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I pulled one of the front springs and installed the correct front bump stop. It made no difference. It wasn't hitting the stop its just the springs are not super low. I attempted to install the rear springs from the accord but they did not sit on the bottom perch correctly so it was safer not to install. I ordered some 1.75 inch drop springs so once they arrive ill install them. I just don't like the stock ride height, looks like crap.
What's with the prelude rear suspension, much more complicated than the 4th gen or any other Honda I have worked on. Took a bit to remove the rear shock and was disappointing that I couldn't install the spring.
Well I got one side pretty much installed. Had some issues with the ball joint and sway bar joint. I couldn't get either of them back in completely. It was dark and late when I was trying to finish up so I left it and bolted it back together. I was not positive that I had the correct springs on the front and back. I need to make a harbor freight trip to pick up some allen wrenches, I let my nebor borrow mine and they did not return them. Once the car was on its wheels again it looked pretty good. Ill take some pics once completed. I would like the car to sit maybe another inch lower but once its done ill drive it around a bit and see if it settles. The gap in the rear looks a lot better. This will be the 3rd time pulling the front left suspension apart, getting pretty tired of it. lol.
Driving the car every day and its definitely going to be difficult to sell since I'm getting attached.
Completed the rear suspension yesterday. Found that If I just disconnect the upper control arm I can easily get the rear shock out. Car looks to be sitting pretty good in the back. I just need to get the front passenger side completed now. It was super hot so I had to call it a day super early. Someone texted me about buying the car and I was thinking... noo not yet. lol. Like usual they just asked if the car was available but didn't follow up on the conversation.
Just a few things left to do.
-Install front Passenger spring
-Wet Sand/polish/wax front bumper and passenger fender.
-Remove rear bumper and see if I can get it to sit a little better.
-Polish/wax rear bumper
-Perm install new main relay(pick your part) its just hanging at the moment
-Remove driver seat and vacuum/clean the carpet.
-Roof... I'm not sure I want to touch the roof, it still has some sun damage, I don't really want to paint it but if everything else is complete and perfect I may do that as well, its the only real problem spot left on the car.
That's about it... I did grab the black carpet and black rear seats but it would look funny with the tan front seats, I'm pretty happy with the interior as it is now. Ill save those for my next project.
I sold my White civic a few days ago, I was a little sad to see it go. But I am happy to move on to other projects.
Finished the spring install. I only have a few hours in the morning to work before it gets too hot. The car definitely needs to be driven so everything can settle but it already looks much better. This was the fastest install so far, pulling the upper control arm is the way to go, and making sure the tab for the lower fork is lined up before installation really makes things easier.
I made an attempt to clean the automatic transmission solenoids, the top one was easy, and it was spotless, screens were super clean. I sprayed it out anyway just in case but honestly I wouldn't be surprised if it was a new part. The lower ones... I couldn't get them out, ill have to look at some guides and see why, they were super grimy and most likely original. One day ill most likely get to them.
It seems like the allure of the prelude has got a hold of you hahah. With limited production numbers, they are only going to get rarer as time goes on- not to mention alot of them are beat to **** and/or have bad rust. Everytime I go to the pick and pull, there are more preludes. Most are just given up on or have a bad motor. Kinda sad really.
Started to sprinkle a bit so I thought it was a good chance to polish and wax the rear bumper finally. I wet sanded the whole car with 1500grit 2 days after I purchased it and have been working each panel slowly giving a polish and wax. The rear bumper was starting to really bug me. So here it is, you can see the rear drop is pretty nice. Almost exactly where I wanted it. I think the rear lip needs a clip, ill look at that eventually. I'm still not too excited with the white painted(maybe plastidipped) rims. I don't have a hose here to wash the car so I need to head somewhere else to do the wetsand and wash. Once I do that ill get some good pics.
Well I got bored and it started pouring outside so I figured it was a good chance to work on the wet sand for the passenger fender and front bumper. Of course as soon as I started it stopped raining but no biggie I finished it anyway. I also went ahead and polished and waxed. I didn't wash the whole car just the spots I was working on. Only issue is that near the door I managed to burn thru the clear and base. I'm not sure how I managed that since I was going very easy with it and staying away from the edges... Must have been super thin paint and clear. Ill have to patch that up later. Other than that the car has made a huge transformation. The fender gaps need a bit of work but I'm not super concerned with that.
