Performance Autoworks Prelude

[Kris!]

Just a few of the latest shots taken of Richy's (Performance Autoworks) Prelude which has been with a pair of guys that worked for prodrive (now own Custom Fabrications).

There is a full build thread which is about 10 pages long ( Nippon Challenge :: View topic - Project S.C.R.A.P ) but here are the latest pics before it goes off for a full respray inside, outside and underneath 8)

Enjoy.................

Ok here we go with a few more pics.
No big dramatic items here really, just lots of finishing touches, connecting wraps and ties etc.

Starting where we left of last time.... the Prelude is belly up for the removal of all of the factory seam sealant, underseal and brackets that are no longer required. Once done the inner arches, chassis rails, floor pan joints, sill joints and boot floor were all seam welded.

N/S/R Inner wheel arch

O/S/F Inner wheel arch. Note also the blanking plates welded in place to cover unwanted access holes on the A-pillar

Underside of new boot floor panel and fabricated rear closure panel of chassis cross member.

Full extent of the seam welding can be seen from this pic. Not to mention a serious amount of underseal treatment that had to be removed. Fair play to Honda though...it's quite clear to see how well the floor pan has been protected. The whole underside will be zinc primed and fully painted to protect it from the elements.

New fabricated front strut tower brace in place. Much much stronger than the old cusco type brace that had lived on the car in recent years.

O/S/F and N/S/F Upper strut tower tubes now fully integrated into the scuttle panel of the body shell. Note that the heater motor intake opening has also been plated up as it will no longer be needed.

The following few pictures show some of the "ties" and "wraps" which have all been fabricated to effectively link all aspects of the cage and bodyshell together. This is done to obviously add further strength but also to spread loads throughout the cage tubework.

Here's the inside view of the boot floor now fully welded into position.

Single skinned floorpan centre tunnel looking much cleaner and now with added gearshifter mounting towers.

Multiskinned bulkhead sections removed and all open unrequired holes plated up.

That's it for now, although I'm sure I'll take some more pics tomorrow when I go up to give the car a final once over before going to the paintshop.
Can't say as I envy the poor buggers who are gonna have to prep and paint the interior ....mind you I've done it before so it is kinda nice to let someone else do it for a change.

I'll try and get some half decent shots of the completed cage before it goes to paint.


As always, thanks for looking 8)

As I type this the car is now sat at the bodyshop that has been arranged by Andy and Simon of Custom Fabrications. The car has been transported there still attached to the spits so that the all the underside can be properly prepped and painted as well as the interior and engine bay.
They will also have to do some work to the passenger rear quarter panel thanks to some last minute additions as you will see from the pics below.



Simon and Andy deep in thought...I'm sure I overheard Simon say "I reckon we're about done"..... I was having none of that so cracked the whip and found some other things I wanted.
I'm sure they hate me now

So I gave them a little list of extra bits to do and left it a few days.

When I got back I found that they'd only gone and blooming finished...or just about anyway :shock:


Fuel filler flap....what a pain in the arse that is.... lets get rid of that then 8)

Aero cap recessed into original fuel flap

Fuel flap spot welded to quarter panel. Gap is bonded before being "finished" at the paint shop.

 

[Kris!]

Rear lower window support cut back as far as possible then both skins joined with 20 gauge swaged steel.

Both chassis "shoulders" lightened. Multiple holes cut and top joint seem reduced by half before stitch welding

Front rad support/cross rail drilled

The big gaping unwanted hole from the OEM airbox feed has been plated. Although weight reduction is important so is a clean finish.

Doors back on and roof temporarily held in position

Full frontal of the finished cage complete with all of its ties, gussets and wraps

Roof temporarily fitted, gives an idea of the closed clam feel.

B-Pillar gusset in place - Not strictly necessary but I'll take any additional strength I can get, plus it adds a certain finishing touch I think.

Full view of finished cage through the passenger door. I'm feeling safer already

Roof off again to get some last shots of the finished build.

Last full overhead shot of the roofless caged Prelude

The last time (hopefully) I'll ever get to see this. Main hoop to roof frame tie. Even the bits you'll never see are carried out to perfection.

Nothing more to do here...other than refit the roof !!

