EliteCM.net

Real Name:  Ike
Ride: 2007 AV6 EX-L
Color: Graphite Pearl
Engine: J30
Tranny: Auto
Status: Money Pit

Location: Baltimore, MD
Occupation: Office Manager

Mods Installed:

Performance:

- K&N typhoon SRI
- Apexi grounding kit + Paul's custom grounding kit
- Magnaflow cat-back exhaust
- Richies V3 J-pipe
- Unorthodox crank pulley

Suspension:

- TL front + rear sway bars
- KW Variant 1 coilovers
- 18" Volk F-zero Challenge Staggered Rims. Fr: 18x8 +32
   Rr: 18x9 +40. Front and rear fenders are rolled. -1 camber all around.
- RL BBK and Pilot rear rotors + caliper relocater kit.
- Front and rear camber kits

Other:

- 35% tint on all 5 windows
- Retros with TSX projectors and 4300k HID kit
- Inspire fog lights
- Switchback bulbs in turn signals
- Grill Craft upper and lower grill
- OEM trunk spoiler
- OEM window visors
- Metra Double Din Head Unit Kit
- Kenwood Excelon DNX6990HD
- 5-channel Kicker ZX700.5 amp
- 12" Kicker L5 sub
- Polk Audio db5251 5-1/4" component speakers for front doors
- Soundstream SST6.9 6x9 speakers for rear deck
- 1-farad Lightning Audio capacitor


Future Mods and Plans: Ride it into the ground

Pictures:

Coming soon!

Welcome to the Elite.

Ike, can you post a pic of your engine bay? I'm curious to see how your Apexi grounding kit looks with your custom grounding kit.

very clean car there ike. Welcome to elite

Looks Vicious Ike! Glad to see another modded 7.5 Gen Sedan! You should try to make it to some of our meets! Next one is the 6th!

welcome ike. sedan looks sick.  you're in baltimore??  i'm up in Bel Air. not too far..

Welcome to ECM Ike, Nice set up.

looks good..but you need a front lip ASAP!! what is your set up on your retros?

welcome to the elite!

Fogs look real good in the 06-07 front..  how difficult was the installation?

Check out the mod list, I wrote it out in there.

I'll see what I can do.

It was not easy.  The fog light housing on the inside of the bumper had to get hacked up something fierce...

Welcome to ECM. Love the rims, and the retros look awesome too.

Ask and you shall receive! Don't mind how dirty it is....

(http://i230.photobucket.com/albums/ee257/ikethegreat/new%20car/enginebay.jpg)

Well I just got my wheels refinished so I thought I'd post a couple pictures since I haven't posted any in a while.  The wheels are Gunmetal Grey and are a pretty close match to my Graphite Pearl paint.  Excuse the stock headlights, my retros are off the car being repaired. 

(http://i230.photobucket.com/albums/ee257/ikethegreat/Picture002-1.jpg)

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Wheels look good. Those calipers on the other hand... Not so much!

Calipers only a B-more fan can love.

Wheels look good.  I don't see anything wrong with purple calipers.

You a B-more fan?

I don't even know what that means.

Baltimore Ravens.

"B-more" slang for baltimore.. I like the calipers.. but that's because i'm from MD.. haha nice personalization man!

Damn. I'm from Miami and I know what B-more means. You're not far away and you're lost. Hell, even Mark, from way over on the left coast knew that. Fail Nelson. Fail.

 :D



Thanks guys 

Meh..... 8-)

Ha!

Haven't posted an updated picture in a while so here you go.  She just got out of the body shop.  She was backed into in a parking lot on New Year's Eve and had to have to bumper and fender repaired and repainted.  I figured this would be a good chance to get the front lip that has been sitting in my garage for over a year painted and mounted.  I think they did a great job!  I'll throw up a couple better pictures once I get it washed.

(http://i230.photobucket.com/albums/ee257/ikethegreat/IMG_0106132.jpg)

Looks clean Ike! other then you have the wrong Harbaugh team on your car. :D

Looks good man.  Those your winter wheels, or did you sell the Volks?

Thanks guys.  Yeah those are my winter wheels.

Car looks really good.. I actually like your winter set up...

Thanks man, I got a heck of a deal for those rims on tirerack when they discontinued them.  Here's a better picture of them.


(http://i230.photobucket.com/albums/ee257/ikethegreat/Picture020.jpg)

That's a nice winter set up Jason. 

sweet! yo we shud meet up lol i work in HoCo MD

btw what size r those?

Well guys, I hate to say it but this might be the end for my Accord.  I should know for sure today or tomorrow. 

