Piter's 1987 Prelude BA2 build thread

[piter]

Hello!

I've finally decided to start my own build thread here. I've bought this lude in September 2007 from a lady in Germany, who had been it's first owner. She'd managed to maintain it in mint condition.

The car was complete stock version with standard European equipment. Here are some general specs at the moment of purchase. Since that time I've made some modification which I'll describe further in this topic.

Technical specs (at the moment of purchase, sep 2007)

Model: 2.0i-16, chassis code BA2, EDM version
Year: 1987
Mileage: 120000 km
Color: Asturias Gray Metallic, NH-502M
Engine: stock, B20A1, DOHC, 16 valves, PGM-FI
Tranny: stock, manual, B2K5
Suspension: stock
Brakes: stock
Exhaust: stock
Interior: stock
Audio: factory Alpine CC radio

Here you have few pics of my car, they were made just a day after I bought it (30 sep 2007).





That'd be enough for the beginning. I hope you'll enjoy it.

[gfrg88]

Nice lude!! Love the color. Can't wait to see the updates on this build

[hondalude86]

Dude, im so jealous of all these b20 powered 2nd gens! Probably one of the ovrrall quickest factory powered preludes

[piter]

Yes, 2nd gens with B20 engines are quite powerful. Unfortunately I've got EDM B20A1 engine which has only 137HP while JDM versions have 160HP.

Some time ago I went to dyno and I was impressed. After all these years result is only 3HP worse from factory data.



B20A gold top and B20A1 are almost the same engines. The biggest differnce is in ECU and ignition system - EDM has distributor with vacuum advance.

Being weaker than JDM version doesn't mean that car is slow. No, no, no. It still accelerates from 0 to 100kph in very low 8's. My friend does have portable G-Tech and once we checked mine car. The best time from 0 to 60mph was 7.38s.



Quite impressing for such old Honda I admit that it is in stock shape without any engine/drivetrain modifications.

[gfrg88]

wow! That's actually more than factory? 137hp rating isn't whp. I'm assuming that dyno reads whp, correct? Pretty damn impressing!!

[piter]

wow! That's actually more than factory? 137hp rating isn't whp. I'm assuming that dyno reads whp, correct? Pretty damn impressing!!

Unfortunately not - this dyno measures power on engine. I don't know how much is on wheels... I presume it's about 100hp, maybe little more.

[gfrg88]

still awesome!! Just means you've got a really healthy engine right off the bat!!

[hondalude86]

Dude, im excited to see the build updates! Glad to see another 2nd gen here posting an uber clean build rather than on just the "other" prelude forum!

[obdriver6]

Wow! That prelude looks mint and with a B20, thats awesome!!!

[rustlude87]

Glad to see a new member! Looks like you have a good motor to work with! Got any big plans with the car?

[piter]

Hold on I've got this car since four years and there are some mods I've already done. First of all I wanted to show you the car as it looked like when I bought it in 2007 and now I'd like you to present some of it's history. I'll have to divide it into few parts to avoid large posts.

There are also some future plans - in this year I'd like to finish my A/C project. I've got it almost all parts - the only one I need to finish it is A/C compressor. It has to be from JDM B20A or EDM B20A2/A8 or maybe even JDM B18A. If someone have one for sale - just let me know

There are some other plans for futer, but for now I'll concentrate on presenting history - the things I've made in last four years. Maybe they aren't very big, but I think they're worth showing.

[hondalude86]

Dude, show us already!

[gfrg88]

In for ALL updates!

[piter]

Allright then My lude came with factory 14" steel wheel with hubcaps as you could see on previous pics. I've decided to make them my winter setup. In autumn of 2007 I've bought new tires - Firestone Winterhawk 185/65R/14.

When the spring of 2008 came I thought that it'd be nice to have some nice set of alloy wheels. I've managed to get original wheels made for Honda by Asahi.

These wheels are rather unique for European 2nd gen. They are exactly the same as JDM BA1 had. I know that ludes in US had this shape of wheels, but mine are 14" - not 13" as in US versions.

There were only one version of BA2 in Europe which was shipped with these wheels - so called "edition-25". In 1987 Honda had it's 25th anniversary in Germany and they made special edition of Prelude. It was pearl black (nh-503p), it had leather seats and alloy wheels from JDM BA-1. Here you can see original brochure:





So, when my friend announced me, that he has set of wheels for sale I didn't hesitate. I just bought them. Unfortunatly, as you can see on pics below, they weren't in good shape, so I've decided to have them restored.

Before restoration:



and after:



Yeah, of course, they looked much better. But I wasn't satisfied with the restoration completely. tbc - since I'm restricted to ten pics per post

[piter]

I've driven this set of wheels for two years - up to spring 2010 - with Bridgestone Turanza ER300 195/60R/14 tires. Then I've decided to have them repainted The job was made by my friend and here is the final effect:






This is how my alloy wheels look up-to-date. The brown color is Sepang Bronze Mettali from BMW palette (sic!) but I find it fitting well with my body color.

[gfrg88]

Looks good! I want those leather seats :drool:

[rustlude87]

Woah I never knew they made those in 14"!!!!! I think the polished looked better with the car imo. But the bronze doesnt look too bad, you gonna lower that beauty

[zedries]

The condition of this is gorgeous. i may have said it over on pp.com but I love this thing...