Not been active on here in bloody ages. Thought I'd show the progress of my current el cheapo project.
This is directly pasted from the Prelude forum so some of the terminology might be a bit specific in places.
So here's the sad story of my 4th gen, although things are looking up for old Smokey Joe now.
Some background:
I've got an EG6 VTi which I've swapped everything underneath for EK9 and DC2 gear (Except the engine, although I have got a B18C from a DC2 in need of a rebuild whih will be going in) amongst other stuff. Fully polybushed, LSD, uprated pads and fluid etc. Decent track spec while still usable on the road. Still got a full interior (the car itself is a bit of a rarity so wana keep some originality and not just strip it).
So last winter I needed a car to get my EG6 off the salty roads.
So I bought a rusty £300 EJ9 Civic. Got taken off-road at high speed, through forests and even on a few track sessions!
How that thing took the abuse I'll never know, it just would not break! After a couple of months, I saw a comment on a post on Facebook where someone (James Russell, some of you may know him) mentioned he was selling a 4th gen Prelude, with just this collage pic:
It was up for £700 and I was a week from payday so it sat in the back of my mind for a few days when all of a sudden I decided I had to have it! Total impulse decision :mrgreen:
Took a bit of enquiring to track down the owner (I'd only seen it mentioned in a comment, it wasn't even an advert), eventually tracked him down and went to view it that night in the trusty EJ9. I ended up taking it for £400! Came with a full Skunk2 exhaust, AEM V2, Cusco strut brace and BBSs, plus a few other bits!
Got a mate to take me down to pick it up the following night. Had a monumental oil leak from the O ring behind the oil filter, which was dripping onto the manifold and making huge amounts of smoke! Every time I stopped at a set of lights the car would fill with smoke.
Ended up scrapping the EJ9, which I felt bad about as the damn thing was still raring to go! But I didn't want to sell it in the condition it was in and Dad said it had to go if I was to get the Lude. Fair enough.
The day after I picked it up:
After a quick clean:
Arctic exploring!
Civic parts hauling:
Sessions at Three Sisters:
Went to watch a few mates on track at Anglesey (my Civic wasn't ready at this point, and I didn't think there was much point in booking my Lude on with its mismatched tyres, curse word brakes and many other issues) Until my mate's clutch went in his EG6 and he said I could have the remainder of his day. Was honestly shocked at how well this old thing handled! Super predictable, controllable lift off oversteer was easy. Gave the EG boys something to think about as none of them could get away!
Brakes were the only major letdown, quite severe fade leading to me going for the handbrake to slow it down into a hairpin!
End of the day, in one piece and with a huge smile on my face!
Borrowed my mate's wheels for a few weeks, looked awesome!
Had a slight mishap involving a ditch on the road around the back of Oulton Park:
The old girl shrugged it off though, no damage apart from the few quid I had to then spend at the local hand car wash!
Love the dash! Although the rev counter was jumpy when I first got it, it steadily got worse and stopped working altogether - any ideas?
Minding my own business in traffic in the summer and this happened. Cams stopped turning. Belt was still on and reasonably tight so can only assume something has gone wrong with the bottom pulley. Not sure if I was in VTEC or not so unsure if it's bent any valves. Doesn't really matter anyway to be honest as it was a very smokey engine, used loads of oil and was approaching 170k.
Dead.
Parents made me get my cars off the drive (I had 4 or 5 at this point!) so I started renting a unit.
This ATR is a long term project, may even see the road next year...
Having the unit means I've now got the space to buy donor cars, so I got this BB8 VTi that had failed its MOT on rot, and then been smashed around a field with a few other cars... (this was before I got it, don't blame me!) Shame really, bit of welding and it'd have made a nice daily. A/C was ice cold, cruise worked, 4WS worked, drove pretty nicely, even after the ordeal it had been put through!
Starting to strip it:
Decided to drop the whole running gear out the bottom and roll the car off it as I didn't need the knackered panels. In hindsight this was a bit daft, I was on my own in the middle of nowhere and it was even dodgier than it looked!
