VaPouR

With Spring coming upon us, and this summer turning out to be one of my most mod intensive (and bank breaking), I decided it's time I finally contribute something to this community and start up my own progress thread. Where to begin? Well I could start all the way back when I was first introduced to cars, and how the bucket of hot wheels near my computer desk came to be, but tl;dr, I love cars.

So with that being said, in around February 2014 I had enough money saved up from my summer jobs and decided it was time for me to think about getting a car for myself, my first car. And sure it started with many, many other cars slowly getting struck down the list. As much as I would like to say that the TL was my dream car that I always wanted, I'll be honest, it wasn't even on my radar until about a week before I actually picked it up. I even had my sights on a bug-eye WRX wagon, but alas that was not meant to be. My initial choice was something stick, with an engine. Since my family did play a major part into the decision making (duh I lived in their house), the stick option was struck down fairly quickly (something, something, they want to drive it?). So my next option, was to get something with a big engine out a spite (little did I know, the joke was on me). All in all, it was a randomly suggested car by my brother in law who, like me, has a love affair with the automobile. He showed me a 3G, and from then on it was history. I tried to nail down something in my price range, while of course avoiding the plagued automatics that the Honda V6 transmissions were notorious on. After some very LIGHT research, I decided 05+ would be the winner. Of course I'd love to go 07-08 with the updated transmission, but a little too much $$$. So the search began, find me a 3G!! So I saw about 4 in total before deciding on my NBP 05 with Black interior.

1. A silver 06, with a shoddy CarFax.
2. An NBP 05 with Tan interior at a Honda dealership (barf, looked like a dog and cat was set loose on the interior)
3. A blue 06 which honestly wasn't all that bad. But I didn't really have history on it, although they were willing to have an Acura dealership inspect it.

It came down to option number 3 above, and the one that I now happily own. It mainly came down to trust, and the one I have was again, NBP on black. If I had known what I know now about black cars, maybe I may have been more open to the Blue 06, but I digress.

Owner is a mechanic, was completely open to bringing it to Acura to get it inspected. Hell, even changed out the O-ring on the steering pump for me the day before I picked it up. I had lengthy historical records on this car, and had full faith in the previous owner's care for this car. I felt it was a win-win for me. Poor guy was a family man now and was looking to buy an SUV in its place.

So without further ado, here she was the first day I brought her home. **WARNING POTATO QUALITY IMAGES BELOW**



Ok maybe not that picture....



Much better, there she was first drive under new ownership, and I definitely had to give her a nice clean.

Of course she didn't stay very clean with our Canadian winters, but I kicked out my Dad's 7G Accord to hide my baby.




Within the first 12,000k did a BUNCH of servicing on it to get it into a more "known" shape. I did the 100k service, swapped out the tranny fluid about 2 times in that span. 3rd and 4th gear pressure switches on her, oil changes of course. She was pretty much purring, really couldn't ask for much more. She drove great, put a smile on my face every time and even though she was bone stock, I couldn't help but turn back every time I parked her.

Fast forward to summer, car was running great right up until...



Boom, slap in the face, caught a flat right in my neighborhood. No biggie, I got summer wheels, it was summer, time to throw them on.



And you know what? They weren't half bad, they flowed with the car but that was the least of my worries. It didn't turn out to be, I found the car to be rolling funny with these new wheels on, oddly bumpy, lumpy, just acted very strange with the tires on. I did an alignment, hunter road force balanced, still they felt strange. I'm not sure if this had any bearing, but he had also put a 235 wide tire on a 7 inch wide wheel which I thought was oddly strange. So, I said that maybe it's the tires, the owner did say they only had about 1 season left and they looked pretty dry so I decided to wrap them up in some 225's Michelin PS A/S 3 more appropriate for the wheel width. And you know what, that helped greatly, and I think it could have been great

But lets detour from that story to see what I was doing in the meantime....




Lights, Camera, ACTION! There's a local guy out here that my Brother in law knows that's pretty big for this stuff. But man this is one upgrade I think should be done on just about anything. Swapped out all the incandescents to LED. What a difference it makes, and to top it all off, super blinding reverse lights in case you can't already see me backing up. I was pretty happy with this one, spent a good amount but boy was it worth it.



