The Forever Car: 1989 Honda Prelude 2.0 Si 4ws

A few years back I took it to a Global Time Attack event. I'd been running pretty much exclusively SCCA events and wanted to try something a little different.

On my way to the event. I liked this picture.

I had a blast at the event! Lot's of seat time and the fact that it was a promoted event added a certain element to it.

My only competition. I did actually end up winning my class.

My adoring fans in the background.

I should make special note: the Prelude forum I'm a part of chipped in to get my car to the event. It's exceedingly rare to see a Prelude (much less a 3rd gen) in any event like this, so everyone was pretty excited.

So a while back I ran into Tom Suddard at a PDX at Road Atlanta. We chatted for a while about the car. In theory at some point this car could make it into actual print. Which would be validation for the entire 3rd gen Prelude community (there's dozens of us. Dozens!)

The bumper sticker says "I brake for blue shells". Probably one of my favorite things I've bought for this car.

I have always wanted a 4WS 3rd gen but they have largely rotted away here. Yours is extremely clean.

There is, however, a quite nice regular 3rd gen near my house that is currently being owned by a first-time driver who clearly has unresolved problems with her eyesight. So maybe one day it will end up in my garage anyway.

Since the car is now effectively an *SP car (I've put it in DSP, although I think it's actually an FSP car), and I'm doing more track days with the intent of moving more to TT's and hill climbs, I decided a little bit of aero in in order. I wanted a splitter and something to 'hide' the tires from the airflow. I drew up some stuff in SW.

And I was lucky enough to have some vendors that take on side projects by engineers for minimal cost. So I got a laser cut aluminum splitter for peanuts. My girls helped install everything and since I'm not real great and making stuff look pretty, I let them do it.

I actually did a few autocrosses this year (which I haven't done in probably 2 years). Had a ton of fun. Only got one bad picture of the car out in the wild this year.

Now I'm cleaning up the aero a little bit more (making some more pieces so the 'flares' blend a little better rather than just being air dams to hide the tires). And since (at least for the moment) there's no new child on the horizon, I'll finally be able to take the plunge here soon and safety up the car for TT's and Hill climbs. I'm really excited about next year!

I saw a ridiculously clean, white 3rd gen SI on the road today and thought of yours. Really do love these cars, and yours especially!

I really dig this car. I also like the backstory.

So Christmas has been good to me and it's time to start really getting prepped for the new year. I got all my safety stuff. I already had the helmet (although it's relatively new as well, had to replace my 2000 one for 2015). The G-Force stuff is really good. Granted I haven't worn it in an actual race yet, but trying on the different stuff it felt just as quality as a lot of the much more expensive stuff.

Got the car up on jack stands for all the fantastic stuff I have coming for it.

Shocks are finally going to be rebuilt. They're way over due and it's badly needed not just because they're worn but also because the spring rates far exceed what they were probably originally valved for. Almost out:

Out:

It's been pretty much forever since I've had these all the way off the car.

Having been working on this car for 15+ years, I have a handful of rare parts for it. The shocks themselves are practically unheard of (Tokico is the most common 'performance' shock, and there's a handful of the smaller names that make sets for these like Hot Bits or KSport). The rear Cusco strut tower bar is fairly rare. I have the matching front one too. Although the rear one is meh (heim joints at either end), the front is a solid steel piece and quite good. The green upper control arm bushings are no longer made as well. They're really good and have help up all these years, although the metal pieces need to be cleaned up.

This is some sort of cake of grit and I'm guessing oil that has been pressed into a brake-pad-like consistency from being in there so long.

These probably haven't been 'naked' in 10+ years.

I'm so excited to see what revalving can do for this car!

O.M.G! Something fun arrived!

More specifically, something I've been wanting to do for a very long time!

They look so nice, but I can't wait to ruin that paint! Front Dyno:

Has anyone seen the weird bump like these have? It's on both, seems like an odd feature for a shock stroke. Rear:

Unfortunately it'll be a few before I get them back on, because it's finally time for me to refresh the steering rack. Dropping the exhaust:

This front brace is probably one of the biggest reason's I haven't dug into the steering rack before now.

It's spring loaded between the subframe and the front cross-member. I did it once before and all I remember is it being a major PITA to get back in. When you undo the last bolt it literally goes "sproing!" and pops out at you. It's important to catch fluids in proper containers....

Finally got it pulled out. Going to clean it up, fix some seals, and get new tie rods and rod ends. Or should I just get a whole new rack? For a race car, what are people's opinions on factory tie rods and ends vs aftermarket?

Cleaning is currently in process:

Oh man, what a great looking Prelude!!

I bought one just like yours after selling an '88 300zx as I needed more than 2 seats. It felt like 20 years newer even though it was also an '88.

I loved that car. The only problem I had was with a leaky power steering hose, which was routed above the manifold and would leak right onto it. It was a major PITA to change as it snaked around the whole engine. It was too expensive back then in 1997, so I went to the junkyard and got one. I did the job twice as I had to remove it at the junkyard.

Two days after I got the hose fixed, this happened:

A notchback Mustang rear ended me at light. Drunk driver, no insurance, I lost the car plus had to pay the storage fees which were quite a bit back then.

You can see the blue Mustang next to my car, even the trunk bent ... they had to pull me through the sunroof.

