Building a 2026 Honda Prelude Type R

This is the 2026 Honda Prelude. Or at least it was. Delivering a whopping 200 horsepower and 232 foot-pounds of torque. That is not enough. So we completely stripped it. In the last video we removed the engine, transmission, hybrid system, and full interior. Because we see the potential this car has. That's why we partnered with Enemies of Lubricant to swap this entire F45 Civic Type R engine and the 6-speed manual transmission into this Prelude. And wait, we also brought my special friend that's going to help us get this job done right. My dear friend, you guys may know him as Honda Power Papi. Remember me from last year? I'm Carlos from Practice Performance in Puerto Rico. You might remember me from the FD project and the Integra AWD that we made last year for the SEMA show. And I'm here, ready to work. We have tons of new parts to completely make this swap and truly make it one of a kind. We've got a pure turbo, drag car tail intake manifold, Hasport motor mount, CSF cooling system, ACT clutch, Seiban goodies, and a ton more. If you want to see this car in person, come and check it out at the Enemies of Lubricant booth at Central Hall at the SEMA show 2026. Where we're going to be having a meet and greet. We also have free t-shirts and some free swags to give out. All the information will be in the link description below on this video. Now we are running out of time. We have a lot of work to do, so let's get to work. The first step will be to swap over the remaining parts from our Civic Type R to our Prelude. Next, we need to install our new clutch and the engine. After we hook up our drivetrain, we need to install our Civic Type R interior into our Prelude. And lastly, we need to test drive our car to make sure it runs. First year or second year? First year only. First year only? Okay. Clack, clack, clack. There you go. What's this guy doing? Who brought this guy here, dude? I'll be straight. Great. It's a hybrid, right? Yeah. All right, now that we have both cars in the lift, there's plenty of stuff that we need to do before we actually start putting the engine in. And one of those things is this. Have you guys noticed? There's an orange cable still in the car, which will no longer be used. This brake system, the fuel line, the masters, the ABS, all that needs to be removed and swapped out from the one from the Type R. So as I'm taking stuff out from here, me and him will tackle that and then we'll tackle the one from the Type R. And then from there, we'll be able to move it here and bolt everything out. Everything should be able to bolt down just as well as it does on the Civic Type R because it looks like almost it's the same chassis when you look at it. So it shouldn't be too hard. It's just time consuming. So we're going to get to work right now. We're bringing in reinforcement. The new ABS plugs are impossible. You got it? You got it. There, my boy got it. Serial was out. You can't trust Puerto Rican, bro. You mean that you're Puerto Rican? Oh, yeah. How come you're only recording Carlos? I've done so much. You haven't recorded me at all. Bro, I don't know what you're talking about. I don't know what you're talking about. I was in there with you, okay? I took two bolts out. You saw me. Uh-huh. Yeah. Exactly. You participated. He's over here taking clips off. Easy day. Why do you always record me trying to take off the airbag sensor? I can never figure this out. No, no, no, no. Don't break it. It's broken. That's a big harness. Bing, bam, boom, bing, bam, bing, ding. Yeah, I don't know about that. That's a massive harness. Man, that took a little bit of time. Took like a while. Look at all the plugs. Look at all the freaking plugs. So I know you guys are going to think like, why are you taking the tank out to remove the fuel pump? Because we have to remove the pressure line that is smaller. So we are taking the fuel set out to put the FL5 pressure line. So we're going to use that space to replace the fuel pump. So we are swapping the fuel pump from the Prelo for the one in the FL5 because it got more pressure. So we need more pressure with the turbo engine. So let's make it happen. All right. We just got done. Carlos just got done swapping both fuel pumps from the FL5 into the Prelo. One of the main things we got to do, like we talked about earlier, is the line in the fuel line from the Prelo is very small compared to the one for the FL5, which is what we need. So we're going to be removing that. And we also got my good friend, Brian from Hasport, showed up because he's actually doing the same swap. And he brought his big brain of his over here so we can make our life a lot easier. So here we are removing the master cylinder of the clutch because obviously the Prelo is automatic. So we got to make a manual. We need a master cylinder with a clutch line. So we got it. So we got to reuse this in the Prelo. This is the ABS BCA. So we have to remove to put it in the FL5 in the same corner with the lines, with the front lines. This