Need help from Serious Prelude Modifiers

I have a 2000 Prelude SH with the standard 200HP 2.2L 16V VTec. I have been moving back and forth from France and the U.S., and its never really been driven alot. Basically, what I have is a Prelude with 7,800 miles on it, and a good deal of money to invest into it. I now own a house in the U.S. and I am settled in for good, and I would really like to make my Prelude one hell of a machine. I want to maximize the performance I can get out of it, as well as modify the car with a kit and new rims. I do tend to drive through mountains alot, so I would also like to make sure I have the proper suspension.

So can anyone help me decide the right mods to get the Prelude up to serious horsepower, give me advice on which kits to use, or where to find them. Also which suspension kits would be the best for driving often on mountain roads, quickly. I dont plan on taking this car to the track often, but I do enjoy smacking the hell out of cars next to me at the stop light. :evillol:

One of my biggest questions is this... I hear that the Prelude doesnt take well to superchargers compared to turbochargers. With the right amount of money, would I be able to get a proper setup for a turbo kit? I feel turbos are always going to be more difficult, but always be a great deal more efficient as power adders than anything else.

Thanks in advance for any advice and help in showing me which parts I need to make my car run well.

well, read the thread by AcesHigh about making power, then read my redirect thread on the turbo/supercharger information if you haven't already.

i had a supercharged 5th gen myself, and can say that the jackson racing supercharger can be a very good investment when done right. anything can go wrong, turbo or supercharger if your installation is poor and the tuning is even the slightest to the wrong side.

the supercharger gets my recommendation for good usable power and relatively maintenance-free. of course when adding boost or mods to cars not meant for boost or mods, maintenance will always be of concern. check http://www.jacksonracing.com for information on their kit for the 5th gen prelude.

you like turbo? i'd look into the greddy kit. it's a mild setup but more tunable then the jrsc. and it's pretty reliable compared to the fmax or other turbo kits out there. the fmax, more power but more problems and more risk. in your case i would start off by getting a kit, rather than piecing together a custom setup.

as for suspension, a good coilover set will do you wonders. look into some teins. they make good parts for preludes and i hear plenty of good things, more so than the gc's. also get yourself some thick sway bars, front and rear (i recommend suspension techniques)

but when all's said and done, none of that stuff matters without good rubber. spend money on good tires coz if you can't plant that power down, or grip in hard corners, the biggest turbocharger and the best suspension setup in the world will do you no good without the grip. myself, i loved my SO3's but they don't last long at all. gotta choose a good balance between longevity and high performance coz those tires are pricey.

hope this helps in giving you a general direction.

Del's got it all laid out pretty well.

Except generally I regard superchargers to be a dead end if you're looking for anything more than what it has to offer as is. A supercharger runs on a belt connected to the engine, and is pretty much dependent on how fast that belt spins. You're limited to how much boost you can make.

I'd go with the turbo. Of course, if you dont ever plan on upgrading your internals or running higher boost, then the supercharger is right for you.

So basically I need to get tires (nice rims to match wouldnt hurt of course) that are a good balance of grip and lasting.
Then I should work on the suspension, coil over/sway bars.
These two things would help me keep my car on the road, which is important with the power I plan on adding to this car.

Then comes the addition of the power. I have read about the turbo's and superchargers, but you have to understand this is completely new territory for me. I understand that turbo is so much better of an application in the longrun. Although higher in price overall with all the additional upgrades I will need to make, its just so much better of a system.

What I need to know is what I need to do to get my Prelude turbocharged and running efficiently, smoothly and all the while doing the best to maximize my horsepower gain. What other parts would I need to replace or modify?

In the meantime I can easily get into other upgrades. A more open exhaust is important for turbocharged engines, correct? Which cat-back system would be the best? Anything else that I can do with cams, headers, gearings that would be recommended for running everyday on the streets, yet still being able to blow the doors off the car next to me at a stoplight? Im by no means an expert in cars, but Im not a complete idiot of a woman. Yet, most I DO know about cars is about old 350's and other domestics my father works on, which is why I ask for all the help. For now, I will keep reading your posts, and talk to a couple people I know about wheels, tires, and suspension.
Thanks for all the Help!

