My Prelude Project Thread

[Confused]

For some reason I completely failed to post this up here, but I had posted it on all the other car forums I visit! Probably because when I started it, project threads weren't very common or popular on here!

So, in the following few posts, I'll be posting up everything I've posted since the start - so bare with me while I post a few posts in a row (can't combine them easily due to the strangely low 5-pics-per-post limit here)


13/11/2006

Anyways, the reason for needing this rebuild/project thread, is due to the following happening on 21st October 2006 on the A12 -

Thanks to the fire brigade wanting to take the roof off to get myself and my GF out, despite us both saying we were OK, I also have 3 rear windows to replace, and so my initial thought of getting a couple of panels suddenly jumped up to the need for a set of windows, too.


A few days later, and we'd taken the wing, bonnet and headlight out, and put a pry-bar in the front to pull it out a bit.

Then, thanks to a guy from PreludeUK, I went down to Cornwall to collect the following car, as a donor, as I needed a lot of parts, and getting a complete car would have been the best way to get everything I need, including the rear windows.

It's a 1994 JDM BB1, with ABS, TCS, LSD, ~45-50k miles, and the rest of the usual JDM goodies that the UKDM cars didn't, such as climate control etc.


Today's work involved cutting the very bent/distorted slam panel from my car, and removing all the necessary components from the donor in order to get the slam panel out, and after today's work, we're left with the following:

I have also removed all the interior and boot trim from the front seats backwards on the white one, as there is glass absolutely *everywhere* where the windows were smashed.


Plans are to do a complete swap of parts from the donor - engine, gearbox, climate control etc. I'm aiming to make my UKDM car look and feel just like a JDM, as I know I have a good base car.


That's it for now - I'll be sure to get more pictures as I progress, I must admit today was a "just get on with it" day!

 

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18/11/2006

Hey all again,

Been working on the car again today, so here's some updated progress pics


Prepared today for taking the engine/gearbox out. Removed all cabling, vacuum pipes, fuel lines, exhaust downpipe, throttle cable, heater pipes, air con pipes, and disconnected all the wiring from body to engine.

Also put the car up on axle stands, removed wheels, loosened off driveshafts. And since these pictures, have also removed all the plastic trim around the front end of the car.

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Took some pictures too of the interior/boot/rear end all stripped down.

Next Saturday's task will be to hopefully get the engine/gearbox out.

 

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27/11/2006

Didn't have quite as long as I'd have liked to work on it this Saturday, so here's the progress so far (and there were some FT bolts!)

Driveshafts, anti-roll bar + front-back support bar, downpipe removed, clutch disconnected and heater core disconnected.

Just got to undo 2 engine mounts and drop engine/gearbox straight out the bottom of the car. That'll be done first thing next Saturday.

 

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04/12/2006

Well, the engine/gearbox are out! No piccies of it on it's way out, because to be honest, I was too busy doing it rather than taking photos!

Lift going down!

Looking over engine to car!

You have done 175,000 miles, you will be missed!

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A rather empty looking engine bay!

What's this? Nearside engine mount? That looks a little close to the suspension turret... *goes outside and looks at donor* ... yes, it is a bit close. Looks like it's moved it backwards. But what else do you expect when you have a Range Rover sit down on the engine!

We've now straightened out the engine mount, so it's back in the right place, and I got a call yesterday evening from my dad to say the new slam panel is welded in place No piccies, as I wasn't there!


Coming along nicely so far!

 

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09/12/2006

Another update for you

Slam panel was welded on last Sunday, so today's task was to ensure it's welded in the right place, and things line up.

So first off I put wings on, and the headlights in:

Only *very* slight adjustments were needed to get the correct panel gaps to the lights and doors

Then I placed the bonnet on, and lined that up, got the height and position right, then put the bumper in place to check how close it is to the headlights and wings, as such:

Next Saturday's task is to take this lot off again, so that we can prepare the new slam panel for painting

 

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30/12/2006

Been a few weeks since the last update, but I've not really done much more on it until today!

Have taken all the front panels back off, now that I know they're all going to line up perfectly, so that they don't get knocked or damaged when putting the JDM engine/box in.

