Lude Generation

Hey guys,

I have had a prelude Type S for over a year now, this is my 2nd Lude, the first was a 185bhp VTI. The very first prelude had quite a few mods done too it and the bodywork was great, it also had carbon bonnet and bootlid which I should have kept!

I purchased the Type S with approx 56k (miles) on the clock and its a 1996 model. The speedy and tacho still read in km so it took a few weeks to get used to that!! The car was pretty much standard apart from a set of 16" Yokohama Parada Tyres and adjustable height and damper coil overs. To say this is the best handling Honda I have had to date is an understatement. Previous hondas I have owned are: 1x Prelude VTI, 2x Civic Mb6, 1x S2000.

Since I have had it in my possession it has had the following done:

1. eBay induction kit - you cannot beat the sound of VTEC engines with an aftermarket air filter.
2. Added rear spoiler.
3. Added rear skirts.
4. 17" CTR white alloys (will be replaced sometime after engine mod).
5. iPhone 5 holder in place of the original clock**

** I have made a bracket up which bolts into the original clocks position and will hold any Brodit phone holder as they have the same base dimensions. This also allows me to run the cable through the mounting hole and in behind the dash to the head unit so only about 1cm of the cable is visible. The position is perfect as the phone (iPhone 5) is mounted at a perfect position next to the steering wheel and is at the perfect height for viewing sat nav etc. As its plugged in it will charge and also allows me to listen to music through the head unit, when sat nav is being used it lowers the audio when the sat nav gives an instruction. If anybody is interested I have the brackets available.


I have some pretty hefty mods planned for the car:

About 6 months ago I decided I wanted more power, I was looking for something that could produce approx 300bhp and have room for more, I researched into everything, 200sx's, Evo 8's, Scooby's, charged s200's etc. Nothing really took my fancy, I really like the low profile of the Lude and didnt want anything less practical but didn't want a 4 door either, so in the end I settled on getting more power out of the Lude, tho I knew it wasn't going to be easy!

I looked at turbo charging the lude but quickly realised my particular motor isn't the best starting point, I also heard the ATTS gearbox couldn't handle the power I was aiming for. I then came across the K20 engine, it has a 6 speed box, better economy and much more potentional and so my mind was set on one of these conversions, it was a shame to find out that the k20 to prelude conversion is pretty much the only chassis not covered in the k20 scene, more work to do then..

So far I have the K20a engine with a jackson racing supercharger and its pushing out 305bhp at something around 8800rpm, I have cleaned and am slowly re-assembling the motor. The gearbox has been taken apart, nothing needs replacing fortunately but whilst it was apart I got the gbox specialist to install a TSX 6th gear so the engine at 70mph should be sat at 3000rpm, this should help offset the supercharger draw and should still retain the 41mpg motorway economy at whatever speed this occurs at, probably somewhere between 55 and 65mph.

I am in two minds as to install a LSD now or later once I get everything up and running. I expect there will be some unexpected expenditure somewhere along the line so its probably best to wait rather than stretch my finances!

I shall be pulling the Type S engine out of the car a week Monday (21st Jan) and shall be trial fitting the K20 so I can fabricate some engine mounts. As soon as the old engine is out it will be up for sale.

Future plans for the car:

1. Front traction bar to try and eliminate wheel hop.
2. Electric water pump - Lose weight and gain economy.
3. Full flat underbelly - Economy.
4. Carbon bonnet - should lose approx 20kg.
5. Lightweight wheels, they currently weigh 17kg each inc tyres.

I had the car weighed with full fluids and a full tank of gas to the brim and it came out at 1330kg. When I am finished with my mods the car should be lighter:

Stock: 1330kg.
Air con Delete: -10 to -15kg.
New engine: Approx 25kg less.
Carbon Bonnet: Approx 20-25kg less.
Water pump delete: 4.75kg (weighed) for the pump and body minus whatever weight for the leccy pump.
Rear Wiper delete: -1.15kg (already done and weighed).

Projected finished weight: 1275kg

I would be greatful if anybody could share some other sensible weight saving ideas that don't take away from the useability or practicality of the car.

Wow, you read my mind.. well 3 years ago anyway.. so thought about this.. but my problem.. money!!!!

Good luck with the build.. cant wait to see it finished!!!

my 5th Gen is down to 1163kg thats all fluids in and a full tank of fuel.. with me its 1238kg, Mines stripped but not a crazy amount.. only got 2 seats now

Matt

newkid wrote:

Try looking, Hasport do mounts for the K20 into prelude

do they? thats must be quite new. not seen anyone do it yet!

You got a headache newkid?

Welcome to the club bud. Lovely looking motor you've got there Can't wait to see that dropped into the 5th gen. You realise you'll have to drop the "Type-S" title though right?

I believe there are a couple of 5th gens in the States that have had K-Series conversions, so may be worth searching some of the US sites for any potential issues you may incur. Otherwise if you're fabbing up your own mounts, it's really only the driveshafts you'll need to worry about.

With regards to further weight saving, if you're not wanting to strip the interior, the only other thing I can think of is to remove all the sound-deadening (which isn't the easiest job and means you will still have to remove the rest of the interior for a time sadly ) but there is a fair weight to be shed by doing this.

Very nice Type-S!

In my opinion, keep this Type-S in one piece and get another standar VTI and K20 super charge that. Seems a waste of Atts.

But it's your car and I like the plan.

Hey, ouch to do that to a type S but why not eh? loosing atts makes me ask why not just get a motegi and rip the guts out of that though? I know the other suspension mods honda made make a big difference but there are not that many of these about. That said I have killed on myself so...


you can loose 12-14kg by stripping out all the sounddeadening from the boot and floor of the cabin.

you can also get a race battery and put it in the boot? that saved me another 10kg

I have not had chance to get mine on a weigh bridge yet i think i shed about 50kg with general removing of un needed bits.


How will you do the flat underbelly? i have thought about this before. maybe a bolt on cut to size perspex sheet?


welcome to the forum type S rules



I see that you def have an after market exhaust on there at the moment...I dont suppose your type S has an after market zhorst mani as well does it?? if so.....££?

Newkid: The mounts are for the K24 with the accord gearbox, I tried getting just the engine side mount so I could get the engine ligned up and level. Edited to add that I rung and spoke to Chris from Hasport and his attitude over the phone was exceptionally helpful and he spent the time to talk to me over the phone about his experience with the k24 in the 4th gen. He didn't push his products but carefully explained to me how I could work out whether my existing axles were at all useable. Hats off to chris!

Stk Prelude: Thats a crazy amount of weight saved, apparently the stock curb weight of the VTI/Motegi (I am assuming you got the UK prelude) is 1380kg, what have you done to lose 220kg!?! I wanna retain the rear seats so am going to leave those in.

No mines a JDM 5th Gen.. i still got a normal battery am mo too . and iv not cut anything out yet.. i still got too much crap under my dash tho. i'm sure i could lose another 30kg if i tried!

Wow, had an overwhelming response already and thanks for the welcome messages! I look forward to meeting some of you at shows later in the year.

I toyed with this idea but decided to keep the Lude over getting a UK spec as I have had the car long enough to know all the faults, its relatively low mileage, it lighter, already has dampers and I prefer the Type S trim and I have done a few bodywork mods i'd have to do to the new car, so tbh its not worth the hassle. The engine is also worth a little bit more than a standard H22 motor so I think the costs are going to be about the same. The only downside is that I loved the 4WS for manouverability around town and parking!

Hi and welcome
Interesting build, look forward to seeing the progress
Also thought to myself as have the others, seems a bit of a waste of a type S as your going to be binning the ATTS, shame such a another rarity will be lost