is important. Well, I guess everything here we need. From there, take it out completely. And then this one. And then we have the space to remove the fuel line. That was kind of easy when you're that tall. Bro, that one little clip. Got it. That thing was holding this whole thing together. Damn. We got the main fuse box for the FL5 Type R. We're going to put this one on that chassis. Basically, what we want to know is where the brake booster is located on this firewall. The firewalls are actually identical, other than the fact that they're different holes. So right now, we're trying to determine where the brake booster is. And then we're going to go back, and we're going to actually drill out the holes for the brake booster so that we can mount it in that car. And the brake booster is also going to allow us to know where we need to mount this, which is the clutch. There's no holes for the clutch master in that one. So I actually made a template, a metal template, that we can bolt into where the brake booster goes, and that'll tell us where we need to locate those. What's going to happen is, see, everything lines up. There's just going to be a couple of the pegs. Yeah, because the booster now goes here. Right, right. See, those are a little bit different. Yeah. So you're going to have to poke them through. OK. Poke them through there. And I actually made this to go on the inside. This is where the brake booster is going to bolt to. This one hole out here is there because it needs to be able to reach out for the brake booster before bolting. As you can see, Brian from Hasbro brought a plate that allowed us to center and actually mount the FL5 brake booster into our prelude, which is amazing that he already went through all that length for us and helped us out get this thing done super quickly without, not wasting, but without us having to do the research. He already did it for us. So thank you, Brian. Obviously, this car is an automatic and we have a gas pedal and a brake pedal. We do not have a clutch here. Now, the FL5 has a clutch and it also has a clutch master, which is what Brian made for us. He actually made a template that goes into the FL5 new hole that we just made for the brake booster. So that will go over here just like this. And once it's bolted down, it actually has the three holes. The three holes needed for us to be able to mount the clutch pedal and the clutch booster all in one spot. So this is amazing. The next thing we need to do is we need to actually take this hole right here and make it oval so that our grommet will work. Yeah, for the wiring. We got a lot of extra holes made. I think we're ready to actually start putting the gas pedal, brake pedal and clutch pedal right now. So we already have the plate done for the brake booster. So now we're going to install the brake booster, then the master cylinder for the clutch and we're supposed to be ready to get the engine inside. My knees hurt, but that's sick. We have the FL5 brake booster in place. Pretty rad, pretty rad. So Papi, here we are putting the FL5 brake lines from the ABS BCA to the caliper. It comes like factory. All right, so this is the ABS sensor out of the Type R. There's actually bolt holes already existing for it. So we just place it in. Now we're attaching the front brake lines to the sensor so that we can then modify these so they connect as well. I got all four calipers on the prelude and as you can see, they look beautiful because it took my time. I cleaned them and I polished them and they look better than brand new. But anyways, the next step for me is going to be this huge harness you see here. This is the engine compartment harness. This is going to take care of the headlights, the firewall, the main fuse box, the relays, everything that's going to be able to send the power to the engine and the rest of the car. So let's start putting that on. So before we drop this engine to the prelude, we have to change the clutch and here we got a stage one ACT clutch because we are looking for more power. So this can handle the power that we're looking for in this engine in the prelude. So let's go back to work and put this clutch in the engine. I should have not done that. Okay, in this car, when you're going to change the flywheel, if you see the factory flywheel is bigger in the center than the ACT and the aftermarket flywheels. So they bring you the new bolts. So you have the exact fit. If you use the factory one, they're going to be too long. So we're going to replace the factory one with the one that ACT give you in the kit for the stage one clutch. And we're going to put a little bit of Loctite and then tie it to the torque that they recommended. And we're ready to put the new clutch. Okay, it's back on. So let's take this engine to the prelude. We have the full engine bay harness installed, fuse box and relay, all the bolts, all the grounds, the brake system, the ABS. It is time for us to actually put the motor back in this car and put some axles in and keep going because we still