This is what happens when a tracker trailer isn't paying attention on the highway and smashes into you.  Hit me so hard I slammed into the Fusion in front of me.  Luckily I was able to walk away with no major injuries, only some neck and back pain. 

The last I heard from the body shop, there was ~11k in damages and to total it they need 12.5k in damages.  I'll know for sure once they take everything apart to check for frame damage.  As much as I love my Accord, at this point with all the damage I kind of hope they total it. 

 :( 

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holy shit dude.. at least you're alright. I hope everything gets sorted out quickly and painlessly.

;( i hope your ok...i would be devastated if this happened to my car! What are your plans if it's totaled?

Glad your okay bro.

Ike, dude, I'm glad you're okay. I'm sure you must be really sore right now.

Damn Ike, that definetely couldn't have neen pleasent. Glad you're ok.

Ouch. Wow dude. So long as your injuries are minor, who really gives a shit about the car? Know what I mean? Actually, fuck the car in entirety. I'm just glad you're alright.

Glad to hear you're okay man.  Sorry to hear about your car getting smooshed by a dumbass truck driver though.

Thanks guys, I'm waiting to hear from the adjuster.  He is supposed to let me know today if it is totaled or not. 

Very glad you're OK Ike.  Nothing is more important than that (what Z said).  Please keep us updated on the progress :)

The body shop just called.  $10,645.00 in damages and they are going to repair it.  I was hoping it would be totaled.   :(

Ahh damn...that sucks.

SHIT IKE! glad your ok. tell them your raven calipers were 3k alone, to see if that pushes it over.

I hope the repair comes out well.

Make damn sure the repair comes out perfect! If you don't like something make them fix it don't take no for an answer. I've been there and done that and regret letting a couple of little things slide because little things become big things!

Surprised to see the corners around your sun roof didn't pull in.

Glad you're ok man, like Mike said make sure you go over that thing with a microscope especially if you are planning on hanging on to it for a while.

Ideally I would like to trade it in when I get it back but after buying a new house, I really can't afford another car payment.  So yeah, I'm going to make sure it is 100% perfect before I take it back.  They told me it will take close to a month to repair.  :( 

Trading it now is a bad idea the accident will reduce the value reguardless of a quality repair

This is true. Partly the reason why I'm
Keeping mine for another 10 years.

And in that time frame Nelson, you'll have another 50+ taxis hit you. Good plan.

A month of repairs, and the insurance company is paying for rental too?

I'm waiting to hear back from them about that.  That was my concern as well. 

Only if it shows up on a Carfax report right?  If not, how will they ever know?

There are always indications. Even in a perfect looking repair the seems inside the trunk will be off. There are always signs. Sometimes selling to a private party they won't know what to look for but a dealer will find it.

Update:

The body shop called me today and asked if I received the check from the insurance company yet.  I told them yes and they asked me to drop it off.... uhhhh what?  I told them I wasn't going to pay until the work was finished and done to my satisfaction.  Well the owner of the shop was not happy about that and told me he I should trust him and that he would have never accepted the job if he had known I wasn't going to pay first.  Seriously?!  Who pays for car repairs BEFORE the work is done?  He called me back a few minutes later and told me he decided not to do the work if I wasn't planning to pay first.  Needless to say I'm taking it elsewhere.  Sigh...

Wow that's shady. I have never heard of a shop that operates like that. Definitely take your car elsewhere.

It's actually common in autobody repairs. The cost of the parts and materials is more than 60% of the total so they want money up front for the cost they have to pay.

Seriously Ike. He's got to buy parts for your car to replace. Hold back like 20 or 30 percent if you want to.

I'd call around other shops that do body work in your area and find out what their policy is. Ideally, you may want to give them money for the parts only and wait to pay the rest (labor) after the work has been completed to your satisfaction.

You can disagree with the work even though you paid up front. Think of it this way generally if there is a lien holder involved the check gets sent to the shop not to the owner of the car. It's just how they do business

He wanted the whole check or nothing at all, which is something I was not confortable with.  Once I pay him, all my leverage is gone.  Whats to keep them on schedule?  Whats to make sure the work is done to my satisfaction?  I contacted my insurance company and my lawyer and they both advised not to pay upfront. 

I ended up taking my car to a bodyshop around the corner.  They actually laughed when I told them that the other shop expected to be paid in full before working on the car.  They said he was probably having money problems and didn't have any credit with his part suppliers.  That sucks for him but it's not my problem.  Turning down a
$10.6k job isn't the way to get out of your money problems.

