My EM2 - EX SE Build
 

Thought I'd start a build thread to share my slow but steady progress.
I'm not looking to go very far with my modifications and I'm trying to keep my car clean and simple.

For starters, here is my 2005 EX Special Edition as it appeared in 2010.
Bare bone stock except for tinted windows.
A month after these pictures were taken, I removed the dealer sticker from the trunk lid and polished the headlight lenses to make them smoother, unfortunately they still look a bit oxidized.

http://img215.imageshack.us/img215/3...86b7961efb.jpg
http://img713.imageshack.us/img713/8...823b50c18b.jpg
http://img593.imageshack.us/img593/6...1ce30e170b.jpg
http://img842.imageshack.us/img842/5...623b04328b.jpg

Bought it for $9,500 with 40k miles(now has 51k). The previous owner was a rental car agency in Hollywood, L.A., CA.
I have since added a catback exhaust system and AEM intake. I will add details later.

Re: My EM2 - EX SE Build
 

Looking forward to seeing the pics :tup:

Re: My EM2 - EX SE Build
 

Fixed the photos in the first post. Two of them are blurry from some admittedly careless photography.
Tomorrow I plan on painting the stock header and elements of the exhaust.

Re: My EM2 - EX SE Build
 

About an hour later i decided this was all completely pointless...
But today I sprayed the silencer and rear flange of my muffler with Rust-Oleum BBQ paint to cover up some icky spot welds and reduce glare on the inside of the exhaust tip. I'm pleased with this simple visual bump and that it only cost $3.47
http://img825.imageshack.us/img825/2665/p2240001l.jpg
http://img40.imageshack.us/img40/513/p2240002l.jpg
I keep the silencer in an old athletic sock so it doesn't rattle around in my trunk ;)
http://img804.imageshack.us/img804/8752/p2240004.jpg
3-27-12

Re: My EM2 - EX SE Build
 

Scored an amazing deal with this AEM Short Ram intake for only $75 from a private seller on Ebay. It's brand new and was used as a display feature at a trades show. It came with a new, unused filter and the tube is in perfect condition. All parts are present, even the window stickers and license plate frame. The AEM sticker on the intake itself is already applied, but I would've done that anyway. I will be installing this afternoon and reseting the ever-elastic D17's cursed ECU... wish me luck! :)
http://img651.imageshack.us/img651/6002/p2250002q.jpg

Re: My EM2 - EX SE Build
 

Car is looking fresh... quite a bit fresher than mine.. lol, still working on it, just ordered my eibach springs and a little front lip to go on the front, should look good when its done, just wish I could find me a decent set of side skirts that werent too low...

Re: My EM2 - EX SE Build
 

Thanks! I'll add more shots of the car in a month once my rims arrive (they were on backorder...) and I get my fog lights installed. Clean & simple is my game plan :)
I'm probably not going to add any lips unless the scratches on the bottom of my front bumper worsen and it's cheaper to cover them up, lol.

Re: My EM2 - EX SE Build
 

Nice, I like the color. Are those Acura EL wheels?

Re: My EM2 - EX SE Build
 

Yes, they were sold on Special Edition 2dr/4dr EXs only in 2005. They're nice wheels, but a bit tiny for my tastes

Re: My EM2 - EX SE Build
 

Finally I can breathe! Only a couple more hours before I reconnect the battery and go for a spin! :cool:http://img811.imageshack.us/img811/2787/p2250001.jpg

Re: My EM2 - EX SE Build
 

I played around with MS Paint at school today and did some extremely quick mock-ups of how my car will eventually look. Obviously, the dust cover won't be painted that crappily and some parts of the side car shot were improvised and done from a Tirerack.com image. Haha, it looks ridiculous, but this is just how I can piece things together before spending the money.

The lettering on the valve covers is http://img192.imageshack.us/img192/7382/50819208.png which is a Japanese proverb "Dragon Head, Snake Tail" which means something anti-climactic, in this case, an aggressive looking car that is actually very slow ;) I plan to have them professionally painted by a calligraphy artist as to not look ugly and blocky like the Arial font I had to use. I might also try designing 4 anime character faces for the valve covers instead of the letters using only white paint, but that will take a little more patience. (hey, don't hate on us anime nerds... you call yourself JDM and you can't even respect a big part of young Japanese culture...shame!):nono:

Opinions? Suggestions? At this point I'm also considering doing the dust cover in green instead of JDM red to match my springs I am purchasing. This would also include painting all the filler caps under the hood to match. I'd be among the first to have a blue and green themed EM2

http://img215.imageshack.us/img215/8770/civ2f.jpg

http://img9.imageshack.us/img9/750/p3020002q.jpg
^Once again... that is NOT REAL! I'd never paint it that terribly!

Re: My EM2 - EX SE Build
 

Super cool stickers.

Re: My EM2 - EX SE Build
 

Haha, I can't tell if you're joking or you think I should actually put stickers on it :shrug: (unless you were talking about the Japanese lettering which will be painted, not stickers...)
I don't plan on doing any stickers on the outside, but I will be putting Tein stickers near my strut towers under the hood when I install my coilovers.

Re: My EM2 - EX SE Build
 

How loud is that exhaust?

Re: My EM2 - EX SE Build
 

Please for the love of all that is holy, do not do that.

Why? That fad is so done. Please do not put any stickers on.

Please trust me when I tell you this. Most of us, in our younger years like you, thought stickers and painting was cool. Trust me when I tell you that in a year or so, you will regret it.

