Lude Generation

Hi all, thought i'd start a thread of progress of my BB9 after a year of ownership! (and not much driving it!)

So picture a year ago, come home from work and open Facebook as you do. Bare in mind i'd peaked an interest in Ludes a couple of weeks before this day (i've always noticed them/liked them), I swipe across to Marketplace out of curiosity. And she was the first item to come up! Didn't know toooo much about them back then, I knew it obviously wasn't a 2.2 but I thought what the hell. Sent a message and organized a viewing for a couple days later and found myself in an industrial estate in Erith, negotiating this funny old car. Two flat tyres, engine temp gauge didn't work, fans constantly on, and with a desperate thirst for two litres of the nearest petrol station's finest overpriced engine oil. I'd just started to rent a small council garage and wanted something to mess around with so I snagged it.

Took it to work the next day and got it on a ramp, looked pretty neat underneath to be fair, oil filter and sump plug were slightly loose so I gave it a quick service whilst we were there. And quickly removed those sideskirts.. the rest of the kit I actually really like!

So a year down the line, here's my progress!

- Rear arches welded up
- New downpipe, midpipe and an M2 Motorsport backbox (the old backbox had crumbled apart, and the midpipe split in half when I pulled away a bit quick )
- Complete cooling system refresh (coolant flush, silicone hoses, thermostat, radiator and two coolant sensors (this sorted the fans out)
- Wired up a new thermo switch for the temp guage. I found the original one snapped in the head so that explains no temp!
- Tein lowering springs
- EP3 Type R steering wheel
- Skunk2 gear knob
- Carbon fibre dash surround courtesy of @stefan
- Replica VTi/Motegi? side skirts
- 2x oil+filter changes
- 4x Fox Racing alloys (Team Dynamic reps?) - I'd have liked to keep the wheels that came on it but they were all buckled to hell..


After driving back from Erith the same night


The day after, after a wash






This is what she looks like now. Front bumper is currently off at the paint man getting all repairs done and primed. Rear bumper will be next, then it's time for a respray in Milano Red. I know the "bodykit" is a bit love/hate but I actually really like it.







So currently the bumpers will be getting repaired, I've just got to replace some suspension dust covers which i'm waiting for. Other than bodywork, I should be getting some standard headlights to replace the "angel eye" style ones and some rear window tints. Haven't planned much else for it yet!

looks good tobe
the ludes look great in fresh milano red but a respray is the only way as they all turn milano pink after 20+ years
i had my BB4 in milano red for 19 years but never got round to getting it resprayed

vanzep wrote: ↑

Sat Apr 25, 2020 8:21 pm

looks good tobe
the ludes look great in fresh milano red but a respray is the only way as they all turn milano pink after 20+ years
i had my BB4 in milano red for 19 years but never got round to getting it resprayed

Thank you man! Yeah exactly it's such a shame, it was already resprayed a long time ago with the previous owner. Hoping to make it look a real deep red again!

Awesome man.

Quick lockdown update..

Done the two rear upper arm balljoint dust covers as they came in the post. Nice simple easy job for once! Waiting for the others now.

Front bumpers been to and from the paint guy coming back lovely. Rear bumper is being sorted now so we're left with a naked rear end for a little while

Also picked up a couple of genuine Honda headlights courtesy of @Lankysod07 to replace my Angel eyes! Much nicer imo.

looking much better dude, nice one!

Getting there. Respray is well worth doing.

RattyMcClelland wrote: ↑

Sat May 02, 2020 3:36 pm

Getting there. Respray is well worth doing.

Yeah man! Pretty much the last of the bodywork to be sorted then it'll just be a case of saving some moneys.

Nice one - I quite like the look of the rear bumper on it, tbf (the skirts it came with were definitely awful, though!!
Looks like it's missing a rear bumper stay on the drivers side (or does that clash with something on that side of the bumper?)

wurlycorner wrote: ↑

Sun May 03, 2020 6:19 pm

Nice one - I quite like the look of the rear bumper on it, tbf (the skirts it came with were definitely awful, though!!
Looks like it's missing a rear bumper stay on the drivers side (or does that clash with something on that side of the bumper?)

Thanks man! One thing I really like about it is the import plate recess - nothing worse than the huge recess on UK models! And yes those skirts were snapped in half and thrown in the skip the day after

Must say I never noticed the missing bumper stay, so thank you for pointing that out! I shall have a look into that when I get the rear bumper back from repairs!

Quick update.. replaced a couple more balljoint gaitors and ordered a brand new upper arm on the front as the balljoint was dry and knackered (£19 brand new ADL part, bargain!)

Whilst being furloughed, thought I may as well get a bit busy whilst waiting for the rear bumper. One thing I haven't mentioned is that I lost reverse gear a good few months ago, and got a new gearbox from @Lankysod07 , so I'm finally getting round to fitting it! I try to do everything myself to cars but this is a new one. Made good progress today and it should be out tomorrow!

EDIT: Gearbox swap complete! Put in the M2P4 gearbox, new driveshaft oil seals and Honda MTF. Drives great!