Oh well, I'm much happier with the new bodyshop.  They have a much larger shop and have tons of luxury and sports cars being worked on there so I'd imagine they are pretty good.  

Keep tabs on them though. Who's to say that 10.6k price tag doesn't go up and total out the car?

That is actually what I'm hoping for.  I asked them to go over it very thoroughly and make sure the previous estimate was accurate before they did anything. 

Good call.

Best of luck Ike.

if the previous shop was aware of the limit to total the car, they may have estimated low so they could get the work. did your insurance company send an adjuster to write his own estimate?

Yeah the adjuster looked at the car twice. 

then the price that the shop is quoting is irrelevant since you will only have to pay your deductible and any additional funds will be worked out between the shop on your insurance company.

^ this.

A lot of times once the work starts they won't total it. Body shop is owed for the work done to inspect at that point. They will def. Find more damage.

This

I went and checked the car out on Friday.  The work looks to be coming along well.  They said they should be finished the bodywork this week and will be painting it early next week.  It SHOULD be finished by the end of next week.  It has been over a month without my car and I sure do miss it!   :'(

The hood as been repaired but the front bumper still needs to be replaced.
(http://i230.photobucket.com/albums/ee257/ikethegreat/caraccident012.jpg)

The entire rear end will be repainted up to the doors and the doors will be blended. 
(http://i230.photobucket.com/albums/ee257/ikethegreat/caraccident013.jpg)
(http://i230.photobucket.com/albums/ee257/ikethegreat/caraccident014.jpg)
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Ask them if they can respray those calipers

I love seeing pictures of this stuff! Sorry you've been without it for a month :(  I was without my car for a week and i was a wreck! Thanks for posting pics! Can't wait to see the car all done. :)

Do you want to ask them what the difference in cost is to just respray the doors instead of blending them in?

They're going to have to blend anyway.  It's just a matter of how far forward they go.  If they paint the rear doors, they're going to have to blend the front doors.

I guess I'm just used to wrecking entire sides.

 :flip:


I was thinking about asking them how much extra to just respray the whole car but I don't think I want to put anymore money into the Accord at this point.

Might be worth it to ask. At least then the match will be 100% Blending works but under certain light conditions you can see it.

They told me a full paint job for my car is $4k.  They were willing to do the whole thing for $1.5k extra on top of what the insurance check covered.  No thanks.  If it had been under $1k I would have definitely thought about it though. 

No room to negotiate. By the way from expierence when you pick up your car make sure you see it in the sun. That way you can truely see the quality of the paint matching. Look at it like detailing stronger light shows the blemishes.

Update time!!

I went on Friday to look at the progress on the car.  Only the owner was at the shop and he was tinkering with his hotrod.  We bullshitted for a while and I brought up having my whole car repainted again.  I told him I had really wanted the whole thing done but it was out of my price range.  He asked me how much I had been quoted by his guys and when I told him $1.5k, he was like, "That's way too high!"  He told me to just give him $200 for the materials and he will have the entire car painted except for the roof!!  They are even fixing a couple dings I had on my doors. Needless to say, I'm very happy with that.  She goes in for paint today or tomorrow and I'll have her back by Friday!

(http://i230.photobucket.com/albums/ee257/ikethegreat/car2-1.jpg)
(http://i230.photobucket.com/albums/ee257/ikethegreat/car1-1.jpg)
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Omg! That's so awesome! So happy for you! :)

That's a hell of a deal. His guys were trying to take advantage and make that extra coin off you. I can understand trying to make an extra dollar but that was a bit steep. Good thing you met with the owner.

That's great Ike!

That's great news

Is he accepting applications for new friends?  Lol.  Jk jk ;)

That's awesome Ike!

On a side note, you guys have it cheap if you can get a whole car repainted for $1500.

Congrats Ike! Maybe you were supposed to get in an accident in order to have your whole car re-sprayed? How things work out lol.

I want my whole car repainted :(

Congrats on the incredible paint deal, Ike!  :thumbsup:  Hopefully the paint is showroom worthy.  Glad she is moving forward :)

As long as the car comes back in good working condition, I'd say things did work out pretty well!  

The price to get the whole thing painted was $4,000.  They originally wanted $1,500 extra (on top of the money from insurance) to repaint the whole thing. 

 

Blah, the car was supposed to be finished today but as of this morning they are saying Tuesday.  The rental is due back today and my insurance company won't extend it.  So now I'm stuck not having a car to get to work.  Luckily my boss gave me the okay to take off until I get the car back.  Sucks having to waste vacation time for this though.   :mad:

since the car was supposed to be finished see if the body shop has a loaner car you can use.