Got these bad boys cleaned up as well, a night and day difference from the dull haze that was starting to form.

But you know, they do say don't get something you like for your first car because you're bound to get in an accident, well that happened..



Waiting in line in a huge crowd/line of cars at a musical festival when buddy decides it's appropriate to slam it into reverse, and gun it in reverse while turning. Could have been a lot worse than it was, and poor guy was certainly apologetic. Definitely put a damper on plans but I would be pretty screwed too if he wasn't so cooperative since it was on private property. We handled it very quickly and went our separate ways.

That's about it for now, it's getting a little late and I'm going to be hitting the sack soon. But this is literally just the beginning, this is not even the car's current form. I'm not even finished Summer 2014, so stay tuned!

VaPouR

~~~reserved for continuation~~~

VaPouR

Either I'm an idiot, or I can't find the edit button, maybe it expires after X amount of time. If an admin after the fact can combine them for me, you'd be the real MVP.

Alright so lets fast track because it's getting boring real quick. So I fell in love with that red stripe tai light look and after finding a set on Kijiji (think of it as Canada's Craigslist but better), I had to jump on it.



Ripped that bumper off and slid her in, honestly after the fact it was a lot more tinted overall than it should have, kind of offsetting the red stripe look. BUT, it looked hella dope so I went with it:



But back to my previous wheel story, got sick of the crappy way the aftermarket wheels were so sunken, that I decided to throw the rubber on the stockies and run them. This probably gives you a better idea of how bad it was:



Or I'm just anal, either way I didn't like the way they looked. If I had known I was going back to these, I would have gotten some thicker rubber, but lesson learned, these fit and look much better:



So that just about rounded out 2014. Found some OEM Honda winters from a Type S with some pretty fresh rubber on it and slapped those on. Yes, horrifying I know.. but I'd rather be able to do the seasonal swap on my driveway myself so a dedicated set was smart. And, I knew that OEM Type S winters (I think they're actually for the CRV) would have noooo trouble fitting at all:




Yeah they were hideous, but there's a niece snowbeard on her so hopefully you've cleansed your palette.

Didn't do much during the winter, other than buying a front bumper to replace my stock one that got. Yeah.. it was still broken.



Different colour some of the more keen eyed may say... maybe that's just some foreshadowing what's to come.

So summer 2015 finally came around, and honestly it was mainly maintenance here and there. Changed out the control arms, lower ball joints all that. If there wasn't enough proof that I loved this car... here you go:



Yikes... anyways the end of summer started to roll around and my car really was starting to show signs of rust. Yes, I kept her clean, washed her during the winter as much as I can, rust proofed her since I owned her, but honestly once it starts, it's hard to stop so I had to think long and hard about the next steps. This was going to eat away at the body and leave my TL looking anemic. So, what did I do?



No no, not that, this:



Wrap the car of course, the only logical decision. At first I didn't think I was a wrap guy, I also thought it could be punted off as a little cheap, but I came to love it so so much, and to this day I think it's one of my favorite changes, among the many I've done so far. Had a local guy out here who does phenomenal work, bless his soul, repaired any of the rust spots, bondo'd it up and wrap right over it. At the time, it was a much better monetary proposition than paint, compared to the prices now I pretty much got a steal.

So with all of that, I decided it was time to do some upgrades in the meantime, might as well since we'll be in there so I had a bucket list of stuff to get ready in prep for this:

- Front and rear a-spec lip kit
- Black + Clear headlights
- Type-S side markers
- New D2S and switchbacks to round it out

Of course, here's how the beautiful headlights turned out, courtesy of a local 'Zine user here, and this was also mid-restore so, no, my car does not have a lazy eye.




So lets look at what we started with prior to it:


Into...




Man to me, it was a whole new car. I fell in love all over again. Heck, some guy rang my door bell while I was eating dinner to ask me where it was done. At the time I think it was still fresh off the heels of the wrap fad, and I'm sure now it's nothing, but I absolutely love it, it changed my opinion completely. Sure, it is a little more intensive to care for, you can't really let things just sit on the paint, and I can't really use and scrubs or sponges, and I even had to swap out some of my usual cleaning supplies for "Wrap" friendly stuff. But honestly, I felt it was even faster to give it a clean. So what else do you do with your buddies when you love your cars? Photoshoot of course!!


