Hooked911

I have watched a couple youtube vids on how to do this... Can someone with exp. give me an estimate of the difficulty? I want to do the entire suspension plus motor and tranny mounts. I will also be replacing upper and lower ball joints and tie rods. And might as well do bearings while im at it. (Any other stuff I should replace? I want to do this right.) Does anyone make ball joints with grease zerts for the prelude? The guy I bought it from claims it has GC springs but I am not sure yet. Not had time to get it in the air and look under it yet. Either way I will be replacing the struts all the way around. What I am looking for is a close to factory ride. I cant stand the bounce when it is lowered. Right now it is pretty low in the front. The back is about 2.5 inches off the tire. If it does wind up having GC springs what should I look at as far as adjustable rate struts?

yohan

Lots of questions in here...

For wanting "near stock ride" first question is what Shocks ? if he's lowered on OEM, thats the first thing that needs to be changed... KYB AGX or Koni Yellow will suit you well.

If the ball joints aren't bad, I wouldn't bother replacing them.. Upper ball joints on our lude, I haven't seen any good info on how to swap them, even I went to the yard and just grabbed the whole arm to fix mine.

IF the bearrings are alright, I wouldn't worry about it. The fronts need to be pressed in, the rears is a whole hub assembly and 4 bolts.

As for the bushings, the engine/tranny just slip on over top of the existing mount. Your ride will have constant vibration at idle and be shakey, but once you're up a few rpm the feeling of acceleration is so worth it IMO. I got the ES but only did the front mount I think.. probably have the rear mount around my house somewhere still.

As for all the rest of the bushings, huge job.. Outer tie rod ends are easy (followed up with a wheel alignment).

One thing you'll want to buy is a tie rod end puller, it can be used for upper/lower ball joints on the prelude as they're small enough to fit... then you won't be beating the sh...t out of your suspension with a hammer to pop them.

Give it a good inspection around all the bolts through every piece of rubber, anything cracked needs to be replaced. ( I assume you were speaking of the energy suspension bushing set for the entire suspension vs. just the motor mount inserts)

I had H&R sports and KYB AGX on mine, lots of people swear by GC for coilovers, Tein has some springs that are same price as H&R sport and will give you a comfortable drop & ride that won't have you dragging your muffler and tow hook everywhere.

rallyrcr

Agreed. This is a big job. Even if you have a press at home, you won't have all the dies to safely press things without damaging and marring your suspension components. Some people adapt sockets and other objects, but there's more risk of mis-aligning the bushing when removing and re-inserting them.

Since you don't have experience with this, the cheapest and safest way for you will be to remove the suspension components (ball joints, bushings, mounts) yourself and then take them to a shop that can do the bushings. Competent shops that are inexpensive should charge you somewhere in the $40-60/hr range for the work.

+1 that energy suspension bushings are a bit harsh for the street. They are perfect for track work. If you're interested in a quality set of rubber bushings look for Hard Race brand bushing sets.

Good luck.

v4lu3s

if you want a near factory ride than repalcing all your bushings with Energy Suspension WON'T be what you want. Stock rubber would be best for that. Brand new rubber oem bushings are always a good thing when you have older worn/dry rotter rubber.

Preludes were designed (all Hondas for a long time actually) with sealed ball joints and they last a long time if you do not tear the boots. I have seen a ball joint in a honda that had a zerk fitting in it, but it appeared to have been put there by the owner rather than designed that way...

Personally I would inspect everything, test drive and look for problems and only then make my shopping list of parts to repair or replace.

Hooked911

Well.. what spawned the idea is a couple things. I have a small thunk when shifting at low rpm. (fresh exeedy clutch installed by PO). and I have the honda bounce on the driver side. Could be tire related but I honestly dont think so. I will be swapping out the CV on the drivers side, The passenger side has been done. I can tell the motor or tranny mounts need replaced.

yohan

A thunk when shifting, assuming manual ? ... Take a look at the mounts for sure, I loved having ES motor mounts.

Even with e-brake on if you have a friend watching the engine bay (to the side) put it in gear and give it a bit of gas into first and see how badly the engine torques... should give a good indication if a motor mount is torn, throw the vid up here some of the other guys should be able to advise if it's too much play.

v4lu3s

the front mount isnt too hard to just look at and it usually is the first to go, the passenger side mount is also pretty easy to just look at as well...if the front mount is gone the rear may be, and if the front and trans mount are gone the rear is almost certainly.

Northernlightz

It would be much easier to just buy a control arm.

As mentioned, your ride will be much stiffer than stock with es bushings.

Had es endlinks and swaybar frame bushings on my previous car, and that alone made the ride stiffer.