Doggo's '99 H22A8 Motegi
Posted: Thu Jul 04, 2013 1:11 am
There's a lot of waffle here... you might want to skip to the pics...
Since the third Gen was new I've wanted a Prelude... mostly just loved the looks. Later I was slightly intrigued by the 4WS and as a reader of Car Magazine back in the 80's I had picked up at some point on LJK Setright's Ludely musings.
To get to the point, end of 2012 I found myself looking for something I actually enjoyed driving instead of the Company Car, and drew an initial shortlist which grew to perhaps 30 cars from all ages... applied to a very anal spreadsheet comparing qualities, looks, prices etc... however, in parallel to these prosaic deliberations I would sit of an evening and accompany my drunken film viewing with idle, unfocussed browsing... owner's clubs, Autotrader, Car and Classic... I'd like to say that gradually and with calculation the field narrowed, but the truth is that from the cars I actually wanted, one – if I could get a good enough example – was streets ahead in price vs. desirability. Around the time I came to this conclusion the bank loan came through and I spotted an Ad on here for a 43K, FSH, '99 A8 5th Motegi. (£2300)
Edit:
http://www.ludegeneration.co.uk/prelude ... t5113.html
I was on it like lxstuart on a wounded cheerleader. Unfortunately the car was in Hereford (I'm in Glasgow), and due to the very unfortunate circumstances by which it came to market the price was non-negotiable and I didn't want to mess the seller around. After a chat on the phone the vendor was clearly entirely genuine so I arranged to visit at the weekend. I had promised that I would look after the car if purchased, and I don't think I'd have been invited to view if I hadn't seemed fairly decent/honest. Nonetheless I was a bit worried.... I was laying out £70 on temporary insurance plus £140 on a train ticket (Slightly more for a return, just in case) and I hadn't even seen the car. This was also on a weekend when it was snowing so hard I didn't know if I'd be able to drive it... and having bought a lot of used cars before, I knew that you never buy the first one you see. I'd have had strong words (Including “pillock”) with any friend of mine who told me he was doing all this, but I told myself that sometimes you have to back your instinct.
The cabby from the train station turned out to be a long time 'lude fan (What are the chances?). The car was beautiful, even the tyres being nearly new good Yoko's. The arches were perfect. The history was unimpeachable....save for no evidence of a cambelt change, ever. The short, snow-affected test drive (No chance of VTEC) revealed that an engine management light was on. This was a big concern even if Joe told me it "reset and so wasn't serious". In the end I figured “In for a penny”. The selling family were lovely, and after a coffee and chat escorted me to a post office for Tax before I gingerly slid my way across the white stuff to my mate's in Worcester for the night. He's known me since school, and his comment was “Very nice. I hope you've saved plenty for speeding fines”.
Next day my (ridiculous) paranoia about the cambelt and the engine light intensified, and I welded the cruise control to 62mph for the 300 miles back to Glasgow. A surprisingly good GT car, once I got the seating position right, albeit a bit noisier (Tyres and wind, and very low gearing) than more modern tackle.
After a lot of bleating for advice on here, then the paperclip test, I finally started to look at the VTEC solenoid stuff identified as the engine light problem. “Is that wire supposed to be attached to anything?” I mused, then “Looks like it clips on there”. Engine light appearing to be fixed I rolled out into the country to carefully test if VTEC would activate now. After 20 minutes of carving through familiar bends at breathless speeds I realised the ineffable truth that 4 Wheel Steer is not about parking. It's about putting a FWD car through a corner at velocities where normally the slide of the rear (and its relationship with the front) is a limiting factor and finding the car reacts completely differently to any other, redefining dynamic limits. Wow! Really, Wow! And once you open her out and exploit the 5,500 – 7,500 odd rev zone the gearing makes more sense and she really flies! And whether it's the soft tyres or the double wishbones (suspect both) but the level of feel is giving me confidence to really work with the grip after just a few corners, and the low centre of gravity... all of a sudden, I find the car which I thought was technically interesting, decent for distance, probably reliable and which I loved the looks of is dynamically amazing and a frankly ludicrous bargain!
Several months later I'm still learning about 4WS and about placing the car with the same precision, but that's mainly because I've not thrashed it enough, and it's all good. Bottom line? I didn't just buy the right car – I don't know how I'd replace it.
Anyway.... here's the spec...
Full specification:
1999 H22A8 Motegi
Pioneer radio/cassette with small subwoofer, 6 Disc CD Changer and 6 Disc Minidisc Changer!
The build. Or “What have I done to it?”
Standard Service, Cambelt, Balance Belt, Auto Tensioner, Gearbox Oil change (All at PerformanceTek)
Washed/waxed it (Actually “Bubbles” do this)
Checked the tyres/oil
Filled it with Shell Nitro
Erm... put some minidiscs in it... help me out here...
Plans?
