Lude Generation

I bought the Prelude over a year ago in August 2019 but I have been meaning to set up a build page for some time, I have been recording the progress with this in mind but went with an Instagram page sooner as its a lot easier to upload photos. But having spent many hours reading through other members build pages over the years and learning a lot I wanted to record my own, to be able to get some advise if needed and maybe inspire others as I have been in the past. Plus lock down v2 seems a good time to start...

This is my second Prelude, after selling my first due to needing to get something economical to commute in (250 miles a week). I didn't stray too far with a Civic FN3 Type S diesel but although it was nice to drive and had a lot of torque it wasn't fun and there wasn't any VTEC. I pretty much missed the Prelude straight away and as soon as I got a job closer to home again, I started to look for the best one I could find. My budget wouldn't stretch to a Type S so I was determined to find a manual H22a8. I also planned to modify it a lot and wouldn't feel as comfortable doing that to a Type S.

This one came up but it was in South Wales, I live in Brighton so it was a fair trek! I did as much research as possible before going to see it. It was owned by a lady who had had it some time and they obviously loved it but were finding it difficult to get into it now being so low. It was a 2000 VTI in Crystal Blue with the manual and a8 that I was looking for. Plus it had a Motegi kit and was on 84k miles.

Overall it hadn't been modified apart from the rear lights. It was the best one I had seen come up for a while so decided to risk it and bought a one way train ticket to Carmarthen. 6 hours later I was viewing it and it was as expected. There was some very small rust bubbles just starting to come through on the rear arches and it wasn't running perfectly smoothly but it ran straight, VTEC kicked in like it should (she said she never revved it that high) and I was pretty committed at this point. The rest was all in really good condition apart from a scuff on the front bumper.

So nothing like a 230 mile test drive to get home. As I was all the way over in Wales it would have been rude not to go via the Brecon Beacons as Iv never been before. It was great to drive through the amazing scenery in the new Prelude and surprisingly the air con blew ice cold. I stopped to take the photos below when I got there.

A couple of things I wanted to change straight away were the rear lights, luckily the stock ones came with the car.
It also had an aftermarket exhaust that was really loud and droney on the motor way so that needed changing asap and I wanted a smaller license plate, I never liked the large brackets on the front of the UKDM models and this one was wonky.

I made it back several hours later with no issues and the car got smoother the more I drove it.

Forgot to include that it came with these kick plates fitted which i was happy about, the rest of the interior was completely stock.

After I got back I had to leave the Prelude on my friends drive for a while until I had sold my Civic.


So by the time I was able to pick it up it was September and I got on with making some changes.
First up was to change over the tail lights, I wasn't a fan of the 90s Lexus style lights. The originals came with the lude so it was an easy swap, I also fitted some new gaskets to stop any leaks.



I also ordered a JDM style license plate which I think cleans up the front end, looks so much better without any though. It didn't help the existing one was wonky.




The Prelude wasn't running very smoothly and the accelerator was quite jerky so it wasn't much fun to drive. I was planning on a full service and cam belt change which I booked in straight away. Its lucky that I did as the garage had to cut off the belt, the auto tensioner had jammed and the belt was super tight. So with all the fluids changed, new belts, water pump, tensioner and the accelerator cable lubed it drove like it should. The wheels were very corroded and it had cheap tires fitted so this was the next thing I wanted to change.

Lo
Looks really nice
So glad You removed the awfull rear lights
Cheers for posting
Toadster
Jealous of Your kickplates

Funny enough I picked up my lude from up there and did the same thing.
Detour through the mountains

October. Now the car was running smoothly I wanted to sort out the exhaust, it was aftermarket but the back box was too small so it was really droney on the motor way and just didn't sound very good. The system was stainless so I got a custom Powerflow back box added which was much bigger. It sounds so much better and is deep and quiet until the revs get higher which is what I wanted from a daily. Turns out there was a gasket missing from the cat as well so that was added.



Next was the stereo as it had an old Sony CD player in it. I picked up a cheap android unit on the Facebook group and it came with all the wires to just plug straight in. Not the best but will do for now and I can connect my phone to it. I also wrapped the fake wood surround in some carbon wrap I had laying around. I'm on the look out for the OEM carbon pieces but it might take a while and I'm not a fan of the fake walnut. I also got a headlight seal which was missing from the same person.





Scouring Facebook market place I found these wheels at a good price that had just been refurbished. 17x7 Et40, they needed new tires though so I added some Toyo Proxies T1Rs. I ideally want to find some real 3 piece rims in a 5 spoke eventually but wanted to get the current wheels off the car, they were leaking air and the tires were really cheap offering no grip. I didn't want to spend money on new 16" tires as I knew Id be going with 17s long term.





I also found some fog lights on eBay, I got these as soon as I got the car as Id always wanted the JDM shape ones on my old Prelude and I think it completes the front end and makes the lower part of the bumper mirror the headlights. I could only find copies and didn't like the look of the wiring that came with them so have just fitted the units for now. I think I want to try and make them into DLRs at some point. But they do a good job of filling the hole in the mean time!

Thanks Toadster. The kick plates were a nice surprise when I got there. They needed a bit of a refurb as the metal parts had been stuck back down with sealant and in the wrong place so they rubbed on the doors. They polished up well though and got stuck back in the correct position with some 3M tape.

Hagland, there seems to be quite a few Preludes in that area that iv seen come up for sale. I thought as id gone so far I might as well make the most of it and see some interesting parts rather than head straight to the motorway.

Nice looking motor!

Lo
Totally agree with the front fogs
I fitted a set to the front of mine
Wheels look sweet too.
I keep thinking of going with a custom twin rear box as I have a single large JDM style can at the moment.
Cheers
Toadster

Nice work there - looks spot on