Driven 2016 is just over one month away now, and that means a lot of us need to get to work fitting the final pieces to our cars before the big day.

On Sunday Jackie at Balance Auto graciously let Alex and I take over one of his hoists for pretty much the whole day in order to work on the TL. Since picking it up last summer a number of new parts have already made their way onto the car (with even more since the mini feature back in January) but Alex is just getting started. In preparation for Driven this year there were two big changes on his to-do list and as of last week all of the parts for one of them had been sourced and prepared for installation.

Our day at Balance Auto was spent primarily fitting a full OEM lip kit to the car. Alex had also ordered a new base model front bumper as it was required to fit the specific lip he had opted for, so the install included that swap as well. Now the car sports the Type S A-Spec side skirts and rear valance, as well as the base A-Spec front lip.

While the front end was apart I covered the fog lights in clear Lamin-x as Alex had already lost one to a stray rock; understandably he wanted some protection on them following that. Another small change came in the form of OEM Acura RDX rear caliper covers, which Alex fitted just prior to my arrival.

We literally worked non-stop so while I had my camera with me, it didn’t come out until the end of the day at which point I only grabbed these few shots of the TL. I intend to shoot the car again soon so the new look will be properly shown off before too long. The fenders need to be rolled before the new wheels can go on, so the car’s not 100% ready yet anyway – but it’s a lot closer!

There was more going on at the shop than that though. While we were working on the TL, Jackie was making some progress on the Type R by assembling the K-series.

It may not be for a show car, but we all agreed that this was one good-looking engine. The wrinkle-black intake manifold in particular seemed to be the favourite component.

I cannot wait to hear this thing start up. There is plenty of work left to do on the ITR before it’ll be ready for the track but it’s great to see that its new heart is coming together.

Also being worked on that day was the shop’s Tundra, which received a full polish and detail. It’s a shame the sun was going down by the time it was rolled outside – this thing looked incredible!

Finally, Errol’s RSX. Nothing at all was done to it that day but I couldn’t not take a photo. I didn’t include pictures for the sake of privacy but there were plenty of other amazing cars at the shop that day, in for various reasons. The combination of hanging out with friends, working on the TL, and being surrounded by the caliber of cars that we were, made for an awesome day and I can’t wait for more like it to come over the rest of the season. It was also one of the most productive days of the year in terms of our cars, which made it even better.

Thanks again to Jackie for letting us use the shop, and remember to mark your calendars if you haven’t already – Driven 2016 takes place on May 7th at the Olympic Oval!

-Bill