Hello everyone!

I recently sold my Prelude see pic: http://www.chaudtight.com/mani/op/4.jpg and http://www.chaudtight.com/mani/op/5.jpg and have been looking for an ITR for a few weeks now. I am from Canada.

Most of the cars i have been looking at are 1998 -1999. My main concern is finding a car that is origional. Its very hard with an ITR i've found..becuase if it has'nt been accidented or crashed, then its been stolen, or just driven very very hard.

One of my top priorities is finding one that hasnt been repainted...any panels. If you take a look at the lude you can see paint perfection is my big thing....the car wasnt even driven in the rain. To me, having perfect paint is better than any mod. I plan to keep the ITR stock.

I was just woundering if you guys could help me out. I have looked at many cars now and each one is different. Should each front fender have the vin sticker on it? the hood as well? Was this only done on all 3 parts for 1999+. I'm a little confused as every car i have looked at is not the same as far as vin identification stickers.

Any help on this subject is appreciated! Thanks!

Hoping to soon become an active member of this section!

Eric

 

no body????

 

An untouched car should have original VIN stickers on ALL body panels: front fenders, hood, bumpers, door jams, doors, and hatch. There will also be a VIN tag on the motor and gearbox.

 

The VIN is also on some of the windows for certain later years. Even still if you're as **** about paint as you say you are you won't have any problems telling if they've had paint. Just relying on the VIN stickers can be misleading. My car has a significant ammount of new paint, not that I care but sometimes it takes a lot of really close looking and time to find out.

 

Thanks for the help!

Yes i am that **** about paint.

I'm asking not to rely on the vin tags to tell if its a repaint but to tell if it is an origional panel. Telling if a panel is a repaint is easy enough..but becomes harder if the entire panel has been replaced with a new panel and painted (not a paint over)..especially if it was taken off the car to paint. Even if you get down to looking at the marks on bolts from being turned or not in teh factory paint it can be difficult. The one i am seriously looking at was missing the vin tag on the hood and im confused.

Thanks for pointing the tranny tag out as well. Is it just a rivited on vin tag?? I saw it on one i was looking at..but none of the others??? Was this only done for certain years??None of the 98's i looked at had it.

Where can i find the vin tag on the bumpers??? Where is it rivited to the motor?

Thanks all for your help!

 

The 98s should have the vin tag, yeah its got a special kind of rivet holding it on, if you look closely it has the Honda H logo on it.

Theres also a VIN on the bottom of the engine block, facing the front of the car, near the timing belt just above the oil pan, its kind of blocked by the exhaust manifold.

The VIN stickers on the pannels will indicate that yes it is an original pannel, however they can also buy new pannels with the VIN sticker on them if special ordered from the dealership.

The bumpers should have VINs on the backsides, but you wont be able to see them. You can also check the VIN thats etched into the firewall, to the left of the brake booster, to correalte them with the motor and trans VINs.

 

you cannot order parts from the dealership with your vin on them. If a part is purchased at the dealer ship the tag will read RDOT only the original parts that came with the vehicle will have the vin. To verify the vin sticker on the back bumper you would need to remove the bumper. The front vin is seen by removing the black support that holds down the top of the bumper next to the radiator under the hood.

 

ok...im really confused. The car i am seriously interested in is a 98. None of those vins are there (fenders, block, tranny, doors, hatch) however its the second owner. Ther were no shops that owned the car and from all records nothing has happened.

I cant see how this could possibly be a theft recoovery or anything..if it was stolen before, the engine im sure would be the first thing missing.

Not even the hatch has a vin on it. If it were stolen what are the odds that it was recovered and put back together? If the hatch was gone..there is no way the engine could have not been taken too as its the most desirable part?? how could it get rebuilt and still be under the posession of the first owner?

Carfax and government records here in Canada show up clean for the car as well.

Im really confused.

Can someone in here with a 98 Canadaian ITR confirm that they have all these vins? Could this have been a late 97 production and they had not started with all the vins yet???

Thanks all! I really want to buy this car but am held back by the missing vins.

 

bump! help!

Thanks!

 

anyone?? i want to buy this car!

 

Knowing Honda, every panel (even in Canada) should have VIN#'s on ALL the panels.

The car you're looking at might have been in a small fender bender, which wasn't reported. So, the panels were probably replaced and hence they don't have VIN #'s.

I wouldn't buy a car that is missing VIN on panels. Check VIN on every panel, part, etc.

Good things come to those who wait, don't rush into buying an ITR that you don't want.

-S

 

I have a 97 R , I live in Canada and my car had NO vin #s on any of the panels etc. I have replaced numerous fenders (race car) and sometimes they come with RDOT and sometimes not.

I bought all the factory manuals when I got my car and it shows where all the VIN tags are supposed to be, but all I have is the firewall, dash and doorjamb. The block has a # but it is not the vin.

I don't know why, but I have come to realise that the R has a few quirks in manufacturing protocol.

Victor Penner