Nellers2001: JDM 2.2 vtec Prelude

Hey, I'm Sam and live in Cardiff. Currently driving a JDM 2.2 vtec Prelude and getting it ready for track days.

I've had the car in total for coming up to three years now...although there was a short period I didn't own it. I sold it to my dad last summer to raise money for a single car with my missus and our wedding, and my dad seeing how much I missed it gave me the choice of the car back or £1k as a wedding present...to say the missus wasn't impressed when I picked the car was an understatement!!


Current spec (updated 1/4/11):

Lowered on Koni shocks and springs
HEL braided brake lines
Carbon fibre bonnet
Goodridge braided clutch line (removes oem clutch damper to)
OEM LSD m2b4 gearbox
Bremtech grooved front discs
Hawk HP+ front pads
Blueprint rear discs and pads
4-2-1 heat wrapped stainless manifold
Stainless decat
Full stainless Mongoose exhaust system
Baffled sump
Sandwich plate for oil temp gauge/sender
Cooling plate (reduce lost air before radiator from front bumper)
Braided line and T piece for oem pressure sensor and aftermarket pressure sensor/gauge
Sleepy chip (removes the 112mph limiter and puts vtec to 5k)
Cobra Monaco S bucket seats (just need a good clean and respray with upholstery spray as faded red)
4-point harnesses
Exedy clutch
9lb Fidanza flywheel
330mm steering wheel (Sparco buttons for cruise control)
17" League alloys for the road with 215/45/17 Falken 452's
15" OEM wheels wrapped in 195/50/15 r888's for the track
Front strut brace
HAMP air filter (with oem resonator removed)
52mm oversized aluminium radiator
Silicone water hoses
Converted rear subframe from 4ws to 2ws
All aircon removed (rad, pipework, compressor, condenser)

UPDATE 10/3/10:

Had an accident with my bank card tonight and managed to source and pay for a 2WS subframe and arms to replace the 4WS. This means town driving and parking will be more difficult but on track it should be a lot more predictable! Should in theory be a 4-6 hour job but should add some more hours on as with every job, but will also save some weight!

Also bought some upholstery fabric spray in bright red to spray my red Cobra Monaco S bucket seats as they are faded in areas and looking a little tired (but I did get them with Prelude subframes for £60 so can't complain).

Also bought some new front upper ball joints which should help a little as both the ones on the car have ripped boots and one has a fair bit of play in it!

couldnt you get a 4ws lock out bar same ass the datsun boys use on there hicas systems?

The 4WS runs off an electrically adjusted steering rack on the rear subframe. There is a locking pin which you use when doing alignment but you can't use it when moving as it damages the internal parts of the 4WS motor on the subframe.

Don't think there is any way to lock it without causing damage. If the 4WS goes faulty all that keeps the rear wheels straight is a spring apparently, and there have been cases of a car crabbing across the motorway, so given that on the track it will be pushed to it's limits probably safer to remove it altogether than going backwards into a tyre wall/hedge as my rear wheels didn't want to stay straight Only precaution really as the 4WS have never gone wrong on mine to date, but never pushed it as hard as it will be on a track!

Wow someone not bodgeing something on this forum...

Norledge wrote:

Wow someone not bodgeing something on this forum...

I thought that was against club rules?

I don't bodge things...well ok that comment is a lie

Adam86 wrote:

Norledge wrote:

Wow someone not bodgeing something on this forum...

I thought that was against club rules?

Looks like I'll have to grab my coat on the way out then

Don't like bodging unless I have to of course...well not on a car anyway! Sure there are things I have or will bodge though

Maybe it's coming from a french car background thats made us bodgers...we have to bodge as when we do try and do something by the book it tends to create another 3 jobs in the process...

French car owner with no bodgineering


Nice Prelude.

Gutted the seller of the 2WS has refunded me my money and said he's had problems getting it off and quite a bit of surface rust!!

Nevermind, the hunt continues!

