My 1988 Honda Prelude Si Build
Vehicle Specifics: The car is a 1988 Honda Prelude Si 4WS. In the engine compartment sits a stock B20A5 w/ manual transmission. The car currently has 71,000 original kilometres on both the body and the drivetrain.
The Story Behind The Car: My dad purchased this prelude brand new from T&T Honda back in 1988. He drove the prelude sparingly, all it's life. There were a few occurrences when it was stored for 5-6 years without being started or moved. Unfortunately, when it wasn't being driven it was stored outside and uncovered, so the body started to suffer from the odd rust spot and fading paint. Luckily, my dad never drove the car in the winter so the weathering wasn't too bad (i.e. no "Honda rust" or rotting floors), but nonetheless there were some areas that needed serious attention.
My dad gave me the keys to the prelude in spring, 2010. At the time, it had about 62,000 kilometres on the odometer. The car still had the original michelin tires, which were bald to the point where the steel threads were showing. So my first purchase for the car was some tires that I found off of kijiji.ca (I think I paid $100.00). I had them mounted at the local Kal-Tire and began to drive it around that spring. Here is what it looked like at the time:
As you can see, the body was still pretty straight:
The worst of the rust (pretty typical spot for rust to start on these cars):
I drove the car around like that for the rest of the year and stored it for the winter.
The next spring (2011), I reconnected with an old friend from elementary school, who was as into cars as I was. He had just bought a side swiped S13 with a pre-swapped SR20 and I had helped him to repair/modify it. The mod-bug eventually caught on and it inspired me to fix up the prelude.
I got into contact with "mungo" from beyond and had the car painted at the Heninger Toyota body shop for $600.00. I think he was doing it under the table...but I didn't care, I was just excited about the great deal. I believe he was fired not too long after. I prepped the car myself (my first time) and he painted it. It was a dual stage paint job, I believe. Unfortunately, I did not know anything about body work, so I did not know anything about block sanding or the like. I just sanded the original paint with some 600 grit and just grinded/bondoed over the rust spots.The paint job turned out okay though. Here are a couple pictures of the process and final product:
I also bought some Volk CE28N knock-off's shortly after the paint-job (pictured above). They were 17x7 Tenzo Formula 10's.
In fall of that year, I ordered some brand new ARC DC2 winglets from Speedtech Calgary. I thought I was the "sheit:"
Later that summer, I realized how terrible they looked and sold them off to a beyond member.
During mid-winter (2011), I purchased some "EK" civic Koni yellow shocks and ground control sleeves off of Kijiji. I installed them, along with some HUGE 25mm spacers...this was the result:
I also purchased a used Spoon N1 Exhaust off of a beyond member and had it installed (you can kind of see it in the first picture, above).
That same day, I accidentally dropped the car onto a jack stand and dented in the rocker panel on the driver's side. I pulled the trigger and decided to rebuild the car...and so began the tear down:
My failed attempt at taking out quarter panel glass:
I eventually got caught up with school and the regular occurrences of life, and eventually lost interest in the car. It was pushed into a corner and has been sitting on jack stands ever since.
Last year, I began to follow the Chronicles Blog (stickydiljoe.com) and joined the forum NWP4LIFE.com (now shut-down). I was in awe when I seen the Honda's on both websites, and it inspired me to take an interest in the prelude once again.
So that's the timeline up until now. I'm not expecting this build to be completed in the near future (mainly due to budget restrictions). Nonetheless, I hope you guy's will enjoy the journey.
- Sorry for the wall of text.
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sounds awesome. I like the shape of this generation. Just wondering why you chose 17s? You just like the look? 