Gathered a few other bits as and when they came up for sale:
JDM rear recess, was silver so painted it with a halfords can! Colour is spot on.
Clear rear lights. I hate Lexus lights but I like how these are identical to the OEM ones but clear rather than red so thought I'd give them a shot.
Before I'd even got the BB1's engine out, another ATR had found its way to me. Was still planning on using the H22A5 from the BB8 but it makes so much more sense to use an H22A7 and LSD box! ATR has some nasty rot so it's a breaker. Don't confuse it with my own ATR though, that's here to stay!
I intend on using the engine, LSD box and front calipers from the V plate ATR, coupled with the breathing mods already on the Prelude, and a remap, should be looking at 230bhp if I'm lucky...
I'm gonna use the 5 stud hubs from the 5th gen so I can use ATR discs without messing around getting them drilled to 4 stud, and also bolt a set of R32GTR wheels straight on! Like these:
If anyone's got pictures of a 4th gen on a set of these, please post them! I can't find any pics.
Here's how it currently sits, pics taken 12hrs ago:
Thanks for looking, any suggestions to make any of the following easier let me know!
-H22A7 swap (want to keep cruise and A/C)
-5th gen hub swap (want to keep ABS, I cut the wires on the 5th gen, can I use the 4th gen sensors?)
-5th gen glass roof swap
First update:
No progress mechanically yet!
I've just sold the engine from the 5th gen so that's freed up some funds which will go on a set of GT-R wheels or a clutch and flywheel.
What could I possibly be up to?!
Decided to strip the interior of the roof so I could fit my 5th gen glass roof. Then once it was out, thought it'd be daft to put the headliner etc back in as it was. Looking a bit tired, the odd nick here and there, with 20 years worth of fag/tar and human slime all over it.
Ordered some of this stuff as I love space, and thought it'd be awesome and a bit different!
Thought I'd ordered too much, it covered my whole bed! Turns out this was about the right amount, any less and I'd be having headaches trying to fit it all on.
Chose which bit I wanted to use (the design repeats itself so I've decided the sunroof blind is gonna try and continue the image as best I can) sprayed the original headliner with Trimfix, got a mate to hold the fabric and then sprayed that too.
The Trimfix glue seeped through in places and looked curse word. Also managed to get it all over the A surface due to my own idiocy! Thought I'd screwed the whole job up then, as it comes out like a mix between chewing gum and silly string. Had a stroke of luck when brake cleaner and kitchen roll sorted that though.
The brake cleaner soaked through in places and broke the glue down so had to peel the fabric off and squirt more adhesive in places.
All stuck down and ready to trim excess off:
I work for Bentley and as part of my apprenticeship a few years ago I did a couple of placements trimming parts in leather. So now was the time to put that experience to some use! Don't quite have the same materials, glue or equipment at home but it turned out okay considering!
Used double sided tape on the B surface (plus more adhesive spray) to pull the edges round on to. This meant it would be nice and tight round the edges of the headliner. It's important to make plenty of relief cuts in the fabric, this saves having stretches and creases. More on this later to show what I mean.
Cut an X for the interior light so I could pull it tight and stick to the B surface just like with the main edges
Dead easy!
This ^ is the most important piece of PPE when undertaking a job like this! Especially when curse word around with scissors and Stanley knives :lol:
Next I cut the sunroof aperture out, losing the best bit of the fabric in the process! But as mentioned earlier, it's repeated on another part of the fabric so the sunroof blind will be trimmed with that. Making sure to leave plenty of excess to wrap around and stick to the B surface.
Again I made loads of relief cuts, you really need to otherwise you'll end up with creases, stretches or bunched up areas.
B surface sprayed with adhesive again and fabric wrapped round and stuck down. You can see how the relief cuts work here.
All pulled tight and stuck down
Stuck duct tape over every edge of the fabric on the B surface, probably isn't needed but I just wanted to do everything possible to stop the fabric peeling back.
With the headliner done I turned my attention to the armrest lid. The original velour was pretty tired, faded and worn smooth. Used the offcut that I cut out from the sunroof aperture.
