BlkD12agon

subbed

Sparksman

------------------UPDATE----------

Happy Halloween!

So I was trying to tune myself, but was having a problem keeping it consistent for some reason. "coolant sensor was out, explain later". Also My laptop doesnt want to light the screen up so I wasnt able to tune while moving. So I decided to look around for a reputable Honda tuner locally. Im lucky enough Portland Or. is 10 minutes across the river and there is a international raceway "PIR". So there are a few good places to choose from, not counting Seattle/Tacoma a few hours drive.

First I needed my exhaust welded up. I have a custom set up and called the closest muffler shop to the house, ended up being a Meineke. A guy quoted me at $100 on the phone a week earlier, then when I get there the new guy says he cant for same price, but can work with me. I leave my car their for 6 hours just to get a phone call of the guy saying they wont touch it... So I towed it up there and wasted a day for no reason...

--v This is how I towed it the few blocks. I had my old pull straps from when I was into crawling/off-roading. Came in handy, I knew there was a reason I held onto them for the last 5 years lol...




I ended up calling around to some custom shops, and was recommended towards Punks Customs in Vancouver,Wa. They mainly do muscle cars, lots of nice rides out front, all murica lol. Here I come in with my little N/a 4 banger jap-mobile. The guy was cool, and he worked with me on price. He seemed pretty interested in it, asked me a bit about it. I dont think they see many imports come through.



I had him relocate the sensor bung to the other side of the collector. It was horrible location placement on PLM's part. Its possible it just wasnt meant for the 4th gen chassis, maybe for a civic i dont know. But stock location was right next to a brace, made things unnecessarily difficult.



My exhaust is really a 3" header back, with 2.5" choke points.
- All 3" piping
- PLM header 2.5"
- Flex pipe 2.5"
- Magnaflow HF cat 2.5"
- Cherry Bomb 30" chamber glass pack as a inline resonator 3." (went 3." because 1/8th" baffles on inside reduce 1/4". I wanted a true 2.5" flow, now its 2.75" through)
- Vibrant stealth black single out 2.5"in-3"out









After it was installed, i fired it up. Its quiet, a ton quieter then i thought it would be for the exhaust on it. It does sound mean though when you rev it above 4k, no rasp at all! The guy and a customer both said it sounded clean. I'll take a compliment when I get it, but coming from old men at a domestic place makes it feels good lol.

Now for tuning. I found a shop that does a bit of Hondas, and not a serious commute, and will tune on Neptune. Track Forged Inc, in Portland Or. The guys there were very helpful, answered all of my questions, and gave me lots of good advice.



the nicer cars were inside, but phone was dying...





So I loaded up the lude and headed to P-town.





So I get it there and they work on it for about a hour or so. Got the car idling decent, and its able to drive up and down the road. But I was told two things need to be done before they want to power tune.

1- My timing belt was too tight, and when fully warmed up it had a sligth wine. They didnt want to take chance of snapping it.
2- My coolant sensor needs to be replaced. The dash gauge reads fine, but I guess the ecu reads normal running temp as over heating. He busted out the thermo gun and engine was fine. Other then those the car runs and sounds good I was told. Which having someone familiar with Honda engine noises not notice any odd sounds is a plus in my book lol.



Since they did put a few hours work into it, but couldnt dyno it. We agreed that Il just pay for the dyno session up front, if they would tune it so I can putt the lude back to the shop. Then I dont have to rent a trailer after I fix the two issues. I get a fairly drivable vehicle in the mean time, also they dont loose 2 hours labor, which seemed fair. This Thursday Im taking it back in to be dyno'd at no additional cost. Thats same night I came home and adjusted the belt. Im buying the sensor in the next day or so to install.



I guess that about wraps it up for the moment. I hope to be on the road in the next few weeks!

Anyhow, Thanks to all the people who fallow my build!

TracerAcer2.2L

Glad you're almost ready to roll. Seems only the little coolant sensor stands in your way now

scarsofcarma

*Subscribed*

Very cool build... I got some ideas from this one :D

Sparksman

Hey everyone, back for another random update lol. If it hasn'nt been one thing its another.

SO... Here is how things went down after I got back from the tuners. The next day I went and got the coolant temp sensor and put it in. Same results of reading as overheating on the laptop and throwing a cell. But the dash sensor reads normal operating temp. The Tuner even said when he busted out the thermo gun to check the temp at the shop its not overheating. So I was puzzled on what could be the problem...? Not overheating, but even new sensor says it is. Turns out the plug wire snapped right at the pin... So I cut one of the extra pigtails from the harness that wasnt being used and fixed it. Light went off and temp read normal.

Having fixed my car just in time to make it to work, I felt I should drive the lude. Why not right? I get 2 miles away and its overheating.... Gauge is reading hot on dash and now Im sitting in a parking lot running late for work with a broken car lol. I went inside and bought a gallon of distilled water, poured it in and seen it come out the bottom as fast as i got it in there... So after calling my work, i limped back the the house and got a different ride.

The next day when I had time I went to work on it. It was leaking out the thermostat housing o-ring on the water pipe. I was praying to the honda gods the ring didnt get sucked into the water pump.. That would have been devastating to me.. luckily it didnt!



