As most of you have seen, my interior modifications center around half JDM OEM and half aftermarket support. I take pride in my interior and I wish more Preludes would too because it is the second area that somebody who is a car enthusiast will see (the first being your exterior, duh). When I started on my car, I did not go blindly into modding the interior, there are many posts on PO that show you how many different avenues to go.
My personal opinions about the interior revolve around two concepts, first, don't put anything inside your interior that does not have a purpose and the second is do not put anything inside your interior that takes away from the relative simplicity Honda put into it's once-upon-a-time flagship coupe.
Our interior's are bland, but there is no reason to go about painting the vinyl surface or sticking on disgusting "Ebay Trim Packages." Please at all cost, refrain from that.
Take a glance at my interior and try to imagine what things I was going for.
Well, based on the amount of comments and PM's I've received, everyone notices my center gauge pod right off the bat. They are all inquiring on how I did it and how it's done. The gauge pod is simply your stock center console piece with a WRX gauge pod molded into place. When I say molded, the guy I shipped both pieces to, took the center piece and, with a dremel, cut a hole into it roughly the size of the WRX piece that he slid into the hole. The WRX piece looks like this
the piece I bought was in regular black plastic, not carbon fiber since I knew the whole thing was going to get covered
The WRX piece is designed to sit flat on top of a WRX dash, but as you already know, our dash is sloped downhill. So the bottom part of that piece had to be trimmed off and that is where the molding part of it came in. My dash piece does not have a large flat piece jutting out, it just flows. If you are attempting to do this on your own, i recommend getting a second dash piece off Ebay.
The size of the gauges I have used are 60mm. Autometer gauges tend to run 52mm, which will fit (you have to trim out the inner part of the rings in the gauge pod to enlargen it to 60mm) but I believe Autometer gauges are too deep. The clearance I have behind this setup is very very limiting, which is why you also see many WRX and STi owners having these same gauges. If you are on a limited budget, your dreams are going to get shattered the moment you see the cost of these gauges, so this mod is not for the faint of heart. But if you want to spend $1000, this is your final product:
The entire setup does not sit entirely flush with the rest of the dash, but that is because it has a thick layer of carbon fiber and resin on top, but it is barely noticeable otherwise
Now let's look at the A-Pillar Gauges. This mod is relatively inexpensive and anybody can do it. It will involve the removal of the A/B Pillar trim to stuff the wires behind it, but what you get is a very clean look that seems to match the interior trim very nicely. This gauge pod is from Autometer and I'm not aware of any company that makes a triple gauge pod for the Prelude without alot of custom fitting. For the money, the Autometer dual gauge pod is an excellent value and I recommend it.
As for a review of the gauges, you see I've went with two different companies. The first company was Defi. I bought these because they most closely resembled the factory orange/red dash color. The key to having a clean interior is to not have alot of crazy colored lights, but instead, something that looks like it was meant to be there. With a black face and red lighting, they're perfect for the job at hand. Upon purchase of these gauges, you must also purchase the Defi Link Control box. This control box is the connector for all of your gauges' sensors and upon recieving the signals in to the box, it feeds a single wire up to the first gauge upon which you daisy-chain the other gauges off of it. It has a built in "warning" device which emits a really really annoying beeeeeeeeeeep noise when one of the gauges falls into a danger zone (like no oil pressure or one of the temperatures reaching over the intended mark). This can be especially annoying with the oil pressure because if you put the key in and turn the car to the "on" position (without actually starting it up), it will just beeeeeeeep the whole time until it actually begins to read the oil pressure. It has a way to set the parameters of when the warning beep comes on and is very easy to use though. It also has a playback function, but honestly, I have never used it.
The AEM gauges are also top of the line. At $250 a pop, they're not cheap but they are known for their extremely high quality and exact measurements. These gauges came with the option of a white or black dial face, and of course I picked black. They give you a digital number readout of the area they are measuring and they also have a small LED light arond the outside of the gauge that moves around in incriments to give you the analog reading to the digital reading you see before you. The Wideband has been a blessing in disguise. If you install it, install it where you're always going to watch it, like I did with putting it on the A Pillar. You're going to watch this gauge more than the speedometer or tachometer I swear to you. The boost gauge is also very nice because it's going to show you vacuum or boost. For any forced induction engine, this is extremely important. Both of these gauges even are set up so that they can be wired into your Hondata S300! This is perfect because you don't want the factory MAP sensor for that, you're going to need an aftermarket one no matter how much or how little boost you're running. For all my interior modifications, the AEM gauges have been worth 3 times their cost in the valuable information they supply.
Most of you have already done this, but Honda does have a factory Carbon Fiber trim available for the Prelude. This trim is not gaudy, so don't let anyone ever call it rice. It can't be rice if it's OEM, right?
