I just wanted to say hey to everyone on the board since i'm new here. I own a 1999 Honda Prelude with a few light mods (not ricey). I've noticed quite a few misconceptions about imports on this board and figured I could take part in some of the conversations. I'm a fan of imports as well as domestics, so i'm pretty impartial when it comes to any kind of car. Here is a site for one of the best performance shops in Albuquerque, New Mexico (where I live). www.solid-technology.com They build most of the fastest street driven imports and domestics here. It's a fine example of domestics and imports in harmony.

 

Alright.

Welcome aboard.

...and it's the import guys creating all the stereotypes. We (members of LS1Tech.com) respect all fast cars in general. Cars such as this however make the world just a little worse off...




edit: My buddy has an '04 Acura TL. I love that car so I'm no import hater. Rice hater definitely.

 

Do you own an LS1?? Here in CT its fast and furious hell, there is no such thing as an import aside from the civic that the average grandma drives, they are all teen driven RICERS slow and annoying, weedwackers...my buddy has a 1988 M3, sweet ride, fast as all hell i respect that, but those damn tin cans and neons? Whats up w/ that?

 

Who are you referring to...me or the noob? If me, I did own an LS1 prior to my '03 Cobra.

 

Sorry, i was askin the Newbie.

 

Welcome to the "LS1Tech" site.... I think.

As for the shop info, that is great but I am in Michigan.

I hope you learn allot about the LS1 engine, then you will want one for the Prelude. Or better yet, get a F-Body.

 

Welcome to the fun, but you'll just have to expect the import bashing...

 

I don't currently own an LS1, but i'm in the process of selling my Prelude for one. I do already know quite a bit about them due to the fact that a fair portion of my friends own them.

 

GOOD CHOICE!!! Selling an import for an LS1 is the best decision someone can make! Good luck w/ that.

 

I don't know if selling an import for an LS1 is the best decision one can make, but it definitely has it's advantages and disadvantages. For example: a large hp/tq gain, but as well a large loss in quality and refinement. But untill I can afford something such as an M car from BMW or an AMG car from Mercedes, this is a great route to take.

 

What's so refined about a prelude If you're looking to own a BMW or Mercedes, then you might as well save up now and skip the "less refined" and "lower quality" Fbods altogether; they might break your bank account having to constantly fix them. Put your money into the Mercedes and we'll put our money into mods. We like Bavarian

 

Well you're right about the hp/tq gain, LS1 can be made fast with little mods, but like any car if you have enough money you can make a shopping cart do 8's.

"...but as well a large loss in quality and refinement." Please, you're going to tell me a Honda has more "quality and refinement?" I don't think so, but everyone will have their own opinions.
Test drive a Vette with a HUD (heads up display) option, and check out all of the gauges it has and then tell me about "quality and refinement."


BTW- WELCOME!






Peace,
Craig.

 

Welcome to the site. Most of us can't understand why someone would start with a 14-16 second front-drive import, and decide to modify it. Preludes, Civics, Accords and similar cars are not performance cars, they are domestic transportation.

Can they be made fast? Sure, with enough money, but usually with huge sacrifices in street manners. Anything can be made fast with enough money, but why start out with a 4-cylinder with a weak drivetrain?

As performance enthusiasts, most people would search for "bang for the buck". To go the fastest for the least amount of money. While some could argue that starting with any late model car is a bad move in that regard, new cars offer the reliability (and sometimes warranty) to go along with performance.

Back when my friends and I were broke-asses in High School, we only cared about performance. Instead of buying new Mustangs we couldn't afford, most of us bought classic cars and V8 pickups. Its sad to see the younger generation blinded by thinking 4-cylinder economy cars are performance cars, and not look back in history to restore more musclecars.

How often do you attend a car show and see someone with a fully restored 1985 Prelude? Do you think in 20 years those Honda Civics will be collector items, that people will leave unrestored? In 30 years, which will be worth more, a clean WS6 Trans Am, or a clean Prelude?

4-cylinder front wheel drive imports have no collectibility value. They are weak starting points for performance. I remember when the sport compact market was just taking off, back in the early 90s. Back then, I even drove a Nissan and read Sport Compact Car. The BIG difference, is back then it wasn't about performance at all, it was simply about customizing the visuals of the cars, and adding stereo systems. Back then, none of my other import-owning buddies cared about performance, we knew our cars were slow as ****. So, we added nice wheels, tasteful body kits, huge stereo systems, etc... to the cars. Hoods were never popped on an import at any car gathering. Why?

But, somehow the movies and media have convinced these kids that Civics are performance cars. I wonder if these kids have ever driven an LS1 V8 rwd car.

