My 01 lude, my "DD", well maybe - Honda Prelude Forum

01ludenedd · 09-13-2010, 06:45 PM

So about 8 years ago I had my first prelude, a 97 SH, bought it for $9k... about 9 hours later a lady ran a stop sign, missed her, bounced off a rather large SUV and ended up in some trees... Needless to say it was totaled, and it was prob one of my favorite cars even as a die hard RWD/muscle car/motorcycle guy.

So, after buying an 88 Camaro to restore/build I decided I needed a daily driver w/no payments that wouldn't put me to sleep, and remembered my old prelude. So after 3 months of looking and sorting through chopped, riced, and plain beat up preludes I found this one in Tampa, a couple hours north of me. Older retired guy was selling it because he just started a job with a newspaper company and they gave him a company vehicle.... No accidents, No rust, 100k miles, VERY clean and only $4800... so I took it home. Already had the BBS 17" wheels on it (it sits like a monster truck tho), and a K&N cold air intake.

Only problem was a leaky rear main seal and a WAY over sized drain bolt for the oil pan. So after driving it for a month I decided to put a new pan, rear main seal, Fidanza 8lb flywheel, Exedy clutch, new axles, and a new master and slave cylinder for the clutch. I haven't really taken a lot of pics yet, and the ones i did are from my blackberry.

Here is what I want to add in the near future:

1) Some retro-fit headlights from Prelude1897, got some prices already from him and ive seen some of his work, they look GREAT
2) An exhaust that doesn't sound like crap without spending a ton, maybe a Tri-Y replica header and a Greddy cat back... dunno yet for sure.
3) I already have a sound system to put in; 2 kicker Solobaric L5 10's in a ported box, an Eclipse 5000 deck (old school but sounds incredible), Kicker ZX1500 mono for the subs and a ZX650 for the Infinity Kappa component fronts and 6x9 rears, followed up with a 5 Farad cap and an optima yellow top. This was all from my previous car.
4) A good adjustable coil over set up, not just some springs, need to get this thing a little lower with these wheels on it.
5) Don't know about motor mods, maybe some cams, gears, under drive pulleys, etc. nothing too major.

So let me know what you think, I'll get some more pics in the next couple days after a good wash and wax. Thanks

I <3 My BB6 · 09-13-2010, 08:56 PM

Congrats! Good stuff man thats some badass diy work there. Nice clean Lude, I drive an 01 base as well but with no BBS's... A drop is a must, what coils were you thinking?

01ludenedd · 09-15-2010, 05:10 PM

To tell u the truth I haven't a clue... don't want to spend thousands, not going to auto cross it or anything, just something better than doing just springs. Maybe Tokiko?

alltimelows15 · 09-18-2010, 09:32 PM

haha I think I saw this prelude for sale a little while back. Did u see it on craigslist?

01ludenedd · 12-06-2010, 09:49 AM

Ya it was on CL in tampa.

minilogoguy18 · 12-06-2010, 06:28 PM

Best not to use lowering springs with the OEM shocks, they'll just wear out, get something that can support being lowered or even better a full adjustable setup. If you get the Private Label Tri-Y it'd be best to just buy the muffler of your choice, resonator, flex pipe, cat and just have the piping made at a muffler shop as aftermarket exhaust kits will only require modification to make it meet the collector.

01ludenedd · 02-21-2011, 02:16 PM

I have been all over this place on this forum and others for preludes as of lately. Just have not really had anything solid to add ad to the progression of my lude. As you can see in the pictures, I had already done some repairs, and a little upgrading to the clutch/motor already. Unfortunately not too long after (about 1k miles) it seems as though the throw out bearing went out in the clutch. On top of that I had lost 2 quarts of oil since then...

So I started looking into a motor build since I would already have to take the transmission back out again, and had 2 quarts of oil to account for somewhere. I don't really want to get crazy on a build so will probably do a decent N/A build shooting for the 215-225whp range unless I have to get the motor sleeved, then might go FI... been taking in some advice a long with A LOT of searching and reading... all here:
H22a4 rebuild, best way to get 300whp?

Not only have i been spending a lot of time researching a motor build. I also have been working to upgrade the stereo system, since I already had most of the parts for it. And I also will be putting in a short shifter:
Which REAL short shifter to buy?

As for the system goes here is what I have:

-Eclipse CD5000 deck (oldie but a goodie with 8v pre-outs, besides having to send it to Eclipse to repair a tweaky volume knob, has always performed well.)

Next, sold the speakers I had and got Infinity Kappa speakers front and rear, Components in the front of coarse. The oem ones were shot to say the least (see the pics) and it took a lot of modification and custom mounting to get them into the doors because of the larger magnet size, and the oem speakers aren't true 6-1/2".