The 4 piece kit is a little time-consuming to install, with the biggest headache being the interior door handles. You have to remove the door panels to do it and then unscrew all the support screws on the stock black plastic one to do it right. Then you'll take out the factory switches and put them in the new pieces and screw everything back up. The part that makes it the headache is if you have aftermarket component speakers that are amped like mine. The kit fits like a glove and looks really clean. I recommend this as a standard for all of our cars, but the price might drive some people away ($130 roughly)
The Momo Steering wheel with HKB Hub is what sets my car off from others I've seen. If you own a Prelude, chances are you hate that stock steering wheel. With the whole car being so clean, the last thing you wanted to see is a school-bus sized steering wheel with 4 spokes. That just takes away the entire sporty nature of the car. But with all the aftermarket (and even OEM) steering wheels out there, you can be unique too, just keep it clean like I did. I wanted something that would match my general theme I had back in January, 2008. I wanted a black interior with red stitching. The choice of the Momo Millenium Steering wheel was the perfect fit to my guidelines. The steering wheel looks and feels great. With 3 spokes and red stitching where I want it, I couldn't ask for anything better. And since I went to NTPOG and saw their install on a steering wheel, I made my decision to buy an HKB Hub. No, this is not a tilt hub or even the kind where you can disconnect the steering wheel. It's just designed to be a Hub to mate it to the stock location.
I did have to buy a steering wheel removal tool so that it holds down the steering wheel while you disconnect it from the hub bolt. This will incure an extra $30 if you buy it or I guess you can rent one for free. The center "Momo" piece still has a horn button inside of it, although if you wanna hit the horn quick, sometimes you'll miss finding it in one or two tries, because the actual button is smaller on the inside of it.
here's the little button I'm talking about...
Here it is with the cover on it
The red stitched shift knob is an OEM product, but it is getting rarer and rarer to find today. In fact, it is so rare, that I replace mine with a normal black stitched one for the days I don't think I'll be showing the car off. The red one only gets brought out for special occasions to represent the bling factor for those Prelude enthusiasts "in the know." The top shift pattern simply wears off too fast, and is accelerated if your hands are dirty or wet. A person would make a fortune if they could somehow buy up a bunch of black shift knobs and remove the black stitching and replace it with red.
I'll do the pieces you've all been waiting for next... The SIR interior. As you know, the Prelude SIR was not available in the US. But it did have an option for the interior upon which the black trim was replaced with a tasteful red interior. Not entirely red, but the touches everywhere really turned me on to the idea that I wanted more than a black or tan interior. The biggest part of the interior you'll never get to fit is the dash. Unless of course you convert to right hand drive.
But the rest of the interior; the carpet, door panels, center console, headliner, sun shade and seats, will fit. I purchased all of these except for the seats which you will see why later on...
The first thing you must know about the carpet is the fact that it is not going to fit
as well as the US. Keep in mind though, that manufacturers hate to retool a machine to make a new part just to make it fit in a car bound for export, and the carpet is not made of anything different or doesn't have anything wrong with it other than the way it was cut. It is all in how it is cut is what gets to be the problem. The USDM Prelude and the JDM Prelude are different in the main regard of how the carpet is cut for the trunk and gas flap release. There is a hole already pre cut into the floor on the (USDM) passenger side. The way around this is you have to cut that exact same hole on the (USDM) driver's side and move that patch of carpet over and behind the hole that already exists on the (USDM) passengers side.
The carpeting that goes underneath the (USDM) passengers side is also tremendously long, and it will look like a baggy t-shirt since it wasn't designed for the pieces on that side. You can either trim it up or leave it alone and cover it up with a floormat. I chose to do the latter.
Speaking of Floormats, you cannot use JDM Honda Access Floormats on the USDM Prelude with the exception of all pieces but the drivers side piece. It won't fit right or look right. So what I did was bought some USDM Tan Floormats (the kind that came in the EGP Prelude) and had them sent off to a place in New York called Manhattan Dyeing. They suck by the way. From the moment I bought the floormats off of Ebay on July 25th, I did not get everything done and returned to me until October 12. They simply continued to drag their feet because they were too lazy to just dye them and get it done with. They are a clothing dyer first, and just did my project for the hell of it second. I would not recommend them, but perhaps you know of a place that does dye colors. Clothing Dyers usually ask what kind of material it is that they will be dyeing because they know that Polyester (which some floormats are made out of) cannot be dyed. Honda did something right by making their floormats out of Nylon however, and ours can accept a dye. So I got my floormats back and they were waaaay too dark. Every weekend now, I give them a good soaking in the bathtub full of hot water to try and get it to bleed more and more. It has helped a little bit, but now I have a red ring around the tub, haha.
Honda Access Floormats have a metal tag in the center of them that says "Prelude" on them. Notice how the drivers one can never fit the US model
The center console is a very easy bolt in affair as well. There are a couple of extra goodies for you to know when ordering the JDM console, such as the fact it comes with the JDM cup holder design (which is cooler and more functional than the US one) and instead of a coin tray, it comes with a cigarrete ashtray where that was. Put some coins in it, however, and you'll be trying to dig for them for a loooong time.