Unscrewed the plastic trim from inside and popped it out, sprayed adhesive onto the velour and the back of the space fabric. Again, plenty of relief cuts.
More duct tape, again probably not necessary but just a failsafe.
Inside trim refitted.
Finished armest.
Checking the finisher trim still goes on okay before painting it
Sprayed all the fixings, fittings, grab handle, sun visors and interior light black as they would've looked curse word in the OEM grey against the space fabric. Also the rubber finisher that goes around the inside of the sunroof aperture.
Finished armrest lid.
Finished headliner, will do the pillars and sunroof blind over the weekend. Sunroof panel should be easy, not looking forward to the pillars though!
Hopefully we'll get a weekend of decent weather, if so I'll make a start removing the dead H22A2 from this and the good H22A7 from the donor Accord!
Yesterday's update:
Last weekend:
Off to a curse word start. Went to drive to my yard where the Prelude is, and the seatbelt of my stupid Toyota had wedged the door open enough to put the interior light on and drain the battery...for the second time that weekend.
Bye bye VTi! Finally got rid of the BB8. It was taking up the space I needed to put the BB1 in (I wanted it in front of the cabin so I could hear my music while working
and wanted the donor ATR alongside just so stuff was easier to see how it would come together)
Hooked up a battery to it just to see the dash go through it's startup sequence, so satisfying! Also nice to still have a fully working EL dash after it being sat getting damp for 6 months.
Tried my mate's set of Rays/Volk TE37s on it, just because they were there and 4x114 fitment! Looks ace, but I think they'd need to be at least 16" to suit the Lude. They're 15" and suit his DC2 perfectly.
Absolutely love it from this angle:
The last breath of the ATR. Yes that's my new engine, on 173,946 miles :?
By the time I'd got the Toyota running, borrowed my mate's jack, scrapped the BB8 and got the BB1 and ATR into position and supported in the air it was getting dark.
So stripped a few bits off the ATR and went home. Where I finished the interior work!
Turned out absolutely brilliant. Couldn't be happier. Can't wait to fit it, although I'm holding off until the car is road ready as I don't want it to get damp and or mouldy! Took a bit of thinking to get the sunroof panel to match up to the surrounding headliner but we did it.
The plastic bits of trim turned out ace and look great fitted, time will tell though as I don't know how long it'll be before they start flaking. Could be 5 minutes, could be 5 years!
And the bit that'll be distracting me from driving :lol:
It's all sat in my room now, kinda don't wanna fit it to the car as I just keep looking at it!
This weekend:
Bored night shift purchase number one turned up!
Hooked it up to my compressor this afternoon and actually hurt my ears. (Garage compressor, not the tiny one in the pic that will be fitted to the Lude!)
Bored night shift ebay purchase number two!
Found some nasties. I always knew the arches would need doing but they're really looking pretty sorry for themselves at the minute! Something to do over summer I suppose.
I get the feeling that this is gonna be really quite nasty once I start digging....
Never have I had a car where it's such a ballache to get the headlights and bumper off! Broke one of the headlights where the side marker light locates. Had to break out the Dremel and got through a fair few discs on rusted clips and bolts. I think when it goes back together it'll mainly be held together with cable ties...
Thinking I might wire brush and hammerite this lot today. Not a great deal of rust so I'll try and keep it that way. Power steering cooler won't come off even with Irwin bolt grip sockets (smallest is too small and next size up is too big). Are new ones of these available as a direct fit? Preferably as the mini radiator type like an oil cooler as these look nice and tidy.
Created a mutant
As it stands now. Plans for tomorrow, (possibly) hammerite and tidy up the front panel. Get one of the engines removed.
The two side engine mounts don't seem to want to crack, even with a Snap On impact gun. I've never seen it fail to undo a bolt before. Front mount bolt came out no problem.
Shopping list now includes:
A/C radiator. Can be had for £30 off ebay as a brand new pattern part, is this worth a shout?
Pre face front nostrils - mine are both broken on the back.
I'm sure there's something else but it's 4:23am and I've had plenty of cider.
The engine rad on the ATR looks fairly new so that's a winner!
That last update was posted last night, I'm now off to make use of the decent weather and get a bit done!