Right still searching high and low for this 2WS subframe and arms...I will find one!!

I have also done my front upper balljoints and just going to black hammerite the wishbone before refitting! May also paint a few other bits on the suspension while its in the air as long as weather permits!

I have also made another decision with the car this weekend! All 4th gens suffer from rusty sunroofs...so the answer is:

Take out the sunroof, and all associated weight and then weld a panel in the hole and respray roof! Should shave around 20kgs or so but more importantly won't have a rusty sunroof Hopefully going to sort this within the next few months but priority now is getting the car back on the road ASAP as haven't driven it since last summer and getting itchy feet!!

Carbon sheet and pop rivits are much lighter

Looking forward to a nose round this at combe!

^^ the only problem is I like the look of my car and would prefer to look out and think hhmm I really like that...and not oh my god that bloody riveted panel is ruining my seats with water again Although for ease did think about riveting something there, just couldn't bring myself to bodging it!!

Found a carbon bonnet today to but he wants £200 and hopefully picking up a whole rear 2ws frame over the next couple days! The missus will go mental...she's already bugging me about putting money aside for baby stuff ready for Sep!!

Been busy tonight and sprayed my seat frames after rewelding to sort someone elses crappy welding, sprayed my wishbones after fitting the new balljoints and rubbed down some more interior panels ready for painting!!

sod the carbon sunroof cover, just get a carbon roof skin. It's JDM, you can get away with it

lol look guys I'm already spending enough money without your "help"

Just trying to work out whether I can use the cash I put aside for tax for the bonnet and put the tax on the credit card with the insurance?!

My problem is I have always taken the car to shows with clubs and now having to learn the way of the track jedi...but still spending too much money trying to make it look good!!

Nobody can resist carbon fibre though..

I would say don't spend money that you don't have, you never know when you might need to stretch your funds if it ever needs repairing etc etc

Honda needing repairing?! Only joking, I know I shouldn't but wanted a carbon bonnet since I owned the car but can never justify spending £400-£500 on one!

Will see about the bonnet when I get some more info on it! Thinking if I can pick up the 2ws then can flog on all my 4WS stuff which should get me some money back as loads of 4th gens have issues with 4WS and mine hasn't skipped a beat since I bought it!

Doing mega hours at work at the moment to pay for all this stuff, wife is moaning she doesn't see me at the moment but while the cake is there I'm gonna stuff my face!!

Haha, yes I suppose I'm used to French reliability
Just looked back at the photos and I can't believe how tidy it's looking for the age. I think my car needs a spot of welding on the boot floor which is nice after just spending out on it.

Jonny-r wrote:

Nobody can resist carbon fibre though..

You can if Kevlar is the replacement

Pics don't always bring up everything though There is some rust on one arch and car's had paint over the years which isn't brilliant up really close and small dent in drivers door!!

But generally for a 16 year car I can't complain!!

I did some practise welding last weekend with my friends girlsfriends dad! Was easier than I thought, and hopefully me and Jamesy (off here) are going halves on a 2nd hand welder! Then let the fun begin (sunroof and arches!)!!

I know I said everything above but want to keep this thread updated with info and pics (don't moan if you're bored of my car or posts in this thread though )

Hammerited (<<surely not a real word) my front upper wishbones after replacing the ball joints and refitting this weekend, and also did my bucket seat subframes after a small adjustment with a grinder and welder!






Started rubbing down the interior trim that had been sprayed by previous owner as it looked like pic below and I'm doing a metallic gun metal so it's less in your face:






Managed to source the whole rear underside of a 2WS prelude locally the other day so finally managed to get that:




And I saved the best until last, decided I wanted...actually needed more carbon in my life so decided to buy the bonnet which is being picked up from London tomorrow ready to be fitted hopefully at the weekend. Included is a pic of the car it's on currently:

Bloody good progress then
Any idea how much weight the bonnet saves?