Oh crap that's awful! I actually got rear ended in my car too. Obviously not nearly as bad..... Hope it didn't hurt too bad (I still have some slight neck issues from mine.)

Yeah, the leaky PS hose was an issue. Luckily mine has never been an problem.

These cars have always made me happy for some reason, they're just so angular and cool.

So after taking a look at what was required for rebuilding, I just went with getting a whole new rack. There's some specialized tools required to rebuild it. Also, it looks like ball joints and that fun stuff is no longer available from Honda, so I'll be getting aftermarket stuff anyways. Ignore the hobbit feet. I was a little disappointed that they paint it black. Whatever.

The new one didn't come with the input seals that the OEM one has, so I swapped them over.

And picked up some new tie rod ends as well.

I hope to get it installed this weekend.

Finished prepping the new rack.

So I've actually been quietly working on this in the background, although not as much as I'd like. It's going to come down to the wire, but I'd really like to make the SEDIV Time Trial school on April 2nd. I got the new steering rack back in, but there's not much to look at there! Plus I'm kind of bad at taking pictures as I'm working. I reassembled the suspension with the help of my daughters. They do get a kick out of helping work on the car.

A special thanks to DILYSI Dave who bent up the main hoop based on a drawing I gave him. This will be the main hurdle to making the event: the rest of the stuff is just bolting back together which is easy, but getting the time to trim, fit, and weld my roll hoop will be a challenge.

And then this:

is one of my less favorite jobs to work on my car. Because I have a custom B pipe that has a larger diameter than any of the off the shelf ones, I have to modify the off the shelf gasket to get the right diameter. The dremel makes ok work of it, but it's slow going and that gasket material doesn't want to grind.

I'm pretty bad at keeping up with build threads.  But let's see if I can't do a bit better!

So I did complete my roll bar and get licensed for Hill Climbs.  I went to the 2018 Chasing the Dragon and had a blast!

But unfortunately on the way home it was hearing a nasty knock.  These engines do kind of eat rod bearings.  I've managed to keep this last one alive quite a while, but this is my 3rd crank.  When I went looking for a crank this time I couldn't find much out there.  

Rather than throw good money after a bad, rare engine, I've decided to finally go for it.  So I'll be going this route:

Whoa!

Run_Away, I sent you a message, but I'll post it here, too.

You want any of my interior bits?  Mostly the rear stuff and front seats right now.  It's all in pretty tip top shape, maybe just throw a couple of bucks at it and pay for shipping and it's yours since it'll be going to a good home.

I have an OEM sunroof deflector with mounting hardware as well.

I saw this on Facebook, and decided April fool's until it shows up on grm. 

Holy hell you are crazy.

So, yeah, I'm pretty bad about updating and posting on forums.  Plus, even though I crave the updates to every minutia that everyone else does on their cars, I assume no one is interested in every bolt I touch on my car, so I mostly stick to somewhat more major jumps.

The first thing I worked on was to make the car no longer FWD.  So I've been pulling the engine and transmission.  I'm disassembling it as I go to make it easier to pull and so I can sell all the parts.  I've got it down to just the block and the transmission left in the bay.

I started out looking nice:

But once just about everything is out not so much.

But I pulled and bolted the front hubs, so it is officially..... no wheel drive (NWD?) right now.  I guess I could Fred Flintstone it.

The order I'm doing things is:

1. De-FWD car
2. Mate engine and transmission
3. Design and fabricate mid-engine chassis and suspension
4. Rebuild engine and install
5. Do all the 'get-it-running' stuff.

So I've also been working on mating the engine and transmission.

Luckily I can skip most of the trial and error by doing a bunch of up front design work.

I print it 1:1 and tape it up to the flanges.

There was definitely a couple of iterations of that.

Finally I laid it out, cut the pieces and drill the pattern:

Of course the big hurdle is the test fit.  So far it's looking good!  I'll be using an Integra flywheel and pressure plate and a Subaru clutch plate.

I've still got to machine the adapters to shape, but the bolt pattern works and places everything in the right place!

So next up will be the chassis and suspension design!

Yesss!

That's really neat. I never thought of making an adaptor plate out of multiple pieces, clever. Is there a way to measure how well centered the crank and input shaft are together?

What are your plans for the rear suspension, have you chosen a rear spindle to build things off of yet? A subaru spindle might get lucky and use an off the shelf axle, but I think those are struts all around...

BA5 said:

Run_Away, I sent you a message, but I'll post it here, too.

You want any of my interior bits?  Mostly the rear stuff and front seats right now.  It's all in pretty tip top shape, maybe just throw a couple of bucks at it and pay for shipping and it's yours since it'll be going to a good home.

I have an OEM sunroof deflector with mounting hardware as well.

Just saw this now, sorry. I never got a PM email.

That's a very generous offer, but I think I'm going to pass. I have at least 3 interiors between my parts car and spares, no real use for another. 

If it pilots into the pilot bearing that'll have to be good.  

​​​​​​I'm thinking I'm going to use the stock rear upper arms, a 3g prelude front knuckle and hub, then the other suspension members will be custom. I'm guessing I'm going to have to custom build axles, although your idea is intriguing. I never thought about that....

No problem on the parts. I have lots of other stuff now to if you wind up needing anything else.

​​

What’s the update ? Really would like a prelude. Owned all the civics , Integra, s2000 but never a lude

was thinking 01 type sh 

Yes...update please?