Prelude Owners?

[Gregboat]

Thanks man, I didn't realize your Mike from VPC. Your car has definitely been a major source of inspiration for me, beautiful car man!

[Gregboat]

Did you do the swap yourself or have a shop do it?
How did you go about sourcing the parts?
and final price wise, how much did it cost?

I'm kinda freaking out because i'm worried my tranny might fail, and i'm a university student with a part time job, so moneys tight....

[european]

I had GarageFive do the 5speed swap on my 97 Prelude a very long time ago.
If I remember correctly, I paid about 1300 for parts, some new and some used. All from someone parting out their damaged Prelude from vancouverpreludeclub.com (way before the original site shut down)
I think it was 1500 for labour at GarageFive? I can't remember of the top of my head, I'll have to find the invoice and double check but roughly 3K for the entire conversion.

Here is all of the information for the swap:

VancouverPreludeClub.net ? View topic - Automatic to manual transmission swap

RomPirate’s 5spd Swap Resource Thread - Honda Prelude Forum : Honda Prelude Forums

The official auto to manual ECU conversion thread - Honda-Tech

I think you are better off to sell your auto prelude and buy 5speed prelude. It seems a lot easier to me.

[underscore]

Labour cost me $1200 with me doing the wiring (ECU conversion, reverse light jumpers) and hunting for parts over a few months and not being picky cost me $736 + a new clutch slave. Here's the breakdown I made:

Flywheel + Vehicle Speed Sensor (VSS) = $85
Transmission = $175
(4g) Shift linkage + 5spd Intermediate shaft + Clutch Pedal Assembly + Brake Pedal Assembly + Shifter Assembly = $165
Trans mount+ Bracket-side = $25
Clutch Kit = $50
5spd Starter = $50
Clutch Slave Cylinder = $25
Flywheel bolts = $25
Total = $500

Throw out bearing = $26
(5g) Shifter Assembly + Cables + Boot + Clutch Pedal + Clutch Master + Clutch Line + Cluster = $150
Password JDM shift knob = $60
Total : $736

Other:
Reverse Switch (on tranny)

Spares:
4g Prelude Shifter Cables (above)
4g Prelude Shifter Assembly (above)
4g Prelude Clutch Pedal (above)
5g Prelude shifter cables = $50
5g Prelude half-shaft = $75

As a side note DEFINITELY use a 4g shifter and cables, they're stronger (5g are prone to stretching) and short shifters are easier to find. As another side note be sure to grab the brake pedal switch off your old pedal set if you swap the whole thing out as well. Just hold onto all the old parts until you're sure you have everything working.

Originally Posted by Gregboat

Do you find the accord gears are really long? A couple guys on Prelude Power said they used it for the swap and regretted not choosing a tighter gear ratio'd tranny.

They're a bit longer, if it was strictly a city car I might go for shorter gears, but cruising on the highway it's awesome. My Celicas have short gears and it sucks on the highway, if I want to be easy on fuel/the engine in my GTS I have to hang at 80-90, in the Prelude I don't even need 5th til I'm above 110, it's an absolute dream for road trips. If anything I'd rather take the money I saved on the trans and use it to get a few more HP to cancel it out and still have the taller gears.

Originally Posted by Gregboat

Also, has anybody had any experience with rebuilding their automatic tranny? If so, how much did it cost, who did you go to, and how long did it last the second time?

General consensus was $3-4k for a rebuild that would last 60-80k the first time, and less every time after. If we had rebuilt the auto it'd already be getting close to needing a second rebuild so I'm glad we did the swap.

[underscore]

Also if you're worried about the failure you will get a lot of warning before it goes. First off was a whine when cold in low gears, then it was a whine all the time, then it lost 4th. I have a few ideas on how to extend the life of the trans that I would've tried if I had kept it an auto, but since we didn't I can't confirm anything.

[Gregboat]

So most people get 60-80 thousand kms out of their first transmission rebuild?

And I'm still interested in hearing your ideas for extending the life of the transmission!

[underscore]

For a while I was looking into swapping it back and doing the rebuilds myself, and just cycling through 2 transmissions. From some researching into the failures it looked like they were at least partly caused by a design flaw that had parts of the trans (IIRC it may have been 3rd gear) sitting too high up, because of this they weren't getting enough fluid. This lead to them running hotter than they should and over time failing.

My plan was to add a good trans cooler and to slightly overfill the trans to help get more, colder fluid up where it was needed. I know Preludes got the worst of it but many auto Hondas from that era had transmissions were were farmed out to GM who bungled the design and likely have their failures caused by similar problems.

[Gregboat]

I installed a Tranny Cooler during the summer, a moderate sized one (about 9000btu). I chose 9000 because the Cali guys on some of the Prelude forums were using 14,000 and 11,000 btu units, and I decided taht I would go smaller because BC is cooler.