Leather seats. Maybe. Sometime. And she still needs a name.
The pics... add your own captions...
Since the third Gen was new I've wanted a Prelude... mostly just loved the looks. Later I was slightly intrigued by the 4WS and as a reader of Car Magazine back in the 80's I had picked up at some point on LJK Setright's Ludely musings.
To get to the point, end of 2012 I found myself looking for something I actually enjoyed driving instead of the Company Car, and drew an initial shortlist which grew to perhaps 30 cars from all ages... applied to a very anal spreadsheet comparing qualities, looks, prices etc... however, in parallel to these prosaic deliberations I would sit of an evening and accompany my drunken film viewing with idle, unfocussed browsing... owner's clubs, Autotrader, Car and Classic... I'd like to say that gradually and with calculation the field narrowed, but the truth is that from the cars I actually wanted, one – if I could get a good enough example – was streets ahead in price vs. desirability. Around the time I came to this conclusion the bank loan came through and I spotted an Ad on here for a 43K, FSH, '99 A8 5th Motegi. (£2300)
Edit:
http://www.ludegeneration.co.uk/prelude ... t5113.html
I was on it like lxstuart on a wounded cheerleader. Unfortunately the car was in Hereford (I'm in Glasgow), and due to the very unfortunate circumstances by which it came to market the price was non-negotiable and I didn't want to mess the seller around. After a chat on the phone the vendor was clearly entirely genuine so I arranged to visit at the weekend. I had promised that I would look after the car if purchased, and I don't think I'd have been invited to view if I hadn't seemed fairly decent/honest. Nonetheless I was a bit worried.... I was laying out £70 on temporary insurance plus £140 on a train ticket (Slightly more for a return, just in case) and I hadn't even seen the car. This was also on a weekend when it was snowing so hard I didn't know if I'd be able to drive it... and having bought a lot of used cars before, I knew that you never buy the first one you see. I'd have had strong words (Including “pillock”) with any friend of mine who told me he was doing all this, but I told myself that sometimes you have to back your instinct.
The cabby from the train station turned out to be a long time 'lude fan (What are the chances?). The car was beautiful, even the tyres being nearly new good Yoko's. The arches were perfect. The history was unimpeachable....save for no evidence of a cambelt change, ever. The short, snow-affected test drive (No chance of VTEC) revealed that an engine management light was on. This was a big concern even if Joe told me it "reset and so wasn't serious". In the end I figured “In for a penny”. The selling family were lovely, and after a coffee and chat escorted me to a post office for Tax before I gingerly slid my way across the white stuff to my mate's in Worcester for the night. He's known me since school, and his comment was “Very nice. I hope you've saved plenty for speeding fines”.
Next day my (ridiculous) paranoia about the cambelt and the engine light intensified, and I welded the cruise control to 62mph for the 300 miles back to Glasgow. A surprisingly good GT car, once I got the seating position right, albeit a bit noisier (Tyres and wind, and very low gearing) than more modern tackle.
After a lot of bleating for advice on here, then the paperclip test, I finally started to look at the VTEC solenoid stuff identified as the engine light problem. “Is that wire supposed to be attached to anything?” I mused, then “Looks like it clips on there”. Engine light appearing to be fixed I rolled out into the country to carefully test if VTEC would activate now. After 20 minutes of carving through familiar bends at breathless speeds I realised the ineffable truth that 4 Wheel Steer is not about parking. It's about putting a FWD car through a corner at velocities where normally the slide of the rear (and its relationship with the front) is a limiting factor and finding the car reacts completely differently to any other, redefining dynamic limits. Wow! Really, Wow! And once you open her out and exploit the 5,500 – 7,500 odd rev zone the gearing makes more sense and she really flies! And whether it's the soft tyres or the double wishbones (suspect both) but the level of feel is giving me confidence to really work with the grip after just a few corners, and the low centre of gravity... all of a sudden, I find the car which I thought was technically interesting, decent for distance, probably reliable and which I loved the looks of is dynamically amazing and a frankly ludicrous bargain!
Several months later I'm still learning about 4WS and about placing the car with the same precision, but that's mainly because I've not thrashed it enough, and it's all good. Bottom line? I didn't just buy the right car – I don't know how I'd replace it.
Anyway.... here's the spec...
Full specification:
1999 H22A8 Motegi
Pioneer radio/cassette with small subwoofer, 6 Disc CD Changer and 6 Disc Minidisc Changer!
The build. Or “What have I done to it?”
Standard Service, Cambelt, Balance Belt, Auto Tensioner, Gearbox Oil change (All at PerformanceTek)
Washed/waxed it (Actually “Bubbles” do this)
Checked the tyres/oil
Filled it with Shell Nitro
Erm... put some minidiscs in it... help me out here...
Plans?
Leather seats. Maybe. Sometime. And she still needs a name.
The pics... add your own captions...
Very nice bud