The SIR headliner was a very hard piece to install, but the harder piece was the sunshade. You should take off all A, B and C Pillar trim pieces to begin taking out the old headliner. After that happens, take off the maplight and sun visors. Then take out the rearview mirror. Then rotate the button in the rear-center to unlatch it and it should all slowly come down. Reinstallation of the SIR one is just like that only in reverse. But the only way to remove the USDM OEM sunshade is by taking out the entire sunroof assembly. You WILL need two people to do this no matter what. The sunroof assembly weighs 55lbs and spans almost the entire length and width of the roof. It is very awkward on top of that and has ten 10mm bolts to remove as well as a clip for the motor of the sunroof. Removal is easy and then you're going to have to fuss around with unscrewing 6 screws and 2 10mm bolts with the assembly to slide out the existing sunshade and popping in the new SIR one.
When all is said and done, you're going to have a headliner that nobody will ever pay attention to
but you and every fellow preludian out there will know for sure!
I'm trying to show you the actual headliner
Make sure you get the red "gasket" piece too when purchasing the headliner and sunshade
The Recaro Seats are the biggest indication that money was spent and in large amounts on this car. I believe that seats are the true focal point to any interior and when people see stock seats, they usually associate it with a stock ride. But race seats tell volumes about what other things are to come. I believe no other name defines luxury, quality, fit and finish quite like Recaro. They are the OEM supplier for many car company's to include Honda, Acura, Porsche and so much more. I didn't go with Sparco's because of the boy-racer look and I didn't go with Bride because of the narrow dimensions I hear so much about. But Recaro's seem to be the ticket. These are Recaro Speed Seats. The fabric is a rougher-twill (no, not a knockoff) but it is pretty durable. It has red stitching and red lettering on it as well. The store I bought it from even included slideable frame rails to adjust the seat and all of this was had for roughly $1500 shipped. These seats hurt my as$ something fierce though if you stay in them too long. The side bolsters are simply too high and if you have a size 38 waist like me, you will be pinched. But the torso bolsters are beautiful. They really hug you and keep you snug. The lack of comfort is worth the exceptional quality and look of these seats. But if your trip is any more than 2 hours long, you might want to pop the factory seats back in. Just as a side note though, these seats are heavier than your factory seats! Although I have not weighed them, they easily seem like one seat equals two factory seats in weight. If it's weight you're trying to shed, you just reversed the process by installing these seats, but it's a small price to pay I suppose :-)
One large problem about these seats is the fact your factory female seatbelt pieces will gouge into your center console, causing plastic to be worn away. This is not a pretty side effect but nobody is going to see where it scrapes it as long as the seats remain in the car, but if you swap out them for the factory ones, you can see where the rubbing has occured.
The rear seat is from the Prelude Type S. Yet another version that did not make it to our shores. These seats are a leatherette material (meaning vinyl really, but with the look and feel of leather and longevity that surpasses it) with suede inserts. I chose to buy this before the SIR interior was purchased or thought of, but I also chose to keep it in because I believe it actually ties in the interior of the car better than the rear SIR seats would. The leathette almost matches the black trim in terms of color and texture. You can be your own judge though...
The Sparco Harness Bar is by far, one of the trickiest pieces to put into the car. Originally, I believed that the Sparco Bar ($400) was superior to the NRG Bar ($200) but after I saw how it bolted in and the hardware that comes with it, I determined both of them are equal, they just wear a different name tag on them. You're going to have to fanagle with the seatbelts on the B Pillar for quite some time to get it fit right. You'll be mixing and matching washers, spacers and bolts for a while to get it right. Also, this is another mandatory two man job. This piece sucks to get straight enough for the bolt to start to thread into it. But once you get it, the sturdy-ness of it will definitely make you think it's tying up both ends of the car. And it looks super gangster too, but I'm going to need to get some harnesses to complete the look.
The two bars that extend off of the harness bar go down to the floor with a special prebent flange that is designed to bolt on to your rear outermost bolt of the seat. To do this, it replaces the 14mm bolt with a 17mm bolt and becomes a bigger pain the ass to put the bolts back in than ever before. Plus the fact you're going to need two different wrenches when taking the seats out. The rear seat is now pretty much unusable, unless you get a brave soul/contortionist who can squeeze back there.
There are a few add on pieces here and there, mainly by the company called RAZO. They are a pretty high quality company that I've been wanting to try out for a while now. So I scooped up a set of pedals, cigarette lighter and broadway mirror. The pedals are designed to have two metal bands wrap around the existing pedals and clamp together by bending one piece backwards after attachment. Then the pedal is put over top and allen-wrench bolts are fed through the holes in the pedals to tighten down on the clamps. I never saw anything like this and was skeptical about how tight it would be. It turned out to be okay with only one instance where i needed to retighten the clutch pedal due to it being loose and annoying. The others seem okay.
The cigarette lighter is a very nice quality piece to look at and that's about it. It will not heat up to light a cigarette if pushed in.
The broadway mirror (270mm) is a clamp on design that actually doesn't do much to help. It is roughly the same length as the stock mirror, so you can't see anything else differently. But it does tend to shake and vibrate more than the stock one, making seeing cars in the background to identify them very hard.