Thanks for reading
This is directly pasted from the Prelude forum so some of the terminology might be a bit specific in places.
So here's the sad story of my 4th gen, although things are looking up for old Smokey Joe now.
Some background:
I've got an EG6 VTi which I've swapped everything underneath for EK9 and DC2 gear (Except the engine, although I have got a B18C from a DC2 in need of a rebuild whih will be going in) amongst other stuff. Fully polybushed, LSD, uprated pads and fluid etc. Decent track spec while still usable on the road. Still got a full interior (the car itself is a bit of a rarity so wana keep some originality and not just strip it).
So last winter I needed a car to get my EG6 off the salty roads.
So I bought a rusty £300 EJ9 Civic. Got taken off-road at high speed, through forests and even on a few track sessions!
How that thing took the abuse I'll never know, it just would not break! After a couple of months, I saw a comment on a post on Facebook where someone (James Russell, some of you may know him) mentioned he was selling a 4th gen Prelude, with just this collage pic:
It was up for £700 and I was a week from payday so it sat in the back of my mind for a few days when all of a sudden I decided I had to have it! Total impulse decision :mrgreen:
Took a bit of enquiring to track down the owner (I'd only seen it mentioned in a comment, it wasn't even an advert), eventually tracked him down and went to view it that night in the trusty EJ9. I ended up taking it for £400! Came with a full Skunk2 exhaust, AEM V2, Cusco strut brace and BBSs, plus a few other bits!
Got a mate to take me down to pick it up the following night. Had a monumental oil leak from the O ring behind the oil filter, which was dripping onto the manifold and making huge amounts of smoke! Every time I stopped at a set of lights the car would fill with smoke.
Ended up scrapping the EJ9, which I felt bad about as the damn thing was still raring to go! But I didn't want to sell it in the condition it was in and Dad said it had to go if I was to get the Lude. Fair enough.
The day after I picked it up:
After a quick clean:
Arctic exploring!
Civic parts hauling:
Sessions at Three Sisters:
Went to watch a few mates on track at Anglesey (my Civic wasn't ready at this point, and I didn't think there was much point in booking my Lude on with its mismatched tyres, curse word brakes and many other issues) Until my mate's clutch went in his EG6 and he said I could have the remainder of his day. Was honestly shocked at how well this old thing handled! Super predictable, controllable lift off oversteer was easy. Gave the EG boys something to think about as none of them could get away!
Brakes were the only major letdown, quite severe fade leading to me going for the handbrake to slow it down into a hairpin!
End of the day, in one piece and with a huge smile on my face!
Borrowed my mate's wheels for a few weeks, looked awesome!
Had a slight mishap involving a ditch on the road around the back of Oulton Park:
The old girl shrugged it off though, no damage apart from the few quid I had to then spend at the local hand car wash!
Love the dash! Although the rev counter was jumpy when I first got it, it steadily got worse and stopped working altogether - any ideas?
Minding my own business in traffic in the summer and this happened. Cams stopped turning. Belt was still on and reasonably tight so can only assume something has gone wrong with the bottom pulley. Not sure if I was in VTEC or not so unsure if it's bent any valves. Doesn't really matter anyway to be honest as it was a very smokey engine, used loads of oil and was approaching 170k.
Dead.
Parents made me get my cars off the drive (I had 4 or 5 at this point!) so I started renting a unit.
This ATR is a long term project, may even see the road next year...
Having the unit means I've now got the space to buy donor cars, so I got this BB8 VTi that had failed its MOT on rot, and then been smashed around a field with a few other cars... (this was before I got it, don't blame me!) Shame really, bit of welding and it'd have made a nice daily. A/C was ice cold, cruise worked, 4WS worked, drove pretty nicely, even after the ordeal it had been put through!
Starting to strip it:
Decided to drop the whole running gear out the bottom and roll the car off it as I didn't need the knackered panels. In hindsight this was a bit daft, I was on my own in the middle of nowhere and it was even dodgier than it looked!
Gathered a few other bits as and when they came up for sale:
JDM rear recess, was silver so painted it with a halfords can! Colour is spot on.