have a lot of work to do. All right, guys, getting ready for the money shot. We're going to put this engine in. Yeah. I can't wait. So the reason I'm here is I'm with Hassport. Hassport has designed a mount kit to put this in the car. And for the most part, we could have used stock mounts, but there's a little bit of a difference. So basically this is going to replace the capacitor side. These are going to replace the driver's side. And look at the difference right here. If you look right here, see that? See the length, how much taller this is. Oh, the angle is different too. Yeah, angle's a little bit different as well. Oh, so it doesn't even compare. Yeah, yeah. So it wasn't really viable to modify these for the car. So we just made a mount kit for it. Yeah, one of the best things that I know about Hassport and their mounts is like they're made out of billet. They look beautiful. And if you ever think about doing any engine swap to any Honda, you have to go with my boy Brian at Hassport because you've been doing this for 28 years. 28 years. I had the privilege to go visit his shop and it is amazing. One of the things I noticed that you guys do lifetime warranty on your mounts. Yeah, we do. Which is great. All right, it's time for us to put this thing on the engine. One of the things I noticed that you already have hooks. Yeah, when we were developing these for Honda racing way back in the day, they wanted a nice convenient way to lift the engine in and out of the car because they'll do it at the racetrack quite often. We put this little hook in there and it didn't interfere with the air box or anything. So it worked out really well. So I like that. So let's put your mounts on. Yeah. Accessories are going to go in first right before we drop the engine in because it makes it so much easier to save us a lot of time. Let's get it done. Civic Type R engine inside of a Honda Prius. Crazy. Oh, sorry, Brian. You got to take it out. It's upside down. What? Your name is upside down. I know the mount doesn't matter. Did I put it in backwards? Oh, I sure as **** did. Yeah, you did. We're not doing that here. We're going to make sure his name is the way it's supposed to be. Yeah, I'm not taking that out. All three hats for the motor mount is on. This thing is not going anywhere. Let's bring it down. I want to put the red valve cover cover on and I want to show you guys the finished product. It is officially on. The Civic Type R engine is on a 2026 Prelude, which is now became a Prelude Type R. Crazy to see. And you know, without this red valve cover, nobody would even know what kind of engine it is. This is what literally makes it pop and what everybody recognizes. And it looks amazing. The clutch has been bled so old for calipers. We put the stock wheels back on because this thing is ready to get off the lift. We're going to push it forward, open both doors, and the interior is going to start going in very quickly. So let's get to it. So you're taking the Civic Type R dashboard bar and that is the whole thing, the whole Civic Type R assembly going into the car. So the car will think it's a Civic Type R. Correct. We're going to test the brakes. Watch out, Brian. Oh yeah, we got brakes for sure, baby. Brakes work. All right, next up, we are going to be grabbing the Civic Type R dashboard with all the harness that goes with it. And we're going to bolt this thing down. We also got to bolt down the ECU, the sound system amplifier, everything else that goes attached to all these harness kits. So we got a lot of work to do. I have no idea how it's working. We've gone as far as putting the dashboard and plug everything that we could in so far. And one of the main things that needs to happen that Carlos reminded me is like, we need to drill the hole for the shifting cables to go through for the six-speed transmission. Now, I already have this marked here and I know exactly where to cut. And as you can see on the Civic Type R, I'm going to show you the hole that I'm talking about. This is the hole that we need to drill and cut out in order for the shifting cables to go through and be attached to the transmission. And we actually have a working shifter. So let's get it done. I placed the shifter where it goes. And if you notice, these holes right here in the front, they fit right up and they bolt in. Now, the ones in the back, we have no provisions for it. So I'm going to mark this. I'm going to drill a hole. I'm going to rivnut it with M6s and then we'll be able to bolt it in just like the factory does. What's up, baby? All right, now we're going to push up the seal up here, seal everything from the environment and then hook up the cables to the actual transmission. Carlitos just got done plugging in both of the cables to the transmission and check this out. Bro, this is crazy. We got a clutch pedal, a small brake pedal and a 6-speed transmission installed on a 2026 Prelude, which is insane. This is the perfect Prelude now. Oh yeah, this is what it was missing. I almost had a heart attack