I fixed the o-ring , and managed to put 500 miles on the clutch over the next few days. Then took it back to get dyno'd and low and behold I have one more set back. I guess the chipping kit i bought and installed didnt include one chip I need for my Po6 to activate vtec. He couldnt figure out why vtec wouldnt crosss over, then took my ecu apart and seen. Other then that the car is working great, he fine tuned my lower cam map and it runs great.



The shop only tunes on thursdays, and turkey day screwed me over last week lol... SO this thursday I will be back on the dyno! Ive now put about 1600+ miles on it since the coolant problem was fixed without issue. He tuned my low cam pretty well and I think the cars feels pretty beastly for not having used my vtec lobes yet. Im kinda stoked theres still more power to be had

Ive had a few pretty spirited nights driving on it now on some windy roads. I remember now why I fell in love with the Prelude! Ive had a few people want to race, but saying "my vtec doesnt work" sounds like a ricer excuse lol. I know I could take some v6 mustangs, took a v6 impala half way through 3rd with a slow launch and low cam only. "New clutch wasnt launching hard"

Its wet here in the NW and i have a CAI. I bought one of these and plan to avoid bumper high water. It currently sits exactly 8" off the ground, I need 14" to submerge it completely before it will suck up water.





There is one cell that comes on only in the morning at first start up, and not every time either. It only happens on first start up and only if its very cold. If I let the car idle for a few and shut it off, then start again its not there. I keep forgetting about it and never remember to check the cell until im in the car to leave. I wonder what it could be..?

Also driving with a light weight rotating assembly has its pros and cons. It SUCKS in traffic!!!!! Only nice thing is 1st and wont wont kill the car with the clutch out, kind of idle putts. Just traffic doesnt always smoothly flows. But it shifts way smoother when im on it. The car feels at its best when Im not commuter driving. Butter smooth higher rpm shifts, but its a little bouncy DD'ing. It either wants to be going or slowing, finding that perfect cruise take some finesse. I have to use more clutch and higher revs to take off normal. Otherwise between the light rotating assembly, more aggressive clutch, and shorter gears of the t2w4 it wants to be jumpy. Im in 5th gear by 35mph lol... If i let the rpms get above 3k the car really wants to either being accelerating or decelerating. The more I drive the more im getting used to it, learning it ticks. It really doesnt like being cold, i have to manually increase rpm to warm up or it just dies. Especially if i let the rpms drop to fast.

I did manage to get through WA state DEQ! I have new plates and tags, so its on the road for good now!

I will update again after this thursday and hopefully will have a video to post as well! Keep the fingers crossed Im hopping for between 210-220whp. I mainly want a good power curve, which most my parts are for the lower end.




Again thanks to all the people who fallow my thread! I know i havent been as active on this site as i used to, just been busy. Havent had home internet in awhile, but thats about to change. Anyhow, here is Shadow wrapped up watching my work on my car. Its getting cold out...

Sparksman

I started a thread in the N/a section about my 1st legit dyno session.

Here is the link https://honda-tech.com/all-motor-nat...me-qs-3266110/

Feel free to respond on this thread as well!

Northernlightz

Good to see you got the cooling issue sorted.

Making good progress

Sparksman

double post, mod delete please

Sparksman

Hey Everyone! Been almost 1 year exactly since i last posted lol.... Damn the time flies.... The lude is still on the road. In need of a little tlc and tune up right now. A few other things too, I will be posting more, in more detail here in a little while. I figured I would just drop a bit of photos ive taken over the last year. I still love the lude, but i do have a new 2 wheel passion ive acquired . Thats taken most of my time and funds as of late. Anyhow here is some pics---- v

Crown Point Portland Or.






I-5 Bridge over the Columbia River









Bought some LED headlights













Utility lude!



Bought me a set of 4x114.3 teggy Type-R wheels, with original centers.




I took in and had repowdercoated back to white.





I wrapped my new fresh rims with some Dunlop DZ102's. Im quite happy with these tires, lots of stick in the corners, and living in the NW they actually hold decent in the rain too.














Got my deer this year! Who says Preludes dont make great hunting rigs? lol. Had to hike in from pavement. Shitty part was the 2 hour wait for my dad with a truck, no way thats going inside...



Shadow turned 15 last month!



I caught him red handed! Thats the little punk thats been leaving paw prints on my car!



This is why ive been busy all summer, im all about that enduro life! Dirtbikes on the road, yes please! Bought this DRZ400 in September, found a new life passion. If your reading this, you need some 2 wheel action in your life!

TracerAcer2.2L

Really nice pics bro! What camera are you using?

Car is looking clean, and your dog looks good too for being 15yo

Sparksman

Thanks, i have a few more pics, but these were my favorites. I just use my Note-5 phone camera lol.

snobordboy

Car is looking good!

Mine pretty much sits right now since I moved to Toronto. No time or money to mess with it, although there are close tracks here. Maybe this summer she will be out again!

Prudz_lude

iTrader: (1)

Looks great man! Love the look that it has right now.