No arguing that out of all the Honda chassis out there, the Prelude is the least seen and modified. As many of us all know, Honda has now discontinued the Prelude due to its poor sales. Prelude aficionados nationwide however still love their cars and have found ways to make them cleaner and better than ever. Alex Hong in Northern California is one of those owners, taking his ’96 Prelude and splashing on a whole catalog of JDM goods.
Starting off with the engine modifications, Hong began by swapping the car to OBD1 to help utilize a Hondata S200 and P28 OBD1 ECU. The newly tuned ECU helps the AEM cold air intake, DC Sports header and GReddy SP2 cat back exhaust system produce optimal gains. NGK goods help on the spark side of things with brand new platinum plugs and wires. Aesthetic enhancements in the engine bay include Spoon Sports reservoir covers, a Spoon Sports radiator cap and a polished valve cover.
At first glance, the bright blue shade of the Prelude instantly grabs your attention. Offsetting the blue hue is a set of 18x7.5 Volk Racing GT-P wheels. Finished off in a gunmetallic color, the polished lip on these beautiful Volks make a perfect match for the car. Each wheel is comfortably surrounded by a Pirelli P Zero Nero tire in a 215/40/18 size. Suspension adjustability comes in the form of Ground Control coilovers with Koni Yellow shocks. Having both height and dampening adjustability now makes Hong’s daily drive a lot more comfortable. Additional suspension goods came flying off the shelf and onto Hong’s car as well: a pair of Suspension Techniques front and rear sway bars, Neuspeed front strut bar, Spoon Sports rear strut bar, and DC Sports lower tie bar. Accenting behind each of the front wheel wells and enhancing braking performance is a front pair of AEM big brake upgrade. In the rear is a set of Power Slot slotted and dimpled rotors. Endless Vita Nuova brake pads are found in all four corners for maximum performance.
The exterior modifications didn’t stop there, as Hong wanted to make his Prelude one of the cleanest and baddest out there. An authentic and extremely rare Spoon Sports carbon fiber front lip is seen accenting the front end. A Kaminari lip kit was then installed to accent the side and rear of the car. JDM one piece headlights along with foglights gives the front end that nice clean flushed look. After getting the look that he wanted, Hong set the Prelude off to the body shop. A whole new splash of custom pearl blue metallic paint was sprayed across the entire chassis.
JDM goodies didn’t end with the exterior however. Hong continued the onslaught on the interior with plenty of BRIDE goods. A set of BRIDE ERGO II seats were bolted on in the front, and many of the interior pieces were reupholstered with a BRIDE finish. Plenty of MOMO accents along with Spoon Sports seat belt pads in the rear and Takata harnesses in the front round off the interior modifications.
So despite Honda discontinuing the Prelude name, enthusiasts from all over is still bringing them out of the woodwork. This is the true theory of our industry, never letting things die.