Hopefully a lot as the Prelude bonnet weighs an absolute ton! The guy I'm getting the carbon bonnet from said he didn't know exactly, all he knows is he needed help to get the stock bonnet off but managed on his own with the carbon one?!

I'm hoping that losing all the bits I plan will be in the region of an 70-80kg weight saving (may all seem drastic for a car that won't get used loads of times a year on track but not bothered about losing the sunroof, like the carbon bonnet, and don't mind ditching the 4ws and rear seats etc). But we're just going to have to wait and see when I've weighed it all!!

awesome progress mate, really can't wait to have a good look round it at combe.

Made some more progress this weekend! Fri I got the wishbones all connected back up, wheels back on and car back on the ground. Unfortunately due to the rain that was my lot!

New carbon bonnet turned up early Sat morning courtesy of Jamesy (thanks buddy!). I wasn't going to put it on straight away. Fortunately or unfortunately (depending if we're talking about me or my wife) I couldn't resist and had it on with all holes for aerocatches drilled and lined up within 3 hours of it turning up!! Car looks awesome and got rid of 21kg stock bonnet and replaced with 12kg carbon! Pics to come tomorrow.

Also took out some more interior trim and got it primed and coloured in dark graphite. Got a few more bits to do and then lacquer it all and get it back in!

Also sprayed my bucket seats. They didn't come out as well as I'd hoped to be honest but they now look like 2 year old seats rather than 10 (UV discoloured the red so much in places the seat was white!!!). I can't complain though as they look ok and got both bucket seats and modified Prelude frames for £60 and spent £10 on upholstery spray!!

From this:



To this:




Couldn't stop myself today either even though my wife actually wanted to see me for a couple of hours over the weekend! Took out the rear door cards (don't know what else I should call them as car has no rear doors ) and then took out drivers and drivers rear stock seatbelts (what a pain in the arse that was!!). Also got the four rear eye bolts in and the one for the driver ready for the harnesses. Just the passenger eye bolt and frames and seats in then!

Lol ive got a nice bed for sale if you want it for the garage bud

May need it at this rate! The neighbours are now commenting on whether my wife allows me in the house as I spend so much time in the garage or outside it!

And behold the carbon goodness which now sits on my car:






Below is a pic of one bit of trim I did before to show you the colour I'm doing the rest of the interior:

gotta say the vents spoil the stock look for me but weight saving cant be wrong!

looks the dogs mate fair play

^^ Fair enough...but aahhh my car isn't stock

The extra weight saving by not having any material where the vents are helps to...only joking not that anal about weight otherwise I'd stop eating takeaways. I have had friends with standard OEM look carbon bonnets and while they look ok they just look like another barry has taken a can of black paint to the bonnet until you are up close, and more importantly this came up before any other type of carbon bonnet and I'm impatient!

if i'm honest I prefered the before however for the weight reduction it gives and the fact that the car is meant to perform rather than look pretty(you wouldn't be on here if it was)then it's all good.

who makes the bonnet mate respected company or is it a non branded one?

It's a seibon one, so good quality! Not 100% fitment but I am abit anal about these things and carbon products are very rarely 100% exact due to shrinkage when they are made so am happy enough!

To be honest it's a bit of a marmite thing maybe and everyone has their own likes and dislikes (otherwise modifying would be extremely boring), but most important thing is I love it!!

spot on mate, aslong as your happy then thats the main thing...I don't dislike it, just prefered the standard one on the looks dept.

Will make a nice addition to the stand at PCAD!!

I think that looks the tits, nice one.

Been another long day getting things done today!

Managed to:

Remove passenger side seatbelts and get all harness eyes in and thread locked
Wire in the stereo (needed its own live and neutral)
Get all the newly sprayed trim in
Adjust the handbrake ready for the MOT
Get the front washer jets working (clogged up)
Subframes bolted to bucket seats and harnesses in!

Looking good I reckon, and all I need to do now is buy a cage for the stereo, pop it in and I'm done (well as much as I'm going to do before my MOT or Combe)!!

looking very nice that mate, that dash looks abit star trek doesn't it!

the bonnet is growing on me aswell seeing it in that pic

Looking good

Stereo??? Puff

Looking good though, hope it passes!

