Well, my first work on my car besides oil/trans fluid changes and a few intakes was this weekend.

Everything was going very smoothly (except the primary o2 sensor ) until I got the cat and bpipe out from under my car. It seemed like something was just not right about the bolts between the cat and b pipe. They looked... monkeyed with. Well, after entering the vise, torching, hammering and the like, I decided to make a call. I found out that my car recieved a new cat at the acura dealership before it was ever sold (i'm the only owner); supposedly they felt the one it came with from honda was faulty! (a year and a half later they tell me!) So, the general consensus this weekend was that someone at the dealership stripped these bolts very badly. They seemed to be melted in there! That was the one hitch - I'm just glad I found out why it took so long to get those bolts off!

The header/a pipe/cat/b pipe came off very easily. The JDM DC was a tight squeeze, but fits really well once bolted on. The carsound cat was very impressive: nice welds and good quality. (Thanks again, Dave/SMS Products!!) After getting the stripped bolts out, I spent about 20 minutes getting the bpipe and cat bolted on and tightened everything down. I'd say that the header hangs lower than stock, but really not all that low. I'm stock height, and can't forsee any clearance problems. I was planning on seeing if the splashguard would fit, just to give the header a bit extra protection from debris.

Then, I went to work on installing the Gen1 Mugen Rear upper strut bar (Thanks cosworth).

I started the car with no problem, let it run for a few minutes, adjusted the timing and took a little drive. I heard no rattles or anything unusual. You can definitely hear the header moving more air. A neat sound I had forgotten about from my previous car. A pronounced bump of torque was noticeable above 4k and VTEC was pronounced a little more smoothly and with more push. There was definitely more power. I have no idea how much, but it was very noticeable. I'm looking forward to getting the J's intake in this week. I was even less satisfied with throttle response after the install (currently have an AEM Cold Air).

What did this n00b learn?
1. Have all the right tools. (I had to run out and buy a blowtorch and a 22mm wrench to work on the o2 sensors)
- If I had those two things, I'm guessing this install would have taken me about 4 hours. That of course is not counting removing stripped bolts.
2. Keep going to the gym regularly. Muscle is good when yanking on those bolts.
3. More beer and food next time.
4. Breaker Bar!!

Thanks to those who gave me some tips of advice during the day saturday.
Chris - who knows no bolts are stripped on his aem, which comes out this week.


[Modified by 1107, 10:12 AM 9/23/2002]

 

on the installs! blow torch?!?

I think you sure get something free from your Acura dealer... they withheld an important information from you. Hmmm, maybe you can get a new NSX out of the deal.

 

NICE!

 

I think I should get to blowtorch some things at the Acura dealer!! I'll ask about the new blue nsx sitting in their showroom.

Dont worry, I won't torch the car, just the service department.

 

Just curious, but are you running stock exhaust? Thanks.

 

what did you do to your timing?? would you say that youre throttle response was improved at all?

 

I have the stock exhaust, yes.

I advanced my timing from 16 to 18 degrees. I'd say that throttle response was improved, yes. Throttle response is still bad with my cold air AEM at low (below 4.5k) rpms.... but much improved besides that. The combination of the higher flow header/cat and advanced timing made a very noticeable difference. I was very impressed. As others have said, 3rd gear is significantly different. There's just more pull and urgency.