Hi there I guess I figured ive lurked around long enough that I really should register. My name is Ira I'm from Edmonton, Alberta. I got my second TL a 2004 desert mist mettalic 5at after my 03 TL-S got written off and insurance paid enough for me to upgrade. So far I have replaced the front bumper and added the aspec lip at the same time I also had my grill done in black I feel it is a more uniform look with the black lower grills. I've had my Tein flex z's on for about a week I will be going for an alignment in a few days after I make sure the ride height is where I want it. Once it's aligned I will put new summers on a set of 18s from a 10 Maxima that iused on my old Altima. Funny thing is both those rims and the oems on the TL are both made by Enkei. Short term plans are SRI, throttle body spacer and 2.5" ss exhaust. Medium term plans include roll center correction, spoon chassis collars, ss brake lines, and upgrade to spherical bearings on the LCA. As well as a bunch more bolt on power adders once that's all in place I will enter the completely foreign(to me) world of tuning. Long term plans..........turbo!

 

How many kms?
Also since your TL is an auto and an 04, you should probably do some preventative maintenance before any bolt ons or other mods.
the 04-06 transmissions are considered to be "fragile"

 

225000 and yup just picked up the tranny switches from my local Acura dealership they were about $200 and I'm going to be doing a 3x3 flush and a new filter. The 5at seems pretty strong considering the abysmal color of it's current fluid but it is a little lazy going from reverse to drive

 

the laziness from reverse to drive is normal. the shift to D gear and then half a second before it engages is totally normal for the j-series engine.
km's are already pretty high, but with regular oil and tranny changes you should be able to make her last.
and of course your driving habits will play a role

 

My only comment is it would be ill advised to add a turbo to your car due to the automatic transmission. Basically, add the turbo, hit the go pedal a few times, buy a new tranny.

 

Where did you get the a spec lip from? Looks great!

 

Looking good

 

Ya I know the 5at is the weak link but I would buy a manual car before I try swapping gearboxes. And the lip I got for $145cad off lipkit.ca I believe and ya I think it looks good now but it was a beast to install. The thin part in the middle basically what you see there is all there is the part that is supposed to go under the bumper was hopelessly misshaped so we just started trimming and testfitting until it fit. It's also held on with hardware to keep it flush to the bumper. I should mention that its not an oem bumper either so it might fit better if it was the original.

 

Swapping the 6MT into an automatic 3G TL is not for the faint of heart or light of wallet. There are numerous stories of failed attempts and/or ghosts in the machine which cannot be exorcised. By far it is better/faster/cheaper to simply sell the car you have and buy one with a factory 6MT.