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TSXXXX's 04 NHBP 6 speed build. 320,000 + miles and counting

74K views 292 replies 32 participants last post by  TSXXXX 
#1 ·
Hi guys, been meaning to make a thread for awhile now.

My name is Elliot and this is my TSX.

Little background on the car. I don't know a ton about it. Saw it on a Chicagoland facebook group and after some research on the numerous problems 04-05s have I went and looked at the car and brought it home.

I live in Chicago and my previous project was a EG2 Del Sol with the OEM b16a3. Had the car for almost a decade until it was stolen in front of my apartment. Decided that as long as I lived in Chicago I wouldn't have a modded Honda. Bought a CBR600 in the spring thinking it'd hold me off, but just over a year after the Del Sol was stolen, the TSX made it's way into my garage.

YES! The car has 320,000+ miles. It's far from perfect. The bumpers are rough as hell and the hood has rock chips for days. There's a couple rust spots including a big spot on the drivers rear door. The left side is definitely worse than the right which tells me it sat on the side of the road and got snow and slush plowed into it alot.

The previous owner picked it up for a daily for his 2 kids so it had to be safe. He went through the usual probs, shakey axles, a/c compressor was dead, PS leaks. It had new oem Acura axles, a new A/C compressor, a bunch of new suspension bits, and a few other tasteful mods.

I never really liked TSX's UNLESS they have the aspec lip kit. The previous owner had sourced the front lip and sides, had it lowered on springs, and found some Accord sport wheels. He also did a full buff and polish and made the most of the paint on the car. After a quick test drive I was surprised it was as solid as it was. Too bouncy for me but that would be addressed.

After taking the car home I honestly only wanted to add a 8" JL audio sub/amp, a few interior mods, and coils eventually. As I dug more and more into the forums I found the RL brake upgrade and a week later the calipers and brackets were ordered.

After installing the sub/amp off the rear 6x9 wires. I immediately realized I'd need to ditch the stock amp and the weird EQ it sends to each channel. This opened the door for a full audio set up. Figured if I was going to do it I'd at least do an amp for the door speakers/sound deadening material/etc.

After stockpiling parts all fall I drove to my hometown for Christmas and also to utilize the shop my parents have.

Huge shoutout to Marcus and the gang at heeltoe automotive. Not only did I get alot of aftermarket stuff but ordered over $300 in random odds/ends/hardware from their OEM parts database.

Mod list of what I've done so far. Future plans include putting more miles on her! I may pick up a spare k24a2 swap to build in case the 320k mile motor decides to quit. Oh that and get the RL brakes on asap too.

Suspension:
Tein Flex-Z Coils
Hardrace front camber kit
Hardrace front LCA bushings
Hardrace front sway bar bushings
Wicked Tuning upper rear camber kit (already installed)
Ingalls rear camber/toe arms
New OEM RSB end links (what a PITA)
TL Type-S RSB
MOOG lower ball joints
MOOG inner and outer tie rods
Rolled fenders/trimmed fender liners
25mm Ichiba spacers front/no name 25mm spacers rear
New front hubs and wheel bearings
New OEM front sway bar end links

Brakes:
RL caliper BBK
12.8 Nissan 350z Brembo equipped rotors
Stainless front lines
EBC Redstuff pads front and rear
Fastbrakes rear BBK MDX 12.3" rotor (I believe)
Fastbrakes front rotor rings
Honda DOT3 fluid

Exterior:
Mugen grille
Mugen 06+ spoiler
Mugen window visors
A-Spec front/sides/rear lip (rear lip still needs paint/installed)
STI front lip
Side skirt extenders (wrapped with 3M cf vinyl)
Painted chrome window trim with SEM trim paint
Custom headlights (no amber reflectors/leds)
6k HID bulbs
6k LED HID bulbs (bright AF)
6k license plate LED lights
6k reverse LED lights
All tail/brake lights replaced with LEDs
06-08 windshield wiper arms (HUGE yet subtle difference)
06-08 rear tails
Painted chrome hood trim NHBP
Formfit Bug Guard
HIC rear window visor
ebay rear diffuser
ebay fog lights

Engine:
Serge Bo flashed ECU (7,700 RPM redline 4,500 RPM VTEC)
Injen CAI
Type-R valve cover/accord IM cover
DIY oil catch can setup
Ktuned mufflers
Amsoil Fully Synthetic 5w-30
Spoon magnetic drain plug
Mugen formula 2.5 oil cap
Mugen reservoir covers
K20A Type-R valve cover and accord IM cover