I took the time to run the new Monster XLN 16ga speaker wire through the factory harness... it was a pain in the a** but was worth the clean look in the end.

Next was some good subs without sacrificing too much trunk room since I do plan on driving this regularly... at least one day. So I sold the two 10" Kicker L5 10's I had in the box, for 2-10" Orion subs. These were new and had a little more quality and power than the previous solobarics, and I fit them into a Bassworx box that fit perfectly behind the back seats to leave me the rest of the trunk.

Speaking of the trunk... Had two big kicker amps, a ZX1500 mono for the subs and a ZX650 for the mains, and no where to put them without using the rest of the trunk space I had saved with the new box. So I started planning on putting them in the spare tire well. But i didn't want them to be completely closed in for they would get way too hot down here in FL in the summer. And thought it would be cool to be able to see the amps through the floor. Also I was going to use an extra Optima yellow top in the trunk rather than waste my money on a capacitor. So I looked a local custom glass/plexi glass place and got them to cut me a piece of Lexan (kinda like plexi glass but much easier to cut and drill) exactly the shape of the oem trunk carpet ($65) which I would use as my new floor and be able to have a window to see the amps.

Also I picked up 2-Silenex PC fans from comp US for $11 each, they had the best noise to cfm ratio (didn't want to sound like a hair dryer in my trunk) and they had led's in them which gave me a little background light to see the amps under the floor. All i needed was to pick up a 12v 30amp relay from radio shack to be able to run these off of the extra battery in the trunk, and they would turn on with the remote wire from the head unit.

I finished the Lexan with some black sub box carpet to match the sub box, and set it apart from the rest of the trunk. Also picked up a fan cover (only decent shape I could find, will make an aluminum Honda cover later) to protect the top fan from anything I would have in my trunk. I set of the fans, one behind both amps blowing air across them, and the other mounted to the floor pulling the hot air out. Also picked up an Aluminum battery holder for my Optima yellow top so it wouldn't slide around the trunk, and bolted it to the Lexan. Took a lot of time to get all the little thing purchased and installed, ut overall turned out pretty good, here are the progression pics with the finished trunk in the last pic.

Amps in the trunk mounted to a sheet of plywood painted black and mounted with a bolt to the part that holds the spare down.

Putting in the first cooling fan with the 12v 30amp relay

Making sure the box fits, and marking the spot to cut out for the second fan. And making a pattern to cut out from the carpet where to put the window.

Getting the carpet glued to the Lexan (harder than I thought) and getting the battery tray and fan bolted onto it.

Final outcome:

All in all it was a lot of labor, but not a lot of $$ and I've never seen aything close except on show cars.

Next I'm waiting on the shifter bushings to get here on Wed. to instal my JTC short shifter, Skunk2 knob, and the buchings. Also going to install a hood damper kit I picked up on Ebay to get this stupid hood prop outta here. Then I'll start pulling the motor out and beginning that build.

Also I know I put some reto-fits on my list of what I wanted to get on the car, but I think I will pick up some Anzo projector's, they look really nice, and cost a little less. trying to keep this in budget as much as possible, it will not be a show car by any means, but I want to enjoy driving it and being in it. Thanks to all the PO members for all of their posts so I can search and find what I wanted to do to my lude, and everyone who has helped and made suggestions... couldn't do this without it.

xnixsin · 02-21-2011, 02:50 PM

better hope your trunk doesn't leak.

01ludenedd · 02-21-2011, 02:55 PM

HA HA! Yes I did check that, and also the amps sit about 2" above the actual bottom, so if it did, it would be ok. I have looked at a one way valve for the bottom just in case.

xnixsin · 02-21-2011, 05:45 PM

That sounds like a great idea as you never know when that can change. Both of my previous ludes would fill up almost over the spare i'd have to drain it every month or so and my whole car smelled like ****. The lude I'm getting has a pretty cool stereo setup and isn't a show car! I'll post pics when I can.

01ludenedd · 02-26-2011, 05:15 PM

So got a couple more things done on the car while I get closer to deciding what build I am going to do on the motor. I got my new JTC Customs short shifter, bushings from TWM, and Skunk2 knob installed. Feels really nice... would feel nicer if I could drive her around...

but all in due time.

Also ordered some hood dampers on good ole' ebay. Was a little skeptic on the price, but they turned out nice and are decent quality and a piece of cake to install. I'l prob get a little stronger shocks when these wear out though.

Getting really close to the engine build. Just need to start disassembling and inspecting to see what shape the cylinders and what not is in.

