Presidential_Detail

Man what is up with the haters in this thread, let the man live his life. Take joy in the fact that he is sharing his modding experience with us on a car that not many have done anything with. The car looks great, who cares if its a lease or if Op can or cannot afford the car..thats his own business! haha

OP, car looks great and I like the mods thus far. I know exactly what you mean about a reliable daily driver. Ive been in those shoes before. My honda is not my daily driver for this exact reason. I want to be able to do things to it without worrying about finishing the project for the next day at work. Certainly less stressful this way!

usdmJON

Thanks for the kind words!

First guy I have past with. Second guy I assumed was friends with the first guy but looking at his recent posts he does a lot of telling other people what to do.

The highlight was him telling someone to not spend 700 bucks on coilovers and instead go to school and take english history and math. hahaha We've got a life coach over here modding his own whip then telling others to not waste their time.

usdmJON

New page new pics.





Contemplating doing a vinyl gloss black wrap on the roof as well as the rear visor... maybe even a cf wrap for the grill then matching the emblem black like the rear.

Tom_Chooch

iTrader: (1)

Do they make a trunk lip for these OEM? I'd like to think that would really set the rear off quite well. Can't wait to see you get wheels for it, not too many people are modding these at the moment so it's nice seeing someone do it.

usdmJON

They have an OEM spoiler which is much more spoiler than trunk lip. The same guys that made my rear visor make an M Series style trunk lip. Id have to get it paint matched but it only sticks on with double sides tape so Ive not cared to try it out.

On azine you will find a couple other serious dd tuners.
One has thrown a dual exhaust on it. Had to reshape his spare tire wheel to get the piping to fit. Aside from that though he hasnt done much else.
Another guy with a 2.4 has done a couple more go fast mods than I have with less cosmetic changes.

Then from there more people fall short doing tint, LEDs here and there, and maybe some plastidip and reps.

Figuring out what I want to do wheels wise. Sadly I may be going with reps myself. Having other places I want to put my money, I dont really want to spend more than $1500 for wheels and tires. Looking at LM reps in 19in at the moment. Possibly Privat Akzents since I trust Konig.

Just not sure if I want to go 18 or 19. 18s will save me like 160bucks but so far everyone has 17s stock 18s aftermarket. Being that they have a step lip and a smaller face, I think 19s would look great for a vip inspired build. As well I think theyll fill the wheel wells much better while on aftermarket springs alone.

usdmJON

Basically Im looking at taking this route but slightly lighter gunmetal faces and not reverse mounted so youll see the nice step lip.

When I made those I couldnt say exactly what size but I assume 19s would look like that.
My car looks exactly like that except 75ish% tint all around no trunk spoiler and replace the side/rear kit with splashguards.. only the front lip.
Sides alone cost upwards of 600. Fuuuuuu.. Front and rear go for over 300 each.

Weekend is here so tomorrow if the weather is warm enough... cali.. ha!.. I'll be cutting into the new sti lip and trying to get it to fit onto of the black accent piece in front on the bottom. If I can get it to fit over that it wont hang so low and be far more noticeable. Picking up a dremel on the way home today.

Also going to play around with my tail lights... I lied and bought some more plastidip. Going to see if I like my idea.. if so Ill get them sanded down professionally and tint them to last. Ive just always disliked completely smoked tails so we'll see how my idea goes.

usdmJON

New sti lip mounted up.
Went and bought the Dremel200 from Home Depot. Worked great. A little slow but it really let me cut exactly how I wanted to. Very happy I didnt go Harbor Freight on that purchase. Feels very sturdy.

Cut into the sides of the lip and the mounting point to get it to fit further out than the first sti lip I installed. This one took a lot more hacking to make fit around the new OEM lip kit I have but together they look fckin ****!!

Vtec97

Looks dope man...not too often do u see love for what Acura is pumping out these days.
I hope to be modding an ILX in the future!!!!

usdmJON

Thanks! Sadly you dont see much love at all for their newer models. But I think that may change with the new TLX. Looks great in my opinion.
The ILX is a fun car. If you need a manual the 2.4 is great and everyone is loving the 6speed.
If an R series sounds fine and you want a little more luxury the auto 2.0 with the r20 is still a great car and just as easy to mod as the civic's smaller r18.
Speaking of the r18, I just finished bolting up this downpipe. It was made for the r18 but bolts up perfect to my r20 and it still a good size over stock.

Downpipe on.
As expected I dont feel much as of right now. The cat is still right before it and there is still a bottle neck where the oem mid piping starts. This will be addressed after Ive bolted up an axle back.

I do feel a slight bit more pull in the higher RPMs. In sport mode I can feel it more; while letting the tranny shift you only feel more pull right before it shifts.


Love these new metal shrouds. So much easier to get off than those damn plastic tabs/screws.

Quick comparo

Stock downpipe had no gasket. Used the metal gasket the downpipe supplied but used the stock gasket to the cat since it still looked great and I hear the megan ones can leak down the line.