Careful positioning of the roof. The front and rear edges are spot welded but the two sides are bonded using a powerful 3M adhesive.

That's it....job done....once the glue is dry anyway

At this point I heard Andy say "Now are we done?"
The answer to that was "pretty much yes....although...hmmmmmmmm I've got an idea" :wink:

To be continued.............


Oh and just one last random shot of the ever growing pile of discarded Prelude...kind wish I had kept all the piles of metal I've ever removed from the car...now that would be impressive. Might have to do a compilation of pics when I get a minute or two

Bodyshop reckon one and half to two weeks (working around other stuff to reduce costs again).... can't bloody wait to see it all in paint again now 8)[/quote][/quote]

 

[Kris!]

The latest installment

Here we go then boys and girls.... the latest updates.

First and foremost I want to publicly acknowledge the awesome work carried out on this project by

Andy and Simon @ Custom Fabrications - cage, boot floor work, seam welding, etc etc - you've all seen the pics 8)

and

SGM Racepaint in Banbury - awesome work, going above and beyond to get the results you are about to see. Trust me..that shell took some prep work and the finish in the flesh is just amazing :shock: 8)


These pics were from Andy who (along with Simon) has been keeping an eye on things while the car was at SGM

Right, so you've seen the shell in the spray booth all in primer.....well here it is all in primer except for the roof which has now been painted in super smooth deep black 8)

Then on monday and tuesday they finished off the rest of the paintwork.
Here's SGM finishing off the buffing work to the new paintwork.
Aston Martin deep metalic silver, Performance Autoworks Orange, and Custom Fabrications Black.....quite a combination 8)

And now onto the main course. What follows is a selection of the pics I took last night showing some of the highlights and my favourite bits.

I'll not post up all the pictures I took last night (circa 50 of them) but they are all there on my gallery of the build -
Prelude Race Car Build :: Fotopic.Net

I'll also not go into too much detail describing what the picture shows...for the most part the cage and fabrication works have already been detailed during the write up as I've been going along.
There are some bits to talk about all the same 8)

Arrived at CF workshops, this is the sight that I was greeted with.
To say I was gobsmacked is an understatement. I knew the colours and I had a good idea of how it was going to look but even so I was still speachless for a little while

The engine bay has been smoothed, all factory trim and bolt holes covered with adhesive pads, sealed and painted over - this gives it all a nice smooth finish. It's now up to me to uncover the only holes needed during the build.

Check out the quality of the finish to the paint job on the cage and interior. I didn't think it would be possible for it to look this good but the combination of the fabrication quality and the paint finish is simply stunning.

Yep, they even did the hard to reach places with just as much care and attention to get the same level of finish.

This pic shows where the C-pillar weight reduction cut-outs have been aluminum taped before the paintwork was done. This just gives a nicer smoother look to the finish. Might be a little hard to spot so have added a "before" shot as well

My photography skills don't do the paintwork the justice it deserves I'm afraid but here's a couple of examples of the orange and the black roof.
I think it's still fairly obvious to see why I'm so bloody pleased with it

You can see the fuel flap is now a distant memory and is now replaced by the custom recessed panel for the aero filler cap 8)

So did it stop there? Body, interior and engine bay all back looking nice and presentable now.
Hmmm what about the wheel arches then....surely a few layers of black stone chip would do the job eh? Well yes but it wouldn't look as nice as this and the stonechip is a bit heavy
Here's some wheel arch pictures

Front upper chassis legs have received the aluminum tape treatment like the C-pillars. This will stop it all filling up with crud thrown up from the road. Here's a before and after pic to show you what I mean

 

[Kris!]

You've probably guess already but they didn't just stop at the wheel arches. What with all the boot floor and rear chassis x-member fabrication plus of course all the seam welding something had to be done to the underside of the car.... Stonechip? ... Nahhhhh 8)

While I was up there at CF we decided it was as good a time as any to get the front subframe and suspension bolted back into the car so that it could come off the spits permanantly. The suspension will need to come back off the car once it's back at PAW workshop as there are lots of plans for that and it all needs overhauling now anyway.
Anyway, at least now it's sat back on it's own front suspension

And then finally (for now), we just couldn't resist the temptation to get the steering column and seat bolted back in place...and then mock up the rear wheel so we could take a sneaky preview of a more complete look.

