Okay..maybe this time it *is* a 'mid-life crisis.

I'm finally digging out of the hole left by the layoff from my real job 9yrs. ago.

Had $4K saved up for a new DD (the RSX has 300Kmi. on it now), and did something stupid after searching for Hondas with a manual on ATL Craigslist a couple of weeks ago. Spent half of it on this thing I found. Isn't "cash in hand and wait!" one of our mantras over here? :D

2nd Gen Prelude. First new car I ever bought was a blue '83. Didn't care for the red back then (the nat'l 55mph speed limit was still around - we all wanted dark colors that didn't stand out), but now that I'm finally a sportsball fan (soccer finally came to Atlanta about 20yrs after we thought it would), I can deal with the red.

The seller had only owned it since last January. I suspect that the dude bought it, and discovered that owning an older car was not what he wanted out of life. I can't help but wonder who he bought it from, when he opened the hood, I immediately saw that the lil' Keihins had been rebuilt, and that half-mile of vacuum tubing had been replaced with new stuff. Whoever owned this thing before the guy who sold it to me had plans to make it their 'forever car'.

For $2K, I think I stole it. Paid the seller his asking. He'd had the ad up for two months, and didn't take any lowball from someone who'd just throw a K in it and slam the suspension.



 

Keihin restoration and all the vacuum hoses I was talking about:

That's a neat car. 

Twin carbs?  Didn't know Honda did that!

Nice score.

Nice! I didn't think there were any of those left!

I just had some chest pains looking at the carbs...and not in a good way.

Very cool.

I'm sure it's a good choice for you, but after seeing the mass of hoses under the hood, I'm glad it's yours and not mine.

I had to look up what Keihin is.  MAN!  That is a lot lot of hoses.  Nice looking ride

Knurled. said:

Twin carbs?  Didn't know Honda did that!

The Si's were FI.  The rest were carbed.  

I see no problem with this.

I think that's one of the best-looking Hondas ever made.  I love them.  Thanks for taking on responsibility for keeping one alive.

Yes, please, post more photos including the interior.

There's a carb under all that?  You mean >two<?    Looks like a great candidate for a megasquirt conversion!

In reply to DWNSHFT :

No way.  When those old carbed Hondas worked, they worked great.

I may have to ship some brew from another local brewery. This is also a much better midlife crisis than I had expected right now.

I like it.  Nice find for sure.  My college car was an 1987 Si.  With 13 inch wheels iirc.  

Oooh, that's a nice find. I like 2nd and 3rd gen Preludes, having owned a 2nd gen Prelude very similar to yours in the dim and distant past.

It's the Lude, dude!

Great find.  These old single cam Hondas have a dedicated following who just want to make them last forever.

In reply to Knurled. :

Even the Accords were twin carbed until '89.  The top LXi trim level had injection.

Beautiful! From one Honda but to another - great buy! I had a 87 Si and a 94 Si. Ludes rock

In reply to j_tso :

Really?  I thought all those Accords had a single twin-barrel carb.

Good find! Still fun cars I bet! How's the interior holding up?

In reply to Knurled. :

You're right, I had engines mixed up.

Loweguy5 said:

I always thought that was a really handsome design.  I also like the wheels.

Are those decals on the bottoms of the doors?  Also, post some interior shots.

The interior's not great. He swapped the driver & passenger side seats so he could sit in the one with good bolsters. The recline mechanism is now in the way of the seat belt receivers, so it's hard to keep the belt on your hips. Oh, and when he did it, the carpet came out. I'll take some pix later today.

Wheels are from an Integra. Car originally had "13s, 15 is about as small as you can go for rubber not made of Chinesium.

And yeah, decals. Mine didn't have them, I've never seen them in the factory literature, but I do recall seeing a few back in the day (on red ones). Maybe a dealer supplied option?

captdownshift said:

I may have to ship some brew from another local brewery. This is also a much better midlife crisis than I had expected right now.

 

Wow, that's great! I could do a few. Thanks, Cap'n! I at least have to find an empty to sit on the shelf now. 

In reply to mr2s2000elise :

I was actually shopping S2k's before my layoff. :D Oh, those cars..