I have just bought my first Lude, a Silver 92 Si, (it is so beautiful, I love the smooth lines of the 4th gens), with a broke motor.
Previous owner ran it low on oil the day her ad came out in the paper. According to her the rear main seal had been leaking and she wasn't willing to pay the $600 to get it fixed so she just kept adding oil. The leak got worse or she just didn't keep up with it. She was asking $6000 or BO, it has 113,000 mi. When I called her it was sitting at the Honda dealer for them to give her a trade-in price. I went and looked at it, I stuck the key in and turned it not expecting it to even turn over but it fired immediately and ran, I shut it off right away. Engine noise wasn't too bad the little bit I had it running, no knocking banging noise more like bad bearings.
Long story short, I offered $2000 and she took it. The day before I was to meet her at the dealership to buy it, it got broken into and the CD/radio stolen. They busted out the passenger window and yanked the Auto shift lever back to low to get the CD/radio. The dealership covered the window and shifter damage but not the CD/radio. Knock another $150 off, I got it for $1850. Reasonable?
I've been scouring the internet for the last two weeks for prelude info and came across HondaPrelude.com and then PreludeOnline.com and have been reading here for the last 4-5 days, great site. I've learned more here in the last 4 days than I did the week and a half before I found this site.
I started out thinking I wanted to swap in an H22A1 VTEC, then got excited about the H22 head on my H23 block. Final Conclusion, neither one of those ideas were all that practical with my automatic Prelude. To much time money and headaches.
Haven't got it from the dealer yet they are putting the shifter stuff on it, will probably be done tomorrow and I will have it towed to my mechanic where we will find out if we rebuild or replace the motor. He was a Honda mechanic until 1992 and has been working out of his own garage while serving full time in The Air Guard since then. He is of the opinion that it will be rebuildable for less than the $1800 + $400 labor for a used replacement motor.
Since this is going to be my daily driver, (65 mi. a day),replacing my 92 Accord LX I have decided that I want reliability, relative quiet, and I don't want to sacrifice low and mid range for top end. So this is what I think fits those goals for now.
(1) AEM CAI
(2) AEM Tru-Time Cam Gears
(3) A'pexi WS exhaust
(4) Heder Chikara Stepped Hedders
(5) A High Flow Cat ??? (recommendations)
Please let me know if any of you see a problem with any of this, I would like to hear your suggestions. Just let me know what you think.
$1850 isnt too shabby. If I were you I would just get a H22A1, but thats IMHO. As for what you want to buy here are my recommendations.
1. AEM CAI... Good choice, I am behind you 100%
2. AEM Pulleys... Good choice, another 100%
3. Chikara Headers... I would go with DC Sports Ceramic 4-2-1, the majority of Prelude people here will agree
4. Apexi WS... Good choice, it wont be too loud, and you will get some extra power out of it.
5. High-flow Cat... I wouldnt do it. People here have experimented with test pipes, and hollowed cats and such. I would save the money and put it towards something else.
IMHO, I dont think a JDM h22 engine isnt out of reach, sure its an automatic, but you can still hit like 14.5 in the 1/4 mile (I got that from a post somewhere here on this board)
JDM h22's are like $2300 shipped, you can opt for the auto tranny or do a 5 speed swap, couple guys have done it here, only one I can think of is P2W...
Sounds like your buddy is capable of dropping it in... thats what I would do.
You definitely got a good deal on the car. I agree with all you're choices, except the Chikara header. I agree with red92si, go with DC Sports. Also, you were talking about having an H22 head and your H23 block. That would be fine if the block were in good condition, but you mentioned that the lady had not kept up with the oil. If anything's wrong on the motor, it's almost certainly in the block, from lack of oil. I know from personal experience! Just be sure to thoroughly check the motor out before you decide to just replace the head or the whole thing. And if you do end up replacing the whole thing, if you decide you want an automatic H22, PM me. My friend has one lying around in his shop. Good luck with the new Lude, you made a great choice!
Red92si: That was AEM Tru-Time Cam Gears, not the Tru-Power Pulleys... same Thumbs up?
Jape: A H22A1 and 5 speed swap really seemed like way more than I really wanted to tackle. Too many parts to try to hustle prices for and an awful lot of labor.
It just seemed like the more I found out about it the more trouble it sounded like it would be. It seemed to me like I would probably be way ahead to just buy a 5-speed VTEC Lude to start with if that is really what I have to have.
I'm kinda just getting my feet wet this way and after I've spent more time learning about Ludes I can get more radical later if I decide to.
Thanks and keep the ideas/opinions coming, even the H22 ones.
Originally posted by HI HO Thanks for the quick replies.