Can't tell you how chuffed I am with the way this is turning out... the whole thing started out with the intention of being done "right" but it somehow seems to keep going past my original expectations...and by that I mean everyone that has been involved.... me included


Thanks as usual for looking, any comments, feedback, questions are as usual fully welcomed 8)


Rich[/quote]

 

[Fresh'86]

Damn, that's a lot of hard work put into the car! Looks very promising! I'm going to check back for updates!

 

[olly ek9]

awesome build what motor / spec is he planning on running?

 

[NeilVtec]

thats some seriouse fabricating and really top notch work! Fair play! what engines going in?

 

[KimKen]

i want to me more !!!! ^^

 

[pateras_vtec]

don`t see nothing....

 

[ek9ricer]

wheres d pics?

 

[Mattharvey12]

no pictures

 

[matt o]

i see no pictures!!

 

[blinx9900]

Fail!!

edit: fail fixed

 

[Kris!]

Not really a fail as the pictures where there right from the start, just a small cock-up by fotopic, but they are back for those who didnt see them

 

[babyface]

WOW!
Is the orange the colour scheme mate?
Looks serious!

 

[blinx9900]

Not really a fail as the pictures where there right from the start, just a small cock-up by fotopic, but they are back for those who didnt see them

nice work!

 

[Kris!]

8) Oh yeah

Ok... onwards with the build progress.
Not had much time to spend on t'internet recently for one reason or another so I'm playing catch up a little bit here.

So from the last update there were a few more bits left for Custom Fabrications to do before releasing the car back to me.

Cast your mind back to when I suggested that this item was going to get the weight saving treatment

Well that's the front subframe which has suspension compression struts (sometimes known as traction bars) running to it and also carries the front engine torque mount.
After much thought and discussion we came to the conclusion that rather than mess around trying to save some weight out of the bloody great ugly thing it would be far better just to make a new front end which would be stronger, lighter and incorporate adjustable compression struts. Here's the results in all it's nicely triangulated rose jointed goodliness 8)

As a farewell present to the car the guys went all show and shine to produce this nifty little battery cover. They are also building me a custom oil catch tank which will sit really rather neatly out of the way at the back of the engine bay.

And so with that, it was over to me for it's welcome return home 8)
Time to get a couple of shots that I've not been able to get so far

Here's a reminder of the old rear end view complete with spare wheel well

And here's how it looks now, complete with "nerf" bar to protect the rear floor....something that apparently was common practice in the Super Touring era.

This is the underside of the boot floor/rear chassis now with suspension and subframe in place. This will all need to come apart again for further modification and freshening up of the suspension.

I then couldn't resist the temptation to rest the carbon bonnet in place and quickly fit the bootlid and spoiler back into place...just to get an idea you understand :wink:

Ok so that's where we were at as of Saturday the 5th September.

Now although I've said all along that there will be no rushing and no desperately trying to make it to deadlines there was one that has been looming up and that's Rally Day @ Castle Combe on 19th September.
Ourselves (Performance Autoworks) and Custom Fabrications have a trade stand at this event and we both want my car to be there and built up to a level but the standards have to be high...what a drag :wink:

What with work commitments amongst other things I really wasn't sure how much was going to get done...and more to the point I had to find all the stuff I took off the car and start getting it into some kind of presentable condition to bolt back on :shock:.
I still had/have plenty of plans and ideas of things I want to do during the build up so some things will need to be gone back over after the show.

Anyway...onwards and upwards....... chuffed to bits to have it back home and my god it doesn't half pump up the old enthusiasm 8)

 

[Kris!]

...........and some more

Ok, so we're onto Phase 2 of the update now


To be honest I didn't know where to start so I figured the back end was as good a place as any.
Had a good sort out of all my sets of rear lights (found out I've got a total of 6 pairs :shock, jumbled all the bits up to create the absolute best condition pair I could. Gave them a bloody good clean and then refitted them along with the newly cleaned boot seal.
Decided now was as good a time as any to fit the spangly recessed aero fuel filler and neck - Perfect 8)

Next was to tackle the bootlid. I'd already bolted on the boot spoiler so all I had to do was mount the plastic number plate holder/surround. You may remember that I cut out all of the inner skins of bootlid that once held this piece in place so the best and lightest option was to bond it back in.
You can just make out in the second pic that I left a small section of the original metalwork in place to allow for mounting of number plate lights...I know you don't need them for a race car but all along the plan has always been to get this thing road legal (or near enough anyway :wink, it just makes testing things so much easier.

What next? Well how about some doors?
I was all set to bolt the hinges on and mount the doors when something dawned on me... these hinges are bloody heavy !!
I don't know if anybody here has felt the weight of a fully loaded Prelude door but let me assure you that they are very heavy so obviously Mr Honda needed to ensure it's hinges were suitably heavy duty...fair enough. Thing is my doors are gutted bare so weigh nowhere near as much as they used to...in fact I'd say a third of the weight easy !
I think the following pics tell their own story

Yes that really is 620grams for a bloody door hinge !!

Yes that's 260grams saved per hinge....a bloody kilo in door hinge material...who'd have thought it!

Now compare and contrast 8)

All 4 done, primered and painted

Now we can bolt them on and get them pesky doors hung...what a hateful, fussy, ballache of a job but worth it in the end to get them sat nicely

Figured now was as good a time as any to mount the rear bumper, unwrapped it from it's protective paper which it had sat in since Kris had painted them months ago only to find that the inside of them looked a bit on the messy side - different shades of red, some orange and some black untreated original plastic. Now I know you'll not ever really see that but i know it's there and that wasn't good enough so a nice dusting of satin black later made things so much nicer 8)

While that was drying I thought I'd take a look at the front one....unwrapped it and yep the back inside could do with the same treatment but more importantly the visible black recessed areas were looking pretty tired. Kris did a great job of masking them off previously so all it took was to mask off the surrounding area, a quick going over with a scotch pad and a dusting of satin black to restore to it's former glory

While I had the black paint out I decided I might as well tidy up the rest of the bumper and front end parts such as the nostrils, bumper mounts (previously lightened many years ago), grill mesh, indicators, and fog lamp surrounds (brake ducts).
The indicators are a bit of a tempory thing really as I intend to relocate the indicators upto where the current sidelights are (part of the headlamp). The old indicators will then be replaced with either black painted ally plate or carbon.
Now I know all this stuff is purely cosmetic but I'm only ever gonna do this build once and I want it to look the absolute nuts when it's finished, the whole thing has to be done to a high standard ...that's very important to me.... it also has to look nice :wink:
Once done, the wings and headlamps could be bolted into place using some rather nice lightweight aluminum bolts 8), then the bumper fitted complete with all it's freshened up black fittings

Freshly painted roof rails/trims refitted. That in itself is a real testament to the skill and quality of workmanship from Custom Fabrications - remember, the roof has been removed and refitted on this car yet still the trims fit absolutely perfectly 8)

Ok so I had got to a stage where the bumpers and panels were back in place and looking good, I'd saved some more weight and found a few further areas to save a bit more...what I really wanted to do now was see how the package was going to look on it's race wheels at race height. So it was up in the air, free off and adjust the poor neglected Dampertech/Gaz coilovers, pop the wheels on and drop it off the ramp.

 

[Kris!]

.....and finslly some more

This was about to make or break my enthusiasm and motivation.......:shock:

(apologies for the grainy pics..this all happened around 8.30pm on Sunday evening)

Motivated? Enthused?


Well I smiled alot, said several "Fcuk Yeahs", cracked open a tin of Stella and proceeded to drink it with real enthusiasm......... 8)
I am indeed a happy chap



Oh and first thing this morning I decided to try and get a couple of better pics.
There's something kinda Super Tourer esque about it don't you think?

There are a few more pics on Photos by Richy

And don't forget - This coming Saturday at Castle Combe is the big annual Rally Day event. We'll be there along with Custom Fabrications, The Lude, Kris' race Civic and a rather tasty Old Skool Lancer Turbo...come along and say hello and take a closer look 8)

(And yes Steve, we will be taking some Nippon Challenge flyers along too :wink


As always, thanks for taking an interest.
Questions, feedback, comments are all welcome

 

[CAL]

Very nice