Hello! This is my first post, so i will tell you a little about me first. My main car is a Domestic (Mustang 2.3L Soon to be Turbo) But i also own 2 hondas, a civic, and a 'lude. and i came to this site to get information on keeping my aging prelude on the road and maybe make it a little faster while im at it. What kind of mods can i do to this car to wake it up a little. Its a 89 prelude SI 4ws (as noted in sig) It has 120,000 on it so i dont want to do anything too drastic. And i dont want to spend alot of money on it, I am mainly looking to use it when the Mustang is down for the turbo swap. The car is in great shape with very few cosmetic or mechanical issues. Thanks for any and all suggestions you might have.

Dr.

 

welcome

 

Whats up. If you kust want to keep the prelude on the road, regular maintenance will be fine, as for making it faster, there really isn't much you can do besides pipes and other minor mods that won't make a dramatic difference. In my opinion, you should sell the lude, the mustang, keep the civic as a daily driver, and get a 4th gen prelude with either a h22 vtec or a h23 engine, both of which would give you alot more power turboed than a turboed ford 4cyl. just my 2 cents. good luck

 

lol good advice! Sell all your cars and buy a 4th gen hahaha.....this board cracks me up. If he had a porsche you would tell him to sell it and buy a 4th gen.

Okay I believe a cold air intake from the integra type R can be modified to fit on a 3rd gen prelude, I can't find the link though!


[Modified by satan_srv, 12:32 PM 11/3/2002]

 

Umm, I wouldn't tell him to sell a porsche But tell me satan; whats the point of turbocharging a gutless 2.3l ford engine with a whopping 88hp as well as keeping another aging automobile on the road? I think anyone here would agree that a newer prelude would offer more performance, reliability, comfort, and style that both of those cars combined I don't care what kind of intake you put on a 3rd gen, its not going to make any significant difference on that car.

Elusive - just out of curiosity, if you want power out of the mustang, wouldn't it be cheaper andmore reliable to just swap in a 5.0?


[Modified by piotrush, 1:51 PM 11/3/2002]

 

Well for one it's 105hp but anyways. I think of lots of reasons for having the mustang. It's cheap, parts are cheap, turboing is cheap and easy, it's lighter than a 4th gen, it's rear wheel drive, and the engine can probably take a ton of boost. what does his sig say? expecting 280hp?

Anyways enough of this he was asking about his third gen, don't start in about his mustang.


[Modified by satan_srv, 2:14 PM 11/3/2002]

 

The stock 87 Turbo coupe 2.3L t motor IS eaisly capable of 280+ hp with intake porting, adjustable boost valve, and proper intercooling. A friend with a similar setup in a different year mustang made over 270 hp at the rear wheels during testing at Ford fun weekend. Add a 75 shot of n2o he was able to run the 1/4 in 12.1. Since the ford blocks are cast iron they are good for LOTS of boost. (up to about 30 PSI O ringed. ) I should be able to run in the low 13s with a $250 motor and some porting. Total with car will be less than 3 grand. I doubt you could get a 4th gen lude into the low 13s for less than 3 grand. The top of line mustang in the 80's The Mustang SVO featured an intercooled turbo 4. Add this motor to a car with Thousands of cheap available aftermarket suspension parts and i would have a screamer very eailsly. And Stock N/A motor is 105hp with 140Ftlbs of torque. Yes.. torque.. we like that... Enough of that though.. You think i could modify a cold air intake to work? More information that would be nice. And also I need a good source for spark plug wires. I know wires wont make it faster but it does make it run better and this car probably needs a tune up and i would like to get some good wires for it. Any other sugesstions would be good too.
Thanks guys..

Dr.

P.S. Swapping a 5.0 in would cost more and give me less gains. STOCK the 87 tc motor makes more power than a 5.0 (205hp Vs 200) and it tips the scales with about 280 less pounds. Plus everyone has a 5.0 there are turbo 4s makeing 700 Hp running 9.6 sec 1/4s with the stock bottom end These motors are very capable and make Great sleepers.

http://hometown.aol.com/fourced/




[Modified by Dr_EluSivE, 2:08 PM 11/3/2002]

 

I would recommend just keeping up with reguar maintanence and keeping a very close eye on your oil level on the Prelude. The older 2.0l and 2.1l Prelude motors are notorious for oil consumption - Not that it's a catostrophic thing - It just seems to happen and you need to make sure you always have enough oil left in there.

Your Mustang project sounds like it has the most potential. If I were you, I would be concentrating my time and resources on the Mustang instead of the Prelude. Yeah, those 2.3l Ford Turbo motors are awsome. They are super cheap, can make 250-300hp reliably with no internal upgrades, and they are about as bullet-proof as any Turboed motor gets.

Hmmmm... Or maybe you could thow the 2.3 Ford Turbo swap in the MG! ...2.3L Ford turbo in a 1300lb MG Midget? That would be scary fast! I don't know how well the tiny Midget engine bay will accomodate the motor though...

Andrew

 

Well, sorry guys for not being a ford guru, I had no idea the 2.3l ford engine had so much potential. But like I said, it was only my 2 cents


[Modified by piotrush, 4:51 PM 11/3/2002]