Hey all! I've been trying to find a site that might appreciate my 1st gen Prelude -- I think maybe I've found it! I've been post-whoring my car all over, so some of you may have seen it before.


In 1990 I had an '82 Prelude while I was stationed in California during my enlistment in the Navy. I found a couple pictures of it (no digital cameras back then) and took pics of them (sorry for the glare -- stupid flash.)





The transmission started to go out in the Prelude in 1992 (popped out of third all the time,) so I traded it in. Fast forward 18 years and I'm married (17 years now,) have two kids, an Odyssey and an Integra sedan.



And this:






I was farting around on eBay and stumbled across it by accident. It's a dead ringer for my old car (except for the wheels, of course -- but I was able to locate a set of those, too!) Same year, same color, interior, everything. Hell, even the miles (157K) are the same! Funny it's 20 years later -- my original car was high-miler at the time!



I got some new rubber mounted as soon as I could and couldn't wait to get them on. The weather didn't cooperate, but I did it anyway.

























The car still has it's original paint and has been garaged it's whole life. Originally sold in Seattle, it came here to the south last year. The dealer folder, warranty, owner's manual, etc. is in the glovebox.

Future plans include new ball joints and bushings and heating or cutting the springs to get it set down a bit and close up those fender gaps.

Congrats on the find I've always liked the 1st gen ludes

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Old skool rules.. new skool technology
*Featured articles in Honda Tuning, Custom Car, Superstreet*

nice story that body style brings back memories ...

Nice Prelude! If you want parts come to SoCal. The junkyards here are filled with 1st gen Preludes, sadly enough.

Welcome to JNC!

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Thanks, Ben. Next time you're junkyarding let me know -- I need a couple things. Will gladly pay for your time!


Took my wife out to dinner last night for our anniversary. Of course, we took the Prelude. It was only fitting. The look on the valet's face when we pulled up was priceless. The funniest part was when we were leaving -- the valet pulled back up in the car and got out, let my wife in, and came around to me asking "wow -- what year is this Accord?"



Guess he'd never seen one before. Understandable, though. The car is older than he is!

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1982 Prelude

Very nice car, the mesh wheels look great on it! I love all Preludes, but I've never seen a first-gen "in the metal."

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-Cam
1988 Mazda RX7
1980 Toyota Celica
a bunch of cool other cars I'm not allowed to list

Haha, I love that

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nice. glad you made your way here from honda-tech. much better crowd of people.

can't wait to see it with a very slight drop. should look great! well, better than it does now. already looks really darn good.

Awsome 1g prelude. I love preludes so much had a 3g not to long again but traded it to a friend. I was looking for a prelude until I saw the 77 corolla I bought. Still goin to buy one and drop like a d16 in it.

If those are your two options, I would strongly urge you to cut them. Do not not heat them.

Cutting them (done correctly) will increase the spring rate slightly. Heating them will decrease it and potentially cause them to sag and sag until the car is scraping the ground.




And just for fun...

Oh my -- that's the ticket right there!

Now if I could just find a set of springs to cut.

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1982 Prelude

^ Oh yes! That is amazing looking! You must do this! Can't you get some OE replacement springs at NAPA or something like that?

Datsunfreak: <3

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1981 Accord Hatch (1stGen) - 1984 Accord Sedan (2ndGen)

Okay, 82Prelude, here is what you do:

First go here:

http://classicgarage.com/prelude1.html

Buy yourself a set of Koni shocks for your car. Part of the steps of installing the Konis is to basically cut the tops off of your stock struts and gut the insides of them leaving a hollow strut body and spring perch, looking like this:



Then you drill a hole in the bottom, and the Koni's have a threaded rod on the bottom that you put a nut on to secure them in the strut body.



Now, what does this have to do with you lowering the car? Well, this gives you the opportunity, before you install the Konis, to weld on some steel coilover sleeves, and chop off the stock spring perches. Since you're really not supposed to weld on a strut (heating the fluid or gas is really bad I've read). If you can find sleeves with a matching diameter, you should be able to drop them on, weld them in place. Not only do you have adjustable ride height and your choice of just about any spring length and spring rate (using standard race-style springs). Also, by removing the stock perches, you get a lot more room to fit fatter tires if you so desire, as the perches on the early Hondas tend to be VERY close to the tires.

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1981 Accord Hatch (1stGen) - 1984 Accord Sedan (2ndGen)

Yes, you can normally get OE replacement springs for around $50-60 a pair from Napa, or places like http://www.rockauto.com.

Very nice find ... Alister of Civic Duty may have some of the parts you need. Good luck.

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Old School Japanese Cars Rule!

'Fraid not. I'm a Supply Chain director for NAPA Corporate and can assure you we do NOT sell OEM replacement springs for an '82 Prelude. Rockauto doesn't either. There are only so many suppliers out there (Dana, Moog, etc.) and none of them have this application. There's just no demand for it.

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1982 Prelude

http://www.merlinmotorsport.co.uk/COILO ... index.html

Maybe you could use one of these?

Well, I wouldn't think there's demand for Mitsu truck front springs or Hyundai Excel front springs, but they always have them when I call...

Sucks they don't carry yours.

I will second (or third) the suggestion to just convert to adjustable sleeves/2.5" coil springs.

This is going to bother me now. The 1st gen Prelude is 2nd gen Civic-based. King Springs in Australia is the only company that lists lowering springs for the 'lude. And guess what? The part number for the Civic is the same as the Prelude, front and rear!

Now, checking my trust NAPA catalog, we carry front and rear springs for the '80-'83 Civic. But not the '79-'82 Prelude.

I need to pull one of mine out and measure it to compare to the catalog specs on the Civic springs.

This would be the most cost-effective route for me, considering my cost on a full set of new springs from work is under $55.

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1982 Prelude