Understanding which Performance Mods on a CL9

[cl9_luxury]

Hey all,
I've had a stock CL9 Accord for a few months now and I am just getting my head around which direction I want to take the car, in particular bringing out a bit more throttle response and overall driving experience (exhaust note etc).

The biggest things i've noticed on a stock CL9 (that I think need improvement) were:
- ON/OFF Throttle response - While the speedo looks like its going up, you don't generally feel much of an in the seat experience.

- Overall Handling - While it does seem to ride on the road quite smoothly, it does feel like it would greatly from some lowered springs and a bigger rear sway bar. I am hesitant on getting a sway bar thats too big (due to notes i've seen online that show cracking of the subframe). Would love to find a 18mm whiteline sway bar

- Exhaust Note - Am I likely to see much of an improvement just doing a cat back exhaust at the moment? I was thinking of getting a cheap cat back exhaust from USA but I don't want it to sound droney or too loud (can't have my cake and eat it can I haha).

- ECU Upgrades - This part I feel may see the biggest experience. I am most curious about this aspect as i've never really gone to this level. I see figures of around 140-150kw atw from some N/A CL9 owners. That would be pretty spectacular results i'd imagine.

Reason i'm looking into these different areas is that I do have a limited budget at the moment to put on the car and i'm just looking at what sort of options I should look into first.

Thanks
Adrian

[Fredoops]

The biggest things i've noticed on a stock CL9 (that I think need improvement) were:
- ON/OFF Throttle response - While the speedo looks like its going up, you don't generally feel much of an in the seat experience.

2 parts to that, youre talking both throttle response and physics (seat/bum feel)

The drive by wire/electric throttle in the CL9 has an inbuilt "lag"/"throttle dampening". So the throttle doesn't open as violent as you want it to be most of the time, most ECU mods (either reflash or standalone, with the exception of piggybacks) removes this lag since it's coded into the ecu programming

2nd part of this, when you talk about seat and bum feel of acceleration you'll want to reduce things that soak up the energy/momentum generated by the engine.... In other words, Lighter wheels/tyres, lighteneing flywheel and/or pully.

- Overall Handling - While it does seem to ride on the road quite smoothly, it does feel like it would greatly from some lowered springs and a bigger rear sway bar. I am hesitant on getting a sway bar thats too big (due to notes i've seen online that show cracking of the subframe). Would love to find a 18mm whiteline sway bar

Ive had 22mm for years and havent had any issue, now the problem are all in the US with people who uses stock soft suspension also those who live in the "colder" states.... where they salt the road in winter, so it's probably partly caused by corrosion and partly by the soft suspension.

People get coilovers with the sway bar so car's lowered and stiffened, therefore it's unlikely to happen here in oz.

- Exhaust Note - Am I likely to see much of an improvement just doing a cat back exhaust at the moment? I was thinking of getting a cheap cat back exhaust from USA but I don't want it to sound droney or too loud (can't have my cake and eat it can I haha).

if you dont want droney or loud avoid cannon mufflers, you really aint going to get much out of exhaust power wise until you really work on the engine.

- ECU Upgrades - This part I feel may see the biggest experience. I am most curious about this aspect as i've never really gone to this level. I see figures of around 140-150kw atw from some N/A CL9 owners. That would be pretty spectacular results i'd imagine.

ECU mods by itself is never going to get those numbers, you're looking at some serious modding for you to get there, im talking opening the engine on top of replacing the entire intake and exhaust system, on top of a stand alone ECU + tuning, thousands of dollars.


Therefore it's really about what you want to get out of it and your budget.

So if you have a small/limited budget, look for a header and high flow cat, an cold air intake, both together should change the sound of the car somewhat, then maybe a cheaper ecu reflash to liven it up a bit, cost would be around $1500 or so

Else, if you have a bigger budget, race header and cat, catback, cold air intake, intake manifold, VTC cam gear (<-- this involves opening your engine), and a stand alone ECU, then a custom dyno tune. This would be upwards round $5000 or so for the engine parts/install/tune.

Of course the above 2 doesn't include any handling mods (Coilover, strut brace, Sway bar etc)

[cl9_luxury]

I really appreciate your reply mate. Summed up my situation to a tee, Thank you