Clear rear lights. I hate Lexus lights but I like how these are identical to the OEM ones but clear rather than red so thought I'd give them a shot.
Before I'd even got the BB1's engine out, another ATR had found its way to me. Was still planning on using the H22A5 from the BB8 but it makes so much more sense to use an H22A7 and LSD box! ATR has some nasty rot so it's a breaker. Don't confuse it with my own ATR though, that's here to stay!
I intend on using the engine, LSD box and front calipers from the V plate ATR, coupled with the breathing mods already on the Prelude, and a remap, should be looking at 230bhp if I'm lucky...
I'm gonna use the 5 stud hubs from the 5th gen so I can use ATR discs without messing around getting them drilled to 4 stud, and also bolt a set of R32GTR wheels straight on! Like these:
If anyone's got pictures of a 4th gen on a set of these, please post them! I can't find any pics.
Here's how it currently sits, pics taken 12hrs ago:
Thanks for looking, any suggestions to make any of the following easier let me know!
-H22A7 swap (want to keep cruise and A/C)
-5th gen hub swap (want to keep ABS, I cut the wires on the 5th gen, can I use the 4th gen sensors?)
-5th gen glass roof swap
First update:
No progress mechanically yet!
I've just sold the engine from the 5th gen so that's freed up some funds which will go on a set of GT-R wheels or a clutch and flywheel.
What could I possibly be up to?!
Decided to strip the interior of the roof so I could fit my 5th gen glass roof. Then once it was out, thought it'd be daft to put the headliner etc back in as it was. Looking a bit tired, the odd nick here and there, with 20 years worth of fag/tar and human slime all over it.
Ordered some of this stuff as I love space, and thought it'd be awesome and a bit different!
Thought I'd ordered too much, it covered my whole bed! Turns out this was about the right amount, any less and I'd be having headaches trying to fit it all on.
Chose which bit I wanted to use (the design repeats itself so I've decided the sunroof blind is gonna try and continue the image as best I can) sprayed the original headliner with Trimfix, got a mate to hold the fabric and then sprayed that too.
The Trimfix glue seeped through in places and looked curse word. Also managed to get it all over the A surface due to my own idiocy! Thought I'd screwed the whole job up then, as it comes out like a mix between chewing gum and silly string. Had a stroke of luck when brake cleaner and kitchen roll sorted that though.
The brake cleaner soaked through in places and broke the glue down so had to peel the fabric off and squirt more adhesive in places.
All stuck down and ready to trim excess off:
I work for Bentley and as part of my apprenticeship a few years ago I did a couple of placements trimming parts in leather. So now was the time to put that experience to some use! Don't quite have the same materials, glue or equipment at home but it turned out okay considering!
Used double sided tape on the B surface (plus more adhesive spray) to pull the edges round on to. This meant it would be nice and tight round the edges of the headliner. It's important to make plenty of relief cuts in the fabric, this saves having stretches and creases. More on this later to show what I mean.
Cut an X for the interior light so I could pull it tight and stick to the B surface just like with the main edges
Dead easy!
This ^ is the most important piece of PPE when undertaking a job like this! Especially when curse word around with scissors and Stanley knives :lol:
Next I cut the sunroof aperture out, losing the best bit of the fabric in the process! But as mentioned earlier, it's repeated on another part of the fabric so the sunroof blind will be trimmed with that. Making sure to leave plenty of excess to wrap around and stick to the B surface.
Again I made loads of relief cuts, you really need to otherwise you'll end up with creases, stretches or bunched up areas.
B surface sprayed with adhesive again and fabric wrapped round and stuck down. You can see how the relief cuts work here.
All pulled tight and stuck down
Stuck duct tape over every edge of the fabric on the B surface, probably isn't needed but I just wanted to do everything possible to stop the fabric peeling back.
With the headliner done I turned my attention to the armrest lid. The original velour was pretty tired, faded and worn smooth. Used the offcut that I cut out from the sunroof aperture.
Unscrewed the plastic trim from inside and popped it out, sprayed adhesive onto the velour and the back of the space fabric. Again, plenty of relief cuts.