Till this day, still one of my favourite shots. That rounded out the summer of 2015 for me, and believe or not, I brought this wrap through winter with me and it's surprisingly resilient despite all the salt and grime thrown at it. And this is where the blue/purple thread title came from, sometimes it looks blue, my coworkers call it purple, it all depends on the lighting and I have nooo problems with it.



Brought it back to the guy who wrapped and even he was surprised it held up, these should last a very long time with a lot of love and care that's so needed. Did some small things here and there, tranny flush again of course and also met a very local guy to me, who has a great shop out here. And not to mention, a dope ass Type-S. So I definitely knew my car was in good hands when I first decided to get him to wrap my headlights for me. Seemed like a smart thing to do and till this day, all it takes is a simple wipe once it's dirty to get 'er clean again. I would put a picture but that doesn't really do it much justice.

Nonetheless, spring rolls around and it's time to get some LOWSSSS





Found a set of lightly used BCs locally, because jesus christ if I had to buy it brand new in Canada, I'd be wetting myself. It wasn't crazy low, but it was enough for me at the time. I still did a lot of driving, and the roads here in the GTA are disgusting to say the least.

Saw a local TL for comparison in the train station parking lot, made me really appreciate how far it's gone



Did I spend a lot of money to get it where it was? Sure. Did I love the hell out of it? You bet your ass.

So fast forward to Summer 16 (shout out to my boy Drake) the mod bug was itching really hard. So what do I go do?




HYFR. Man she purred, all those exhaust videos can't really grasp what a TL with an exhaust sounds like in person. It's menacing and I love it. Full custom catback exhaust with a J-pipe (3rd cat delete), stainless steel, TIG welded. Initially I had wanted to go with a more known exhaust vendor, but the local shop was known for good work and who can complain with the results?

Shortly after this happened:



How the hell was I driving with that and not realizing? I don't even know, It was stupid of me and I have learned from my mistakes. As soon as I realized what had happened, that car was off the road, I took the bus right to work and back while trying to figure out where to get two rear tires for this bad boy. Although she was aligned since she was lowered, the toe arms in the back were seized. OF course notorious for most Hondas/Acuras of this era, and I had been putting off getting them replaced because, I'm an idiot. So with that said, it forced me to order a set of new tires for the rear, and ingalls for the rear. I actually initially purchased both the SPC and the Ingalls but the went with just installing the Ingalls after much research realizing the SPC's would be overkill.

So remember the guy with the dope local Type-S? Yeah he does most of the major service on her and he's pretty well known for this:



All controlled by a custom switch within the car, pretty cool add on if you ask me. Summer didn't really consist of much else other than some VLEDs for the severely impeded turn signals (due to the dark tails) and tint:



Man are VLEDs worth the money, really brightened up the housing and made the lights a lot safer during the day time.
Knock on wood, she's never let me down and I don't regret this car one bit. I took her down to H2O and back, without a problem. Got the best mileage I ever had out of a tank too. If you've never gone out to H2Oi, and you're close enough to Maryland, it's 538958901359% worth the drive in my opinion. Picked up a sick novelty plate too, not sure where to mount it though...




But with all of this happening, I knew I did not want to take her into winter any longer, she was going to become a garage queen. So what do I do? Pick up a sick EK:



Got it for a steal and haven't looked back. Cheap, reliable, good on gas, can haul some stuff in the back. It felt like the best of every world. Picked it up and worked on it with my brother in law as a little project essentially overhauling just about everything. Everything was so easy, and accessible, not to mention cheap.

But with that being said, Winter is here and here's where the TL sits as of right now, hibernating...



Got some big plans for her this summer, and I can't wait to show you all. But for now, here's my Blue/Purple menace.

sockr1

iTrader: (5)

love the progress, thanks for putting that all up it's always fun to see how things come together!

the wrap job came out great and it's nice once in a while to see people mix it up and do something different. i've always wondered about the durability of wraps but sounds like you have it dialed in pretty well.

