Garlon Guerin Jr

Today I will be talking about what I have done to my car and the before and after affects these parts.

Suspension

When I first bought the vehicle the suspension was really nice and you could barely feel any bumps or dips. This was because the suspension was almost 15 years old and was most definitely shot. You could really tell the suspension was bad when you got past 90mph because it would take forever for it to recover on bumps and dips. Now with my new suspension it’s much rougher when going under 60 mph because it recovers too fast. Once I start going over 75mph it’s really good because it recovers on bumps quickly and doesn’t allow me to keep bouncing up and down. Which is exactly what you want because the more bounce you have at higher speeds can result in an accident ruining your car. Overall I do miss it being really smooth but now I can go as fast as I want without the car having too much bounce.

Audio system

The previous audio system I had when I bought the car was pretty awful. The amp was garbage and made all the speakers very quiet and sound weird. I had to do a complete gut job on the system. I started off by changing out the headunit and replacing the amp. I put in an Atoto F7 as well as a Rockville 5 channel amp. I then ran all my rca and speaker wire to the correct locations. I bought a speaker harness to connect my speaker wiring from the amp to my factory speaker wires that run to the door speakers and rear speakers. Then I ran a new wire/ rca for my sub. Currently I’m bridging a 10 inch skar subwoofer with a 8 inch skar subwoofer that is placed in the factory sub position. The audio sounds very crisp and and has a decent amount of bass.

Tires

When I first bought the car, the front tires were really bald so I replaced them with some Hankooks. For them being so cheap I think they are a great option. Before I would do pulls in 2nd and 3rd gear and I would slip. Now the only way I slip is if I’m in first and want to slip, which is exactly what I want. These tires also handle pretty well in the snow for what they are.

Exhaust

The car had just the regular stock exhaust which is really quiet which I did enjoy, but I also wanted it to be loud at some points. In order to do this I bought an exhaust switch that allows me to open a valve that would allow my exhaust to be a straight pipe. Then once I close the valve it goes back to the regular stock quiet noise. Which is exactly what I need because it is my daily vehicle and I won’t always wake up the neighbors.

In conclusion I’m very happy with what I have done to the car so far and am excited to see what the future brings for this car.

By: Garlon Guerin

Getting The Car

I had just sold my 2002 Ford Ranger and was looking for something sporty with decent gas mileage and FWD to handle the snow in Colorado.

Although the Ranger was a lot of fun I just needed something better. So my friend and I traveled down to Lubbock Texas to get my TL.

Fixing Minor Issues

When I finally got the car home it had a bunch of electrical issues like window actuators, lock actuator,and the radio was also broken. Another problem I had was the headlight ballast and igniters were bad on the driver side so I decided to replace every part in the headlight. The process for taking the headlights out on this vehicle was kind of a pain because you have to take the entire front bumper off. But once it was done they looked much better and I haven’t had a problem since.

Audio System

The next project I decided to tackle was the audio system. This is by far my longest project, I bought 4 skar speakers, a 5 channel amp as well as a skar shallow mount subwoofer. But due to Acura’s configuration of their wiring to their amp you have to purchase multiple bypasses and plugs to make the process much easier. I am still having trouble with this system because it is my first time installing an audio system but I am learning as I go.

Tires

My next step in my build was to get some tires. I purchased some cheap hankooks because I plan on getting new wheels and tires in the summer. For the price of the tires I think they do a pretty good job in the snow and handle pretty well.

Water Pump & Timing Belt

Afterwards I noticed a leak. At first it wasn’t that big so I didn’t think much of it. But as I was working on my audio system I noticed a puddle and it was antifreeze. So I investigated the puddle and saw that the radiator and hoses were all in good condition. So that left really only one other way for it to leak that much. The water pump, so I purchased a new water pump as well as a timing belt because you mine as well replace both. I got the parts in and began to disassemble the old timing belt and pump. This job took me about 20 hours and I can now say I never want to do that again. It was awful because you can’t get a direct ratchet on it so everything is at a weird angle. It was a good skill to learn but I would rather pay someone then go through that again.

Ceramic Tint

Once I got my tires on I decided to remove all the factory tint and buy new ceramic tint. Right now I’m struggling to get the rear windshield tint off because I don’t wanna break my defroster. My tint came in this week and I’m deciding if I should take it into a shop or if I should do it myself.

Exhaust

Next on the list is an exhaust, I decided to go with an exhaust switch from the resonator. It turned out pretty good although my welding could be better for sure. I can switch it from loud to quiet with a click of a button. 10 out of 10 recommend.