More duct tape, again probably not necessary but just a failsafe.
Inside trim refitted.
Finished armest.
Checking the finisher trim still goes on okay before painting it
Sprayed all the fixings, fittings, grab handle, sun visors and interior light black as they would've looked curse word in the OEM grey against the space fabric. Also the rubber finisher that goes around the inside of the sunroof aperture.
Finished armrest lid.
Finished headliner, will do the pillars and sunroof blind over the weekend. Sunroof panel should be easy, not looking forward to the pillars though!
Hopefully we'll get a weekend of decent weather, if so I'll make a start removing the dead H22A2 from this and the good H22A7 from the donor Accord!
Yesterday's update:
Last weekend:
Off to a curse word start. Went to drive to my yard where the Prelude is, and the seatbelt of my stupid Toyota had wedged the door open enough to put the interior light on and drain the battery...for the second time that weekend.
Bye bye VTi! Finally got rid of the BB8. It was taking up the space I needed to put the BB1 in (I wanted it in front of the cabin so I could hear my music while working
and wanted the donor ATR alongside just so stuff was easier to see how it would come together)
Hooked up a battery to it just to see the dash go through it's startup sequence, so satisfying! Also nice to still have a fully working EL dash after it being sat getting damp for 6 months.
Tried my mate's set of Rays/Volk TE37s on it, just because they were there and 4x114 fitment! Looks ace, but I think they'd need to be at least 16" to suit the Lude. They're 15" and suit his DC2 perfectly.
Absolutely love it from this angle:
The last breath of the ATR. Yes that's my new engine, on 173,946 miles :?
By the time I'd got the Toyota running, borrowed my mate's jack, scrapped the BB8 and got the BB1 and ATR into position and supported in the air it was getting dark.
So stripped a few bits off the ATR and went home. Where I finished the interior work!
Turned out absolutely brilliant. Couldn't be happier. Can't wait to fit it, although I'm holding off until the car is road ready as I don't want it to get damp and or mouldy! Took a bit of thinking to get the sunroof panel to match up to the surrounding headliner but we did it.
The plastic bits of trim turned out ace and look great fitted, time will tell though as I don't know how long it'll be before they start flaking. Could be 5 minutes, could be 5 years!
And the bit that'll be distracting me from driving :lol:
It's all sat in my room now, kinda don't wanna fit it to the car as I just keep looking at it!
This weekend:
Bored night shift purchase number one turned up!
Hooked it up to my compressor this afternoon and actually hurt my ears. (Garage compressor, not the tiny one in the pic that will be fitted to the Lude!)
Bored night shift ebay purchase number two!
Found some nasties. I always knew the arches would need doing but they're really looking pretty sorry for themselves at the minute! Something to do over summer I suppose.
I get the feeling that this is gonna be really quite nasty once I start digging....
Never have I had a car where it's such a ballache to get the headlights and bumper off! Broke one of the headlights where the side marker light locates. Had to break out the Dremel and got through a fair few discs on rusted clips and bolts. I think when it goes back together it'll mainly be held together with cable ties...
Thinking I might wire brush and hammerite this lot today. Not a great deal of rust so I'll try and keep it that way. Power steering cooler won't come off even with Irwin bolt grip sockets (smallest is too small and next size up is too big). Are new ones of these available as a direct fit? Preferably as the mini radiator type like an oil cooler as these look nice and tidy.
Created a mutant
As it stands now. Plans for tomorrow, (possibly) hammerite and tidy up the front panel. Get one of the engines removed.
The two side engine mounts don't seem to want to crack, even with a Snap On impact gun. I've never seen it fail to undo a bolt before. Front mount bolt came out no problem.
Shopping list now includes:
A/C radiator. Can be had for £30 off ebay as a brand new pattern part, is this worth a shout?
Pre face front nostrils - mine are both broken on the back.
I'm sure there's something else but it's 4:23am and I've had plenty of cider.
The engine rad on the ATR looks fairly new so that's a winner!
That last update was posted last night, I'm now off to make use of the decent weather and get a bit done!
Thanks for reading