01ludenedd · 03-28-2011, 04:43 PM

Well during my wait to rebuild/replace the motor (getting married in 33 days, so trying not to get killed by the old lady)... I have been working on odds and ends to fix up the lude and get it ready for it new power plant.

A couple weeks ago I put new door and roof moldings on it, OEM from Honda of coarse... looks 100x better than before.

Also finished up converting to Led's in the whole car, and some on the outside. Sending my gauge cluster and climate control to Busabos77 to turn them blue. And put some aluminum trim rings around the gauges. I'll put pics up when I get them back.

I wanted a red valve cover like the type-s preludes do, but didn't want to trade an arm in for it, so I did my own....

High temp (1200degree) ceramic base, top, and clear... and the DOHC VTEC was wet sanded down to 2000 grit and polished. I think it turned out better than the stock red cover...

Don't think I am going to accomplish much more in the next month, with all the last minute wedding planning, bachelor party, family coming down, honeymoon, etc... but when I get back, it's all about the motor.

01ludenedd · 07-11-2011, 06:56 PM

Well it has been a while since I updated this thread, so figured I would get on it.

I did a whole LED conversion on the car (except for head lights and tail lights), sent the gauge cluster and climate control out to a fellow PO member, thanks Busabos77!!

Then my good friend who works at Honda (he has been helping me with the motor swap and what not) came over and did a headlight restoration like they do at the dealer to my old yellowed headlights. Turned out WAY better than I expected, and saves me some $$.

So now for the motor... after we did a compression and leak down test, we found out cylinder #4 was the main culprit. We took the head off first, and found some wear in that cylinder from what looks like ring chatter.

So then we decided to pull out the rest and found more bad news... it wasn't the original motor, vins didn't match, and it had some markings of coming from a junkyard, one on the block, and one the head...

At this point I'm pretty frustrated, and went from thinking i got a GREAT deal, to getting ripped off. I'm sure the guy I got it from didn't know either, it had 3 owners, and the first was a lease, the second was some kid, so I'm sure it was around that time. The carfax was spotless, so he prob blew it up and went and got a junky to replace it with.

So, it was between rebuilding what I had, or doing a JDM swap. Thanks to some cool guys, they recommended an H23a Vtec swap, which after some researching, was the best solution and bang for my buck for a DD.

But I got a couple bolt on parts to put on in the mean time... A Mizu radiator and fan shroud kit.

A Euro-R intake mani from Rosko that I bought from a PP member...

And I ordered a Tri-y rep header from the group buy as well, but it's not here yet (on back-order).

I ordered the H23a from Hmotorsonline. They were awesome, didn't BS me, had good background from where they get their motors, and even threw in some flywheel bolts... AHHH!! this goes back to the noise and not going into gear problem. Well turn out it was a couple of the flywheel bolts coming out and rubbing/colliding into the clutch plate. It took some good meat off of one of them... guess the torc wrench was off and blue loctite didn't help from when we replaced the clutch. :emthdown:

ops:

Well I did A LOT of ordering parts. I still have not got a new suspension yet. But I did get all the necessary items for the build, and then some:

H23 Manual tensioner
Crank seals
Valve cover gasket set
Cam Seals
Water pump
Timing Belt
Knock sensor (mine broke on the way out...)
Oil cooler O-ring
Oil pump gaskets
Oil strainer gasket
Vtec Solenoid gasket
Exhaust (6" flex pipe, magnaflow hi-flow cat, 2-12" vibrant resonators, vibrant muffler, and SS mandrel piping kit from VRS, all 2.5")
New Brakes
SS Brake lines
Competition stage 2 clutch
Oil psi guage
a/f wide band gauge
oil catch can setup
Kaizenspeed balance shaft delete
2 qts of Amsoil Synchromesh MT fluid
Thermostat and gasket
PCV valve and grommet
Apexi Neo w/plug n play harness

I have turned my office into my new parts room:

And I finally got a call last thursday from the shipping company that the motor is being delivered, so I took a LONG lunch to go home and make sure it came in alright... and to stare a bit... :xmas:

Like I had seen from everyone else that ordered from Hmotorsonline, this thing is CLEAN, and it was wrapped to well, the truck driver couldn't even tell what it was. I have to go back to work for the day, but this will be my project for the weekend is getting the motor prepped to go back in the car. The only thing I am waiting for still is the balance shaft delete kit from Kaizenspeed, that UPS (they suck ass by the way) is taking 13 days (including weekends) to deliver... friggin BS.

I have the new IM put together, after sending the injectors out to get cleaned and flow tested. The motor is on the stand, old IM and header taken off. I will be working on the balance shaft removal and swaping the oil pump and what not tomorrow.

Here is a pic of the size difference in the TB's: