I figured it was about time I decided to put together a progress thread now that I have had my car for over two years. So I'll get right to it.

When I first got my TL, I was in High School and was stuck in the mindset of trying to do things with the least possible cost. I didn't have much guidance in terms of what mods to do other than my high school friends. I also thought that most of the mods I saw on acurazine were out of my reach. So i started off easy and a bit "ricey" for a TL I guess you could say.




My first mod I decided to do was install a Cold Air Intake. So I purchased an Injen CAI and HAD IT INSTALLED. This was so early in my modding days that I was afraid to install my CAI myself.




The next incredibly difficult modification was to tint my side markers with that spray paint Nightshade. I know everyone is just soo disappointed that I don't have any more detailed pictures of this.



Between a few mistakes I happened to make a good choice; getting my windows tinted with 45% so it read 34% if it was metered.



However, after popping my Nightshade cherry, I went on a bit of a rampage. I ended up tinting my tail lights as well as my headlights. The only thing about my headlights was that I didn't do the entire lens, just the outside where the orange diffuser was.... But another positive is I bought the ATLP race pipe, j-pipe and the cat-back. Oh yea.. and I just HAD to put the sticker on. -___- I also ended up painting my break calipers blue and de-badging my trunk





[IMG]https://acurazine.com/forums/picture.php?
albumid=6372&pictureid=34563[/IMG]


The noobi-ness continued when I decided to paint my engine bay covers blue..




I then proceeded to install puddle lights and paint my grille black. One of the biggest mods I've completed to this day is opening and cleaning my headlights to black them out (inside) as well remove the orange diffuser and install an LED strip. (I actually did my headlights twice. Thats why they might look slightly different in a few pictures.)















Shortly after my blown tire, I painted my stock wheels black and installed lowering springs.






The next group of things I did was install the depo tails (white and black), installing some interior LEDs, the accord fog light mod, and the grille cutting mod. (guided by the fantastic DIY's here on acurazine)








Here are just a few pictures from me and a few of my friends messing around at senior week. Slightly immature I guess, but hey, it was fun.







This thanksgiving, I finally had my friend (Ryan Burkett) take some professional pictures.





Over Christmas break I installed some Megan Racing Coilovers and painted my rims gun metal. (Sorry I don't have any pictures of the rims yet or quality pictures of the drop, but here is what I have.)





So now that I have a progress thread I'll make sure to keep it updated. I'm sure theres some things I missed as well, but let me know what you all think. Good or bad, I am open to all suggestions. Acurazine is a great place to be. Thanks guys.

And I'm praying all my pictures work right now.

 

How's your turn signal output?

Sweet car for a guy your age.

 

Thanks man.

And are you referring to when I had it tinted or because that inside pocket is black now?

 

Right now, since all the turn signal reflectors are black lol

 

Its not bad at all. Buuuuuut in all honesty, I think its slightly hard to see during the day. I dont think its toooo bad though. I havent been pulled over for it or anything though.

 

looks good for your age, I've seen way worse. So when are you going to get some new wheels? or are you just going to paint them four more colors ? haha just jk , but it would look a lot better with some wide 18's on there

 

You should repaint the wheels . What did you do with the lowering springs that were on the car? And what kind were they? How did you do the cupholder LED....looks very nice.

I am the same age and have the same tails. I know it is very hard for us to mod as people our age have limited to none income.

 

bro where u bought it

 

ebay


I did repaint the wheels. They are gun metal grey now. As for the springs; they are on my stock struts in the attic of my garage and they are H&R. For the cup holder I took it out and then drilled a small hole in each and then mounted an LED in there. If you do it make sure to drill under the flap closest to the rear of the car, so its harder to see the actual LED.

I was actually going to paint each spoke a different color so don't assume things! Itd be 5 more colors... lol But I am getting some rims in April. I'm not sure which wheels to get though. I am trying to decide between a few different wheels.

 

Lots of at the beginning. Glad to see you've brought it back though!

Time for A-Spec kit next

 

yes sir. A lotttt of lol and thank you! thats what I've been trying to do. After I get rims in April, I miiiight see an ASPEC kit in my future

 

Looks good. I had an acura too my senior year...fun shit. But mine was a 94' Acura Legend and I graduated in 09'

Looking good though. What kind of H&R springs did you have, Race or Sport? and how did you wire up the puddle lights? I actually just picked some on ebay earlier today and I'm thinking of how I'll wire them.

 

Thanks man. And they are the race springs.

I wired them to the battery and to a switch. It wasn't too hard at all. The only time consuming part was making sure you drilled the holes right and spaced well. Then I just ran the wires down the side skirts, up the wheel wells, and then through the hole near where my coil-over bolts in, connect the two sides in the back of the engine bay and then run a wire to the switch and then to the lights. Then you just need to find a good ground.

 

Keep em coming, and btw SICK garage!!! looked like a kitchen to me o.O

 

haha thanks man. its just a table for soldering and a place to set some tools out. I stash my tools in the cabinets to save some space. have some cleaning stuff in there as well

 

damn u r slammed!!

 

^^^hell yeh...lol

I never get tired of looking at a slammed TL though!

 

Thanks low is the way to go. Once I get my wheels, I'll be having a bit of fender work done so I can hopefully go a bit lower

 

I like the blue calipers and engine covers. Your TL has come a long way.

 

Thank you sir. My engine covers are black now, but that means a lot coming from a member such as yourself.

 

After an A-spec kit it will look much better, but you need to ditch the I<3 Haters sticker.

 

Took it off over Christmas break

 

Really glad you are able to distinguish ricer mods from clean mods. Not too many young ones can distinguish the 2, and most of the young kids do ricer mods and stick with it. You on the other hand went through it like a phase and currently slowly out growing it. Thumbs up!

When you painted your engine covers blue and now you painted them black, did you sand them down or use any primer spray so that the paint would stick to it better?

Actually can you post the details on what you used and how you did it? I need to paint my engine covers lol...

 

Good to hear, hope to see more of this TL.

 

When I first did it (rice stage), I just cleaned them really well. When I redid them I just cleaned them well again and then painted over the blue. I actually don't have most of them on anymore, but if I were to do it again, I would probably sand them down with some fine sandpaper (maybe like 180 or so), give them a good cleaning, then paint them with regular spray paint, and then finish up with a few layers of clear coat just to try to improve the durability. I didn't use clear coat and it started to get really dirty and messed up after a couple months. I would maybe even look into using caliper paint? That could be a good idea, but thats up to you to think about.

And thanks a lot man. I've been working on cleaning it up and all. I appreciate it.

Thank you.

 

pretty good progress so far. If you plan on keeping the stockies for awhile you should pick up some wheel spacers. It changed the look of my stock wheels and stance and made them look a lot more aggressive:

 

lol i think ive seen you on 108 or 27 heading to my cousin's house in mt. airy
i believe that time you were coming out a shopping center that has a WEIS grocery store.

 

i was planning on doing the same, getting spacers for my sotckies while i save for more aggressive wheels, how many mm are your spacers and what brand ? would you recommend that brand or another?

 

Everything looked good until I saw the blue calipers and engine covers (glad to hear you made them black again)...then I got to the blue painters tape pictures and just shook my head. I know you're young, but seriously? Everything else looks decent. My favorite mod of yours is the cup holder LED's.

btw, you should tell your photo friend that when you take rolling shots, you should avoid capturing the car you're sitting in and make sure the horizon is level in static shots.

 

looks like you are headed in the right direction, car looks good

 

How many mm are those?

 

Performance parts first is always a good start.

 

Ive got ichiba spacers. The back spacer width is 25mm and the front spacer width is 15mm. I wanted somewhat of a staggered look and this way the wheel spacers allow me to achieve the look with the ability to still be able to rotate my tires for even wear.

 

[QUOTE=06tl4life;13568857]pretty good progress so far. If you plan on keeping the stockies for awhile you should pick up some wheel spacers. It changed the look of my stock wheels and stance and made them look a lot more aggressive:

Im planning on getting wheels in april. That stance looks really nice though, especially for stock wheels. My wheels are the same color now. For future reference though, just in case, what size spacer is that?

To visit Amanda, right? I think we messaged each other about that. You'll have to come down to Mt. Airy again sometime. Maybe we can get a group together and do some pictures or mods or something.


That was senior week and we were just messing around having fun. It was only on for a few days. A lot of people actually called.

I don't have the LEDs hooked up anymore, but maybe if I get the time I'll put some more in and get them running again.

Thanks a lot. Hoping to keep it moving in the right direction.

 

yeah haha, they are the only ones around that area. I dont really go there often, maybe 2-3 times a year that's all. Ill let you know next time im there Reason why I didnt hit you up prior times was because I thought you went to college elsewhere, so you weren't gonna be around the area.

 

I do go to school in Williamsburg, VA. During the summer and stuff I am home.

 

Gotcha. Im sure ill be in Mt. Airy in the summer time at least once. I'll let you know

 

Looks great man. You've come a long way.

 

I miss my stockies, who wants to trade?? i have the type-s waffle wheels

Car is coming along nicely! Get the body kit and you are set

 

this is what my car used to look like!!! except for the drop

sweet ride mate