In reply to Rodulrich :
Thanks! I'm going to try and make these bottom mount seats work, I don't want a fixed bucket in this car as it turns the rear seat into wasted space. My '99 Civic has a fixed back Recaro and I love it, but that's not the direction I want to take in this car.
During my junkyard trip to get the rails I spotted a TSX with the engine still in place. Someone had already taken the cams, but I went back the next day with a buddy and pulled it with a couple 2x4s and chain.
It cleaned up nicely. Big score for $200 CAD, even without the cams. It will be going into my '99 Civic.
Finished the passenger side door
Turned the car around, pulled the suspension and brakes on the passenger side
Swapped on the Ground Control sleeves
I got some pimpy extended shock mounts for the front, but you have to cut the towers a bit to get them to fit. I don't want to mess up the paint just yet, and don't want to file all that metal away by hand (no electrical outlets at the storage unit) so they'll have to wait
Here's my idea for a seat mount
Basically uses stock mounting tabs up front that will be welded to a 3/16" thick chunk of metal. The sliders will be mounted a bit closer together to sit beside/level with the rear mounting points. When the sliders will be in the all the way back position, they will essentially be resting on the carpet. From there I'll use more 3/16" steel to connect them to the rear mounting points. Hopefully that makes sense. Front should be pretty straightforward, the rear wil be involve some funky bends.
Quick phone sketch without the carpet in the way:
Run_Away said:In reply to Rodulrich :
Thanks! I'm going to try and make these bottom mount seats work, I don't want a fixed bucket in this car as it turns the rear seat into wasted space. My '99 Civic has a fixed back Recaro and I love it, but that's not the direction I want to take in this car.
Yeah I see now you probably don't need any help haha. Your fabricating skills are way better than mine!
Swapped over the Ground Control sleeves. They have a pretty clever way of securing the sleeve to the shock - a rubber sleeve and some O-rings keep the sleeve centered and pretty secure. Pleasantly surprised how effective it is, my other car with Koni/Ground Controls have a nice snap ring setup where you can completely remove the spring seat. I was expecting this to be a little loose or sit a little uneven, but it's solid.
Note to self for future reference - the springs are 340lb/in front and 250lb/in rear. I have a pair of 8" 375lb/in springs I will be taking off my autox car soon, I may switch things up when I do the extended top hats. I need some seat time to figure out the balance. Only the front shocks are adjustable, and to adjust them they need to be removed from the car so I took the opportunity to set them to a 1/4 turn away from full stiff.
Also did new pads/rotors and a rattle can rebuild of everything. Went with Stoptech sport pads.
I took it for a quick spin around the parking lot to scrub the paint off the rotors and let the suspension settle. A touch too high in the rear still I think. Tape measure says I have the front lower by 15mm and the rear about the same, but the slightly shorter tires account for some of that.
No power at the storage unit means standing in ankle deep ice water and tacking together the seat slider bases on the parts car. It sucked.
This is actually the second time around, I broke the welds and switched around the sliders when I realized I couldn't link the two release levers together on the inside.
Now they're on the outside and you need to press down on both arms to get the seat to slide.
Then on Saturday (6th) I insured the car and drove it to work.
Funny wavy on the inside for the rear half. A 3/4" chunk of wood spaces the bottom of the seat just high enough to clear things.
Tacked in place. Used a blanket and wet rags immediately after to keep the carpet okay. It worked, carpet didn't get melted.
Double up things for the passenger side.
I forgot about the seatbelt receiver. This is my probably temporary solution.
It's very tight.
The other option I'm considering it mounting it to the rear cross bar, which should give a tad more space and be stronger, but then it doesn't slide with the seat. So limited in it's effectiveness if someone not close to me drives.
Thoughts?
The other thing I'd like to do is try and find a shorter receiver assembly. I used a stock 3g Prelude part. A shorter one would allow me to move the pivot higher which means I could put the seat lower, and have more room for the bolt as well as the tunnel is narrower at the top. Not too keen on cutting it in half and welding it, it's a sort of spring steel and I don't want to weaken it.
1" square tube directly to the rails to space the back up.
What it looks like without a seat. I did the front first and majorly slotted the holes so I could get the positioning right. Then I tightened the bolts and took the seat out and made the rear support. The seat is currently held in place by four M6x1.0 bolts. The seats have another pair of mounting holes right beside the front two that I'll probably add later as I think M6s are a little small.
The front bit I wish I had better planned out as it looks a little crappy, but it's solid..
The bolts between the Civic sliders and the adapter bars I made had plenty of clearance up front, but the rear ones ended up right were the seat had a cross bar.
