Hello everyone......new here, but not to Hondas. I started my journey in 2008 when I got a '96 Accord coupe as my first car, and things have only spiraled from there. I've had four 5th Gen Accords over the years....3 coupes and a wagon. Here's a few pics of the Accords:
I still have a 97 EX 5-speed coupe, but that is getting a full rebuild....interior, suspension, H22 swap w/ LSD, etc. Will end up getting painted as well, once I decide on a color.
I was daily driving the 97 Accord wagon, but sold that last year as I wanted a slightly newer car to daily, particularly something that was AWD. I had initially looked at getting a 2nd Gen CR-V, but was not super impressed with how they drove, not to mention the EX AWD models were extremely overpriced. I then shifted my focus to the 05+ Acura RL, but didn't want to sacrifice cargo space....and so I ended up on the 1st Gen Acura RDX. I remembered reading about the one Honda Tuning modified as one of their project cars way back in like 2013, so I knew it had potential. The first one I test drove I knew this was the car I wanted.
Did my research, and ended up picking up a very well optioned Diamond White Pearl 2008 RDX Tech Package with black interior, no roof rack, and the OEM optional front lip and rear diffuser (which I learned were both extremely rare parts). Mileage was up there at 195k, but I was only the 3rd owner, and it had been dealer serviced by the original owner until 182k miles.
I had to re-rice a few things on the car first.....fake carbon vinyl wrap on the bumper and ALL over the interior. Ditch the badly smoked and peeling headlights, and lose the "quad tips" that were poorly booger welded to the stock muffler.
Over the course of the first year I knocked all those items out.
Got my hands on some blackhoused headlights from the facelifted model, ditched the stock wheels for some 19x9.5 SSR GTX01s and 275/40s. Trashed the stock exhaust for a new ATLP catback. There is not much I can do visually on the exterior, so I've mostly left it at that.
With the visual stuff out of the way, I set about getting to work under the hood. I had been doing maintenance as things popped up, which helped me familiarize myself with the K series motors, as I had previously only dealt with F and H series.
(continued below)
I still have a 97 EX 5-speed coupe, but that is getting a full rebuild....interior, suspension, H22 swap w/ LSD, etc. Will end up getting painted as well, once I decide on a color.
I was daily driving the 97 Accord wagon, but sold that last year as I wanted a slightly newer car to daily, particularly something that was AWD. I had initially looked at getting a 2nd Gen CR-V, but was not super impressed with how they drove, not to mention the EX AWD models were extremely overpriced. I then shifted my focus to the 05+ Acura RL, but didn't want to sacrifice cargo space....and so I ended up on the 1st Gen Acura RDX. I remembered reading about the one Honda Tuning modified as one of their project cars way back in like 2013, so I knew it had potential. The first one I test drove I knew this was the car I wanted.
Did my research, and ended up picking up a very well optioned Diamond White Pearl 2008 RDX Tech Package with black interior, no roof rack, and the OEM optional front lip and rear diffuser (which I learned were both extremely rare parts). Mileage was up there at 195k, but I was only the 3rd owner, and it had been dealer serviced by the original owner until 182k miles.
I had to re-rice a few things on the car first.....fake carbon vinyl wrap on the bumper and ALL over the interior. Ditch the badly smoked and peeling headlights, and lose the "quad tips" that were poorly booger welded to the stock muffler.
Over the course of the first year I knocked all those items out.
Got my hands on some blackhoused headlights from the facelifted model, ditched the stock wheels for some 19x9.5 SSR GTX01s and 275/40s. Trashed the stock exhaust for a new ATLP catback. There is not much I can do visually on the exterior, so I've mostly left it at that.
With the visual stuff out of the way, I set about getting to work under the hood. I had been doing maintenance as things popped up, which helped me familiarize myself with the K series motors, as I had previously only dealt with F and H series.
(continued below)