just a few suggestions....
i think you should put some nice wheels on the car. i think it would really make everything come together and look sharp, especially for summer. maybe like a nice hyper silver or something light in color to have some contrast

the other item is the aspec side skirts. i know most people won't recognize they aren't there, but for everyone that knows TL cars, it sticks out like a sore thumb when they're not there and you have the front/rear already, it just really breaks the flow of the body lines. i think if you throw those on there you'll have a super sweet all around look! just my two cents

did you wrap/dip the grill top bar only? maybe do it to the rest of the grill too?
looking forward to more!

BreezyTL

iTrader: (8)

Welcome to the party! Thanks for sharing the past few years of your TL! That wrap turned out great! I think your rear aspec lip has a little sag in it...

sockr1

iTrader: (5)

lol i didn't want to point it out...

VaPouR

Thanks man!

Yeah wheels were definitely going to happen this summer, that was my main goal for this summer, among a couple of other things. I was actually initially going for the XXR 530's, I know they're extremely played out but I completely love the look, it fits my budget and I think the chromium black finish would accent the car nicely, as well as dialing the coils down a few threads. I thought the XXR's would be a great starter wheel, of course the eventual goal is to throw some nice forged, multiple piece on it, but baby steps.

As for the A-SPEC side skirt, the more and more I looked at the other TLs with the full kit, the more I realized that I needed the sides. The aggressiveness of the sides themselves actually completes the loop with the sharpness of the rest of the kit I was actually browsing last night and found a part out with the picture of a TL with the side skirt, but unfortunately those were the first things listed as sold..

Yeah it's just the top bar now. I'm thinking of maybe taking a gander at the CF one that Endless is releasing in the near future, or wrapping it all black.

Haha, no offence taken boys. It's got some major sag to it, and major fitment issues. I actually bought that used, as a mistake, since it was good deal. I was under the impression that the aftermarket a-spec rears don't really have fitment issues, but this one could have been bent to hell. So with all of that, it goes hand in hand with the side skirt. I'm thinking of picking up an OEM rear and side lip from Endless but unsure if I want to get them, wrap them and mount them. Or tear the wrap off completely, repaint the car and have it back to black. Decisions decisions...

sockr1

iTrader: (5)

haha all on the same page! it's funny but i was the same way i barely noticed aspec side skirts, but once i looked more into it the more they all flow together. but 9 out of 10 people on the street won't notice the things we notice on here haha

all good with the xxr 530s, that's actually the same route i did. they were my first wheel and they are a great value and look great in my opinion. good starter wheel like you said. now i'm on some lighter and less aggressive tsw wheels but always nice to start with xxrs. with your setup you can go with the 18x8.75 +33 with 235 or 245 tires, whereas us brembo guys have to go with 225 on 18x8.75 +20. if you get the 530s make sure you source some type s center caps to go with them

i think an all black grill would look nice

VaPouR

^^^^100%

Man I read through that entire XXR Megathread, back to front and finally decided on running 225s with the 20 offset since I saw just how gnarly you can get the fitment to be. But now you reminded me I don't really need that and I could run some thicker rubber on top of it, now it's back to the drawing board...

But in other news, got some 07-08 mirrors and mystery Honda boxes for this summer! Once again, my apologies for the potato quality

guitarplayer16

iTrader: (8)

Awesome thread, thanks for sharing!

Steven Bell

iTrader: (2)

Welcome to AcuraZine! You have 5 minutes before you cannot edit any posts.

VaPouR

So.. I did a thing




Here's how she sits currently, mind you that was with 4 wheels and tires in the back, so just a tad higher, these BCs are surprisingly resilient. (pls ignore the dirty)

ATLS_666

love your car. more info on the 07/08 mirrors. are they wrapped?

BreezyTL

iTrader: (8)

What are the specs on the XXR's and Tires?

nanxun

The color of that wrap is brilliant. Thx for sharing!

Steven Bell

iTrader: (2)

Love, love love it!

VaPouR

Not quite yet, I picked them up a month or two ago. My goal is have them wrapped and on before Fitted this year, so fingers crossed.

18x8.75 +20 wrapped in Nitto NT555 G2 225/40r18

---

Thanks for all the love, glad you all like it. We'll see what this summer holds....

DesertMistTL

iTrader: (2)

that's a nice wrap, good workkk