Just a reminder, if you look at earlier pics you can see that the fenders both had massive sun damage, the clear coat was white and the base coat was burned on some areas as well. The original hood was black because the clean and color coat had burned thru, the hood was massively dented in the front and both rear corners were bent to the point there was a crease. Front bumper was not too bad but I still needed to touch it up. The idea here was to keep it cheap and make it look close to stock, didn't need to be perfect just enough for 5-10 feet it looks good. I'm pretty happy with the result, it could use some additional work on the hood but ill leave it. I think I spent I'm guessing around $200 in total including sand paper/polish/wax. I still have a full can of clear and maybe 1/2 a can of green left. I have not driven the car since I put on the springs, well except 50 ft to a different parking spot, so the springs have not had a chance to settle, the front defiantly will go down a bit. I planned to polish the lights, unless it sells before I get to it. That new rear pic of the car should sell it pretty quick. lol
I'm not super excited with the drop... So far the back settled lower and the front not at all. The springs may be backwards. FML. I wish the damn things had some label on them. I may blow apart one side and swap them today. Thought I was done messing with the suspension. Guess its my fault for messing with it.
I was planning to wash it and take some good pics today, cant do that with the suspension not looking good.
Swapped all of the springs around, much better, I still need to drive it and see how it settles but it think its good this time. While I was at it I also fixed the alignment on the front bumper and the rear bumper as well, I'm really happy with the alignment of the bumpers now. Not perfect but much much better. I'm exhausted. I don't think ill get around to washing it today but soon, pics to come.
Well the sky opened and water fell from the heavens... so I grabbed a towel and my spray bottle with soap and gave the car a quick wash. The rain stopped so I only did the rims on one side, plus the rain was ice cold so my fingers are still numb.
I did notice the front rims are on the wrong sides. Also still have not driven the car since I swapped the springs, I expect the stance to change slightly. I need to paint the window molding on the driver door but honestly.... I don't need to. lol
I have driven the car a bit and everything is good to go, I'm not running the canyons or anything so I'm not sure I would notice anyway. The drop was 1.75 and honestly I think 2.5 would be ideal for my tastes, I like to see just a hint of wheel gap. But this is a good compromise, it no longer looks like a truck but its not soo low that I scrape on speed bumps. And no replies to the pics, after took the time to resize and crop and edit out the license and my accord on most of the pics. lol. I'm really happy with the way things look so hopefully the car sells soon. I'm looking to pick up a new daily, I may have an 1st gen odyssey lined up and need to pick up a civic for my son. I can afford the odyssey but need to sell the Prelude to pick up another civic.
That drop looks just right, nothing too crazy. Some meguiars plastx on the headlights/taillights/turn signals would brighten them up. Makes the car pop more I find.
Just working on some little things now but for the most part leaving the car alone. My AC Vents(HVAC flapper motor) was not working so I pulled it apart yesterday to test it and the little motor inside is dead. Honestly with the vents aimed at the driver I could sell the car and no one would know until later down the road that its broken but since its an easy fix I want to repair it. I found a replacement electric motor for $7 on ebay, (I found them for like $2-$3 as well but shipping would be like a month.) That will be here next week and ill pop it in, hopefully the actual buttons up top are good as well, guess we will find out. I wired up the little electric motor to my drill battery and I could get it to spin for a second and it would die, at one point I got it spinning for like 20 seconds but it was very inconsistent. The brushes inside much be junk. I can order the complete flapper motor(used) for like $30 or go to the junkyard and look for one(they seem to be used in TL's and 01+ civic's so I'm sure I could find a replacement if needed. The electric motor was the easiest cheapest solution so if that works I wont have to make the trip.
The other issue I am working on is the Main relay, when it got hot out the car started struggling to start, I pulled a relay from pick your part when I was getting some other parts a while back and just unplugged the old one and let the new one hang. The car has not had any issues since. MY plan was to just pop the new relay in the old relay housing so that I wouldn't have to struggle unbolting everything. Well I fought pulling the old relay out of the cover yesterday and once I did I found the new relay is much bigger so it wont fit in the cover. Darn!. So I think ill just re-solder the old one and pop it back in. Not a huge issue.
Ill be picking up a new project soon, and I need to work on my accord so this one needs to be done.
That's strange that the relay didn't fit. I just went to Honda and bought a new one when mine started acting up. It was a pain popping out the old one and not cracking the case.