Drivetrain:
Ghostwerks built OEM trans (Euro-R casing, Si-LSD, new 2-4 gearsets)
Competition Clutch Stage 1.5 clutch
Competition Clutch 11.5lb flywheel
Speedfactory detent springs
Speedfactory shift selector springs
Ktuned MC/line/slave cylinder - Replaced with OEM EM2 CMC and OEM TSX slave - Ktuned stuff is junk
Hybrid Racing shifter bushings
Hybrid Racing shifter base bushings
New OEM Acura Axles (already installed)
GM Sychromesh trans fluid
Spoon magnetic trans drain plug
New OEM clutch pedal custom welded up for added durability

Interior:
Strut King pedals
Custom VIP tray (thanks Dale)
Buddy Club shift knob/Maven weighted knob/CTR knob/Spoon Duracon 6-speed knob
Crown Royal red 'Chicago Blackhawks' shift boot
6k LED interior lighting
Had a OEM tape player - replaced with a standard cubby)
Stinger digital voltmeter (in the not an ashtray cubby)
Broadway mirror
CB radio/PA speaker setup
LED lights under front door panels
Rear seat USB charger - 1 2.1A 1 1.1A port

Audio:
Stock head unit
Rockford Fosgate line driver
Focal Access 165A1 SG components - front
Focal Access 165A1 SG components - rear
Metra speaker brackets (cut to fit focals)
JL Audio 12w6 and JL HO ported box (speaker basket custom painted metallic dark red)
JL Audio slash series 300/4
JL Audio slash series 500/1
JL Audio Bass knob (custom mounted in center console)
JL Audio 4 ga power cable throughout
JL Audio 4 ga ground wires inside.
JL Audio batter terminals
JL Audio inline maxi fuse
JL Audio distribution block
Knuconceptz RCA's and speaker wire
Did the "Big 3" upgrade with 4 ga wiring. Including a power cable from the alternator to the battery.
GROM bluetooth integration module
~60 sq ft of sound deadening material and ensolite in the trunk/trunk lid/doors.
Removed the torsion bars and added trunk dampers (to remove rattles)

Okay pics:

When I bought it:


My EM2 peeking through in the back. Been in my family 10+ years and 286,000 miles on her too!


A week after I bought her.. I planned on mostly leaving her alone.



New headlights:



The parts pile:


04-05 vs 06+



Before:


And the teardown:












 
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23
#4 ·
Wholly cow... that's a awesome build and a very impressive list of mods. Definitely puts my list to shame. Thanks for sharing!

Bummer that your Del Sol was stolen. My cousin had a very clean EK Civic hatchback with a JDM B16A engine installed, and that was stolen in front of his house too. I love the 90's era Hondas, but man they're just too easy to steal.

What brand of sound deadener did you use, and how is it working for you? I was planning to sound deaden the doors when I upgrade my speakers, but haven't decided what to use. Does the Ensolite layer also help to reduce the noise?
 
#5 ·
Thanks man, and yeah there are 9+ cars stolen every night in Chicago. It's a joke.

The sound deadener I used is here: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00URUIKAK/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o06_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Using a heat gun to prep the adhesive it worked really nicely. I've barely driven the car 5 miles so I'll report more back on if its quieter. I used a ton of deadener and ensolite on the doors in hopes of killing a few DB of road noise and providing something solid for the speakers to work with to "warm" the mids so they don't sound so "tinny"

Now that I'm looking at it, I only used 36 sq ft of sound deadener. If I could do it again I'd order 2 kits and double layer EVERYTHING. People said 80 mil is too thick for contours but with the roller and some force I didn't have a problem. Pry going to add a few layers to the trunk as it doesn't stand a chance to the JL W6 right now.
 
#9 ·
Battery will be upgraded whenever this one takes a dump. I'm only pushing ~65x4 for the doors and ~500 or less for the sub so I think I'm good with a factory alternator. If anything I'd just add a battery in the trunk before adding a HO alternator. Big 3 must have helped for what it's worth because I don't have any light dimming going on when the sub hits.

The equipment you have listed is like almost twice the output that I have so I'm not surprised you had problems lol.


Nice build! The accord sport wheels have a perfect looking fitment
Thanks, but they're also with 25mm spacers in the later pics. They're 18x8 +55 so with the spacers a +30. With the 235/45 tire it's scrape central on my fender liners.:mecry:
 
#13 ·
Update!

Haven't done much as Chicago winters don't leave me with much desire to work on her (the shop in the pics are 2.5 hours from where I live)

I managed to score a sweet deal on some OEM honda fluids. Got 5 jugs of coolant, 2 ps fluids, 4 brake fluids, and 5 oem filters for $100. I'll wait til my next shop visit to replace the coolant.


