Hey everybody... with the holidays coming around I'm really considering giving myself a nice Christmas present and doing some upgrades to my car ('03 Accord Coupe i4), but I'm not the best when it comes to doing work on cars.

I've been doing some research and I believe (unless someone opens my eyes to something else) I've found a couple things I'd love to do to the car.

1) AEM CAI

2) Apexi WS2 Exhaust
Can I use my already welded-on Borla exhaust tip on this, or will I have to buy a new one?

3) DC Headers (not too sure about this brand... or headers in general. How does DC Sports compare?)

4) Power Programmer
Is this necessary at all? I read about them somewhere, but I'm not sure if that even applies to my upgrades or not. Has anyone installed one on a 7th Gen. Accord?

So, what do you all think about these choices? Are these things going to do any long-term damage to the engine? Will I void my factory warranty installing these? I know I'm asking a lot of questions but this is all fairly new to me so any help would be very appreciated. I'm hoping to get a lot of installation help from a neighbor, but how hard would it be to install all of these things on my own, with little mechanical knowledge?

Comments/concerns/criticisms/suggestions are all very welcome!

 

1. Good
2. Good; tip is already on the muffler
3. Good, but I prefer OEM manifold for a 4 cyl.
4. No. Get that out of your head.

Long term damage - no. Void your warranty - no.

 

I agree with falkore on everything cept the header. I have it (BTW DC is an excellent company) and am very happy with the top end power it has provided. Its a PITA to try and instal yourself, so if you say that you are not the mechanically inclined it may be to your advantage to get this done in a garage. The intake is something you should take on yourself, cause its a fun job.

and to clarify the warranty thing, it wont void the warranty on the entire car, but will void/nullify the waranty on the part thats replaced.

 

Hey guys, I really appreciate your input.

So far, I'm 90% set on getting the WS2 exhaust and the AEM CAI. I'm still up in the air with the headers... as to which ones, etc. And then I started researching the TSX Intake Manifold (after reading your sig, Fenix!)... I found some really good HowTo guides to install that, and the exhaust/intake seem fairly easy to install. So I've still got some thinking to do, but as far as probable bolt-on's, it would be the exhaust/intake/headers/manifold. How does that sound?

Should I install all of these things at once? Or should I do one at a time, able to make sure each new upgrade runs properly?

Thanks again. I've got one month break from school, so aside from work I'll be making this my winter project. Brrrr..!

 

Those mods are exactly what i have on my car. If you can do them all at once go for it, that way the power increase is more noticable.
Just a note to save you a bit of money, if your car isnt MAF equiped than you can go with a cheap intake and put a K&N filter on it.