right now. All right, let's go. All right, next up is going to be the entire dash and center console. We're going to start with the upper part of the dash because there's a bunch of, there's a few stuff that we got to plug into. So we're going to start there and then keep going our way down. All right, the center stereo dash is going to go on, which is the display and then the cover that goes right behind it. Is this the side of the bar lineup? Everything lines up. Everything bolts in. Is that completely interior of the type bar? We have it. The only thing we've done is those two rigs now. So other than that, everything bolts out like a full stock. Watch it. All right, display, it's on. Let's do the gauge cluster now. All right, we have the steering wheel column here. Now this one, it happens to be locked and this is the one that came out of the crash type bar. So I don't know if that's why, but the prelude is not locked. It's actually loose. The only difference is that this one has this box here and there is a plug that goes into here. So I do not want to run into a chance that something's going to go wrong. So I'm going to put the type bar because this is an entire type bar system. So here we go. We think we have enough stuff plugged in and put together for us to actually, or either give a power or go for the first start. So I have a battery that I found here. I'm going to drop it right here somewhere in the middle. We're going to hook it up and then safely, we're going to key on two to see what that does first. And then we'll probably go for first start. Let's do it. All the lights turned on. Yeah, we got light. Oh wow, that's sick. And the start button is light up. So where's the FL5 key? This is crazy, bro. It's crazy. Like in the complete FL5 in a prelude, crazy. That is the FL5 key from the Civic Type R that is controlling this entire car right now. So the moment of truth, we got the key from the FL5. So let's see if this will work. Right there. All right, that's amazing. The AC turned off. No way. Is there a power button? Uh, I don't know. Bro, what? The steering's moving. Yeah, but the steering's moving now. Bro, this is Type R stuff inside. Let's see if we got music. We don't have the antenna. All right, so clutch on and then start. Let me show you on neutral. Something is missing. Damn. All right, well, at least we'll make a very good step. All the dash stuff is working, which means we plugged everything correctly. We have power. It's reading everything. The stereo seems to be working, so that's good. So we're going to diagnose to see what else is missing. I'm probably going to call Brian, see what else we're missing, and then we'll keep going. Missing plug? Yeah, but the... Okay, it's in the AC. Yeah, I already see where it's going. All right, we believe we have everything plugged in, everything necessary to start this car. I actually talked to Brian and I took a bunch of pictures. This is exactly what he had on when he started it. So this should work. We did one harness that we used from the Prelude. It plugged in, but it wasn't working. So when we switched to the Civic Type R harness, which it was damaged, I fixed it, put it back in here. And now we're about to see if we have something different. If we have AC controller working, then that's already an improvement because it wasn't working yesterday. All right, crank it. See what it does. We got oil. That was an improvement. Didn't do that yesterday. Just cranked. All right, well, didn't do that yesterday. Let's go. Well, 2026 Prelude with a Civic Type R engine. Insane. Well, I really wanted this to be able to start. Now that that's done, I guess we can assemble the rest of the interior because we don't really need to do anything inside. The only thing that we need to mess with is the engine bay, but I really want to get the interior done and then we'll keep going from there. We got the interior almost completed. This is everything that we have here, minus the seats, right? So we have the full dash, full center console, slick speed transmission, brake, clutch, and gas pedal. We have the red carpet from the F05 Civic Type R. And man, this thing is looking amazing. Now the door panels are still at SOS Customs and they're getting that black suede with the red stitching like the Civic Type R has. The rear seats, even though they come black in the Civic Type R, we wanted them red, so it's going to match the front seats as well. And yeah, after that, we should be able to have the interior fully completed. Now let me show you the engine. As you notice in the engine bay, once we started, the car used to turn off right away. And that's because we discovered that the intercooler pipe needed to be in in order for the map to be able to do its job. So we put the Civic Type R front mount intercooler and then we made some ghetto-fab intercooler piping just for now. And then now we can start the car. The car will stay idle. We can actually rev it and it sounds amazing. I have both of the Type R seats and a small little Carlitos here. You're ready. We're ready. The inside of the carpet is fully clean. It's time for us to put these things on. It should be pretty simple. Oh, we do have to pull the harness from the floor. So we'll do that and then we'll throw the seats in there. Four bolts, a couple of plugs, and we'll be all set. Man, she's ready to go now. Insane, bro. So the moment of truth is here. Let's see if this car moves by its own power. So cool how it starts right off, dude. Idle is perfect. Like from the factory. 