89 Prelude HMT!
 

I know not many people actually still work on these cars but I figure I might as well make this thing fun to drive.

That said I can't decide what kind of turbo to use on the car. Everything else is decided but I need to pick a turbo.

Think 14b or a T3.
Car is a daily driver, driven a lot and driven hard. Not gonna push more then 8-9psi, not worried about too much about power off the line but would like to be boosting by 3000rpm.
Which turbo should I use?

Re:89 Prelude HMT!
 

dont people have a hard time finding manifolds for these?

and any turbo will be fine. enie-meanie-miney-mo it. :P

Re:89 Prelude HMT!
 

are these the ones that come with the b20a5?......for that size I'd go with the bigger T3

Re:89 Prelude HMT!
 

Yup it's a B20A5.

What kinda car should I pluck the T3 from? A/R size?

If I can't find a manifold I'll fab something up.

Re:89 Prelude HMT!
 

T3 .60 compressor, .48 turbine

Re:89 Prelude HMT!
 

bigger t3s come out of ford thunderbirds and not sure of any other

Re:89 Prelude HMT!
 

volvo 740 and 760 turbo's are t3 60 trim .42/.48 AR

Re:89 Prelude HMT!
 

i used to an 89 prelude with the b20a5 motor...i turbocharged it with a 14b...it was too small. a straight t3 is whatcha need. the 14b started feeling like it was out of power at around 5500 rpms...later upgraded to a t3 .48 a/r and it pulled nicely all the way to 6750. you wont find a manifold anywhere, your best bet is preludepower.com...i think there is a guy who is making manifolds for ppl at around 225 with t3 flanges. if you dont get his manifold then go to a local metal shop and they can make you one really easy. the hard part is tuning the bitch...you will need to upgrade your ecu to OBD1 and make a conversion harness and have the obd1 ecu chipped for uberdata and then dyno tuned....dont go cheap on electronics..pay the money to tune it right...your motor will thank you...if you have paitience and common sense then you will be able to make it work...otherwise i would pay someone else to make a harness and chip the ecu for you...i made one...but i sold it with the car when i got the civic....was it fast...yeah...had mad torque also...i smoked all sorts of v8's left and right...but i seen more potential with my b18 ef9 chassis i bought....have fun boosting...oh and i ran 10psi daily driven...it wont blow as long as its tuned right.

louie

Re:89 Prelude HMT!
 

fook most volvo/saab/dodge T3s are 50 trim i believe (.42 ar)

Re:89 Prelude HMT!
 

I'll look for a 60 trim T3.

uncle_louie: Thanks for the info man. I'm a member of preludepower.com and I'm talking to one guy about a manifold.
I'll be converting the car to odb1 and running a PR4 ecu come spring. I'm gonna tune with uberdata as I want the car to run good and strong.

Re:89 Prelude HMT!
 

buy a civic or a rex so you can get replacement engines from years all they way up to 2000. i had an accord with the a20a2 and hated it even after i put a new engine in it. some pics of me changing out www.biggmike.net

Re:89 Prelude HMT!
 

I'll keep my lude, I like it more then Civics. I've actually got some options on this car.

Plus I've already had an EG and I don't wanna have the same car as everyone else.

Re:89 Prelude HMT!
 

then get a ek hatch like me. they are pretty rare i only see one like every two weeks or more.

Re:89 Prelude HMT!
 

I see civics everyday....egs...efs...eks...eps...all of them look the bloody same to me and don't do a damn thing for me.
I like my lude....it's got all the power options that no hatchback has (minus the new Si but that a minivan). Plus it's a little more orginal.

Re:89 Prelude HMT!
 

3rd gen ludes are one of a kind...owners are proud of them even though they dont have N/A potential. But who gives a rats ass about N/A. We all agree boost is better. The b20a5 actually can be built to be one badass motor. I know because ive built many and done turbo swaps for people. I helped one guy here local build his motor with aftermarket rods/pistons and he had it sleeved with some mild cams that roared to 7k rpms. He ended up around 380whp. I forgot how much boost it was running but it was insane. 60 trim is gonna spool up late and reach full boost even later...you will like it only because u would be boosted. but you wont like how it fully spools up around 4k rpms...not much a band there from 4k to 6500.

Re:89 Prelude HMT!
 

power options = weight
but i guess you dont care cause those ludes are heavy.

Re:89 Prelude HMT!
 

My EG was a DX, gutted interior...etc.

I honestly grew out of that stage of having a car like that for a daily driver. If I could afford 2 cars then I would have a problem with one of them being gutted.

Louie: again, thanks for the info man.