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Hi kids. I just picked this car up about 2 weeks ago to use as a daily driver. However, you know how car people are. It's a 1998 2.3 CL, automatic, stone stock with 155,xxx miles. And Lord Jesus it's SLOW. So the first "mod" I have done is to switch all of the main interior lights to LED. I also switched the marker lights in the headlight housings to LED. They didn't work at all when I got the car so it needed new bulbs anyway. I'll add some pictures shortly. The lady that owned it before me hit something. The front bumper cover is torn on the bottom side and the passenger side turn signal assembly is cracked and loose in the bumper cover and the drivers side fender is pushed in enough at the drivers side headlight that you can easily see the factory Acura alarm speaker.
Making some pretty good progress. What else do you have planned?
The car is so slow that I don't think I'm going to spend money on performance parts now. I think I'm going to send the header back and get some lowering springs and struts and then just drive it for a while. I'd like a decent double din touch screen and maybe some new speakers. Then ponder a motor swap.
So in my haste to get my "new to me crackhead special" double din bluetooth stereo in last night, I managed to destroy the trim around the center dash/console area. On a positive note, I can play music from my phone again. YAY.
No real progress recently. I have ran 5 tanks of gas through it since I got it and my 5 tank fuel mileage average is 29.47 mpg. I need to take it on a long trip to see how well it'll do on the highway.
Wow, 29mpg is pretty great. I haven't driven my CL around much lately and when I do, it's mostly in traffic, I've been getting ~17mpg.. Granted it's a 3.0 but still haha
So for giggles I thought I'd get around to installing that craptastic OBX-R header I just had to have so I did. I took me a couple of hours, but I wasn't in a hurry. It wouldn't surprise me if I lost a couple of horsepower.
And I feel you on the cracked dash trim, I have the 97 and never had to worry about it, but I did snap a woodgrain trim piece while trying to remove it. I did a head unit install for a member on here back in the day and he had a 98 and I was SO scared to crack his woodgrain trim. Thankfully I didn't though lol
Actually, I'm sure I didn't Lose any. Lol. I don't know how well or poor the factory manifold and down pipe flows. The primaries on the OBX header weren't properly aligned so 2 of the 4 primaries were too low on the flange and it looks like they used the weld to fill in the gap. I figured that would've reduced the efficiency of the header and it probably did. However, I've put about 600 miles on the car since the header swap and there is a definite drivability difference. I travel about 27 miles one way to work everyday. I have noticed that on the big hills on the highway with the cruise set, the car would down shift into 2nd most of the time to pull the hill. It has gotten warm enough here that I've been running the air on my way home and since the header swap, it doesn't downshift to pull the hills any more even with the air on. At the most it will occasionally unlock the converter or drop out of overdrive, but no more high revving pulls up the hills. Now it is entirely possible that the car was 1-3 horsepower away from not downshifting and I gained just enough to cross that threshold or maybe I actually picked up 5+ horsepower. I'm going to go to the track again in a week or so to see if it picked up any in the 1/4.
Originally Posted by 97BlackAckCL
And I feel you on the cracked dash trim, I have the 97 and never had to worry about it, but I did snap a woodgrain trim piece while trying to remove it. I did a head unit install for a member on here back in the day and he had a 98 and I was SO scared to crack his woodgrain trim. Thankfully I didn't though lol
I was stupid and in a hurry when i did the install and I didn't get some of the tabs on the install kit cut down close enough so when I pushed everything in place it broke. Dumb on my part. I'm going to go scout the pick and pulls soon to see in I can find a good trim piece.
I can't get a picture at the moment, but there's a little hose that runs across the lower radiator hose bracket near the starter. Anyone know what it's for?
thought I had noticed it once or twice and some friends following me down the highway the other day confirmed my suspicions. Besides the obvious oil leak around the distributor area I seem to have a pretty prominent oil consumption issue. When the car is under a load there is a fair amount of smoke coming out of the exhaust. So now the debate in my head ensues. Do Want to fix the f23 and keep driving it or motor swap it? The car is a pig and I do wish it was a little more spirited to drive. However, I'm not sure that a motor swap is an expense I want to mess with right now.
An F20B/H22/23a swap is pretty easy to do, Shouldn't be too expensive either these days. I'd do that. The 3.2 CL's can be had for a good price these days though if another car is your preferred option.
Is there anywhere that has dyno sheets comparing the F23A1 and the F20B? On a side note, I finally checked the oil the other day anticipating it to be empty. It was only half a quart low. Weird.
Like whoa. No real updates. The clear coat is really starting to bubble and peel. I need to finish converting all of the lights to led. Does anyone have a Flemenco back drivers side front fender laying around the they don't need? Also need a driver's side headlight.
Is there anywhere that has dyno sheets comparing the F23A1 and the F20B? On a side note, I finally checked the oil the other day anticipating it to be empty. It was only half a quart low. Weird.
04-26-2016, 12:12 PM