Also managed to somehow fry the voice coil on my JL 12W6 so I sourced a BNIB woofer only used for display from a JL dealer. Such a kick in the nuts because the new sub was more than I paid for the old one and the box smh smh smh.

Couple pieces still waiting to go on: RL calipers, finally got a replacement for the one I ****ed up via snapped bleeder valve. I also got a TL-S rear sway bar and all new cam bolts/washers so I can finally get my RR toe perfect.

Kudos to 757accord for selling me his spare bug guard. Really a fan of how it mounts, and I gotta say it looks great with the Mugen grille and aspec/Sti-V lip combo. You guys tell me... don't mind how dirty the car is!


 
#19 ·
UPDATE:

Finally got around to installing my KTuned cmc/slave/line. Night and day difference!! Still have some random engagement issues but I'm thinking my clutch pedal is cracked and giving way.. Didn't really take any photos but what a PITA to get my big hands down in the small space where the CMC goes.

Also got around to installing my RL bbk kit - everything went super smoothly. Using EBC red stuff pads with the RL calipers - been using the same pads in the rear and they're definitely a nice street pad.

The brake pedal goes down a little further than I hoped for - looking into a TL-S brake MC/booster now.

Also scored a lightly used type-r valve cover for $50 so threw that on as well.

And for pics, sorry they're terrible.






Current mileage ~325,000

Next on the to-do list: install ingalls rear camber/toe arms and dial in front pre-load a bit more, reduce rear camber and get overall stance where I want it.
 
#20 ·
Thats awesome that the previous owner hashed out the AC and axle issues. Car is coming along very nice, great work!

I had to bleed my system several times to get the brake pedal feeling right after doing the RL caliper install. The last two times I bleed it I did some hard stops in the wet and triggered the ABS a few times. I don't know if that was the magic trick or what but my brake pedal feels basically stock, maybe 5% different, you'd really have to drive a freshly bleed stock TSX then drive mine and even then I doubt most people would notice the difference.

I have the details in my thread, link in sig.
 
#21 ·
Good to know, but we even opened up all 4 corners and really didn't see any air come out. After cycling the ABS a few times it does feel the pedal is a bit firmer - who knows tho maybe its the pads starting to bite. The foot-dyno is so sensitive for me lol.

Update on my ktuned CMC - still having intermediate engagement issues - I think my clutch pedal must have a crack I can't see and is still causing engagement/disengagement issues. I'll pry pull it out soon to see if it is in fact cracked..
 
#26 ·
UPDATE: Haven't posted in here in awhile but alot of parts have made their way on to the car recently.

Installed my HIC roof visor, also from 757accord aka Richard. Also, installed my rear Ingalls camber/toe arms and blasted them with rust proof prime/paint as these have a tendency to rust very easily.



Didn't do much from September until recently besides melt my amp and and freeze yet another w6. I was using a regular acc 12 volt source for the remote wire and it was causing turn on pops which fried my shit. More on this later...

Once I fried my sub I went on the hunt for some new equipment. Found another JL 12w6 and proceeded to rattle can the magnet NHBP and clear it (even though I'll never see it). Found a JL Audio slash series 500/1 and then shortly after scored a great deal on the matching slash series 300/4.

JL 12W6 with NHBP magnet:


500/1 and 300/4:


Once I picked up the 300/4 I decided I needed to step up from the Alpine type-s components up front. Picked up a set of Focal Access 165 A1 sg. They're a work of art and they sound sooo much better than the Alpine's. The tweeters are so crisp and bright which is exactly what I was after.



I'd really wanted one of these VIP trays awhile and had Dale Morrison whip me up one for my car including dual cupholders and dual phone slots for my iPhone 8+ and my girl's iPhone 8. the indented section lights up too.




I then began hoarding parts (some of which made it on this update, some of which will wait)
-MOOG lower ball joints
-MOOG inner and outer tie rods
-new inner tie rod boots
-CB radio/PA speaker to holla at people in Chicago :grin2:
-Stinger digital volt gauge (for the Not An Ashtray pocket)
-Amp delay turn on module
-3M CF wrap for side skirt extenders
-Mugen Style visors
-SEM XXX and Trim Paint
-New starter
-Fastbrakes rotor centric rings for 12.8" 350z rotors - stopped me from getting the dreaded rotor shake when braking - best $20 spent ever.
-Picked up some StrutKing pedals - waiting til after winter to install these.


