2010 3.5L Acura TL owner
 

.Hello!
Owned this car for a while now, looking to add some horsepower to it. Haven't really done much to it, just a K&n intake. Thinking about going J Pipe and exhaust next. Open to suggestions!

Welcome to the forums.

Since this is a topic/technical issue which will require replies and discussion, and not a "New Member Introduction", this thread has been moved to the model specific forum.

Best things to do are PCD or HFPC, J-pipe, catback, ktuner.

You can search the performance section for more things.

after all this is set and done, how much HP you think would be added, and what do you think the estimated cost would be?

Well the fact of the matter is that its hard to get more power out of these NA engines (assuming you want to keep it NA) as they are well optimized from the factory.

And quality products don't come cheap.

I would optimistically estimate 30-40 whp.

350 for PCD or 500 for HFPC + 450 Jpipe + 1000 catback + 500 Ktuner.

Then unless you are installing the exhaust components yourself, you will have to pay someone to do that which wont be cheap either.

yeah, sounds about right. I appreciate your help!

I've done everything dopeboy mentioned (HFPC's instead of PCD) except catback. I opted to just install magnaflow mufflers instead. The biggest difference was after tuning with Ktuner. I'm very happy with the response from the mods. I've never dyno'd it but if I had to place a bet, I'd say it's gained maybe 30hp. Not much but definitely better than stock, especially the improvement in lower end torque. I also added the 3.7L throttle body and intake manifold along with ported and polished intake runners. Just make sure if you do Ktuner that it's after all the bolt-on mods since they alter the parameters which Ktuner can optimize. If you add something after that, you'll want to re-tune in order to take full advantage of that. There are some good e-tuners we can recommend or find a local shop that knows Ktuner.

This might be a totally dumb question but I'm new to tuning. I know tuning is recommended, but how important would it be to actually get the car tuned vs use the predefined maps w/ the ktuner? I have the intake and j-pipe and I'm using the supplied tune map which matches my mods (FWD car). Would it necessary be that much better to get the custom e-tune? Also who would you recommend!

Thanks :)

If you only have an intake a j-pipe I'd probably just go with the predefined maps. In my experience, the custom tune vs. the maps was a big step up but I had a lot more changes than you've currently got now. If you decide to do more bolt-ons you might consider a custom tune later.

Yeah I was already totally blown away by how great the response was from the stock to the default tuned maps. I might do some more mods down the line, thinking of the HFPCs to add a bit of noise. Don't wanna do the whole exhaust yet. Sounds like the next set of mods I'll include tuning as a cost factor.

Aren't there more base maps for you to use after doing more mods?

p.s. hfpcs are great

where would you recommend for me to buy a j-pipe. i was considering buying one from EndlessRpm, but not really sure

You first need to decide which j-pipe to get as they are not all the same.

Then anywhere like endlessrpm, heeltoe or xlr8 are all good sites to order from.

what are the difference in J-pipes?

Design, pipe diameter and whether or not they delete the 3rd cat or give you the option to run a high flow 3rd cat.

Imo you will want to get one that deletes the 3rd cat because its not monitored and deleting it will give you the most performance gains, kind of pointless to keep it.

Its generally accepted on here that the best two choices are either the RV6 or xlr8. The xlr8 has better ground clearance, the RV6 has a larger pipe diameter. Both great choices you can't go wrong with either.

I have the RV6. and love it.

I was looking at the J- pipe from EndlessRPM and their exhaust system. what are your thoughts on that one?

It does not delete the 3rd cat like the rv6 or xlr8 do. You will have to also buy either a test pipe or high flow cat. Im not a fan of that personally. Id rather just have one solid long tube j-pipe.

But honestly im sure its a great product all the same and there may be differences between the FWD and AWD jpipes that im not aware of as I have an AWD car and have only really done the research for AWD.

I have athe XLR8 J-Pipe and I'm loving it, definitely adds a bit of noise. Power might not be noticable. Install was super easy but you really do need some sort of spacers for that cross brace that is right under the intake. I 100% had rubbing issues on my XLR8 (regardless of what the reps say =( ....)

does anyone have an recommendation with exhaust? i was quad exhaust and for it to sound good, but not like a ricer...