My car ran better than ever during the relatively hot summer, but in October when the temps went down, it worked far too well, the tranny never got up to proper operating temps and it "cold shifted" (the way it does in the morning while its cold) for teh duration of my drives. I actually thought it was the transmission failing, but i bypassed it and it corrected the issues i was having. So long story short, I had a relatively shitty experience with tranny coolers....

As for the ATF level, I also slightly overfill it as well, I find that it keeps it smoother. I also mix a tiny bit of Lucas Oil ATF stabilizer/stop slip in with my Honda ATF, not to stop slippage, but because it raises the temps that ATF burns at, plus it thickens it a little bit which is good for when its hot out or I'm doing longer drives.

[DGN23]

Approaching 300k KM's on my 5th gen. Original transmission and clutch. Car runs pretty good all things considered. Burns oil but what 5th gen doesn't. Might keep it for another year and then part with it or keep it around as the daily. Haven't figured that part out yet.

[european]

^
Nice
I'm parting with mine very soon. It looks so strange to me now that its back to stock.

[Gregboat]

Originally Posted by european

^
Nice
I'm parting with mine very soon. It looks so strange to me now that its back to stock.

Can you post some before and after pics of your car?

[aj94]

Originally Posted by european

I still have my San Marino Red 97 Prelude but I have not driven it since the July 2014. I've sold most of the JDM parts (still have some left) and I'm hoping someone will buy the vehicle soon in stock form.

I would recommend swapping to a 5 speed. Either have a mechanic do the conversion for you if you cannot do it yourself or sell your auto prelude and buy a 5speed prelude. It's much easier. I did a 5speed swap long ago...

You can find info all over Vancouverpreludeclub.net and PreludePower.com if you're interested in the swap.

Nice Prelude.

Oh shit, Mike from VPC! That's unfortunate, your car is absolutely gorgeous. The spoon brakes and the s2000 seats

That was the first prelude that made me realize how much better a stock looking car with the right mods can be than one that's just done up to look pretty.

Also, what ever happened to VPC. It was awesome to be able to see all the sweet preludes In one place.

[european]

^
I had the S2K seats only for a short period of time. I installed JDM DC5-R Recaro seats shortly after and it was a thousand times better but all of those parts have been sold a few months ago.
VPC.com died about 5 years ago, from what I was told the owners just stopped looking after it but I don't really know what actually happened. My brother purchased the domain name VPC.net and it was alright for the first little bit but the activity slowly went down hill as there are not very many Prelude enthusiasts in the lower mainland. At least from what I can tell. Perhaps people moved onto better vehicles. The site is still around its just not that active from what I see.

I don't have any recent photographs with all the parts removed but I should do it soon. In the mean time here are some oldie but goodie photos.

[ilovebacon]

Nice prelude, I used to own one and I almost had 300km on mine but I think the tranny was gonna go bad pretty soon.

[Gregboat]

Originally Posted by ilovebacon

Nice prelude, I used to own one and I almost had 300km on mine but I think the tranny was gonna go bad pretty soon.

Wow, 300,000kms is a ton for a Prelude (assuming its the automatic)

[fsy82]

I still have my 99 5th gen lude but its been parked since July of 2014. I plan on insuring it for the summer. I have a TL and a Chrysler Town & Country Limited to use right now. Yes I grew up..lol. Which many prelude owners have done. I tried selling it but no biters.

OLD LUDE (Auto)



CURRENT LUDE (MANUAL)

[SpeedStars]

Nice type S wing. I still have your mugen wing...sanded down...in the house...

[european]

^^
hah! I remember those photos from old VPC.com days
I fear that no one will buy mine as well.

Nice Prelude

[BoostedBB6]

I cant sell mine with a 16k built turbo motor, new trans and everything else.....for 9k.....The market seems to be dead for these cars

[Gregboat]

Originally Posted by BoostedBB6

I cant sell mine with a 16k built turbo motor, new trans and everything else.....for 9k.....The market seems to be dead for these cars

Is yours the black one on the grey rims? That was for sale on Craigslist in Surrey?

[underscore]

Same fears here, nobody seems to want Preludes anymore so selling ours might be tricky. 138k, mint interior, stock aside from a CAI, paint is a little faded and the clear is going on the roof but I'm doubting we'll get anyone serious for $6k. If we can't get at least 6 for it I'll just chuck new suspension on it and DD it til the end of time.

[Gregboat]

Man, I was thinking of selling mine, and then I realized whats the point? I'm a student with a part time job, and the car owes me nothing. Its fast and it looks like sex, lol, and I love the car. If the transmission quits, im gonna rebuild it. Then save my money to do the five speed swap when the tranny fails again (because we know it will).

[european]

Yea, selling an old Prelude is tough. Not a lot of demand for it.

[Gregboat]

Bruh

FS/FT 1997 Honda Prelude Turbo

BoostedBB6, I found your car!
Makes me wish I was in the market for a Prelude again.

(My 2 cents, don't sell it, especially after how deep into it you are)

Sweet car man

[european]

Tim, weren't you going to buy a Supra at some point or already did?