I stripped the dashboard and the rest of the interior out today, so that I can get all of the glass out, give it a clean up, and make it take the old windscreen out, and put the new one in. I'm also going to add a bit of sound-proofing, to make the ride more refined for me, and remove some drone when driving along a motorway, but I'll still be able to open up the windows/sunroof when I want to hear the VTEC roar!

Only the one picture this week! Was too busy working

I've also got headlights in the boot, which I will be modding, more on that as I work on them

 

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06/01/2007

Did the following today:

Remaining broken glass removed
All remaining interior/exterior trim removed
Boards made up to go over said broken windows and Duck-taped in place

Front windows put up (courtesy of probing motor with a jump-pack!)
Car rolled outside
Sills, wheelarches, window surrounds, and engine bay sprayed with de-greaser/cleaner and pressure washed while it's empty.

 

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22/01/2007

I've now taken off everything that needs to come off, so I suppose I'm at the "half way" stage now!

Took out all heater components, plus all the wiring loom etc. Everything is also removed from the firewall, ready for painting

I then went round the whole front end, and rubbed back every single spot of rust, and treated it, then went over the whole engine bay with a coat of anti-chip paint:

Then while that was drying, I helped my dad cut up a neighbour's tree that had fallen in the wind on Thursday!


Then it got dark, and I had to go home! I got a call on Sunday night from my dad asking me to pick up some more primer and thinners before I come up next Saturday, as he'd used his last 1/2 litre of primer spraying all the front end :clap:

Also, he's hoping to get the coat of white sprayed on Tuesday night!

So, next weekend will be the start of putting it back together!

 

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26/01/2007

Here's a sneak peak of what I've been doing the last couple of evenings:

More information to follow at a later date!

 

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29/01/2007

Bolted the headlight to the car on Saturday, and found that it's aim is quite a lot higher than the original light...! So, back to the drawing board to adjust it slightly

Good news however is that the engine bay is all painted up! Which means I can now start bolting things back in! (Once I've stripped them off the donor, that is). Annoyingly I'm not going to get a chance to work on it next weekend, so it's going to be a VERY long 2 week wait until I can do anything else!

I've also cleaned up the insides of the wings/bonnet, removing the little spots of rust that were there. No point in doing this and not removing every spot of rust on the entire car!

 

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01/02/2007

Basically, the reason for doing this, is the quite appalling headlights that 90's Japanese manufacturers thought would be good enough!

Quite clearly, the beam pattern is terrible, the light is spreading all over the place! Fitting brighter HID bulbs to the standard reflector won't really help too much - all it will realistically do is just have more light spreading where it shouldn't be going!

This is the pattern you get from a projector unit, such as those fitted to modern cars, especially those with HID lights. As you can see - there is very little light spread upwards, other than the small rectangle of this one, which is by design (for some reason, I'm not quite sure why!)



So, the first task is to get a suitable set of lights as a donor. I managed to get a pair of Subaru Legacy headlights, which had been replaced under warranty at the local Subaru dealer because the plastic lens had started melting on one of them (probably due to sitting for a long period of time with the lights on, with little to no airflow over the lens). Unfortunately, the HID bulbs and ballast were put into the replacement light units, so I do not have the actual HID bulbs/ballasts. However, an aftermarket set at 5300K will be acquired.

Next, I opened the Subaru and the Prelude headlights up by placing them in an oven on a low heat - I used Gas Mark 3.

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Once they were apart, I took the standard reflector out of the Prelude headlight, and started fabricating a piece that would replace it, and hold the projector unit.

So that I could still adjust the beam alignment, I incorporated the plastic mountings from the original unit onto the bit I was fabricating, so that I could use the OEM alignment screws.

And now this panel placed into the housing - all the adjustment screws lining up nicely

I then kind of got a bit carried away with doing it, and completely forgot to take any more "in progress" pictures :roll:

So here's a picture that you can see the modifications to the aluminium plate to hold the projector unit, and the cut-out for the beam to project through:

And here's how much it sticks out at the back - there is enough for the rubber cover to *just* fit on (albeit at a little bit of a stretch)

Once I'd done this, I bolted the headlight onto a car, and compared the beam aim with the original unit - it was miles off! [smilie=hate-wall.gif] It was about 1ft too high at 4ft distance... and could not be adjusted any lower, as the top edge of the projector was already touching the opening in the back of the casing.