Red92si: That was AEM Tru-Time Cam Gears, not the Tru-Power Pulleys... same Thumbs up?
I would not recommend the AEM Cam Gears... They use 3 bolts if I remember correctly, and have been known to slip. I would go with the JUN cam gears, or Crower cam gears.
If your more concerned about low end and you don't want to dodge puddles like I an others have to do you might want to think about a short ram. Sure your not going to get as much of a gain but you wouldn't have to worry about puddles. But I can't complain I love mine. Oh and you can get one that isn't a AEM and still get the same gains. Mine is made the exact same way (same size pipe) and uses the same filter but it was only $60.00 the only thing is I had to rig up the vac lines but it works and is reliable.
Peace
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93 Prelude Si
CAI
15" Montegi MR7's (Gunmetal)
Yokahoma AVC's (V-speed rated tires)
NGK plugs
Front strut tower brace
And of course manual
Civics are like tampons every pussy has one.......
If you want cold air intake, but are afraid of the puddles, just get a bypass valve. I have one, and it alleviates the whole puddle problem. And trust me, the thing really works. Every time it rains (about 4:30 every afternoon here in 'sunny' Florida) my neighborhood floods like crazy.
If your getting the car for sooooo cheap why don't you just get a 5 spd jdm and spend a little more doing a tranny swap. I am sure you won't regret it in the long run.
How much would you estimate the final bill would end up being for doing a H22 VTEC and 5-speed tranny swap, parts and all the labor involved in making it all work right, plus don't forget to add in a CAI, exhaust, and cam gears?
If I am patient and keep my eyes open how much do you suppose I could pick up a 4th gen 5-speed VTEC Lude for?
If I get my automatic Lude rebuilt and add everything I mentioned,(except the High Flo Cat), how much would you guess it will cost and how much will I be able to sell it for afterwards? (Like when I find a 4th gen 5-speed VTEC Lude.)
It is not totally out of the question but these are the things that I have been considering that lead me in the other direction.
Have you done a swap such as this? I really would like opinions/estimates/answers to the questions I just posed from anyone that might know or have a good idea even.
Originally posted by HI HO
If I am patient and keep my eyes open how much do you suppose I could pick up a 4th gen 5-speed VTEC Lude for?
Unfortunaly, these cars are very expensive. ALOT more than S or SI models, with your situation, you could potentially save thousands of dollars doing an H22A 5-Speed swap.
However, the VTEC model has biger brakes, standard leather, map light, and a few other minor features to make it stand out from the crowd.
As for exact prices, there is a 95 VTEC for sale around here (Minnesota), with 70k miles, for $11,000. That is quite a bit, but i'm sure you could tlak him down. Still, for your $2000 car plus $4000 (tops) for the swap, you'd still be looking at a few thousand less than a VTEC.
OK, he sold it on ebay, but he's getting another shipment of front clips in a couple weeks. That means you will have the choice of the auto or manual versions, and probably anything else you might want off the clip- i.e.- headlights, chassis tag, etc. I will keep you posted, probably through PM.
Quote:
Originally posted by HI HO Yea, I intend to get a bypass valve. If I'm gonna spend $200 for a pipe and a filter another 35-40 seems like cheap insurance.
Hey preludechic, got any more info on that H22 that is just laying around not doing anybody any good?
well i bought a s for like 2600 and it was in perfect shape for the most part after me and the weak motor for a late summer and fall time it was time for me to purchase the swap which I got the JDM H22A 5 speed with everything you need for 2800 which is a total of 5400 which is not bad for a alomost perfect 93 prelude that reall only needs a good stereo which is also now in it. I guess what i am trying to say is that I was looking for over 6 months and finally found this one that needed really nothing and the best part is that he own it from only having 30K on it to now having like 160K on it so it was taken care of you can tell by looking at it. Also the closest thing that I found was a 94 that had almost as many miles on it at a dealer that they wanted 10,900 for it and wouldbn't even come close to budging which is good as i found the lude i have now after that. well now i am just going on and on but my advice to get to the point is to do the whole darn swap nd call it good as you will not be disappointed and in fact be happy that you did it
Sounds like a great deal for that prelude. I have a 92 Silver Si too.. cept mine is manual.
As far as suggestions to rebuild or replace? I suggest reading about all the options you have mentioned. THere is lots of information here in the forums archives. Their search function works very well for these things.. hehe..
For example.. I would definately read about the h22a head with h23a bottom end. This is usually termed doing "frankenstien" and there was a thread less than a month ago that was really informative about doing so.
best luck. and really good idea to have patience..
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92 Prelude Si
Owned by:
ScrewLewse the Monkey
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... I would go with DC Sports Ceramic 4-2-1, the majority of Prelude people here will agree
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