^What he said.

Who is paying for the loaner car?  You can't have them extend the rental period?  Have your insurance company go after the other drivers insurance company for lost wages.

I remember when my car was hit and was in the shop, they kept telling me it would be ready the next week and they kept pushing it off for like a month longer than they said it would take.  Since the other driver's insurance was paying for my rental, and I told the rental company they'd get their car back when I got mine back.

Play hard ball if there insurance is paying. Not your fault the car is not complete.

I recall being threatened by the rental place or something because I didn't return the car. They had no valid argument, but I played hardball back.

I tried everything I could to get the rental extended but since I hit my 45 day limit, they wouldn't budge.

I got the car back yesterday and it turned out great!  It looks and runs just like it did before the accident.  I'll post some pics once it is done raining.   ;D

The only problem with the car is the rear windows won't go up or down (well one goes down but not up and the other doesn't do either).   The shop wanted to keep it a couple extra days to fix the windows but I couldn't miss anymore work so I had to take it.  I'll have to have them fix it next week.  They said they are ordering new switches for the windows.  I hope that fixes it.  I currently have a freaking trash bag covering the one window that is stuck down.  Awesome!  :mad:

Hey man, at least you have the car back and you're mostly satisfied with it. Unfortunately, whenever a car comes back from getting major damage repaired, some things get missed. At least they have every intention of correcting the issue.

Yeah I'm not even mad about the windows, I'm just glad to have my baby back! :)

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Dude, she looks brand new. I'm happy for you and glad everything turned out alright.

Fucking sick, congrats Ike.

Man so jealous of your spanking new paint job. Looks good man.. glad they got it done proper!

Omg it looks like you just took it off the show room floor! Drool!

All of this. +1.  Def jealous of that new paint.  Looks great, Ike!  All the best with the windows, especially since it's raining.  Could they have not done a black trash bag to blend in better???   :D

EDIT:  BTW, love the blacked out headlights.  Compliments the GP color well :thumbsup:

Looks great... Glad your happy with the work

Thanks everyone, I'm glad to finally have all this put behind me. 



Thanks!   As for the trash bag, that was my doing.  They had the windows rolled up but I tried messing with it to make sure it wasn't just a loose plug or something and got it stuck rolled down.  So that was my fault for tinkering around. 

They called and said the switches were in.  Now I just got to figure out when I can get the car back to them for the day. 

That's funny Ike because the same exact thing happened to me with the window.  It looks great. Glad you're happy.

What turned out to be the problem?  Was it both windows too?

Just the driver side rear. The switch went bad. The day right after i picked it up from the shop. They replaced the switch.

That's good to hear.  I was hoping it would be something simple like that.  Although it is odd that both of them broke but I guess with a rear end collision of this caliber it shouldn't be too surprising. 

My driver side rear quarter was replaced.  I wonder if that had anything to do with it. Both of your rear quarters were replaced.

They replaced both switches and everything works now. 

GOOD TO GO BABY!!!!   ;D

nice!

New house and newly painted car!

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Congrats on both.

Very nice! I love that front porch! :)

Congrats buddy

Needs moar lowwww Ike :D

But congrats man

That's awesome !! Congrats!

Ike you putting in a driveway?

No space for it. If I had to guess, the greener grass lines are his property lines.  It looks like he's right at his setbacks.

Thanks everyone!!  ;D

Correct, where the sod ends, my property ends.  It is very hard to find newly built houses in this area with large yards unless you want to pay half a million or more. 

What the picture doesn't show is the two car garage behind the house.  :) 

These were taken during construction. 

(http://i230.photobucket.com/albums/ee257/ikethegreat/March2012100.jpg)

(http://i230.photobucket.com/albums/ee257/ikethegreat/March2012098.jpg)



Thanks everyone!!

I was gonna ask where the garage was.  Cute house!

Congratz Ike!  So how large is your yard?  Care to disclose your interior square footage and property size?  Just curious is all :)

I'd be happy with something like that.

IIRC the yard is roughly 50'x90' and the house is just a hair under 3,000 sq ft.

Wow, that's a good size house. :thumbsup:..... I moved out of an 800 sq. ft. townhouse a year ago; I could only imagine having 3,000 sq. ft. here.  It would probably run close to a $1M, easily.

Maybe ike paid a million... He's a baller...

Everybody thinks everybody is a ballet around here. 3,000sf is a lot. How big is the family.

LOL  :D  I'm definitely no baller.  My fiancee and I paid a hair under $300k for it.  It is just the two of us for the foreseeable future (I hope!). 