Some other maintenance:
-Made my own DIY oil catch can using the DIY floating around online with an air compressor water accumulator, some clear hosing, and a few fittings. In ~150 miles already caught a decent amount of oil!
-Did my annual oil change with Amsoil Fully Synthetic 5w-30. Put on just under 10,000 miles this year and oil looked good coming out!
-Changed my trans fluid with GM synchromesh after replacing it last year with OEM Honda fluid and WOW what a difference. People have been swearing by this stuff forever and now I see why. Took my 327,000 mile transmission and made it shift smooth as silk. Now with that fluid, the ktuned CMC and slave, and hybrid racing shifter bushings the car shifts the way I want it to.
-Replaced the lower power steering hardline as I thought it was leaking (the one that goes from the rack to the "cooler" line that goes on the front core support. - WHAT A BITCH! took me forever to get the new line back in there without bending shit up. Low and behold I think it's the "cooler" line that's leaking onto the line that I replaced, which is why I thought the lower was leaking. Oh well, I'll replace that one next.
-Replaced starter and honestly this is not as big of a job as everyone says. Getting the front half of the IM off is easy minus one bolt holding this stupid bracket on - I didn't put the bracket back on as I never want to take that bolt out. Only took me 30-40 minutes though.

Ended up running short on time as the audio install took more time than I anticipated (always does) so I'm holding off on the tie rods and ball joints until spring. Pry do axles and a couple other bushings then too. Also looking at a set of NT-03's in 18x9.5 +27 that might be in the next update..

EDIT: finally imgur is back up.. pardon the shitty shots as only my front cam works on my Iphone right now and it's really hard to take pics


 
#28 ·
That’s a valid point.

Which is one of the reasons why I went custom with CCW. I gave them my specs of what I thought would fit initially but the offset was too high in whatever cad program they had. They were absolutely right though, because even with 45+ offset my rear Tein collars made contact, I started at 52mm offset. Still have to run a 3mm spacer in the rear, which is like nothing.

Just like you I wanted a fat big lip but because of the higher offset didn’t allow it much. Eventually I went with 3 piece CCW classic wheel over a 2 piece wheel because it provide more clearance and a bigger lip.

What wheels are you looking at?
We can move this over to your thread so we don’t keep messing with Sony’s thread.
Good call on moving it over here.

Wheels I've considered/dream of (some really depend on what I can find in my price range aka deals) Enkei NT-03, Advan RG-II, Work Emotion CR2, Meister S1 and S13P, Volk ce28, te-37s, ze-40, Gramlights 57c6, 57DR.

Volk has a 18x9.5 te-37 that's a +35 that I see used alot on the new CTR, I'd love to see how that'd fit.
 
#29 ·
Seen a few pretty bad stints of weather this year in Chicago..



Picked up a Spoon Duracon 6-speed knob. Goes well with the Blackhawks crown royal bag I think. CR bag is super played out I know but the Hawks bag is cool and the red goes well with my love for the black/red combo.

Also seen here is the Stinger digital voltage gauge. Jvillesfinest's build thread was where I got the idea, and I've got another one I'm going to wire into the power cable for the amps to get a 100% accurate reading on the power the amps see. Love having the gauge to monitor how much my system draws but even sitting at idle with it absolutely cranked on a bass heavy track it barely drops more than 1volt and that's at a peak. Gotta love the big-3 upgrade and additional grounds under the hood.



Don't mind the cord for my dash cam - going to hardwire that in soon. Also not pictured - I wired a small CB radio under the passenger seat and have it hooked up to a PA speaker under the hood. Loud enough to hear even when I'm talking to people on the street - even with it under the hood and the car running. Very handy and downright funny to holla at people when driving through the loop.


Also, wired up a dual USB charging outlet the the back of the center console. One is 2.1amp for quick charge, the other is 1 amp. Worth noting that I had to cut the metal bracket the center console bolts to in the center for the bulk of the charging outlet to fit. Didn't realize it was an issue until after I'd cut and installed the charging outlet smh smh. But a quick cut with a cutoff wheel gave me clearance and then I bolted the 2 pieces of the bracket back in.


 
#36 ·
I know what to expect with these. I did a full Hardrace hardened rubber master bushing set on my old Del Sol and it was so stiff. With 12k F 8k R springs and aggressive damping it rode like a dump truck - in a good way.

I know it'll be alot stiffer, NVH will definitely increase, and I'll feel every crack these shitty Chicago roads have to offer. Thought of just buying Moog LCAs for the convenience factor but our shop in the pics has a press and all the tools necessary for this job.

Slowly but surely my daily is becoming more and more hardcore.. I say it like I'm surprised :wink2:
 
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