Hello fellow Accord drivers!! A moment of your time...

    Just recently got myself a 2006 Accord leather navigation coupe(v6 dohc?) with AT and stock everything so far.  I'm really kind of new to the whole car upgrading process and thought some fellow car enthusiasts could give some pointers.  For starters, I'm getting all my windows(minus the front) tinting with this high grade "infinity" film.  And I was also seriously considering getting a AEM v2 air intake for it as well(my friend say AEM and honda go hand in hand). So that's for starters, any input from the veteran hondaists would be appreciated.

A cold air intake is the best place to start. If u plan on modding with all ur bolt ons, get the aem v2 for sure.
Then get ur header, cat, and ur exhaust.

And welcome! Glad to see a 7th gen owner

Thanks for the welcome Mr. Accordxxxxxx.  Now this header and cat you speak of I am not completely familiar with(remember, I'm a newbie at this) and the exhaust I have discussed with my friends.  Basically, I have a dual exhaust that splits from a single pipe in lamence terms, and the faster I can get air out of my car, the better.  If you can explain what the header and cat are, that would be alot of help.  Also, if you can lay down some brands that are well known with honda for parts that would also help. Being new to this it can get pretty frustrating.

The AEM v2 is a very nice intake, if you are in a heavy rainfall area you'll want to get the origonal AEM cold air intake so you can install a bypass valve (keeps the motor from hydrolocking due to water intake),  Headers are the exhuast pipes that come off the  motor itself down into the exhaust, the Cat (or Catalytic Converter) is basically an emissions component and if you don't have any emissions checks in your area replacing it with a high flow CAT can improve your engines ability to get rid of the exhaust.  As for brands here's a quick rundown off the top of my head from "best" on down...

Spark plugs: NGK or Denso only (NEVER bosch)
Wires: OEM are great
Headers: DC Sports, Megan, OBX
Suspension: Opinions vary here but... Bilstein, H&R, Tokico, Koni, KYB, Neuspeed are a few good brands

What's your end goal for the car?

Also, post the info about what kind of car you have in your signature block and that will help in the future.

Make the exhaust the last thing on ur bolt-ons. Its best to mod from the front to bak. As for the header, get dc sports. I heard obx was crap and idk anything about megan. Idk about the cat bc I'm not there but it does affect ur emissions I think. I know someone who is getting his done and he is expecting a significant boost in power. For the exhaust, get the greddy evo2. Oh yeah one more thing, if u get a cold air intake, make sure u dont jump into big puddles bc it will kill ur engine and u will have to buy a new one. It takes a lot tho. U can hit puddles but the deep ones r what kills u. To sum it up, u have to be a retard to get hydrolocked. Enjoy the sound of ur j30 + cold air intake when u install it. After hearing the sound on all those j30, it gives me an errection. LOL jk. If u have anymore questions jus pm me or post here

Oh boy.lol That's alot of information to take in, but it's much appreciated.  Sir nasty, are you saying that there is no bypass valve for a Aem V2 filter? If so..ech. As for the header and cat, thanks for the explanation and depending on the power gains attributed to these items I will highly consider them.  As for how I want my car to look, I'm aiming for a new spoiler, rims( good looking brands if you want to put some input), perhaps a carbon fiber hood plus others in the future. As for what I wantperformance wise accordxxxxx and sirnasty, well...that's where the pain in the ass comes in.lol I mean I have read and heard about spark plugs, suspension(lowering it?), dohc conversions to vtec?,etc.  If it was cut and paste life would be so much simpler hahaha.  Well, I'm getting my windows tinted as I type, and I really do appreciate all your help.  If you know what will make my car faster besides what has already been discussed than I am all ears. Adios.

Oh, and I put a signature up for ya sir nasty.lol

sir nasty I have not a single clue what these mysterious "wires" are.lol

supertrooper .... a few things to make you sound a bit more knowlegable.  A 4 cylinder engine can get a header while a V6 has 2 headers .... the part that joins the exhaust ports.  Also, all J-series engines are single overhead cam (sohc).

IDK much about megan headers, but I had OBX's and liked them very much ... I've seen some nice pics of megan headers, but I'd have to see the exact one to evaluate it.

I agree with SN's recommendations, but for suspension, I have a slight differance of opinion.

Springs:  Progress, Tein, Eibach, H&R
Shocks:  Billstein, Koni, Tein, KYB
Sways:   Progres, Comptech, Eibach
Strut bar:  Neuspeed
Tie bar:  ebay cheapie
Front camber kit:  Ingalls upper control arm kit
Rear camber kit:  ebay

Accordxxxx, my car lingo is not to the level that yours is... so when you say "bolts on" you gotta let me know what in the world that means, than I'll understand. Thanks man.