I tapped an M8x1.25 hole, cut the head off a bolt, chamfered the head of the newly made stud, and counter sunk the hole.
My welder wasn't consistent, one day it was nice and hot, another I needed a bit more heat on the same settings. I need to practice more, maybe change the tip, and get a better cord. Frustrating.
Switching gears to the radio display, I was going to cut up my center console assembly but found an already cut up one in the garage. The Tunerview display is a bit larger than a 1 DIN opening so I needed every millimeter I could get.
I used ultra strong double sided tape to hold basically everything together. The circuit board I shaved a few mm off the bottom. The radio surround trim isn't actually for that radio, so that also got double sided tape. I used tape to hold a couple chunks of plastic on either side of the Tunerview bezel and flocking tape to create a wedge fit.
It slides into place from the top when the assembly is out, and the assembly gets put behind the climate control backlighting strip and slid upwards so I can't move anywhere. I used foam tape on the top and bottom so it's held in tension.
Also mounted the wideband to the side of the cluster hood, swapped the shifter boot with a blue stiched version (AliExpress $3 special), and a K20Mart shift knob. Stock steering wheel was swapped with a Momo Monte Carlo using an HKB hub.
The shift pattern sticker is also off AliExpress. I really like it. Cops/the Vehicle Inspection Unit around here have been known to ticket cars without a shift pattern displayed....
I also put the dead pedal in, tidy'd up the under dash wiring, and installed the sill plates, under dash trim, and kick panels.
I stupidly gave the car a rinse without drying it and got water spots everywhere.
I tried a wet shammy, 50/50 vinegar/water mix, and clay bar but that E36 M3 won't come out. Spent hours last night polishing them out as best I could. They're still there, but very faint.
Made it to the car show.
Finished the last bit of the center console and swapped in the ashtray and lighter there.
Ready.
That was a pretty hectic month. This is only the second car show I've entered now, it's a strange world. Not sure I fit in, but I find I work well when I have the pressure of a date to motivate me so it's a good way to get things done. Now to relax for a while.
To do list:
- adjust seats to be better aligned in the car
-visit junkyard for a shorter seat belt receiver, add passenger side receiver, replace driver side
-paint seat rails once done all the above
-fix coolant leaks
-cut shock towers for the extended top-hats
- raise suspension slightly
-wire in relays for LED headlights
-install fender liners
-get the tune better sorted
-drive
Looking great. The car show world is definitely different, but as long as you're having fun it's all good.
Great progress, the car looks fantastic!
I love it! Can you expand on the Tunerview display you installed above the radio?
Looks amazing. I love your dedication/obsession with this gen Prelude. I really like the attention to detail especially with how you tackled things people would never notice like the USDM seatbelt delete.
In reply to Run_Away :
Does your junk yard still have that red one? If so, does it still have that hood bra?
Cozmikk said:In reply to Run_Away :
Does your junk yard still have that red one? If so, does it still have that hood bra?
No sorry, that was 2 years ago. Cars last around 3 weeks there.
Rodulrich said:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BrucgqE6w5U
Here's a video for ya! There are 6? screens, plus the peak values. The screens are totally configureable so you can chose what info goes where. It's mainly compatible with all the major Honda tuning platforms. http://tunerviewdisplays.com/tunerview2lg/
Took the car out for the first time since the show.
Put a passenger seat belt receiver on. Fitment is tight.
Put some JW Speaker "8900 Evo" 5x7 LED sealed beam replacements in. Fitment is only okay, they don't sit quite as flat as the sealed beams I took out due to the size of the heat sink. Way better than the Morimoto Sealed 7s I tried previously.
Added a relay because Honda supplies power to one pin and switches ground to the other two for low and high beam. This works fine for an incandescent lamp, but the LED needs the correct polarity and wants constant ground on one pin and supplies power to the other two for low/high. Grabbed my favourite junkyard relays from a Volvo 850 cooling fan. Anyone else know a good junkyard source for oem spec weatherproof relays?
Testing my wiring setup
They mount perfectly behind the rebar using an existing hole. I want to get that thing sandblasted and coated.
Need to aim them up a bit, and put the shrouds on. I'd like to clean up the wiring some more too before I put the fender liners in.
Pictures don't do the output justice, the blow the halogens out of the water. I should have taken a comparison shot.
In reply to Run_Away :
I have just recently acquired a black 91 si 4ws. I'm no mechanic so dont know to much technical things about this car. It runs the interior is damn near imaculant but the underneath is a little rusty. I'm looking to sell email me at lasanchez1981920@gmail.com if interested
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