 

Hello all, since I'm new here too I decided not to make another "Look at me I'm new!" post and recycle one of the old. I, too, am a newly reborn domestic lover -- coming from the 4 cylinder import world. But before I get onto my new obsession, I need to make a few snap retorts

@ Nine Ball -- I'd end up quoteing too much from your post, so in general: I'll just have to say not all 4 cylinder cars are weak platforms and lose streetability while costing a lot to mod. I'll point you in the direction of my 91 Talon TSi AWD peeking its head into the 11's just before the season ended last year. I drove it to work everyday before I sold it, got 28 MPH, did not require such agressive grind cams so I couldn't idle, wasn't running Nitrous, and didn't have to run on c16. And not to start a flame war, but I was hard pressed to find anything RWD that would keep up with my AWD and it's weak drivetrain doing 6k dumps and no wheel spin on the street/track...short of a high speed run where it became a disadvantage. As for shows, the cars are two different breeds, and have their own followers. Goto an Import show, there's plenty of cars with the hood open, and not many domestics. Can't really expect an Import with a bodykit to show up at the local Lyons Club Classic Memorial Day car show... it's not their enviornment. More or less, car's should be enjoyed by car enthusiests, not die hard "I only like this type of car, and nothing else" individuals. I can appreciate and have respect for a wide variety of automobiles because they're just that, when you take away the manufactuer names, and where they're from, they're all cars. They are all wonderful examples of mechanical genius that we can all take enjoyment in, I think we need to remember that from time to time.

Well, now that my little rant is over... I decided for a change of pace and scenery so now I'm the proud new owner of a Black on black T/A LS1 M6. Just having fun with the Flowmasters that were on the car when I got it. Sounds mean but I'm learning... seems like I'll want to upgrade to a different exhaust setup. Plan to do a whole lot with the car, and yes I'm still at the point where I walk into the garage and random times of the night just to make sure she's still there . Hopefully I'll be able to stick around for awhile and learn a good deal and make some friends!

Nice to meet everyone

 

You are correct, but you will also notice I only stated Front-drive imports. AWD and RWD imports typically have more potential. I'm also a big Supra/300ZX/RX7 fan, which are good platforms to begin with.

Accords, Civics, Tercels, Sentras, and even domestics like the Cavalier or Escorts, are just bad examples of platforms to start with, but there are thousands of them out there being "riced" out.

 

Welcome to the board! I've noticed in my area of Northern VA, we are starting to get more fast (non-riced) imports and less of the shopping cart wings and stickers. Not sure what's causing the trend, but I sure am hearing a lot of blow-off valves on cars that never came with turbos from the factory! Most of them are not modified visually at all, and other's are just doing tasteful exterior mods.

I don't know many of these guys yet though, I just hope they don't have the "ricer" mentality. I am a fan of all fast cars, and can appreciate many types of cars that I may not like.

 

LMAO!

But that is a very good point!








Peace,
Craig.

 

welcome!!! Get ready to go fast!!!!

 

It's true, everyone does have their own opinions. I mean, i'm selling my beloved lude for an LS1. The HUD has absolutely nothing to do with quality or refinement. But, i've driven a 2002 Corvette Z06 with about 10,000 miles on it, and it's a wonderful car. It also is filled with cheap plastic parts and rattles almost all the time. My Prelude is a 1999 with 40K miles and still has yet to have one rattle or loose component anywhere on the car. Look in almost any car magazine, and you will see their beefs with the quality of American muscle. The drivetrains in muscle cars are outstanding, but the engineering of the cars themselves is about 20 years behind foreign companies in my opinion.
In the November 2002 issue of Motor Trend, the magazine states this about the Z06, "You can complain about the Chevy's poorly molded and cheap-looking plastics." Like the Corvette, the F-Body is all about the drivetrain.

 

...hmmm, I've never notice too much rattle in Vette's.

My new beater, 2001 Trans Am with 25,000 miles has NO rattles what so ever, even before I put sub-frame connectors. My SS? Well its too damn loud to hear any rattles.


I think its going to depend on how you treat your car. I have seen all brands of cars with rattles, but they seem to lack a little TLC.


Thats true, they always bitch about something though.


Depends on what car's drivetrains you are talking about, some suck. As far as being 20 years behind? I didn't know Camaro/Firebird's had rack and pinion back in 1984? lol
Read up more, you'd be suprised!


Like I said before all the mag's bitch about something, that "plastic-thing" is all a matter of opinion. Every car has it now, it saves weight over metal.




Peace,
Craig.