so i'm on my second deployment so i have plenty of money saved up and i decided for sure that i want to buy a 97-2001 honda prelude. i can travel anywhere in the country to buy one so it's for sure i'm getting one when i get back in january. well first thing i want to do is take it to a machine shop. i guess this would be my first question. is this everything i need to do to start off? i'm going to have them rebuild the engine, clean it, replace the pistons so it'll handle my new garrett gt28r turbo, new cam gears, new cam shafts, new flywheel, new clutch, new transmission (dunno what kinda to get yet), new valves and valve springs and new retainers oh and a new gasket. i can't think of anything else and i'm pretty sure that's gonna cost me an arm and a leg. i'm going to buy all of the parts and take their with me except for the pistons. i have no idea how long it will take them to do all this or how much it would cost. i've been calling places in houston and dallas but it's suprisingly hard to find shops that do all this and the ones that do haven't gotten back to me yet. anyway, this is the first step i'm doing asap after i buy the car. does all that sound good so far??? i really never done anything with cars but i've been learning and want to do a lot of it myself and learn but it's hard to find the info. any help or advice would be great.

 

installing the turbo itself you can do. Its alot easier than you think (with the bountiful info here on h-t) even if you havn't swong a wrench in your life. Just literally bolts up. The internal motor stuff you'll get done at a shop which is going to cost ya.

As far as your pistons go you'll get an ear full here about sleeving your cylinders for different pistons. You'll have to pick what compression you want to work with though. H22 at its stock compression is okay for boost, but do you plan on lowering it a bit with different pistons?

Get a fourth gen prelude, save some money on the actual car itself. Buy an h23 motor, like the sr/si, and boost it :D heheh Stock compression is almost ideal for boost. Not that compression really matters anyway. With great tune any compression can "work"

 

just more to add. i don't even know if i NEED to replace the transmission to a higher grade or not??? i prolly do though i don't know. also what i plan on doing is putting on a garrett GT28R turbo kit, new radiator, oil cooler, spark plugs and wires, new throttle body, exhaust system, exhaust manifold, fuel lines, fuel injectors and fuel rails, fuel pump, thermostat, new pulley kit, and some kind of computer to manage my cars computer??? i'm lost of that stuff. i don't know what else to do engine wise???

 

now see i dont understand how the compression works or how to change it??? i plan on putting a whole into my car but i'm also going to drive it everyday so i really dont know.

 

The way it sounds your thinking a little to much into the compression issue. Your best bet is to have your car built for what power goals you want to achieve. If your wanting a 600whp car then yah I would run a lower compression piston but if your dd your car and want to make good street power its not really going to matter. Dont do the h23 either there just not enough support for that engine. I know I had 1 put tons of money into it. Piston wise you cant go wrong with off the shelf CP pistons for a turbo app or for that matter an NA build either. And if your looking for a shop to pretty much build the whole engine and install it your talking about easily 12-15k. with all of your add on. I know I just had mine car done that way. After the countless attempts n the H23, I did an H22 turbo build check my sig.
Last but not least have it tuned by a good tuner, its all about the tune, Im lucky I had Blundar tune mine. He is the ****.

 

hmm that sounds like a lot more money that i thought i dont know if i need a new transmission either and i plan on driving my car daily. another question. how many retainers, valves and valve springs do i have to buy? their expensive....lol. also i don't know if i NEED to rebuild the engine or not. if he takes it apart and everything is fine then do i even need to bother?? can't i just put in new pistons and my cams and shafts etc?

 

1.Your block will need sleeved in order to drop in new pistons
2.Look into an LSD for the tranny
3.If your shooting for 4-500 WHP, be ready to spend 15K if you're not doing any of the work yourself. (ask me how I know )

 

ok well i think i figured out exactly what i want to do. to save money i think i'm going to buy my prelude off ebay motors and see if i can have it sent to the shop that is going to rebuild the engine and replace the cams and cam shafts (decided i can do everything else). then when i get home from deployment my car will be ready for me to work on that is IF i can get the machine shop guy to work some kind of deal with me and yes i trust this guy. then i can leave the engine on a mount in my buddies garage and change out everything much easier and i can clean up my engine area in my car and i can move the battery to the trunk.....sound like a decent idea? will save me money and lots of time. once i get back it would only take me a week to get it all back together then start on the turbo and so forth....tell me what u think.

 

One advice I can give is always take what your think you are going to spend on the build and mulitply it by atleast 2 or 3 because 99% of people underestimate the costs that goes into a build

 

You could also look at doing the engine and car separately; buy an H22, and get it sent to the shop to do the build. Then look for a 'lude with a blown engine that you can pick up for cheap (and part out the good parts of the engine) and swap in your built engine when it's ready. You'll have a little work to do with the turbo plumbing, but nothing major. Just a thought...

 

ok so i have a new question for everyone. do you think that a machine shop would make arrangement with me. if i bought a car online and paid to have it shipped to the machine shop and tell him what i'm doing to my car and what i need from him. then when he's done i can pay a company to ship my car home so by the time i get back to the states my engine will be rebuilt and ready for me to do MY work to it. do you guys think a shop would do that? i dont like the fact of buying a car online but i am rebuilding the engine and everything so does it really matter? just a new thought to save time and effort.

 

I agree with gstrudler's suggestion. That would save you quite a lot of money. As for your most recent question, I don't recommend anyone purchase a car without viewing it in the daylight or without test driving it. Too many scandalous people trying to sell beat up cars and calling them flawless.

 

what's so bad about buying a car online? i'm rebuilding the engine so everything is like new right? am i missing something? also another question because someone here told me that after i add upgrades like a turbo i have to take it to a shop and have them tune it so everything works right? he also said that after every piece of upgrade (exhaust manifold and throttle body for example) i would need to continually do this. if so that's a hell of a lot of extra money. i'm not sure about all that can someone clarify that for me?

 

Ok....so you buy a car online. The TWO whole pictures of the car show a side profile from about 100ft away, and an under-hood shot taken at night time. You get the car only to find that you're the proud new owner of a rusted-out shitbox. All 4 fenders are eaten, dings and scratches everywhere, interior looks like an bio-chemical spill that Hazmat failed to clean up, and your trunk lid is held on with wood screws. Now, will rebuilding the engine fix any of that? Absolutely not. The engine of the car really doesn't matter, but the shell should. I mean, if you wanna roll around in a 12 second car that looks like a 12 minute car, that's on you.

Now like gstrudler said, you can pick one up with a blown motor for about $1500 (prices obviously vary). Whereas, you can pick up one that runs for somewhere between $5000 and $10000, depending on condition. That's at least $4000 more you can drop on the engine. Why go any other route?

 

ok i've been looking for a prelude with a blown engine for sell but i cant find any??? can u help me out on that? also i'm not tryin to argue or anything and i understand what your saying but i can talk to the person and have them take as many pics of the car up close and inside and underneath that i want. i mean if they wanna sell it then their gonna have to prove to me as much as they can that it's going to be worth the buy.

 

ok so i found out that after i put on the turbo and all the other upgrades i have to take my car to a shop and have them tune it so it has the right air, fuel and whatever else the computer does. i was wondering how difficult it is to do it yourself if i buy an engine management system??? can someone explain how all that works for me please.