You're in CA right?  I couldn't imagine living in a place like that where real estate is so damn expensive. 

He's in Hawaii. Da 808 bruddah.

Oh yeah thats right.  I bet HI is 100x worse.  What island out of curiosity? 

3000 sq/ft is a good size.  The place my wife and I are in is a bit under 2000 sq/ft and it's plenty of room for us.  The only thing I wish we had was a basement and a bigger garage.

Our houses are probably about the same size then since 1,000 sq ft of mine is the unfinished basement.  I hope to turn it into the man cave within the next couple years. 

The only thing I don't really like about my house is the small yard.  It is nice that it only takes me 15 minutes to cut the grass, however, it is so small I ended up having to leave my dog at home with my parents.  It was heartbreaking to have to do that but I couldn't force her to use my small little yard when she is used to my parent's huge yard.   :'(

Yeah, that's tough about your dog.  As odd as this may sound, I'd use the basement for storage mostly.  My garage is my man cave and I have a nice enough home theater set up in my living room.

Can't wait to someday have a basement! The cave - It'll be for both of us so i guess it won't be the man cave lol I really want a full bar... ;D

Thanks bruh.
Island of O'ahu.  You're basically buying the land out here.  To me, $300K for that size house and land is great!!  If your lot was out here, you couldn't even by the land to place the house on for $300K  :D...

I would love to have a basement as well.  Protection from Hurricanes.  :)... And that's unfortunate about your dog. I hope you guys can find a solution  :)

You guys don't have hurricanes. You have typhoons. Wrong ocean homie. lol

Back OT, a small scissor lift would be fantastic for that garage of yours Ike. If you can make it an in ground lift, even better. Food for thought.

I'd like to see more pics of the garage.  Even though a scissor lift is inexpensive and convenient, there are twin post lifts that are also portable.  If I had the choice, I'd get a twin post lift.  I've been eyeing the Danmar MaxJax since it's portable and for low ceiling garages.

I guess the other thing is, does Ike even want a lift?

That's a good question. It makes for hellaciously easy things to be done at home.

I'd love to have some kind of lift if I could find one for the right price.  Most of the twin post lifts I saw with a quick google search are $1,500+.  The Danmar MaxJax is nice but I definitely don't have $2.5k for one.  Plus I'm not sure that I would even be able to fit one of those in the garage.

I haven't looked into scissor lifts though.  IIRC that is what Paul has in his garage and it was pretty nice. 

I'll snap a few pics of the inside of the garage this weekend.  It looks big in the pictures but with two cars inside there isn't much wiggle room.  I really wish they had installed one large door instead of the two smaller doors. 

I know how that is.  I hate garages that have 2 smaller doors.  It's just one of those things that I don't want to have to navigate around.  There are a few houses in my neighborhood that have 3 car garages with one large door and one small door, but some have 3 small doors.  It just doesn't make sense to do it that way.

18'-0" wide is about as wide as you can get for a garage door and that's without going custom. You can swap out the two doors later for one door if it really bothers you. They'll just beef up the header to handle the point loads.

Good thing we have an architect here that knows what he's talking about.

Meh.  Need to know more about mechanical shit. But anyways. All in all, that's awesome about the house and I wish you the best with it and the awesome paint job on the car.

Winter mode.  Washed and waxed the car as well as the wheels. 

(http://i230.photobucket.com/albums/ee257/ikethegreat/garage004.jpg)

(http://i230.photobucket.com/albums/ee257/ikethegreat/garage003.jpg)

The garage seems so much bigger when it is empty...

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price on that house is amazing! I'm in B-more too (Mt. Washington), are you inside or outside the beltway?  We haven't been able to find anything decent in the 200-250k price range at all.

I'm in Essex.    That was our price range as well and we had a lot of trouble finding a house too.  While the total price on this house was a bit higher than we wanted to pay, we were able to get a lot of assistance being first time home buyers that made having the house built cheaper overall than spending less on a already built house. 

very nice.  We'll have to do some more research on the first time buyers stuff that's out there.  I'd love to get new construction if the right price point can be had.  congrats on the new house though, I'm jealous.

As most of you already know, I redid my entire audio system over the weekend.  Here is a list of that I used, a brief review, and of course a bunch of pictures!

1.  Metra 99-7803G DD kit -  See the metra thread in the audio section for my review of this kit.

2.  Kenwood Excelon DNX6990HD -  This head unit is completely bad ass.  The sound is so crisp and clear.  It has a Garmin GPS system built into it, which I absolutely love.  The HD radio sounds 100x better than any normal radio signal I've ever heard.  The Ipod hookup and playback are nice.  It shows the album cover and name of the artist/song/etc. on the screen.  You can even use a split screen so you can control the ipod and see the navi at the same time.  I don't have a smart phone so I can't comment on the bluetooth part but it does support bluetooth.  The audio controls and EQ are nice and I can do more tinkering than I'd ever want to. 