Bolt on simply refers to parts that you can buy and simply assemble or "bolt on" to the car, no real modifications or fabrication required, usually a quick easy installation.

Wires: I.E. Spark plug wires (just a tune up, not really considered a power gain option)

All the parts that falkore24 just posted like the strut, tie, loop da loop bar(lol), that was the etc. for what could be done to my car. I just need to know what these parts are and I'm going to find out.  Thanks for making me a little more "knowledgable".  About the sohc, dohc and vtec, that's all pretty confusing to me.  I just need to read up more so I don't sound like an ignoramus on this forum.lol  Thanks for the help.

ok ok... tune up...spark plugs and wires.... no power gain....uhhhh, what does the "tune up" do?lol

Thanks for the definition sir nasty, much appreciated.

not a problem ..... for basic info, wikipedia is great ..... not always acurate, but it is mostly.  Also, KlrSpz has a bunch of links to look through for info.

I was still just wondering sir nasty if that part about the v2 intake not having a available bypass valve for it was valid or not, it's quite important info.

it's not really mandatory. how is the climate and weather in ur area?

hmmm ..... weird.  I've never had an edit cause a double post before.  Sorry anyway!

I live in northern Jersey and we get noreaster storms that flood parts of my town every year.  I don't drive through the floods, but during the storms, there can be as much as 2" of running water on the street.  I had a CAI without a bypass for over 3 years with no problems.  Unless you can drown the front bumper in water or snow, hydrolock won't be a problem .... snow won't be a problem either unless you rip the underbody shield off.  The only case of hydrolock that I know of is Sir_Nasty's civic that sucked in that Montana snow due to a missing underbody shield.  Also, I've heard of cases where the AEM bypass has disintegrated allowing unfiltered air and also getting foam stuck in the intake manifold and cylinder head, so there are cons to a bypass install in addition to the cost.

Furthermore, it would take a lot of water to fill up that plenum in the V2.

quote:

ORIGINAL: supertrooper300

ok ok... tune up...spark plugs and wires.... no power gain....uhhhh, what does the "tune up" do?lol

 
Your engine has individual ignition coils on each spark plug.  There are NO spark plug wires in the sense that Nasty is talking about.
 
Getting new spark plugs would be considered a tune-up item, so IF your plugs are old & cruddy, getting new ones would restore some lost power.  OTOH, the replacement interval for plugs is probably around 100k miles...
 

good call Jim.  hey supertrooper!  please create a signature to avoid us making recommendations for another car.

I thought I made a signature already? anyways, I'm having difficulty finding headers, cats, and/or performance related parts for my accord year,  what other models are compatible with my car?

jus worry about whatever u can get ur hands on for now. I have an intake and exhaust so far. My next step is a tsx intake manifold but it means nothing to u. First worry about the aem v2 then get the dc sports. After I get the intake manifold I will get the header and help u while I'm at it. Let me know when u get the intake. Whatever u do DO NOT PAY a pro to install it. It is so easy to install a caveman can do it (literally) I mean if u dont have time BUT do it urself if u do.

You can't get headers for a 2003-2007 Accord.  The stock manifolds are welded on and are not removeable.

r u talking about the headers or intake manifold. Bc if u r, ur wrong. There r 7th gen accord owners that have headers and a couple that have installed the tsx intake manifold

quote:

ORIGINAL: JimBlake

quote:

ORIGINAL: supertrooper300

ok ok... tune up...spark plugs and wires.... no power gain....uhhhh, what does the "tune up" do?lol

Your engine has individual ignition coils on each spark plug.  There are NO spark plug wires in the sense that Nasty is talking about.

Getting new spark plugs would be considered a tune-up item, so IF your plugs are old & cruddy, getting new ones would restore some lost power.  OTOH, the replacement interval for plugs is probably around 100k miles...

When I first posted that I was working off the assumption that he had an I4 and not the V6 since that information still wasn't available... None the less good catch!

As for your question about the AEM V2 bypass:  You can modify the intake to use a bypass valve but that changes the tuning of the intake and hurts your performance gains.  Not to mention you have to take a hack saw to the tubing to do it.  The V2 is designed without one and you can not install one without serious modification to the intake tubing.  If you are truly worried about hydrolock then find the origonal AEM CAI not the V2.