BLiu

Hi Guys,

After reading all the "racing" posts this morning, I decided I would like to share an incident that occurred yesterday afternoon on the 405 South near LAX...

It seems there is a stretch after the Century exit to the right where there are two lanes with one extra feeder lane for a total of three lanes. I was following a Honda Prelude SH latest model when the single lane expanded to the three lanes I described. He went right and accelerated and at the same time I went left to pass the slower car in front of me - both going about 60MPH. Once I passed the car I decided to change lanes in front of the slower car and punch it to do a blow by of the Prelude just for fun...NOT. He was about 4 car lengths ahead when I floored it in 4th on the manual mode and accelerated all the way to 110MPH thinking "I am going to reel you in buddy". YOU KNOW WHAT??? I never closed the gap. In fact, I decided it was too unsafe so I started to let up just as it seemed he was PULLING on me.

Now, this car pretty much had a stock exterior. So I doubt he had a turbo in it. Secondly, I am NOT a lousy driver especially when all I had to do was floor it...

All I can say is that if the 'lude did not have a Turbo, then i think I just got my *** handed to me by a freakin' 4banger!!! How disappointing....I kept consoling myself that the GS is heavy and its a luxury car and the 'lude is much lighter and built for high speed acceleration with its rev-happy engine...And if I was in my 300ZXTT that I sold for this car I know I would have been able to close in. But COME ON, it's a freakin' 4 banger and my V8 COULDN'T EVEN CLOSE THE GAP?????

This is a real world story guys so unless someone has answers, I am going to expect this kind of performance from the GS... SIGH...when are we going to get a turbo or SC for this car?....

Brent

RacingAristo

Hm....with your setup, you should have been able to close the gap. Don't know what to say. If you want to have a better launch, TC would definitely help but you won't gain any horsepower or torque on that. Choosing between SC and Turbo, I'd go with SC. Except SRT and RMM, is there any other tuner making SC for GS?

JacobT

Brent,

"Forced induction" is the answer to your question. I bet the 'lude got some kind of Turbo kit on it. We have a Turbo SI here in town that smoked a TransAm very bad. Don't overlook those little ricers.

I've been waiting for SRT SC kit for almost a year now.

mumbles

He could have had a Jackson Racing super charger in the Prelude. For right around $3K you can really make those Preludes run.
Don't feel bad, I'm pretty sure you didn't buy your car to race every Civic or Integra on the road right? There will always be a faster car, or one that handles better, but at the end of the day, ask yourself which one you'd rather be driving home in!

LexusRules

mumbles, very good point

bliu, if you really need more power a TC wont do much for you at speed, but a SC or turbo will... and i'm sure a the prelude has some sort of forced induction because those things dont have enough power and torque to pull itself at high speed, also at high speed weight difference is less noticable because of the momentum your car carries, so i'm pretty sure he was forced induction. Dont feel bad, he wasn't a ricer but he still tuned his car which means you got beat by a good car, its better than being beaton by a POS!

oh well good luck with whatever you do, and dont feel sad!

mooretorque

HAD to have had forced induction.........the 'lude should be running 195 very highend hp if stock. Go back to the original road tests and the actual acceleration numbers just won't explain what happened to you. Preludes have always been good handling cars (at least beginning with the 2nd gen.......the very first was just a rebodied Accord) but until VTEC weren't very quick (tho usually all the power was usable). But you start running into drag coeffiecient/wind resistance issues above 90 mph, and max horsepower should rule.........if he seemed to be pulling, he had to have more in the engine room than he was letting on.

But isn't that the essence of a Q-ship???

Bobcat

I feel your pain man.

I got smoked by a freakin Saab 93 the other day. They make a 235 hp version and the guy had aftermarket wheels so it's possible he had some forced induction on the thing. I was depressed for days.

I want Swift's SC real bad, but I don't have gobs of money laying around for that. Is the SC available for the GS400? Stage 1, 2, 3??? I have been posting on this subject but nobody responds. Maybe we can do a group buy.

chino78

There's no way it was stock. My friend has a 99 prelude with the Jackson SC and he still doesn't stand a chance at higher speeds. He takes me off the line but I catch up and pass him right around 50mph. But on the highway its a joke watching him try to run. I'll give him a jump and a couple of seconds then stomp on it and I'll fly by him. This is from 70mph to 125 or so never really had enough room to do much more.

