor I buy regardless - new bearings and rings. RL engine comes with the most aggressive OEM cams, stiffer springs, and forged crank and rods. Odyssey engine has cast internals and not as aggressive cams. Not sure if I’d use the RL pistons or TL pistons, guess it just depends on bore measurements and what kind of shape each are in.

The J35A8 is definitely the best all around motor parts wise.

Curious why your planning to rebuild whatever motor you end up with, regardless of mileage? I get it if you plan to go with a 3.6 stroker but if not, seems like overkill IMO.

I swapped an untouched (except timing belt/gaskets) 120k+ mile J35A6 motor into my 6spd TL almost 2 years ago & it's going strong to this day, without an oil burning issue.

Of course, to each their own... just seems like the money rebuilding an otherwise stock motor could be better spent elsewhere...ie: hondata

Valid question for sure, and it would be more logical to just buy a drop-in if that was all I was going for, no doubt. But I’m mostly doing it because I’ve never torn down and rebuilt the bottom end of an engine before, and at the moment I have access to a shop with an array of tools at work, and a lot of time on my hands at work as well. So it’s just a fun project and a learning experience more or less. Also, I want a trouble free engine for a couple hundred k miles, because work is paying me to travel right now, approx every other week a 600 mile round trip is in the books. The weeks that I’m not traveling I’m bored AF.

Fair enough. I'm always curious when I see similar posts on the subject.

In for updates.. :thumbsup:

Im pretty sure this car does not exist with the lack of pics :tomato:

https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/acurazi...4b3742c38.jpeg
Here it is. Good shape, but no visual mods at all.

Looks good sir, Very deceiving! Looking forward to your progress

Nice buy! SO beautiful! My very favorite 7G Accord trim/color too! :love:

I did the throttle body coolant bypass last week
 

Definitely made a huge difference in throttle body temp. My throttle body now runs the same temp as my intake manifold instead of ~100 degrees hotter. Helps my factory airbox stay cooler as well. Now I just need the p2r gasket and an intake and I might be able to make some power when it’s not winter.

I did the Prank intake manifold and Tb thermal gasket. It is crazy how much they work. I can run my car hard for an hour and im able to touch and leave my hand on the intake it’s barely warm. Before I would burn myself

Good to know. The rv6 precat deletes made the biggest difference in heat soak for me, I had virtually the same experience as yours with the thermal gaskets. Im hoping the gaskets will take combating the heat soak to another level for me.

Anyone ever messed with relocating the IAT to the intake, as opposed to the intake manifold? I was thinking that that might help my car not pull so much timing in the heat, but it also might make it run richer and with the PCDs it already runs rich

That's why I love this platform so much!


It out performs 2/3 of the cars on the road stock, and is easy to mod!


I never heard of this mod but it sounds very interesting? And you know those J-series V6's are just incredible for revving a lot! :D

They’d be easier to mod if parts were easier to find and the ecu was more tune friendly, but the Honda j series has to be the easiest 6 cylinder to work on in recent history. My coworker asked me to work on his 2000 Nissan Maxima - both valve cover gaskets, spark plug tube seals, spark plugs, pcv valve, and vehicle speed sensor. I did it but My gosh what an unbelievably awful car to work on. I could have pulled both heads on my Honda in the time it took to clear all the tubes pipes sensors and unbolt the intake manifold on the Nissan just so I could get at the valve covers.

That's why I'm scared to get anything but a Honda or Toyota...



Also, the J-series parts are so interchangeable, not that you'd need to, or atleast without tuning, but it makes it more straight foward to work on.


Weather it's a J30 Accord, or J37 TL, they are still really similar!


Drive a new V6 Honda, it'll still feel amost the same!

We have a few 6 speeds. I started my8gen and was the tech mod. My 09 GF’s car pretty much has all the same bolt-ons. Injen CAI and all the thermal gasket stuff. ATLP j pipe and cat deletes. Stock cat back to keep it a sleeper. I have a modded 08. Any of you guys have have the egr block off plates?

The EGR blockoff will throw a code if you don’t have Hondata. but a user called nswdoc on v6p makes an egr bypass that blocks the exhaust gasses and has the egr pull clean air instead. It doesn’t look too hard to machine - I think I’m going to make one myself - but he’s still active on v6p if anyone wants to order one

Do you still have the Accord aluminum intake manifold? What helps with reducing heat soak is an updated magnesium intake manifold. I have a 07 AV6 and I'm about to swap in a 08 Acura RL mag intake manifold, it has an IAT port.

Yep still on the stock manifold. I am unsure about the manifold compatibility on an 08 RL manifold with my 6 speed; I believe autos and manuals have differences in the manifold design. My plan with the manifold is just to port the stock manifold and throttle body. The 09 TL-SH manifold plus throttle body (the best OEM combo) is like 800 bucks and has been known to cause bucking without hondata.

just get hondata already...you're DOING all of this; just to be held back

and have you heard of junkyards?