In trying to adjust this, I also started to bend the aluminium plate out of shape, presumably from where I'd cut too much away :roll:


So... back to the drawing board I went!

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I started again, with a new plain sheet of aluminium, determined to keep it as strong as possible, and cut away as little as possible!

So, I decided instead of cutting out slots for the bits of plastic for the adjusters, I would instead utilise the original metal bar they are attached to from the reflector unit, and screw these to the sheet instead.

The washers allow the plastic bushes to move as the unit is adjusted, without putting additional stresses on the adjustment screws. Small holes are also cut in the aluminium for the adjustment screws to pass through.

Then I aligned the projector unit up with the hole in the back of the light unit, and marked where the projector needed to be mounted - this ended up over 1cm lower than I had previously done it (by lining the projector lens with the centre of the visible area!)

The piece of metal from the projector unit that holds everything together square, and gives the beam pattern has now been screwed to the plate.

However, it will be on nuts/bolts, so that the rotation of the beam can be adjusted so that it is perfectly level. Therefore, the holes where locating pins and screws attach the unit together (all the holes in the plate in the picture above) will have to be enlarged to allow a small amount of movement for fine adjustment.


13/02/2007

Right, worked some more on these last night.

I finished the plate to mount the projector to, including the hole for the beam to shine through (the only thing left over from before).

I also started work on the plate which will be attached to the shroud, which the lens will sit through once finished.

Here it is after drilling it out, roughly (and a couple of minutes of filing)

And once filed enough for the lens to sit through:

The hole still needs to be enlarged a bit, so that the lens position can be adjusted properly. The hole will be surrounded by some rubber hole edging, which will prevent any excess light leakage, but still allow movement. The plate will also be painted black so that it all matches up nicely

 

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13/02/2007

Finished stripping out all the wiring on Saturday

Also went round the bodywork of the whole car and circled every single dent, no matter how large or small - so my car's currently looks like a target range!

Also ground back and rust treated the rest of the body. Hopefully it will be rolled outside next Saturday, and the donor bought inside to strip the engine/box/loom from

 

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19/02/2007

All the dents have now been removed! Only took ~1hr 30m to remove about 20 dents from all over the car! It's amazing how well and quickly these dent removal guys can do their stuff!

The rusty bits on the sills (although not going to be visible, and not structural) have now been repaired, and the whole sills have been rust treated and undersealed

I've also swapped boot lids for the JDM one, rather than modifying the UKDM one to take the JDM numberplate surround (all the mounting holes are in different places), and it's now sitting outside.

[continued...]

 

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The donor has been brought inside, and I've started to strip down the engine bay, in order to remove the engine/gearbox

When it was wheeled inside.

And about an hour or so later.


Hopefully engine will be ready to come out next weekend I've also got a new Exedy clutch and 8lbs flywheel on it's way from the US

 

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20/02/2007

I have so far been working on the light that was damaged in my accident, so I finally bit the bullet last week and cooked the ones that came from the donor car!

It then needed prising apart. This grey glue stuff is horrible, and gets *everywhere*!

And a little while later, I had two separated JDM headlights!

I was then able to make an almost exact duplicate of the plate to hold the projector unit, just had to adjust a couple of holes as they're offset to one side on the projector unit, and the plates are mirror images of each other.

Et voila, two projector units in Prelude headlights! I still need to make up the other front plate, which will hide the ugliness of my workings, and then put them back together, once I've double-checked the alignment of them on the car.

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And a couple of shots of them switched on

21/02/2007

I have some new goodies!

Fidanza 8lbs lightened flywheel - CHECK

Exedy OEM replacement clutch kit - CHECK

Laminated flooring - CHECK

Tin of beans - CHECK

(It's a PreludeUK thing, don't ask!, and my printer has decided it doesn't want to print any blue!)