New From St Louis. 12 SI Sedan

[Cman46290]

Hey Guys, Im new here from the St. Louis. Ive been browsing the forums for a while now since I got my 12 SI about a month ago. I bought is at the local Honda dealer.... its a 1 owner vehicle that was well maintained, 140k miles on it due the very far commute the original owner made every day for work. The car is in great shape overall other than some wear and tear on the body and some paint issues. The car runs and rides like new.

The car is currently at the Honda dealer getting the hood, fenders, quarter panels, roof and decklid all painted under the special policy it has on the paint.

Just wanted to say hey~

 

[webby]

Congrats and welcome to the site. Did you have defects like crows feet in your paint?

 

[Cman46290]

Yeah. The hood and fenders had crows feet badly.... as well as the rear quarters slightly. The roof was extremely clouded and faded.

Super excited I still fell within the time frame for Honda to get it covered. Its been an eye sore for me since I got it.... plus its black and everything shows up that much more.

 

[bootyluvr]

Welcome & Congrats!

 

[bfaided1984]

Welcome, good looking car.

 

[ron v]

Welcome

 

[AlmosN8kd]

Welcome to the forum; love the car (pretty much exactly the same as mine).

Mine is also going in for paint later this month for the TSB.

 

[Cman46290]

Thanks guys I appreciate the warm welcome. Ive been in the Honda game for a long time... and had to get out for a long while due to having 4 children and a family. Just got rid of my SUV and found this SI.... and fell in love. Ive wanted one since the first time I rode in my buddies 06 SI K20.... back in early 2007.

I had a change of pace for a bit... and bought a 2005 Cobalt SS with the supercharger.... which I actually really liked. But.... it was a coupe... and no ideal for a family car after we diced to have a 4th baby.

The K24 is definitely a different animal. I love that I don't have to rev it to 6-8k for power. and the low end torque is really always there... so basically makes a perfect daily driver car.

My initial plans are to keep it basically stock. I thought about numerous things Id like to do... the usual I/H/E as I usually start with on every car I get.... but if I go that route I will get Flashpro first... and go from there. I just have to convince the wife to allow me to spend over $600 n a part she doesn't even understand its use. haha.

I should have the car back tomorrow. I will try to post some photos of the paint after its all done.

 

[Tony An]

Congrats & welcome!

 

[Cman46290]

Well got the car back from the body shop after having the TSB performed on the paint. Turned out really good IMO. I did find multiple spots where they didn't wet sand enough to cut through some of the dirt speckles under the paint though. I will bring it back to have that done. Otherwise, the paint match was done very well and overall very happy. Night and day difference from where it was.

It was done at ABRA Autobody here is O Fallon, IL.

Here are a few photos from when I got it home last night.

I had the hood, both front fenders, roof, both pillars above door windows, trunk lid, quarter panels, and fuel door done.

 

[Cman46290]

Ill take better photos outside when the weather is decent this weekend hopefully.

 

[webby]

looks good from the pics. I'm surprised there isn't more orange peel in it

 

[Cman46290]

looks good from the pics. I'm surprised there isn't more orange peel in it

From what I could see.... I really didn't see much at all. In that aspect I think they really did a good job. I inspected it pretty thoroughly... a handful of times. Theres a few things im going to take it back to have addressed... but overall really happy with the results.

My buddy at Honda said the bill was over $3,900

 

[chezleyc]

Hey Guys, Im new here from the St. Louis. Ive been browsing the forums for a while now since I got my 12 SI about a month ago. I bought is at the local Honda dealer.... its a 1 owner vehicle that was well maintained, 140k miles on it due the very far commute the original owner made every day for work. The car is in great shape overall other than some wear and tear on the body and some paint issues. The car runs and rides like new.

The car is currently at the Honda dealer getting the hood, fenders, quarter panels, roof and decklid all painted under the special policy it has on the paint.

Just wanted to say hey~

View attachment 58447

Looking good!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Cman46290]

So after lots of reading on the subject, I decided to remove my intake resonator, while leaving the tube to the air box to suck in air from behind the lefty front fender. I figured if I didn't like the results, I could always put it back to stock.

Nevertheless, After removing the snorkel and resonator, I wasn't a huge fan of the large open tube and its ability to potentially suck in larger pieces of debris from the road and leaves. What I did to help with this was found an old speaker grille cover and took the metal grille out. I shaped it to fit over the opening of the tube and used one large screw to secure it in place. Im pretty happy with how it fit and turned out.

After getting done, I disconnected the battery and left it off for at least 45 minutes. I reassembled the car and then reconnected the battery. I started it and let it idle for about 20 minutes to allow the ECU to relearn the idle and such.

After getting in the car, no CEL set and the idle was perfect. I took the car out for about a 20 minute ride after to see how the car would respond to the modification. At first I drove around city just normally; Shifting at about 3k rpms and being very conservative. I noticed that the throttle did seem to be more responsive especially when shifting gears. I then got it on the highway and took it down 2 exits and then turned around. That's what I decided to make a good 3rd gear pull getting back onto the highway. The car got up to 100 pretty quick and pulled hard. The sound gains seem very minimal at best. Overall Im happy with the free modification and feel its better even than buying a CAI due to the high filter placement.

Here are some photos of the work in progress and final product.

 

[AlmosN8kd]

Looks good man. My car came with an open element filter setup when I bought it. Who ever owned it before the guy I bought it off of removed the air box and hooked in the new system, leaving the rest of the factory intake installed (but disconnected). I've debated on getting a new air box and what not to return it to stock or to just remove everything extra; honestly not sure which way I want to go and what would be best long term. My point is, if you go to an open filter setup after doing just the air box as you have it now, I'd be interested in your results.

 

[Cman46290]

Yeah unless I get flashpro, I probably wont modify the intake any further. Even then with all of the research, the stock filter and airbox seems to make the most power other than PRL CAI. And I don't want a CAI. I like having the filter up high.

 

[Cman46290]

Installed a set of LED fog light bulbs. Light output seems awesome.... haven't driven at night yet though. I don't want to get out in the snow here in ST Louis that came down last night.... so this baby and the fresh paint are staying in the garage for a while.

 

[Cman46290]

I may actually do the low beam headlights if these are as good at night as they seem they will be. I guess it will depend on light pattern.... and how it looks on the road.

 

[Cman46290]

Since I can't wash the car for a while since it was repainted. I bought some maguire's m34 final inspection to use on the car since its body shop safe. I did the whole car....and it came out nicely in my opinion. Here is the shine of the hood after... and the rest of the car.