Medle

So I bought my 97 base prelude almost a year ago, and thought I'd drive it for a few months, then sell it. Since I was and am still thinking of getting a subie. But the more I drive it the more I fall for it.
Anyways, now I'm thinking of staying with her. But don't know which route to chose, either n/a or boost.
I want to get to know my prelude, and say yeah I built that, if something goes wrong, try to fix it myself, or ask you fellow members for help.
It came with a catback, cai, cam gears, and the usual dc headers.

PirateMcFred

budget?
goals for the project?
expectations of reliability?

Medle

My goals would be to make a street car, some I can use as a DD, but something that I could also every once in a while step on it in the mountains, or take it to the track.
I would love it to be as reliable as possible.
The budget I say would be related to the cars goals

PirateMcFred

All ambiguous answers.

1. It's already a street car. If you drive it on a street, it's a street car.

2. You can already step on it every once in a while. Nothing's stopping you from taking it to the track either.

3. What's a "track?" Straight line? Left turns only? Left and right turns? Accelerating and stopping? When you're at this "track" what do you intend to do with it?

4. Budget dictates what you can do to it. Zero money means zero mods. $10,000 means more than zero mods.

5. If you demand "as reliable as possible" then keep it stock and don't eff with it. If you monkey with it reliability will go down.

You need to think more about what it is you want and then figure out what kind of money is needed to accomplish it.

98vtec

man, that almost brought me back to HT zeroforum days

PirateMcFred

Here you go, OP. 11 years ago this was good reading and still is.

*A MUST READ for those who are new to heavily modding your Prelude* - Honda-Tech

It's in the FAQ sticky at the top of the forum.

Good to see you still trolling the forums, Blake.

Medle

gahhh!!
I had just spent the last few minutes making my reply and my internet decided to trip.

Many valid points.
The track would be Musselman Honda Circuit, it's got left and right turns and acceleration and stopping, and I intend to get to know more my prelude and drive it freely, since tickets are quite expensive.
Budget wise... yeah I think I'll think this whole n/a turbo later on. My budget right now is towards improving the handling. Already bought new tires, plan on getting higher springs or coilover sleeves, and shocks too.
Reliable wise, something that the down time of the prelude will be around 2 weeks fixing time.

Thanks -PirateMcFred I'll take a look at it

snobordboy

Ok, for a road course, first off make sure it is in GREAT mechanical shape, i.e. brakes, cooling, ball joints, axles, etc. Good tires and brakes are going to be primary for good handling and stopping, then get out and try it as is, and see where you want to improve the car, as well as your driving skill.

You will be able to do quite a bit of learning with a stock powertrain, and then when your driving ability is on spot, you will know what you want out of changes to the car.

Anh Meo

Too much stuff to upgrade to go with boost. I would keep it NA. Put the money into the suspension then worry about power. Get the head port and polished (depending on budget), upgrade the camshafts.

I will say I sold my project prelude after driving a friends STI for a weekend.

Lyles

I agree, all motor for reliability.

98vtec

Turbo can be reliable unless you think ebay turbo kits are nice, that there is no difference between a log manifold and a tubular manifold, any injector will work, if you junk "just needs a tune" and it will run good. And many other aspects that require attention to achieve a reliable turbo setup.

Having an all motor setup can be just as unreliable if you think you can take shelf parts and "toss" them in your engine and make reliable power

Mykizism

Port and Polish can diminish flow and cause poor performance.

Making good power on ALL Motor can be more costly than a good turbo kit, and may not be more reliable than a good turbo system.

The theory behind All motor is more reliable than boost is not true at all.

^ Everything this guy said is truth