MrHorse

Don't beat up on a "4-banger." Dave Buschur runs the 1/4 mile in 9 seconds. That's 3 seconds faster than the fastest production Porsche. And, with a 4 cylinder engine.

And yes, he had to have forced induction. A stock Prelude doesn't even crank out 200 horsepower.

If it had a turbo, you'd most likely see some unburnt gas coming out of it's tailpipe (black smoke), especially during shifts. If it was Nitrous, you'd see white smoke (dependent on how much juice he was using). A supercharger generally doesn't create any fumes, yet adds massive power to the engine.

Don't feel bad about being beaten by a 4 cylinder engine. It's not how big it is, but how much HP it produces.

gs300haltech

i am 4 cylinder freak too i got a 9.95 second civic . full race so you really cant judge that 4 banger is just plain slow. With turbo these cars in stock block can produce 280hp with a 2100lb car. so be very very wary.

ivc

I have 94 Prelude SI 4WS which I'm going to sell probably next week... It was a very fun car to drive... I would admit I enjoy more in that car than my current GS when I'm driving crazy. It is nimble have a precise control. But still my GS is so much more comfortable. But nonetheless. my Prelude only has 160HP & 157 TQ, with Greddy cat back, HKS intake...etc... it was quite fast and it pulls until around 120mph... after that it just go up slowly... I raced with my friends Eagle Talon Turbo... which is basically a Mitsubishi Eclipse Turbo... I raced solidly at 135mh which I believe I can still go up a little more, but due to the RPM needle just on top of the red line... I didn't push it further... but it is very stable... and exhilarating... but it doesn't hold a candle to the GS though... I tried to race, my brother being inside the Prelude.... GS wins quite immediately...

D-MAN63

Alot of preludes looks stocked from the outside but inside is a whole new different story. Its a sleeper thats packing some serious heat.

Hey you can't tell until he punches it, but thats cheating anyways. Modify yours then we will have an even competition

BLiu

Thanks guys for commiserating with me!!!!

Don't get me wrong I love 4 bangers modded to hell!!! I am perfectly aware of how they are capable of pulling crazy times!

What I am discouraged about is that this prelude looked fairly stock from the outside and if it really was stock, then the GS has pretty sad performance. If it did have forced induction then it was a real sleeper because it looked stock...I actually wanted to catch up with him and ask him if it was modded or stock but can you imagine if his reply was...NOPE no forced induction...How sad would that be....

What I am really frustrated with is why there are no forced induction solutions on the market today? All we hear about is the "upcoming" SC from RMM and SRT and for 8K to 10K??? The RMM is a similar Vortech unit used on the domestics and those sell for no more than 2500 including everything (ECU and all). I don't want to hear the excuse of R&D costs because that is ridiculous. There are enough interested owners hear that would by a SC kit for half the price and still make money to recoup the R&D costs...And get this...Freakin' TRD builds an SC for a TUNDRA??? and not a GS and there is absolutely no plans for one from TRD - what's up with that???

Can't we just have one company take the risk and market an SC that is affordable for the GS and available soon????

Brent "The Impatient One"

gsintensive

Brent, I can assure you this prelude got turbo kit in the hood. Anywayz, let me share you my prelude kill.

My team crews, (me, mike, ted) were cruizing down in Irvine, there was a white prelude ahead with loud exhaust, so it kinda got to us =D Ted went pass him, and I just followed tailgating him. He noticed that and floor it rite when i switch to the rite lane. by the time he was about switch from 3rd gear to 4th, my car already took off and cut him off infront.

Afterward we pulled over and talk, he has a prelude SH with intake/exchaust/ecu. (that's how i know when I took off during racing) They are pretty cooh guys just cruizing down the road. He was soo sure I had some sorts of TURBO kit in my 430. that is how bad a 430 can smoke a prelude. even a prelde SH with certain fixed up, there is no chance he can pull on you. 400/430 will smoke Prelude inside and out. So get together yourself =D!!

LOTC

It had to have one of the 3 in the holy trinity
(NOS,SC,or Turbo)

I forgot who called it like that but it sounds cool.

Even my old generation LS was pulling on this 00 prelude v-tec at 80 and above.

So for sure it had to have one of the 3 in the holy trinity.