Shroud back on after testing for any leaks.


And the victory beer. Ordered these a lil while back at a local Liquor store. Went through there while test driving and was happy to see they were in. Id only had the Oatmeal Stout from Great Divide which I loved. This espresso stout was a suggestion from a fellow crafter beer drinker and it was a great one!

usdmJON

Hey guys. Been away for a while.
Couple small changes.

Got some 20mm GarageLine spacers for the rear.


Took the plastidip off the emblems. Took the reflectors off and dressed them a bit to look like the RLX and TLX concept. Very happy.




Then I finally took the front tint off and put my plate back on.



Took the plastidip off everything. New dealer plate frames just because.


Picked up some authentic Work VS-MX in a not very aggressive 18x8 +36 for a great price. Sent them out with my buddy to get repainted and handle the curb rash.

Future probably holds 2in lips if I can source some.

Vtec97

Right on man, good to see ur still at it! I'm excited about the TLX should be rolling into our dealer any week now. I'll let u know how the new model feels...might be a new lease for me?!?!?!

hungrygreen_gsr

Love the STI and OEM lip combo, it looks really clean. Great choice on the rims too! Are you sticking with the rim color or changing it up? Also, you still plan on doing that headlight mod? Car is looking great, keep it coming.

Vtec97

Oh yeah forgot to note there is a new recall out for replacing the headlights in ILX's. Something about they get too hot and catch fire. Def check if urs is in the vin range

usdmJON

Thank you. I think the TLX looks great. Im surprised at the price range for the 2.4. Crazy low.

I did hear about this. We discussed it on Acurazine. Apparently it is on base models with halogen headlights. Ill definitely double check though. Thank you for the heads up.

Thanks!! I am actually really happy with how the lip worked out. I just wish it was a little bit bigger.
I am so excited about these wheels. They have been one of my favorites for a really long time. Discontinued back in 2001.
I am getting them repainted. Metallic Gunmetal. I can't wait.

hungrygreen_gsr

Well the price gap is due to the TLX replacing the TSX and TL. So it has a rather large variation in price to cover. They couldn't raise the price of the ILX to make up the difference cuz that would have taken it out of the entry level market. Although that does leave room for a pricier sport ILX (turbo CTR drive train anyone )

Great choice on the rim color. You mentioned you wished they came in a different offset. Check out Wheel Flip. Can't wait to see the finished product.

usdmJON

Honda has been testing 2.0 turbo ILXs with the last Type R testing I read about. Id love to see them develop that.

Thank you. I think the wheels will turn out great. I anxiously wait.
I actually plan... if I dont find other wheels I want to pick up as well, to relip these Works. I love this design. Been a favorite for a long time. Id be psyched to throw some 2in step lips to go 19x9. Not sure where that would put the offset but I assume it'll go down to like +20. 19x9 +20 would be perfect for a VIP inspired look.

usdmJON

usdmJON

Axix24

looks good man!

usdmJON

Thanks!!

Bluto!

damn, looks very nice.

sillyboi

The car looks good with the new wheels. Any plans on getting side skirts and rear lip (if there's any available)?

Vtec97

Lookin good homie, did you have the wheels redone? Since in the previous post they were gold. Fitment looks real good regardless, and I like ur choice of wheel style!!

usdmJON

Thank you!

Thanks! I love the Works. Ive wanted these for soooo long. Literally my first choice in mesh wheels. Next being the Rezax, then Borphets, then VSXX. Love Works.

There are sideskirts and rear valance available. I would have to take my splash guards off in order to rock the sides and rear. Wouldn't be a huge loss since I got the splash guards and other accessories when I purchased for "free". But they do serve a huge purpose since they are always nasty every weekend I clean the car.


Here on the Sema ILX build from 2013 you can see the rear and side kit. The sides don't add much, the rear does look great imo. But like I said I dont know if I want to pay a fortune and lose the splash guards.

Thanks mang. I did. They came in Work's Burning Gold with black hardware. They had small curb rashes on two wheels and the silicon wrapping the barrel seams were pretty trashed.

Had the lips and center caps refinished smooth and polished like brand new. Faces and hardware stripped. Faces done in a custom metallic gunmetal to match the metallic flake in my oem paint and the rivets done metallic gold (sadly not plated or polished) but they look great and match the VS in the center caps. Both faces and hardware finished with heavy coats of gloss to stand up to this Cali sun.

Future plans will be to re-lip them. I'm leaning toward contacting VR for new lips and going with some step lips to go, ideally, from 18x8 +38 to 19x9 +20-30. VR imported these wheels originally and my buddy Kervs picked them up fresh out of the shipping container. I'm the second owner once they hit the states and extremely happy with the original purchase and how they ended up.

0Need 4 Speed

Loving the new look with the wheels, great choice and size. Time to drop it a tad and it'll set it right off.