Re: My EM2 - EX SE Build
 

The painting is subjective and not a final decision at this point. It is a bit tacky, so it has to be done right or not done at all, I agree with that much. I'm not gonna go and start spraying away at everything, expecting it to look like a showcar. I'm open to suggestions if you have some, but I definitely do not want to leave it plain...that's just my opinion

And I don't see how one Tein sticker under the hood and towards the back of the bay would be an issue. Stickers on the outside are just plain hideous, but one hidden one is good for showing off every once in a while to brag about your equipment. At least I'm not into that god-awful "stickerbomb" fad. It's one-and-done my friend.

Besides these minor details, I'm all for a clean car so don't think I'm going to trash my pretty blue EM2.

Re: My EM2 - EX SE Build
 

Loud. Haha. It's actually very quiet when cruising around and even quieter when I added the intake. I think my lame auto transmission is to thank for keeping it in the low RPMs as much as possible. On the lower end of the tac, the exhaust has a very deep and grumbly tone and it screams on the high end. The sound is very comparable to an Apexi N1, only deeper.

I need to make a new video for it because it sounds better than when I recorded my first one without the intake. I also want to get some flybys and takeoffs for better example of the sound. Gimme a week or two and you'll see.

Re: My EM2 - EX SE Build
 

Lol.. i was going to go to the exhaust shop.. but it wouldve cost me 100 just to change the muffler, like i said before, so i found a 3" catback for my car for only $100 just spray paint that crappy stainless black and leave the tip and muffler stainless, see how that sounds, if i dont like it ill take it off and put what i have on it now back on

Re: My EM2 - EX SE Build
 

3" piping? That could be potentially harmful to a D17, not enough back-pressure and you'll lose torque. Or did you mean 3" at the tip?

I wonder how much an exhaust shop will charge me to rebend my mid pipe :/

Re: My EM2 - EX SE Build
 

http://www.uucmotorwerks.com/html_pr...torquemyth.htm

also its like breathing through a sock, its harder and you cant perform as well you need to breath you need to get the bad CO2 out of your body but the sock is keeping it in. Engines need to breath as well and stock piping holds back the gasses. the ideal setup is to have it just dump out of the headers and straight piped to the back thats why there is a small increase in performance when putting an exhaust on the only time back pressure is true is with a turbo

Re: My EM2 - EX SE Build
 

Ha, I learn something new everyday, that's awesome! Thanks :)

Re: My EM2 - EX SE Build
 

no problem lol i kinda believed in backpressure before my friend at an auto school told me that. on my exhaust when i put my silencer in (because my girlfriend ates the exhaust) i feel like theres more torque than no silencer i theorize that i felt that because it just wasn't as loud so without the silencer it's louder so i hold back a little on the gas so im not allowing the car to have more torque essentially. but thats just my opinion lol

Re: My EM2 - EX SE Build
 

lol 3" pipe from the catback, thinking about getting my local shop to take off my downpipe and cut off the flanges on each end, and reweld 2.5" pipe into it, i mean i think 2.5" pipe is the diamater of the stock downpipe already but if im right its double-walled and only like 1.75" thru it, but idk hopefully if i do that and leave my cat on my CEL wont come on but it probably will, and if ur 2.5" catback system is loud, this 3" will probably be a little louder, hopefully a little deeper, its only $100 bucks tho so im really not too worried

Re: My EM2 - EX SE Build
 

I'm not sure that bigger piping necessarily makes it any louder. In theory, the exhaust fumes are more free to flow and have less turbulence. Deeper yes, but it may actually be quieter. There seems to be an equilibrium between huge and tiny pipiing where the sound is at its loudest. The resonator and muffler make the biggest difference depending on the baffle design and dampening material.

Re: My EM2 - EX SE Build
 

You shouldve heard my toyota ;) one of a kind exhaust, it was loud af... could hear it 2 miles away lol, and it actually sounded good.. but RIP toyota.. if its even still alive over in west virginia lol

Re: My EM2 - EX SE Build
 

My rims showed up today! The UPS guy even backed it straight up to my garage for delivery! :roflmao:

17x7 O.Z. Adrenalina
215/45 Bridgestone Potenza RE970AS Pole Position
Flat Black Goriila Acorn Lug Nuts

So... Clean? Ricey? Whaddya think?

I will definitely be dropping the car about 1.5" in May when I snag a nice set of coilovers. Right now I have the neighborhood monster truck! :_doh:

http://img3.imageshack.us/img3/4452/p3120001t.jpg
http://img706.imageshack.us/img706/7117/p3120002s.jpg
http://img688.imageshack.us/img688/6986/p3120004n.jpg

Re: My EM2 - EX SE Build
 

Maybe leaning a bit towards ricey, wouldn't be my pick, but they're definitely nice :tup:

Re: My EM2 - EX SE Build
 

I kinda agree, but a little rice is good here and there :cool:
It will definitely look better when lowered.
At least O.Z. is a very respectable brand name and not some knock-off piece of junk.

Re: My EM2 - EX SE Build
 

Lol, looks like an expensive set you got there, my focals with kumhos were 1000, just wanted something different than stocks, i like having extra money for things other than my car, until i get a good paying job to have hella extra money... i will be piddling with my car like i have been haha, BUT atleast you think it looks good
PS. Lucky you.. coilovers in may, ill never be able to afford them hahahaso ready to be done with college

Re: My EM2 - EX SE Build
 

Haha, the glories of financial aid! I won't have to pay a cent for a couple more years. And my lowly minimum wage Walmart job actually leaves me with a comfortable cushion in the bank. I don't know how I managed, but somehow I'm earning more than I spend... :screwy:

I'm just one of those all-out compulsive spenders with no girlfriend to pay for... haha