When you get the chance, get a lightened flywheel. I have not yet experienced any disadvantages to this, and my revs are climbing much faster than the regular wheel.

If and when you do get a turbocharger, you're looking at piping that's 2.5" and greater. You want to increase the diameter as you increase power.

After a resleeve, the h22a block is pretty much impenetrable. It's a very well designed block that can handle boost.

If you are not on a budget, power potential is great.

the thing with the flywheel is that i'll make daily driving more of a chore. you have rev higher just to get going particularly on a hill. lightened flywheels also aren't ideal for drag racing. won't go into all the physics of it all, but more rotating mass of yoru stock flywheel will actually help you to get off the line faster. lighter flywheels are great for autocrossing and road courses where the revs are kept high. but for drag racing purposes, hondas need all the help they can get and a heavier flywheel helps in getting off the line better. but that's it. once the car's moving, the heavier flywheel has done its job. so consider that too

but your car will surely rev more freely and quicker. watch that redline though coz you'll get there faster than you're used to.

ebay sells this chip that give's you 22+ hp too, for real cheap!!!!!! hehe

ebay sells this chip that give's you 22+ hp too, for real cheap!!!!!! hehe


haha. for a unchippable car, that's an awesome deal :rolleyes: :banghead:

Well... unless you don't pay any attention at all to driving, stalling resulting from a lightened flywheel shouldn't really happen at all. It took me about a minute to get used to my Prolite. And really, it's about the same as stock.

Del is right about the rotating mass, but actually, you've got the logic wrong a bit. A lighter flywheel is easier to move than a heavy one. It's just physics and momentum. An object with more mass has a greater tendency to resist change in motion. This is why lighter flywheels lose momentum faster than stock flywheels; they've got less mass. Luckily around here, we don't have many hills at all. On a flat street, I have experienced almost no momentum loss at all; the Prelude cruises down as far as my stock unit without me having to put on the gas.

i see your point. the engine will have an easier time turning a lighter flywheel as opposed to a heavier one. i'm not the best with words so this may confuse more than it would clarify but i'll try.

along with being easier to move, it's also easier to stop or slow down a lighter flywheel from turning. what would cause that? speaking strictly in terms of drag racing and starting off the line, your transmission which isn't moving because the car's not moving will slow it down and cause your revs to fall and with hondas especially, you'd need to keep the revs as high as possible to prevent the bogging. having that added mass in the flywheel while the engine is revving will get your car off the line better provided you have the power to keep the revs up as the flywheel and clutch come in contact.

like i said before, a heavier flywheel only helps on launches especially for the not-so-skilled drag racers, after that a lighter flywheel would defiantely be beneficial. best in auto cross and road course situations.

hope that helps to clarify the point i'm trying to make. what would hurt more? getting hit with a wooden bat? or a broom stick? probably the bat because it's heavier. and the lightweight broom stick may even break, but not that bat. that's a pretty bad analogy but i'm on 3 hours of sleep and that's the best i'm coming up with right now. :p

You're right it would help unskilled racers but given a competent driver a lighter flywheel is never a bad thing. A heavier flywheel pretty much just makes up for bad driving and gives the lazy driver a ride that's easier to control. However, a lightened flywheel can be just as fast on a launch as the stock flywheel, if not even more. The revs climb much more quickly and the car reacts much faster. It's good for drag, too. Its primary downfall is that being that it is lighter, it is more flimsy and is liable to break during extreme uses.

Haha, I totally got that bat and broom analogy :wink:.

THE best source on the internet for anything Prelude related,
is link deleted by moderator

No question. Pay the $6 to join. It's more than worth it.

i agree with you VDubb. i'm a long-time member there myself (under a different name obviously) but don't plug other sites on this site. :nono: