Photography by Kevin DiOssi
When you think of rear-wheel-driven Hondas, you think of hacked-up cars with an engine mounted in the rear. It's either that or a cut-up Honda to fit a longitudinally mounted engine. This is one of, if not the only, RWD converted Hondas that keeps the same original engine in its original place.
As Jason Modell was building this turbocharged Prelude, he was quickly approaching 500hp. And that's when he asked himself, "What good is that to the front wheels?" Time and time again, you'll hear people say that Preludes are cool cars, but they should have been rear-wheel-driven. Well, Jason wanted to be the first person in the world to make that happen.
After two and a half years of work, he now has the only RWD Prelude in the world. With Bisimoto's H2B adapter plate, any B-series transmission can be mounted to the Prelude H22A engine. The H2B adapter kit was designed for H22A owners that wanted to use a Civic or Integra transmission. Instead Jason used the kit to mount an AWD transmission from a Honda CR-V. Yes, a Honda transmission and the H22A can stay in its original place, well sort of. To make the transmission work, the H22A had to be raised up 3'', and that meant a custom hood and motor mounts had to be fabricated.
Clearance for the driveshaft wasn't a problem at all. Most Hondas come with a tunnel hump in the floor for the exhaust piping. The driveshaft fit perfectly down the center of the car in the exhaust tunnel. With the tunnel occupied the exhaust had to be rerouted under the car. Flat 3'' tubing was used to construct a new exhaust while giving it a good ground clearance.
Even harder than welding up a rear end, was finding a rear end with the right gearing for the motor and transmission. Somehow Jason found a rear end gearset in Canada, made in 1979 as a concept for Ford Racing. All of this thrown together with tons of custom parts, fabrication, sleepless nights of planning and wrenching and Jason has one of the wildest Preludes on the planet.
Tuning Menu
1998 Honda Prelude
Owner Jason Modell
Hometown Delano, FL
Occupation RWD guy
Power 500hp @ 8400rpm, 460lb-ft
Engine H22A 2.2L inline 4-cylinder; KMS valves and valve springs; ARP head studs; Cometic head gasket; GReddy timing belt; Darton sleeves; Wiseco pistons; Eagle rods; custom motor mounts; custom intake; Blox 70mm throttle-body; Skunk2 intake manifold, cams and gears; HKS sequential blow-off valve; AEM fuel pressure regulator; RC 750cc injectors; custom trunk fuel cell; custom turbo manifold; Garret T3/T04E hybrid turbo; TiAL wastegate; 3'' piping; Hondata intake gasket; carbon Kevlar spark plug cover; S&B 12'' filter; HKS muffler; Dynatech exhaust cone; Blitz blow-off valve; AEM fuel rail and fuel pressure regulator; ASA Fuel Safe cell; KMS valvetrain; Griffin radiator; aluminum 5.5 quart oil pan; Kaizenspeed balance shaft deletion kit; port and polished head
Divetrain Bisimoto H2B adapter kit; 2000 Honda CR-V transmission, starter, clutch master cylinder, speed sensor, shifter box and shifter cables; Competition clutch; Yellow Box speedometer recalibrator; welded differential; 8.8 rear end; 2.10 gears from 8.5'' Ford; Trac-Loc with carbon clutches
Engine Management P28 OBD1 ECU, GReddy PRofec
Footwork & Chassis Tokico springs and struts; Tanabe front sway bar; custom rear suspension with 3-link and panhard bar
Brakes EBC slotted front rotors; Brake Motive cross-drilled rear rotors
Wheels & Tires Tenzo R rims 18x8'' (front) 18x10'' (rear); Nitto
Invo tires 225/40ZR17 (front),
275/40/ZR17 (rear)
Eterior Vintage Burgundy Metallic TCP Global paint; black painted roof and engine bay; vertical door kit; painted side skirts and rear lip; custom wide cowl hood; frenched in gas door
Interior Auto Meter gauge pod and gauges; Skunk2 shift knob; JDM leather shift boot; custom fiberglass console; Autopower rollbar; G-Force harness; Momo floor plates and seats;
Audio Panasonic DVD; Pioneer speakers; custom fiberglass sub enclosure; 15'' Polk Momo sub; Kenwood 1000-watt amp; Rockford Fosgate wiring
www.aempower.com,
www.arp-bolts.com,
www.autometer.com,
www.bisimoto.com,
www.dartonsleeves.com,
www.eaglerod.com,
www.ebcbrakes.com,
www.greddy.com,
www.hksusa.com,
www.honda-performance.com,
www.hondata.com,
www.kstuned.com ,
www.tialsport.com,
www.turbobygarrett.com,
www.wiseco.com