We won't deny it. Our industry is a boy's world: Women are objectified, "what's grosser than gross?" jokes run rampant, and talk about getting laid is a necessity, not an option. Since we were kids, we've been conditioned to play with cars, look up girls' skirts, and play with G.I. Joe, not Barbie. Of course, this is a societal flaw that we'll leave to sociologists and bedwetting pro-feminists to explore. But it doesn't change the fact that we are, in other words, a bunch of jackasses. So when a woman starts crossing worlds and getting the underside of her fingernails dirty, we tend to take notice. Take Danica Patrick, Jonathan Wong, and this month's Final Call alumnus, Carol Mak, as examples.
Danica is taking over the IRL (and receiving unnecessary heat for it), Jonathan is beginning to hide her ovaries (see Project 2Fizzle in this issue), and Carol is a more certified tuner than perhaps 90 percent of our readers (and staffers - JN) with her '98 supercharged Honda Prelude. All of them done crossed the line and, damnit, good for them. So before we talk more about Carol's Prelude, let's get the essentials out of the way: 1. Jessica Alba has the nicest set of tiddies we've ever seen. 2. Jessica Alba looks hotter as a blonde than a brunette. 3. We'd give our left nuts to smell everything pink from Jessica Alba's body. Rawr! Now back to our regularly scheduled program.
Carol purchased her Prelude over five years ago. It was the first ride to validate her driver's license, and it was the car that motivated her to start modifying. "When I first got the Prelude, I started off small with rims and a body kit," explains Carol, "Then I really got into the scene and took it as a hobby that eventually turned into a passion." This process of transforming her Prelude into a show- and race-ready vehicle also led her to pursuing a degree in Engineering at Cal Poly Pomona (Please don't start stalking her. Leave that to experts like us).
The car was originally an automatic. The post-op tranny change to manual was owed to the addition of the Jackson Racing supercharger. Once Carol added the charger, she was faced with problems like finding a good EMS to work with the automatic ECU, so she contacted Speed Factory in La Puente, California, to help swap the girlie automatic out. The switch also paved the way for other mods like an ACT 6-puck clutch, JUN flywheel, and KAAZ 1.5-way LSD. All of which gets the H22 engine to transfer power correctly.
Under the hood, Carol added the Jackson Racing supercharger to provide power in the low end, helping the car run a dyno-proven 250 hp at 6,500 rpm. While the charger is streaming 9 lbs. of boost, a set of 550cc RC Engineering fuel injectors and an AEM fuel rail work on the fuel delivery. The gases formed from the combination of air and fuel is all directed to the Hytech full exhaust system, from headers to catalytic converter to the exhaust pipes. She even added some JDM soul to the powerplant with a Mugen fan switch, Cusco oil catch run, and some Mugen beautifying goodies. It's H22 mayhem at its finest.
Making sure the Prelude hits its marks on the road and track, Carol added a set of JIC FLT-A2 coilovers, lowering the front 1.75 inches and the rear 1.5 inches. She also used a 25mm Suspension Techniques front stabilizer bar and 27mm Progress rear stabilizer bar with adjustable endlinks to prevent the chassis from swaying. All of which work closely with the high-quality 17x7-inch Mugen MF10 mirror-face wheels, gift wrapped with rice-sticky Bridgestone S0-3 tires. To help stop the MF10s from rolling, a set of hybrid brake setups (NSX calipers with Spoon slotted rotors in the front and stock calipers with Rotora slotted rotors in the rear) use their clamping power to stop on the dime.