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Ocarius

New Member
In 2005, when I was 11, I had gone to Walmart for my birthday and bought a new videogame for my aging Xbox. It was called Juiced. I still have this xbox and game to this very day, heh.
In that game I came across a car I had never seen or heard of, a 4th Gen Honda Prelude VTEC. And that's where this love affair starts.
Fastforward to 2013, January 4th, my birthday. I had stumbled across a yellow 1992 Honda Prelude S, and went ballistic, and very determined. I purchased the car for $200, it was in fair condition.
It certainly had been played with, evident by the cold air intake, the slight camber in the rear, and 17 inch rims.
Even the interior had been painted yellow and blue, as was the valve cover.
I loved that car to death. I believe it was a SOHC Non-VTEC F22A1.
Shortly put, it blew a rod after 6 months, June 22nd 2013.
Nothing in the car electronically worked, save for the clock and a few lights.
Never knew how much gas was in it, or the temperature, sadly. Didn't know too much about cars then.
Since I had never gotten the title, I couldn't do much with it, and eventually it was sold off.

For 4 years I searched for another, I needed another 4th gen 'Lude.

And strangely, on June 22nd, 2017, I found one.
A factory color I had not seen before, Azure Blue Green Pearl (BG-34P)
It was listed for $700 and the owner claimed the clutch wouldn't engage. By now, my mechanical knowhow increased tenfold, and I figured at any rate, it's an easy, albeit, possibly expensive fix, depending on who you are.
I talked him down to $350 and hauled the car away, after sitting for sale for more than a year and a half.
I changed the tires, oil, and seafoam'd the hell out of it.
Got a new battery, as it didn't have one.
The clutch was stupidly easy, the guy had to be an idiot. I Put the slave back on, and foudn that the master's pushrod hadn't been adjusted, hence why the clutch pedal was on the floor. Viola, it ran and drove wonderfully.

So, now, here we are, and I have some issues with it.
Yes, I'm gonna rebuild this car and restore it to it's once wonderful condition.
As it is, the paint is pretty good, not faded, but, both door are dented, and the car appears to have been wrecked, as it has an unpainted front bumper, dent in the front left corner of the hood, and new front left fender. Has original seats, in perfect condition, no rear seats, or carpet, or trunk lining.
The moonroof works, but it leaks into the trunk, and the door seals are bad so it leaks inside the car, sadly.

Here's where it get's interesting.

This 1996 Honda Prelude Si doesn't have a H23A1, no, no. Turns out it's a JDM swapped F22B out of a JDM 4TH gen. Sweet, but here's the first problem. It came with both ECUS but the wrong one was installed. Swapped it, black smoke toned down and fuel mileage increased significantly.
But right now, it still blows a bit of black smoke, it is fully straight-piped, headers back. The idle is weird, it keeps changing, and slowly shifts when just idling.
I wanna know what's up with it before I start getting into it.
I'm working on getting the suspension parts for now.
 

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Hey, welcome! Idle is probably idle control valve or a leak in the intake path somewhere after your throttle body. Usually it's a cracked vacuum hose or a bad throttle body gasket.

Black smoke could be engine abuse or even washed out rings from running fueling too rich on the "bad ECU" program.
 
Engines 20+ yrs old its probably consuming oil to be honest but it will run like that many years, welcome ! Post some more pictures of that thang ! Welcome to HS
 
I'd also like to say welcome!

I don't have a Prelude, but I do have an H22A swapped Accord, and my interest in import cars started with a video game as well (Gran Turismo). :thumbsup:
 
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