Project Prelude Begins

Due to the beautiful lines of the original car, I only wanted to make subtle modifications, and give the car a standard but aggressive look.

Both interior and exterior would be fettled, and like I said in my earlier posts although quite a straight looking car, it really requires a fair amount of TLC.


Step 1

The wheels that came on the car although genuine Honda 15” alloys just seemed to be to modern looking for the car, I pondered over fitting 16” or even 17” alloys but then I thought that I really wanted the mods on the car to be very subtle. Upon scrolling the net I came across this original set of 15” alloys, they were of a BB4 and were just what the Doctor ordered. I already had 2 good Goodyear Eagle NCT5 tyres on the old alloys and decided to buy two more so I could keep the same pattern all-round, one thing I don’t do is mixing tyre patterns !.

Original Alloys (on the car when I bought it)



The Replacement wheels before the tyres went on



The replacement wheels with tyres on




Step 2

The stance of the car looked more like a 4x4 than a sexy coupe.

Before :





So I decided to opt for some lowering springs as the shocks were in good condition. After much deliberation I chose to Fit APEX springs, I have used these in the past and was suitable impressed.






The car has upper front and rear strut braces and now with the addition of the upgraded springs the handling is very very sweet!

After :






Step 3

The original steering wheel was badly worn and was a tad on the big side (ok if you owned the QE2, but not in a sports coupe!).

Before :



My nephew very kindly donated me his Suede Sparco Steering wheel and after locating a second hand Boss the new wheel went on. A very small mod but the difference is amazing.

After :




Step 4

As I had a spare genuine Integra DC2 Gear knob I decided to utilise it and again the feel of the gear stick is much improved.





Will try and keep this thread updated as and when I carry out any changes . Hope you all like !

Looking good matey, love the original wheels.

Nice improvements

If you want lighter wheels, find a set of facelift originals, they're considerably lighter than the once you've obtained.

The original wheels look like options for the Prelude from the showroom, the ones you have now are originals.

Very nice modification..

Thanks, for all yoru comments, aprreciated !.

The next point of call will be the interior and audio which I should be starting this weekend ..........hopefully.....lets see what happens !

Very nice, its looking pretty cool!

The new wheels look in very good condition, did you have them refurbed?

No they are totally original, they have never been refurbed as far as I am aware.

Cant wait to get the rest of the mods done !!!!

Looks tidy, I like it.

very nice, awesome subtle moddage!
i'll keep an eye out for you as i'm not a million miles away
hope to see you maybe at the next PUK wales meet?

Prelude Project Continues…………….

Step 5

As the water pump on the car had developed a leak I decided to get it changed and whilst this was being done decided to do the Cam belt too.



Step 6

As the Speedo in the car was broken I managed to get hold of a UK Prelude one and fitted that, this also meant that I did not need to fit either the kph to mph convertor or to have any further issues with Vtec not kicking in, in 1st gear.

I decided to now strip the interior as the car needed a bloody good clean and also to make ease the audio installation I was about to carry out.

Dirty, Dirty, Dirty………






Step 7

Now the Audio install begins….after gutting the interior !

Starting at the front Decided to install Alpine’s new IXA-W407BT Double Din Multi media unit predominately designed for use with iPod and USB, but for added sound quality coupled it to Alpine’s Ai-Net 6 Disc CD Changer.





The front speakers that were fitted by the previous owner not too bad but the installation was terrible! There was no speaker adapter plates used, just the longest screws he could find! lol.

I opted for the Hertz ESK 165L 6.5” Component set up as they offer Fantastic Sound quality and value for money.

Before installing them the door was treated to a Skinz Kit. This comprises of Some Sound deadening, an Acoustic Wave Diffuser and a Moisture guard.

Here are a few pics of prepping the door before the Mid Range Speakers were installed.

Speaker Removed



Sound Deadening



Wave Diffuser Installed




Speaker Installed (Moisture guard fits directly behind speaker as you push the speaker into the mounting hole)



All the cables were run in separate locations so that I would not encounter any kind of interference issue’s

Power cable was taken down the driver’s side of the car, whilst the signal cables were taken down the centre console.

Speaker cables were run down the passenger side and up underneath the glove Box where I decided to mount the x-over’s and all cables only met in the boot where the amplifier would be mounted.

I utilised the original tweeter grills and mounted the Hertz tweeters in the same housing.




In the boot as the spare wheel was only a space saver, I decided to loose it and enclose both the amplifier and the Subwoofer in the available space.

First thing was to clean out the area and treat it too some more Sound deadening. I did not want to go over kill but just enough to stop any annoying rattles.

Before the Sound Deadening was installed



The box and amp rack was designed as one build that could be easily removed when required without affecting any part of the car. Therefore I utilised the original mounting hole for the spare wheel to hold the enclosure in place.





Once the enclosure was in and the amplifier wired up, it was just a case of making the finishing trim panel.



Hope you all like the finished result. I will get some more interior shots when I can a chnace... keep you all posted.

Are those front speakers direct size replacements?

That looks totally awesome dude, immense work on the sub build, I really like that

Only question I have is have you got a cage or something you can put over the sub so you can actually put stuff in the trunk or do you just use the back seats?


Loving the lowered stance too, nice n subtle with the stock wheels on there, it's how Honda should have made the lude I think

The front Speakers will fit in with no metal cutting at all provided you use the correct adapter plates. As you might be aware I run my own audio business so if you need either of the items just let me know.

As for the Sub in the boot, I have ordered my protective grill it just has not arrived as yet but I will keep you updated and try and get some better pics on here.

Ahhh, just been on your site, looks cool man. Will be sending you a PM in a bit


Yea, wasn't sure if you would be using a grille cos that looks so clean and pretty like that