It didn't fit because I cheated and didn't remove the case, I just pulled the insides from the case, its a struggle to remove the case from the mount. When I grabbed the spare I did the same thing, just pried it out of the case and saved 30-45 minutes of fighting with it. lol. I figured they would be the same, guess I know now, no biggie, I planned to re-solder this one anyway so I had a spare. Super common Honda issue.
I pulled the TL rims off the accord and tossed them on the prelude. They definitely look more aggressive but the wheel gap in the rear needs to be sorted. It should drop a bit still.
I'm on the fence at the moment. I still have the car for Sale but with the TL rims on it I'm struggling a bit. I am super close to start pulling all of the bits off the accord and moving them to the prelude. The accord was broken into and the stereo was stolen(again) including my amp and woofer and at this point I almost don't want anything to do with the car anymore. I'm seriously considering putting the accord back to somewhat stock and using the prelude. I have everything I need for the manual swap, I'm considering mounting up manual pedals and slave cly now.
Its needs to sell very soon or else it will be too late.
Got the AC/Heater vent selector fixed. Just swapped the electric motor over and its good to go now.
If anyone is interested it was 7$. Its not the exact motor, the only difference is the shaft where the gear goes on is a bit shorter but it was not a problem. RF-370 Air Pump Motor - 3 to 12 VDC - 5600 RPM - 12 V - RF-370CH-15370
I also re-soldered the original Main relay and so far so good. I'm giving it some time outside the housing to see if it acts up but its been super hot and no issues. Ill pop it back in the case in a few weeks once I'm confident in it not acting up.
Nothing else to report really, I have the black carpet and back interior sitting here wanting to install itself in the car, I also have the center console. I have a set of black seats but I'm installing those in the Accord. I may go to pick your part on Friday and if I see a set of black seats ill pick them up and do the swap. The tan interior needs some deep cleaning and I prefer the black. There will still be 2 tone accents but I think it will look better with less tan more black. I'm trying to hold off doing any more changes to the car since I plan to sell it but its difficult. The car is perfect as is.
The front springs settled a bit and its perfect, the rear is still a little higher than I want but honestly... its soo much better than the stock springs, the car handles corners much better as well. I think I'm going to look for another set of TL rims, they look really good on the prelude.
I'm not sure why but I have not gotten too many hits on this car, some trade offers and some questions and then no follow up. I honestly don't mind. I'm not in a rush to get rid of it. Its my daily driver and it does the job well.
I swapped in the Black Carpet and black rear seats, I really like the change. I also had a center console with the black carpet in front so that swapped out as well. I am seriously considering starting the 5 speed swap before too long. I can mount up the pedals and master cyl in advance and it wont hurt anything. I still need to pull apart the transmission I picked up and see if I can clean up the grind that the seller said it had in 4th? gear I think. I'm not super worried about it. I need to pick up another set of black seats or maybe if I find a leather set I can put it in the accord and put the black seats for the accord in the prelude. lol.
I should most likely work on the accord first since its not running still, I have everything I need to finish it up so I'm just being lazy.
Still daily driving the prelude. I did have someone come and test drive 2 days ago so they end up buying it. I'm not sure I want to sell. haha
I was at the pick your part yesterday grabbing parts for my sons civic and looking for an inner driver door handle for the prelude and I came across a perfect set of black seats. Well I couldn't resist so I went back and picked them up today and installed them, I am much happier with the interior now.
Back the door handle, it was 105+ out 3-4 weeks ago and the handle just snapped off, I was looking for a handle but they are pretty pricey. I was thinking... the accord handle looks identical, so I did a quick google and I saw some posts that say you can use the handle part from an accord. So when I was at the pick your part yard I grabbed 2 accord handles, one was a front sedan door and one was a back sedan door, they were identical so I just wanted a spare in case I destroyed it trying to pull the pin. So I was able to swap it over and door handle fixed.
One note... I did notice that when its scorching hot 100+ and I'm in traffic with the AC on the engine starts to get pretty hot, I don't generally use the AC but i was a little worried about selling it that way. I grabbed a used Radiator and fans from the yard so hopefully that fixes the issue, i don't really want to swap over my aluminum rad and slim fans then sell the car, that would suck. I also grabbed a new thermostat so i can swap that out as well. Black seats, black center console and carpet, waay better. Door handle with accord chrome handle piece. All fixed now. Cheap fix.
04-28-2017, 05:51 PM
Re: 1997 Base EGP Flip project