3. Metra Axxess ASWC - After many years I can finally use my steering wheel controls again! 

4.  Monster 16 gauge speaker wire - Previously I had a static/hiss noise coming from my speakers that you could clearly hear when the music wasn't playing.  After running all new speaker wire to each speaker, the noise is completely gone.  The speakers produce a crystal clear sound now. 

5.  Replaced the crossovers for my front speakers.  When one of my old front speakers blew several months ago, I replaced both speakers but reused the old crossovers because I didn't want to rip apart the interior looking for them.  They were actually harder to find than I had thought.  The driver's side crossover was mounted behind the fuse box and the other was mounted under the carpet on the floor of the passenger seat. 

6.  Installed RAAMmat BXT II to sound dampen the front doors, the trunk lid, and the rear deck.  This stuff is awesome.  No nasty smell that you get with cheap sound dampeners that use tar, like Fatmat or Peel N Seal.  This uses a butyl tape as adhesive.  It is simple to install, but very time consuming.  It got rid of all the vibration and rattling in my doors.  From outside the car, the trunk doesn't rattle nearly as much as it did before. 

On with the pictures!

Day shot
(http://i230.photobucket.com/albums/ee257/ikethegreat/audio043_zps41939ab3.jpg)

Night shots
(http://i230.photobucket.com/albums/ee257/ikethegreat/audio041_zps859e71cb.jpg)

(http://i230.photobucket.com/albums/ee257/ikethegreat/audio040_zpsd4460e19.jpg)

(http://i230.photobucket.com/albums/ee257/ikethegreat/audio038_zps394b3ad0.jpg)

Display screen

(http://i230.photobucket.com/albums/ee257/ikethegreat/audio045_zps892e2611.jpg)

(http://i230.photobucket.com/albums/ee257/ikethegreat/audio046_zpsc890806d.jpg)

 :'( :'( :'(

(http://i230.photobucket.com/albums/ee257/ikethegreat/exhaust002_zpsf71f237b.jpg) (http://s230.photobucket.com/user/ikethegreat/media/exhaust002_zpsf71f237b.jpg.html)

 ;D ;D ;D

(http://i230.photobucket.com/albums/ee257/ikethegreat/exhaust003_zps946ae9e2.jpg) (http://s230.photobucket.com/user/ikethegreat/media/exhaust003_zps946ae9e2.jpg.html)

Haha too bad the first pic didn't show up at first.  So I saw the second pic first. :P

Very nice.

Thanks to Audioman79 on v6p for the new trunk build!!!

From this:

(http://i230.photobucket.com/albums/ee257/ikethegreat/car/IMG_0267.jpg)

(http://i230.photobucket.com/albums/ee257/ikethegreat/ampmount.jpg)

(http://i562.photobucket.com/albums/ss63/customaudioman/2008%20honda%20accord%20stealth%20build/20130911_190719_zps77c084ec.jpg)






To this!:


(http://i562.photobucket.com/albums/ss63/customaudioman/2008%20honda%20accord%20stealth%20build/20130913_205338_zps6f454841.jpg)

(http://i562.photobucket.com/albums/ss63/customaudioman/2008%20honda%20accord%20stealth%20build/20130914_101754_zps3e76cbef.jpg)

(http://i562.photobucket.com/albums/ss63/customaudioman/2008%20honda%20accord%20stealth%20build/20130914_142120_zpsaa1968bc.jpg)

(http://i562.photobucket.com/albums/ss63/customaudioman/2008%20honda%20accord%20stealth%20build/20130914_185035_zps44da72e2.jpg)

(http://i562.photobucket.com/albums/ss63/customaudioman/2008%20honda%20accord%20stealth%20build/20130915_190452_zps76eb0327.jpg)

(http://i562.photobucket.com/albums/ss63/customaudioman/2008%20honda%20accord%20stealth%20build/20130916_174611_zpsed8ac773.jpg)

(http://i562.photobucket.com/albums/ss63/customaudioman/2008%20honda%20accord%20stealth%20build/20130916_175647_zps51e6b83c.jpg)

(http://i562.photobucket.com/albums/ss63/customaudioman/2008%20honda%20accord%20stealth%20build/20130916_175751_zpsca76c90b.jpg)

Wow! It's so clean! Looks great Ike!

