Not a good day for the lude - Honda Prelude Forum

toby tough · 11-23-2011, 08:24 PM

It's a sad day today.My kid found some black ice this morning in her lude.Spun around and ended up in the ditch all while takin' out a couple roadsigns.Her and her friend are fine,not so for the car.It's an 882.0 SI4WS. The right rear wheel is turned in just a bit from the accident.Would anyone have an idea if this is repairable?I'm trying to get some pic's on here that are stored in my computer.

Colfax · 11-24-2011, 09:49 PM

I'm sorry to hear about that. But I''m glad that nobody was hurt.

Sure, it can probably be fixed, but how much it will cost depends on what what damaged besides the sheet metal. You'll have to decide if it's worth the cost to fix it or try to find a replacement.

toby tough · 11-25-2011, 07:44 PM

Yeah,I'm pretty bummed out rite now.Had such high hopes for it.Oh well,maybe God has a different plan than mine.One fella had mentioned the frame mite be bent there and thats why the wheel is turned in a bit.I thought these were like a unibody sort of thing.Been lookin' around for another one to maybe swap stuff over to cause this one runs really good after I got things all cleaned up and all that.They are kinda scarce in west central MN.Yeah, at least my kids OK.

Colfax · 11-25-2011, 08:41 PM

These cars don't have frames. What's bent is probably a control arm, tie rod, or the rear sub frame. Or a combination of the three. Not terribly difficult to fix if you have a parts car. If you have a rust free 3rd gen, I'd definitely consider fixing it. If there is rust in the thing you might be better off using that as a parts car and getting another. But as you know, finding a rust free 20 year old car in MN is next to impossible. Good luck with whatever you decide to do.

toby tough · 11-26-2011, 06:32 AM

I kinda thought it was a hardend part of the body.Gotta make room on the other side of the shop to put her in. probably be sittin' there a while. This one has some rust here and there, but nothing drastic,mostly surface stuff. That big dent in the body tho makes me think the subframe mite be tweeked So much for the red white and blue ludes together.Christ rose from the dead, maybe this lude will too.Thanks for the reply.

S-LudeDan · 11-26-2011, 08:30 PM

sorry this happened to you. Glad everyone is ok. Like the other poster said you might look into using this as a parts car. Maybe u can slowly fix it up as a project car. How many miles on the car? when was last timing belt done? any othe major issues? Take everything into consideration.

Unless u personally know someone that can help u with fixing, this will cost a left nut and a right arm to fix. Where I live this is easily 2-3k in damages from the cheapest body shop at the least. Get some more pics up.

toby tough · 11-27-2011, 05:45 AM

Yeah,Colfax had mentioned some suspension parts mite be bent.As far as the subframe goes,not quite sure.I'll have to clean out the other side of my shop and get it in there.Get it up on jackstands and have a good look.I'll post a few pics if I can.Don't own a digital camera so I have to use my phone.They don't turn out too bad.

Colfax · 11-27-2011, 10:17 PM

It would cost a lot to have someone else fix it. But if you can do the work yourself it won't be too bad. Most of the parts can be found in junkyards or ebay. Or maybe from someone parting out a 4ws 3rd gen. As long as the section that the sub frame bolts to isn't damaged, it's actually a pretty easy fix. I've had my suspension completely off the car a couple times now. The only new parts you might need are wear parts like bushings, ball joints, tie rod ends etc... Rear upper ball joints have been discontinued, and are difficult to find. I have a lot of experience with the rear suspension. Feel free to ask me anything. If I don't know the answer I will know where to look for it.