Looking yummy Nice job.

Cheers!! Did the stereo this evening as got back early from work and lacquered the last two bits of trim to finish that off.

One thing the car needs?

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/REFLECTIVE-SELF-ADHESIVE-NUMBER-PLATES-STICK-ON_W0QQitemZ160328917310QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUK_CarsParts_Vehicles_CarParts_SM?hash=item255459213e

Would look sooooooooo much better with the wart of a plate plinth on the front!

Right hasn't been a lot of progress with this really!

Decided I didn't want the 17's I bought for trackdays so they'll shortly be going for sale and have secured some standard Prelude 15's with new tyres ready!

Been looking into oil pressure and temp gauges after some horror stories recently but only on the deciding stage.

Dismantled the 2WS subframe in my garage to the bits I need and wire brushed it and cleaned it ready for painting before hopefully fitting it in a couple weeks!



That is all for now but I will update some more when I do some!!

Been a busy day today with a few bits done over the last couple days as well.

After painting the 2ws subframe and ordering 2 new boots for the joints from Honda for £26, I then found out this last tues they hadn't ordered the boots as they said they had and then told me they wouldn't be in until 11th June at which point I told them to forget it.

Went to local lds and they spent half hour looking for boots that match and found some on some Ford tie rod ends, so bought them for £18 and robbed the boots.

Had my brother here today so in 8 hours managed to change the 4ws subframe to 2ws (including some rusty bushes and bolts), removed the whole 4ws wiring loom, removed 4ws ecu. Also tidyed up existing wiring, removed the rear wiper and motor, did valve clearances, replaced cam cap seal, dist O ring, spark plug gaskets and rocker cover gasket (so hopefully no more oil leaks), and firmed up all four shocks.

Got to lower the rear suspension to the lowest setting this week as sitting a little high with all the weight loss in the rear, and then get a full geometry setup! Then car is nearly done except the oil pressure and temp gauges which I've decided i'm definitely going to do.

That is all for the moment!

You decided on which gauges? or just that you need some?

Decided that I need some and found some electrical oil pressure and temp with senders for 45quid. They are smoked when off so should look a bit more discreet...well apart from I bought a spare a pillar trim and 2 gauge pod today. Already fibreglassed together but think it will require some more fibreglass to smarten it a little.

Decided on going for a sump plug with threaded centre for oil temp as right in the sump, and oem position for pressure with a t piece so I can keep the oem warning sensor and aftermarket one to.

Well not a lot of movement on things, but a little:

Looking round for a decent place to get my geometry set up properly after changing the rear subframe to a 2ws version. Found a place in Cardiff and need to speak to a guy in Newport but would prefer someone that really knows what they're doing! Just incase any of the French owners don't know what I'm going on a bout. 4WS means that when you turn the steering wheel and the front wheels turn, the rear wheels also turn...very handy for town driving and parking! Changing it to a 2WS subframe means it goes back to only the front wheels turning, which also means the turning circle is now pants in comparison but more predictable at speed!




Also got the gauge pod delivered. To be honest the fitment is shody to say the least (pod just screwed on to the a pillar trim and some filler used in the gaps and some crap painting to finish it off) so going to be doing an impersonation of a surgeon and will be modifying it to make it better. Will order my gauges and bits in the next week or so, but this does mean they won't be in for Llandow.




I also got my OEM Prelude alloys delivered with brand new tyres to destroy at Llandow. Worked out cheaper to buy these than fit the 17's I intended for track use with part worns. So will now sell the 17's. It didn't take long to start messing with the wheels though
After an hour and a half I finished the first one (ok not exactly following my own DIY spraying but they are track wheels so hammerite was my friend)!!!

From this:




To this:

They look pretty awesome for hammerite! Might have a go at mine.

Ha ha you been busy todat bud?