RWD Conversion?! Possible?
 

I was watching YouTube late night and I came across a video showing a RWD 92-96 Honda Prelude with a Mercedes-Benz Kompressor engine. I was wondering if I can resource something to make the Prelude RWD without spending a fortune on it. You think a Honda Pilot rear drivetrain will work? I know it has been talk about but I don't want to bring old thread back to life.

Re: RWD Conversion?! Possible?
 

For enough money anything is possible. In this case, it ain't going to be even remotely cheap.

Re: RWD Conversion?! Possible?
 

Not possible

Re: RWD Conversion?! Possible?
 

Are you a fabricator? Can you weld in a RWD subframe? Can you weld custom chassis mounts for the engine and transmission? Anything can be done, but it takes time, skill, and money. Which don't you have?

If you have skill and money, it will only cost you time.

If you have no time and money, but no skill, it will be expensive.

If you have time and skill, but no money, then you should be able to get it done, even though it may take forever.

Re: RWD Conversion?! Possible?
 

I have all the tools but I don't have the place to do it at. When I come across a nice size warehouse over 5,000 sq ft and that allow automotive then I will do that.

Re: RWD Conversion?! Possible?
 

Why the hell bother; just buy a platform designed to be RWD and build from there. Nobody would give two craps for a cobbled together RWD Prelude; regardless of how good a job you did, taking an investment of 10% of the time and money you'd spend on the Prelude and putting it into something like a rear wheel drive 240SX would yield a car which would eat the Prelude for lunch.

Re: RWD Conversion?! Possible?
 

Have you not seen the 4th gen rwd from poland? That thing is rad. Dont be a downer man, let people dream and try new shit. We need progress into new horizons not people who just shut everything down because its different. If you have the time and know how OP then get it done, But I would search on some poland sites or those guys that got it done. They explained a bit on what theyre running.

Re: RWD Conversion?! Possible?
 

Re: RWD Conversion?! Possible?
 

This is true as well haha

Re: RWD Conversion?! Possible?
 

Well excuse the hell out of me. Personally I applaud desire of having a Prelude class car in RWD; unfortunately that is not in the cards given he said, "without spending a fortune on it".

To @Super69 , if you're still monitoring this thread, have you decided whether you're going to try switching the engine from a transverse layout to a longitudinal layout, or if you're going to stick with transverse and use some sort of a modified Haldex approach to transfer the power to the rear wheels? There are benefits and drawbacks to both. Once you are able to power a driveshaft to the rear of the car, have you figured out how you are going to build a suspension cage which will keep the Prelude's low center of gravity and still allow the clearance for all of the new hardware under the car? Finally, have you figured out how to reinforce the body structure to accommodate the new torque characteristics running through the body due to the front engine/RWD layout?

These are all questions which you'll need to figure out the engineering answers to before you even start.'

Once again, not to be a downer, but to make you really think about what you're doing before you turn a Prelude into a hunk of scrap metal; here are how ninety-nine out of one-hundred of such ambitious projects end up:

• Full of promise and Plan A, you launch into your build, you start yanking, cutting, and welding, per your plan. After a month or three you realize you're in a little over your head and need to do some more research.
• A few weeks or months later you are now armed with Plan B; you pick up the build and get another month or two into it before you realize you are in WAY over your head.
• One of two things happen here, you realize the project isn't going to happen and you sell the car for scrap, or you try and revert the car back to factory spec, realize it is too late for that, and sell the car for scrap.

As I wrote yesterday, if you really want a Prelude class RWD car, find yourself a Nissan 240SX and go to town on it. You'll end up with a far-FAR superior result.

Re: RWD Conversion?! Possible?
 

There is a perfectly good reason to do it: namely that the chassis and suspension is a good setup. The chassis itself has a good suspension type and characteristics and has a low COG. Properly executed, you can greatly improve the dynamics of the car with the drive train change.

I'm currently in the process of such a project, but I have the time, skills, and love of the chassis dynamics of this particular car to make it worthwhile to me.

Re: RWD Conversion?! Possible?
 

So, which engine configuration are you going with, longitudinal or transverse?

Re: RWD Conversion?! Possible?
 

Agree 100% but the age old response is always going to be "if you have to ask, then you're probably not going to manage it".

But having said that, OP have you seen this one ???

Re: RWD Conversion?! Possible?
 

I've been on YouTube video about a RWD Honda Prelude that has rear diff from a car I forgot what it was but the engine swap is from a Mercedes-Benz Kompressor. The engine look almost identical to a Honda K-series engine. But I like the Honda Prelude because it was considered the flagship for the Honda's.

A few day's ago I gather all my buddies who all has degree's in Engineering in either Civil, Computer, Electronics/Electrical, and Mechanical. They all have their toys to mess around. For me with the Computer Engineering I have a 2013 Scion FR-S and a 1994 Mazda Miata. The guy with the Mechanical Engineering has a Honda S2000 and a Mazda Miata. The guy with the Civil Engineering has a SW20 Toyota MR2 and a Toyota Camry. The guy with the Electronics/Electrical Engineering has a 2003 Honda Accord and a 1997 Honda Civic Type R. Anyways, we all talk about AWD a DA Integra and transforming the body into something else cross between a Aston Martin V8 Vantage and a Scion FR-S. Then we talk about getting a Acura RSX doing a RWD drivetrain on it then change the front to a DC2 Integra Type R front end but not totally. But I insist that we do it on Honda Prelude only because it already have power to weight ratio on it.

Right now we have working space at 2 homes both which we can have about 6 car's on the driveway also includes the garage. But we can't do anything crazy on those properties because the neighbor's might complain and we don't want city official to come raid on our parade. That's why I was looking for a 5,000 sq ft warehouse that has a fenced yard to store our haul of beater cars to strip for part's then recycle the strip shell.

Re: RWD Conversion?! Possible?
 

Longitudinal. I adapted it to a Subaru 5 speed transmission and will just use the front output a la the Factory Five 818.