Lude Generation

Hi guys.

Thought I'd better make a little thread on my prelude (mainly so I can keep tabs on what I've done).

Well...here it is:



It's a 1999 bb8 but it has a h22a instead of the original h22a8. Not sure what that means bar it's had a new engine at some point.

It's a tidy motor with no rusty wheel arches. Got 116k on the clock and it just passed it's mot with no advisories.

Issues I've had with the car was when I bought it the numpty who had it before me had weldedicated the crank pulley on which had snapped off again. Part of it was still on there but the rest had disappeared. Got a replacement on there with belts and bolt and all is well. Then there was the whole hunting saga (which has now been sorted apart from when cold). Now...on the drive home from work last night it seemed really down on power and there was a really strange rattle coming from the engine bay (from where I was sat it sounded like offside area) so really hoping that isn't sinister. Also one of the front alloys has a monster crack in it...looking like where it has slammed into a curb at one point. Looks to have been attempted to have a repair done (probably by the same guy who welded the pulley on) which has failed.

The mods on it as far as I can see are it's been lowered (not sure how much by or with what) but it is sat on its bum. There's the obligatory head unit and an induction kit of some sort (I think it's k&n typhoon). And it has some hids which are all good and well but the ones which are in the full beam make no differencentre when you have your dipped beams on as well.

That's it really. I'll take some more pictures today when I get chance to.

With that list of unfortunate woes, it would be worth checking if the springs have just been cut rather than lowering ones fitted
But if the shell is clean/not rusty, the rest is easy!

Ahh that's a thought. Never even considered cut springs

It turns out this rattle is coming from roughly where the join between the gearbox and the engine. I can't be any more specific with that as I can't pinpoint where it's from. There's a recess where you can see the top of the flywheel which is open with no cover on. I'm wondering if a stone might have managed to find its way in there and is now w lying around the bell housing. I dunno

Possible, or the bottom flywheel cover is loose, or one of the stiffeners is missing/loose. Also check the downpipe hanger on the rear of the engine. That's a favourite for people forgetting to bolt up, or for cracking. That causes rattles.
You can see it in these photo's. Bracket visible over the top of the twin downpipe flange (in front of the O2 sensor);

The horizontal line across where the twin downpipes merge into one;


The recess on the front of the block should have a rubber bung in it to stop crap getting into the bell housing.

Ahh that's awesome. Thanks for the pics. I'll inspect the downpipe when I'm on my lunch.

On the way into work this morning I noticed the rattle got worse after 4k revs and it's after that point where you can really notice the lack of power. I'm not even 100% sure it flicks into vtec anymore but tbh I don't want to risk trying.

I need to adjust the idle point too as when hot it idles so low that the oil light flickers. It usually sits around 500-600 when this happens. I might just start saving for a replacement engine lol

ek9sid wrote: need to adjust the idle point too as when hot it idles so low that the oil light flickers.

That does not sound good at all. I take it there is enough oil in the car?

Yeah. Checked it this morning after it had been sat all night and it's just under the full mark.

What is it idling at?

ek9sid wrote: I noticed the rattle got worse after 4k revs and it's after that point where you can really notice the lack of power.

Could be the cat has collapsed?

ek9sid wrote:I need to adjust the idle point too as when hot it idles so low that the oil light flickers.

Run through all the idle fault finding in the manual before you resort to adjusting the idle.
That is definitely low, but it might be something other than just needing to be adjusted. If you just tweak it up, that could be just covering up what the actual problem is.

Merlin wrote:What is it idling at?

ek9sid wrote:It usually sits around 500-600 when this happens