Now THIS I like.

That looks awesome! Audioman79's other build on v6p was impressive as well.

:like:  Wow, Ike, didn't realize that you were the recipient of Audioman's new install.  Impressive! :thumbsup: Very jelly right now.

Thanks guys, I'm really happy with it.

After seeing his last build and how close he was to me, I knew I just had to do it.  Definitely top notch work!

Very nice

Nice work. 

Very clean. Nice. What did you lose? About 8" in depth? Not bad.

Actually I only lost 3-4".   

No spare tire anymore of course but it wouldn't fit on 2/4 of my wheels anyway, plus that's what I have AAA for!

Here's a trick that I learned from Tim. If a front tire is flat, take one of the rear tires and put it there. Then put the donut on the rear tire.

BOT: it still very clean and I like it.

I never even thought of that.  Excellent idea, I might just keep the spare in the trunk after all. 

I hate winter  :mad:

(http://i230.photobucket.com/albums/ee257/ikethegreat/IMG_0396364_zps172fda6a.jpg)

Preaching to the choir bro.

Same here, it kills me to see my car this dirty. :(

My Volks have taken quite a beating over the years so I decided to completely refinish them.  I took them to Ye' Old Wheel Shop to have them checked out and it turns out that three of the four rims were bent.   I was going to have them repaint the rims for me, but the price was just too high.  After removing as much of the curb marks and other defects as possible myself, I decided to just plasti-dip the rims.  It was my first time ever using plasti-dip and I think it turned out pretty good. 

5 coats of black

(http://i230.photobucket.com/albums/ee257/ikethegreat/rim1_zps5654fde3.jpg)

4 coats of purple metalizer on top.  The pic was taken on a crappy flip phone in a dark garage with the flash on so the color looks brighter than it really is.  It is more of a dark purple with a lot of flake.

(http://i230.photobucket.com/albums/ee257/ikethegreat/rim2_zpsb68fb08a.jpg)

I'll put up a better pic when I put the wheels on the car later this week.  Still have the center caps to do today (I'm thinking about just keeping them black).

(http://i230.photobucket.com/albums/ee257/ikethegreat/IMG_0642626_zps62232bf2.jpg)

After a couple months of buying parts here and there, I finally have some goodies to install this weekend.  The list includes Raybestos LCAs, Skunk2 UCAs, Insane Axles (good up to 500whp supposedly), Moog lower ball joints, and Moog endlinks. I found a mobile mechanic on craigslist willing to do the install for just over $300 which is half the price of the quotes I got from local shops. 

She had her timing belt and water pump replaced last week and of course while replacing the cam and crank seals, they found a leak in the oil pump and had to reseal it.  Turned a $560 job into a $1060 job. :( 

Three weeks ago I went to put on my freshly plasti-dipped wheels and when tightening the very first lug nut, I heard "RIIIIIIIPPPPPPP" and sure enough, the lug nut ripped the dip right off the wheel.  They have been sitting in my garage since and I'm finally going to redo the wheel tonight.  This time I'll make sure to dissolve the dip around the lug holes before I mount the wheels.  If it rips again, these wheels are going into storage indefinitely.  It isn't all bad though since now I can try out the glossifier dip I just got. 

Washed and waxed her this weekend. 

(http://i230.photobucket.com/albums/ee257/ikethegreat/car1_zps750d618f.jpg)

I blew two speakers so I did some upgrading this past weekend.


Focal P130V15 5.25" components in the front.

(http://i230.photobucket.com/albums/ee257/ikethegreat/0211151744_zpsfiavwajm.jpg)


Due to a shipping delay, I got sent upgraded crossovers for free!

(http://i230.photobucket.com/albums/ee257/ikethegreat/0202151208a_zpsyfavrslu.jpg)


Focal 690CA1 6x9s in the rear.

(http://i230.photobucket.com/albums/ee257/ikethegreat/b30fc5f5-2eec-4b50-a9de-33f77d19e836_zpsu50vvomi.jpg)


Full coverage of RAAMmat BXT II on the rear deck. 

(http://i230.photobucket.com/albums/ee257/ikethegreat/0207151450a_zpsb6i0kypd.jpg)


Full coverage in both doors.

(http://i230.photobucket.com/albums/ee257/ikethegreat/0208152022_zpsdka0hju7.jpg)

Passenger side crossover mounted under footwell carpet.


(http://i230.photobucket.com/albums/ee257/ikethegreat/0208151429a_zpsohgxxnug.jpg)

Driver side crossover mounted behind fuse box.

