Lude Generation

sounds like a bummer dude. I know that the car has only just got back on the road - was it left with antifreeze in it last time? Won't be cheap getting it done at PAW but at least you will know its done properly. And yeah, its a bit of a pain to get to, had to rope the mrs into picking me up (which she wasn't happy about lol).

Had a fresh oil change and I'd not checked coolant before before it went for rust work so could have been anything in there. I asked around at a few places and a lot of the parts for this job are really hard to get hold but rich has all of it in stock at PAW. He's explained everything really well and I'm sure the work will be great. Just had nothing in the budget for this kind of work right after getting everything else sorted. And yep, missus is also having none of it, 3 hour drive from Essex as well to PAW. Looks like a taxi to Swindon train station for me

Thanks for replies chaps. Car got trailered to rich at PAW today so hopefully my next update will be a cracker with a healthy engine and comments on how good the car drives based on so many if the reviews on here of the work they do. Rich is gonna do 4ws geometry for me as well while there along with all the timing belts and lap in valves, steam seals replaced etc. Can't wait

Hi all, wow just shy of 3 years since i last posted!
First thing is i forgot password to my old account (Phil87) and it was linked to an old hotmail email address and no matter how many times i reset my password the email never arrives so I'm signed up on this account now (Phil872) but it's definitely still me
Lots to update with the car over the last few years, it was with rich at PAW when lockdown first started in March 2020, he confirmed the head gasket has failed but he did a huge amount of work on the engine for me and i was able to get it trailered back just before he had to close! Pictures and detailed updates to follow shortly.

Glad to hear its back!

Lo
That's great news
Looking forward to seeing the pics
Cheers
Toadster

So as mentioned March 2020 car went to Rich at PAW and he confirmed head gasket failure, image below after he got the block apart

So while Rich had it we went for a number of "while you're in there jobs" he did a lot of work on the engine and the outcome was quite amazing.
Total list of work done:

Hot tank clean parts multiple times to remove oil sludge and staining.
De-coke cylinder head ports and combustion chambers, clean up heavy carbon deposits from valves.

Re-face valves and seats (lap in valves) and build up with new valve stem oil seals.
Remove water pump, clean up corrosion to pump housing, cylinder water jackets and thermostat housing. Open up block drain and flush through.

Install new water pump, cambelt tensioner and balance shaft oil seal retainer.
Refit cylinder head with new gaskets, timing belts, cam seals, cam cover gasket etc.
Re-set valve clearances and renew fluids.

Re-face cylinder head -.008" to clean up corrosion

Some pictures of the engine after the clean-up was done just before everything got put back together again:

Valves




Other good pics

So the result after the best part of £2000 was an engine that feels unlike any Prelude I've driven before. The cross over to VTEC is so smooth now. Was certainly bad timing coming just after getting all the arch work completed but the car has been a true joy to drive the last few years.

So since then I've done a few little upgrades. Got hold of a dash with silver outlines for the spedo dials which i think adds a nice touch.

Old one


Empty


New one installed