Originally Posted by crustyneon

So I literally have a whole 03 CL-S with a manual drive-train minus the frame. I'm about to start swapping it into an auto 01 CL-S. I've been told that you have to remove the auto one by unbolting the sub-frame and struts and just lifting the whole car up. I don't have equipment that beefy, so I'm wondering if you had any trouble removing the auto drive-train as a whole unit from the hood? I've been told that the manual can go in and out no problem, but since the auto is larger I'm concerned. If you remember, I'd appreciate it. PS: I know I'm digging up an old thread.

Originally Posted by fsttyms1

A little tip for you guys, The hood will stand straight up and give you much more light and room to work. Just pop the hood struts off the mounts on the hood. Take the drivers side hood strut mount and unscrew it and look on the hood about 6" down and over a little, there is a threaded spot for it, thread it in a little bit and hook the hood strut back to it to hold the hood open.

Originally Posted by fsttyms1

I have pulled my motor and trans out the top every time i have removed it. Just stand your hood straight up.

Originally Posted by mugenspire

this! i actually removed the entire hood when i did the swap and made it easier on myself haha

Originally Posted by dannysayaseng

very "Inspire"-ing build for sure man! I must admit, I've probably read through your build along with everyone else's like 7 times all the way lol. I'm now finally posting stuff because my 99TL is slipping like no other. AND I've begun ordering parts! Found a cls trans with roughly 60k on it for $800! But long story short, would it matter what year ecu i get? I never found a clear answer for that

Originally Posted by dannysayaseng

i'm actually just switching out the tranny itself and would more than likely swap out for an a2 in the future once i $tablized with money lol. i can barely find any ecu's or a module anywhere and i just wanted to find a clear answer. thanks man!

Originally Posted by kevinf41

Awesome work, wish I would have seen this tread a while back

Originally Posted by dannysayaseng

Many months later and I finally started my build on 03/13/15! Main struggle was the input shaft alignment when connecting the 6mt bell housing to the block. Would've been done way ahead of time but auto part stores apparently don't know what part is what so I'm forced to wait on ONE LAST part: slave cylinder. The TL is up and running, just waiting on the part to arrive home! Thanks Mugen for your thread along with many others. I'll post a thread later on in the week.

Originally Posted by Oh Sickest TL

just went through this whole thread...very interesting indeed!!! what an AMAZING set of skills you have my dude!! awesome TL...you should be extremely proud

Originally Posted by aznboi2424

This thread is giving Teo a big head haha

Originally Posted by mugenspire

what specifically are you running into electrical problem wise? do you have the service manual for the cl? that helps a lot and helped me figure out most of my problems. just pm me if you have more specific questions and maybe i could help you out

Originally Posted by mugenspire

ok so i have really bad news for the car.


i blew a head gasket because of the coolant levels when i started the motor and started to take it home. i hadnt noticed the radiator wasnt filled with coolant and so it started smoking when i was driving home. i pulled over and let it cool off so it wouldnt get too hot. unfortunately it was too late and i had it brought into a shop so they could run a compression test and figure out what the problem was. turns out the head gasket is blown. it was so bad that the motor got so hot i couldnt even touch the dipstick because it was blazing hot. so now i have two options from here.

1. rebuild the head gasket and keep original motor which i was quoted 2100$ to fix which is so sad to think about because i just got the car running and spent so much money on it.

2. i have a guy who would sell me a spare type s engine from an 02 TL-S for 500$ but its an automatic motor and I'd have to take the 6 spd parts from the motor i have now and put it in the 02 motor and then pull the other motor and swap in the new one. only thing is i dont have the time or place to work on it and do the work myself so i was going to get a quote for labor on this option as well and see how they weigh out.

im really stuck at this point and i feel like giving up and have lost lots of motivation to keep working on the car. but ive come so far i dont want to just give up now after everything so i dont know guys what do you think?