1,500 and then it starts going down. Oh, yes. Everything is working. Dude, this is sick. So insane. Even the e-brake, we figured out how to work it. It is time to put oil in our car and a friend from Irimitsu are going to help us out. Irimitsu has been a big part of us for many years. From helping us build that all-wheel drive Integra to restoring an MR2 engine. Their motto, the heart of technology, really encompasses how they push the boundaries what's possible with motor oil. Not only do we use this throttle, but this is a favorite among rotary enthusiasts like myself. For me, I have a few rotaries and this is all I use. For this motor, we're going to be using Irimitsu IFG3-5W30 and for our gearbox, we're going to be using Irimitsu gear oil 75W90. All right, now that we have our motor oil in, our gear oil in, it is time for us to put the radiator, radiator hoses and connect the fan. It is time to install the radiator to see if the coolant runs and then take out the car for a test drive. All right, we got cooler in there. Now we got to wait to see if the fans, if the engine gets to temperature, the fan should turn on and then it should turn off by itself once it gets to a certain temperature. So if it does that, we should be ready to take it to the parking lot, take it for a quick test drive and make sure that everything's functioning correctly. Fan is on. That's awesome. Yep, that thing is hot. Hoses are hot. No, keep it on. All right, so now we wait for the fan to turn off and if it turns off, then we are ready to go for a test drive. Bam! All right, coolant is all done. Everything is bled. We also break the brake system one more time because it was kind of spongy and it is time for us to take it around the parking lot. Oh my God! Definitely have to look into this power steering stuff because it was working before. But one thing we didn't do, we didn't change the power steering rack because it is the same exact one to include the plugs, to include everything. So I'm hoping the Prelude and the Type R is the same thing but right now it's not working. Bro, this is sick. We are driving a 2026 Prelude with a Civic Type R engine, stick shift, six-speed. This is insane right now. Oh shoot! This is so hard to drive. All right, it is definitely on limbo because it's not letting me pass that speed. So we need to figure out what's happening. Yeah, it's not letting me pass 4,500 and it cuts. It doesn't cut off, it just stops me from going any further. So we ain't boosting, that's for sure. But this is progress. The first time we started it wouldn't idle, now it's idling. You can hear the boost boosting. It's just something stopping it from going faster but we're getting there baby, come on. Well, there you have it. She moves, she stops, she shifts gears. This is awesome. We're about to put the last exterior pieces from our Prelude Type R. We have the stock front bumper, the stock rear bumper and the headlights. And man, one of the main things we're missing is the hood of course and the trunk. Sebat is making one-off piece for our car and it's gonna look so freaking good. So let's finalize our sleeper Prelude Type R. Let's go to work. Man, this thing is actually coming together. It looks so good. Imagine this car at the SEMA show, no hood like that. Oh, it's gonna look great. Oh whoa, that's a Prelude? Whoa, that's a Type R engine? What? We need to put the cowl, the wiper blades on so we can complete it. It's gonna look so sick. From factory. It looks like from factory. It is. Honda Power Puppy Factory. Oh sick, you got the nuts for this? I don't know. Of course I have it. Oh okay. This is it. This is the end of the episode and man, we had a lot of fun together. We grabbed a 2026 Honda Prelude and we put a Civic Type R engine, six-speed transmission. We got the e-brake working, the radio working, the dash, everything. This is a lot of work and it's insanely sick. I really love this. I want to say thank you to you, Carlos. Thanks to you. For coming from Puerto Rico, giving us a hand. Every time we have a crazy Honda project, of course, we gotta call Honda Power Puppy to show up and give us a hand, man. So thank you. Was a pleasure for me and was a fun two weeks here playing with this car. And thanks again to you and the guys for having me here for a second year. For sure, man. I'll see you again in CIMA because it's going to be with us at the EDM music booth and I'll see you guys on the next episode. Don't forget, like, comment, and subscribe and I'll see you guys on the next one.