how hard is the right hand drive conversion.... im planning n doing it this summer and want a few tips and things to watch out for before i start

 

It's hard and will be quite time consuming. Atleast from what I've witnessed.

To be honest I haven't seen many RHD converted preludes, I doubt you will get much help here. You might want to check in with the Civic and Integra guys or the appearance and cosmetic forum.

 

I heard you need to change fire wall?


And if you have all the right parts you will have it done no later then 2 weeks. (thats if you dont get stuck on something, like no fire wall or something) So make sure you got every thing before you start.

 

usually in doing a RHD. the LHD firewall is removed and the RHD is welded into place.

So basically it is best to receieve a full front clip and work from there.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by kulrevon &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">usually in doing a RHD. the LHD firewall is removed and the RHD is welded into place.

So basically it is best to receieve a full front clip and work from there.</TD></TR></TABLE>

That should be the only way it should be done. Don't ghetto fab it, like some in the appearance forum. I've seen people just cut and replace only the upper half of the firewall as well as just jigsaw out what was needed

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by bb4 jdm lude &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">how hard is the right hand drive conversion.... im planning n doing it this summer and want a few tips and things to watch out for before i start</TD></TR></TABLE>

sell your car before you do something stupid. Obviously you can look and see how dificult it is.

changin out the dash, firewall, all that cutting and welding, yeah, not easy

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by mafia &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I heard you need to change fire wall?


And if you have all the right parts you will have it done no later then 2 weeks. (thats if you dont get stuck on something, like no fire wall or something) So make sure you got every thing before you start.</TD></TR></TABLE>

as well as the rear cross memeber and steering rack. The current crossmember will not accept a RHD steering rack. And it takes a little longer than 2 weeks bro.

 

I also have heard stories of insurance companies totaling out cars that have been converted to right hand drive.

 

Hah, that would suck...

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by bb4 jdm lude &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">how hard is the right hand drive conversion</TD></TR></TABLE>

It's hard, it's pointless, it's a waste of money.

If you MUST have a RHD, then buy one that already is.

Ming from ES technical Roadsports is selling his JDM 4th gen. It's a sweet car with tons of rare parts. He's somewhat of a Mugen *****.

 

pointless waste of thousands and extremely hard. i would sell your car and just import one since they are now legal anyway.

 

RHD cars are ghey

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Prudz_lude &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">pointless waste of thousands and extremely hard. i would sell your car and just import one since they are now legal anyway.</TD></TR></TABLE>

RHD preludes are legal? since when? i've been trying to get an FC3S over here for a few years and doesnt look like i'll be able to do it any "legal" way...

 

Import one from Japan or Australia.

You can buy mine

 

bump ..

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Prudz_lude &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">pointless waste of thousands and extremely hard. i would sell your car and just import one since they are now legal anyway.</TD></TR></TABLE>

some people enjoy the thrill of working on something/a project and seeing the final results....just like people who heavily mod their cars, and some would say why not save the money and buy a better car that performs!

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Prudz_lude &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">pointless waste of thousands and extremely hard. i would sell your car and just import one since they are now legal anyway.</TD></TR></TABLE>

How is it pointless? It's just about having fun and enjoying the hobby of fixing up a car in a unique way. It's like saying you wanna spend thousands in turboing your car when you could've easily bought a pustang or something that's already fast. It's pointless, but it's just the fact of having fun modding your car. I'm currently in the process of doing a RHD conversion to my other Prelude and no I'm not spending thousands doing it. I'll probably spend less doing the conversion rather than importing it over and dealing with alot of paper work to make it legal to drive here rather than being able to keep all the same VIN#'s and be fine driving the car cause the DMV won't even know it's a RHD car


But to answer the original posters question about how hard it is, you can make it hard if you want to, but if you have a good imagination and good with your hands, then it won't be hard at all, it's just time consuming and PATIENCE. I've already cut the firewall out on the car, so now all I have to do is cut the firewall out from the RHD front clip which I just haven't made time to do, but I've been taking alot of pics of the whole process. After I'm done with it, I'll drive it around and then probably sell it and do another RHD conversion to another Prelude

 

Lots of $$$$$$$$$$$

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by DJ Hookid &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Lots of $$$$$$$$$$$</TD></TR></TABLE>

not unless if you know where to look for great deals or know the right people

 

200 bucks and lots and lots of time. if you can do it yourself. maybe 50bucks of supplies for your welder and seam sealer and whatnot. i did spluge and blow about 100 bucks on a rhd center console with cupholder and leather lid and like 40 bucks on rhd door hinge panels so i could swap my master window controls and ended up getting the bonus of an auto down feature as well. i didnt know about this until i actually had it in the car and working when i tested the window controls.

if you get a good deal on a front end left over from a motor swap like i did.

its something to do is all. and probably the cheapest mod i have done with my project lude. not nearly as time consuming as my targa top conversion but it was only 200 bucks too. still need another set of del slo targa seals to finish it tho so it may end up being a little more expensive.
























if you really think about it, it made it a lot easier to install my jdm climate control and everything wires in just like OEM so lets just say i did it to be oem not rhd. the only harnesses that could be considered "hacked" are the door harnesses. im even wired up for a rear wiper and squirter if i ever wanted one. and the sunroof button will now be operating the del slo rear window that will cut of the cabin from the "trunk"

i know that sounds rediculous too. I guess i was jsut bored. i got a daily beater and could afford down time on my baby for the first time so this is what i did


Modified by x01vtec at 9:41 PM 4/19/2007

 

Are you still driving your targa top RHD Prelude? I remember your thread on PO about it

 

no havent driven it yet. still working on the "trunk"... took the winter off and spring came and i bought a motorcycle, been distracted a lot, im sure ill get back to it soon. my old roommate moved to florida and took his welder so im kinda stuck until i get another one.

 

thanks for all the support... i am going to call today and ask a local fabrication shop if the y can do it, and i was told that you couldn't swap firewalls so i'm glad that got cleared up... anyways if u have anymore comments leave them and once again thanks for the support

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by bb4 jdm lude &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">thanks for all the support... i am going to call today and ask a local fabrication shop if the y can do it, and i was told that you couldn't swap firewalls so i'm glad that got cleared up... anyways if u have anymore comments leave them and once again thanks for the support </TD></TR></TABLE>

Why would a body shop say you can't swap the firewalls? If you do a Archive search on this forum, most, if not all the threads about RHD conversions have people swapping the firewalls. What other way could there possibly be? If you just cut the whole front clip off and swap that, you risk really messing yourself up if you get in an accident. The whole front clip could fly right off or straight come back and crush you

 

its a LOT of spot welds to drill out, and a LOT of re-assembly...
equal share of time,parts and patience.
good f*ckin luck