Hi,

Posting this for my boyfriend, as his password isn't working.

I just installed a custom final drive, 4.714:1 into my 1998 Prelude. I have done some gear changes in the past on my old Integra, but never a final drive. Doing gear changes is often overlooked in the performance world due to lack of knowledge on them, as well as availability of parts. I did some calculations and the gearing works out to be approximately the same as an Integra Type-R, and if you’ve ever driven in an ITR, you will know the gears are fairly short. After installing the final drive, and driving it around a lot, I found that acceleration is greatly improved. You just rip through the gears really fast. Cruising speed on the freeway is also a bit higher at 3800 rpm at 70mph, but it’s not too bad.

I just wanted to make people aware of this mod, and I thought it was worth it. I got it from Jamie Houseman at http://www.housemanautosport.com. He’s a great guy to deal with, and was able to make the final drive in a timely manner.



[Modified by girlRacer, 10:18 PM 10/21/2001]

 

Hum... Im quite interested, how much did it set you back??

 

It was $1,500. A little steep, but worth it as no one else makes anything for the H22.

 

Steep.. That doesn't describe it.. I think i'll save that up for a LSD and whatever else.. Prelude's are actually geared low compared to their redline.. Lower than all other honda's relative to the redline at first, hell, it taps the rev limiter in 5th at 140... Thats short..

 

Holy ****! Ring and Pinion sets for Chevies are $170.

 

I have a Houseman FD on my ITA car... worth every penny of the $1250 it cost. The combination of the FD and Kaaz LSD was worth over 2 seconds per lap around Waterford.

 

I think the 4th gen Prelude VTEC's gearing is great for the track personally. I never had any complaints! I guess 5th could be brought down a little, but I wouldn't want to change much more - as I can easily keep it in VTEC. JMO.

Matt

 

Hey Scott, what are you're lap times like at Waterford?

 

girlRacer.... Regarding your IM. The gear is a 4.714.

jgale.... my best times at Waterford are low 17's. They were down a bit this year after the car was almost totalled in June and we spent a lot of time sorting out new shocks (Penske).

 

Cori,
Tell Sun to come to Bremerton Raceway with me on the 3rd.

 

What's the stock ratio on a Prelude?

I'm curious why this isn't done more on FWD cars. Is it cost? Or are there no parts? It's a very popular mod on most Pony Cars (granted, it's probably a lot easier to do on a RWD car) and makes a huge difference in performance (knocked about .3 seconds off my 1/4 mile times).


[Modified by Black96Cobra, 10:02 AM 10/23/2001]

 

I'm quite sure it's cost. The gearset itself is one thing (and this one is incredibly expensive!). But then the whole trans has to come apart. Unlike a RWD car where you just drop the diff, the diff is in the trans...so you pull the trans, crack the case, and pull apart whatever pieces are required. Blech.

Maybe I'll do a short FD this winter for the Honda Challenge, at the same time I put LSD in. But if they;re that expensive...I think I can do without.

 

The labor is more, but I'm not sure why the parts are so expensive - they're not that much more complicated than a RWD ring/pinion set. I guess because none of the volume manufacturers have made them.

 

For reference, OPM sells their 4.73 final drive for $1050 (at least that's how much it is for a CRX) and the LSD for $675. On the track just like Scott mentioned, there's nothing like running a final drive coupled with an lsd.

 

Damn! I didn't realize the parts were that much. Typical Ford/GM prices are $175 for the parts, maybe $300 (at the high end) for install.

 

this is somewhat related, but my findings with the 4.785 vs 4.4 on ITR is that it is actually slower. 1-2 with a KAZZ is just too fast. the shift light comes on at 8500 and by the time my right hand performs its magic, the revs go way past 9K (on the stock speedo) not to mention a bit of wheel spin which makes it tough to get the shift right. 3rd tended to wind out too quickly as well, but 4th felt amazingly fast. also at thunderhill, the gear was a bit to short and i ran out of revs in 5th down the front straight. ditto for willow springs on the back 'straight'. now on the b16 its a completely different story. with the 4.4 this past weekend at PIR, i found that in 4 places the 4.4 fd with ITR gearing was all wrong. entering turn 1(with festival turns), i found that in 4th, i ran out of revs (8K) at least 200 feet from the 500 marker. more like 300 feet, but i have a poor ability guestimating distances. in anycase, it was too close to justify hitting 5th, but not close enough to just go for it as i would have gone well beyond 9K which i dont feel like doing lap after lap on my b16a. same thing happened entering turns 4 and 10. turn 4 being the worst of the bunch. another sore spot was the exit of 8 onto the back straight. the second most important turn and it was in between gears. comming out i would usually be around 5-5.5k which spells death for the 1.6L. hopefully by the end of the year i will have time to get the 4.785 back in and do a comparison, but from what i saw it is probably the way to go for 1.6L. also bear in mind that this is just my opinion as it may only apply to my car and the way i drive so do not by any means use this as the rule 1.8 = 4.4 and 1.6 = 4.785

 

CUSTOM machining one off parts is quite expensive.

 

dn--good info there!