(http://i230.photobucket.com/albums/ee257/ikethegreat/2dc22bff-b12b-4c5c-aeae-4931d5e998d7_zpspqiqbu4u.jpg)


Removed all the factory wire and installed heavy duty 14 gauge speaker wire everywhere.

(http://i230.photobucket.com/albums/ee257/ikethegreat/0208151430a_zps9kjkvvrm.jpg)


I decided to mount the new tweeters in the door instead of the factory location.  I installed quick disconnect connectors on the tweeter wiring in case I need to remove the door panel. 

(http://i230.photobucket.com/albums/ee257/ikethegreat/0208151456b_zpsi70h3wd4.jpg)

The scarey part begins...


(http://i230.photobucket.com/albums/ee257/ikethegreat/0208152008a_zpsgc16pk5g.jpg)


Whew, managed not to destroy my door panels!


(http://i230.photobucket.com/albums/ee257/ikethegreat/0208152009_zpsc5ggjedi.jpg)


(http://i230.photobucket.com/albums/ee257/ikethegreat/0208152008b_zps25awrsq3.jpg)


All done!


(http://i230.photobucket.com/albums/ee257/ikethegreat/0208152017_zpsa2nufyst.jpg)

Damn not bad for the tweeters ! look almost stock. Is focal a high end brand ( never heard of it) and does the mat in doors and trunk make a big difference ?

Wow. That Looks pretty professional. I have to insulate my doors. With my new door speakers you can hear every word outside the car. How's the sound?

Looks good Ike. Nice upgrade.

Great job ike!

Yes.  Focal is a very high quality speaker brand from France.  Their flagship speaker is the Utopia line, which are about $5000 for a pair of car audio speakers.

Tweeter install looks good Ike.  You've motivated me to want to get some work done on my audio system in my car.  I haven't done anything, but I'm getting ready to run some speaker wire and install my new kick pods this weekend.

I would love a set of Utopias but sadly the Powerball ticket I bought a couple of days ago didn't pan out.    :'(

I love how these focal speakers sound.  Now I know why they are so well reviewed.  The rear set is their entry line called Access and the front set is their mid-range line called Polyglass.  Since the front speakers are the most important, I figured I'd splurge and get something real nice.  

The RAAMmat makes a big difference.  It cuts down on unwanted vibrations and noise.  It also gives the door a much nicer solid feel.  I also covered the entire trunk lid but I forgot to take a picture of that.  It really cut down on the noise from the subwoofer thumping outside the car.  I even put a bit behind my rear license plate since it liked to vibrate and make noise when the sub hit.  

I was really worried about the tweeter install and saved it for last.  Cutting into anything on my car gets me nervous because there is very little room for error and I hate having things look half-assed.  The $7 a paid for that 45mm hole saw bit was sooooo worth it.  It cut a super clean hole in the panel without tearing the edges up.  I'm glad I didn't use my dremel, which was the original plan. 

Yeah. Focal has 4 levels from what I know. Access, Polyglass, v2 and Utopia. I did an install with a set of v2's and was quite impressed. I may have to consider them if I ever get anything to replace my old MBQ Q Series speakers. Good call on splurging up front and not spending as much for the rears. I would have done the exact same thing.

That's some interesting stuff ! Would you mind telling me the estimate cost of those speakers and the RAAMmat for the job you just did ?

$600 for both sets of speakers and the RAAMmat was $110 for a bulk pack of 20 sheets (37.5 sq/ft).  For 100% full coverage of the rear deck, both front doors, and trunk lid, I used 18 of the 20 sheets. 

Not cheap but I spend several hours a day in my car listen to music and I wanted something nice. 

http://www.raamaudio.com/raammat-bxt-ii-bulk-pack-20-sheets-37-5-sq-ft-real-automotive-sound-deadener-best-there-is-for-the-money-period-please-click-to-see-product-description/ (http://www.raamaudio.com/raammat-bxt-ii-bulk-pack-20-sheets-37-5-sq-ft-real-automotive-sound-deadener-best-there-is-for-the-money-period-please-click-to-see-product-description/)

it's not that bad, I guess it's a must-have when you start having quality speakers. I'll consider that if I end up doing another audio upgrade.

Another company that has good sound deadening material is B-Quiet. They're based in Ontario I believe. I've used their stuff before and have been very happy with the results.

Washed and waxed her this weekend. 

(http://i230.photobucket.com/albums/ee257/ikethegreat/0503151346a_zpsballkj00.jpg)

(http://i230.photobucket.com/albums/ee257/ikethegreat/0503151311_zpsirsgsuzw.jpg)

looks good !