Ok here it is the write-up everyone has been dying to get for the install of the 4WS on the 3rd generation Prelude.

Now there are a few things you must realize when doing this swap, this might take more that a weekend to do if you’re a novice and have never done work on your car before, also it will be far easier if you have no engine in your bay, such as if your swapping out your engine for one reason or another this will make the install ten times easier, but if you’re hard headed like me then you’re going to make use of some of these ingenious techniques I had to come up with on my own

What parts you will need:
Full 4WS front rack and rear steering rack
Distribution shaft
All brackets and bolt-on housings (especially the unit that the rear steering rack bolts to as well)

What tools you will need:
Socket wrench
Socket sizes 10, 12, 14, 17, 19
Wrench sizes in these assorted flavors as well
Tie rod puller (go to AutoZone and rent this tool it will be 21 bucks but after you’re done with it you get the full amount back, make sure you get a puller not a fork because you will tear the boot and possibly the tie rod apart if you use the fork, the tool should look like a U with a bolt at the bottom of it going through the center of the U)
Needle nose pliers (to get those pesky little pins out)
Hammer
Jack
4 jack stands

Here’s what you’re going to do:

1: remove all four tires and jack the car up on all four stands, at four of the jack points of the car
2: look on the front steering rack and on the left drivers side of the car you should see a splash shield covering all of the racks power steering lines, unbolt this it should be 4 bolts holding it on
3: then get an oil pan and start disconnecting the steering lines; you will need the wrenches 12 and 14 to get all 4 of them off of the rack
4: place the oil pan underneath the now emptying lines
5: now get your hand dandy AutoZone tie rod puller and start taking the tie rods off first remove the pins with your pliers, and then remove the 17 mm nut, then take the puller and set it up to where the pressing bolt is pushing the screw piece out of the socket of the knuckle hub assembly, your going to need the 19mm socket to turn the bolt on the special tool, and after half of a turn take the hammer and tap the tie rod a bit
6: now that you have all the tie rods pressed out of the knuckle hub assembly, take some white out and mark the edge of where the nut is on the steering rod so that you have a reference to go to when you reinstall the tie rods
7: with your wrench 14mm and 17mm or if they are both the same improvise, take the tie rods off the front steering rack this will simplify the removal
8: now go to the rear rack and remove the 4 big 14mm bolts that hold the unit to the chassis, it should drop down real easily
9: now before you disconnect the steering wheel from the steering rack make sure you turn the wheel al the way to the right
10: now unbolt the two brackets that bolt your sway bar to the chassis it should be 2 12 mm bolts on each side
11: now going through the top of the car locate the elbow with the two 10mm bolts that hold the steering rack to the steering gear box, pull both these bolts out and pull the elbow either up or down till it is out of the way and disconnected
12: now unbolt the steering rack from the chassis, which is held on by two brackets with 12 or 14mm bolts holding it to the chassis
13: this is the tricky part first you need to pull the rack to the driver side now that it is loose and slide the passengers side rod out of the hole then you slide the rack to the far passengers sides and slide the rack out of the drivers side hole

Great we now have the front rack out, pat yourself on the back, and if you’re curious like I am disassemble it and marvel at how well Honda makes a steering rack

1: start by looking under the chassis of the car in the area where the rear rack will bolt to the chassis, what we are looking for is a piece of reinforced chassis, basically a metal bar about 3-4 inches wide and 6-7 inches long, that will hinder you from just simply bolting the rear rack to the car, once you have found this I want you to take a knife or some kind of scraper, and scrape away at the edges of this metal piece so you can see the outline and see where they weld the piece to the car
2: once you have done this take a drill and drill the welds out, or if your extreme you can cut a hole big enough to go through the chassis into the compartment area of the car and then get your neighbors Sawzall and cut that sucker out of there, me personally I cut my hole tire well out along with the metal piece, this not only saves me weight but allowed me to bolt a piece of sheet metal over the huge gaping hole and bolt and fiber glass the edges to keep it from rusting the chassis itself

I never said this was going to be easy by the way, for this next set of steps this will be the determining factor on how difficult your life is going to be I am going to write this with either the engine in the engine bay and one with the engine out

If you are doing this with an engine in the way then:
1: find your gas tank in the rear of it you see two hooks with bolts on the ends of them holding it to the chassis get your jack and raise it to where it supports the gas tank, now undo the bolts and remove the hooks
2: get your distribution shaft into the hole above the gas tank, and make sure there are no attached elbows to the piece, and lower the gas tank accordingly so the shaft will pass through, I am telling you this is going to take some elbow grease to accomplish, you’re going to have to force it through, now your going to get it about half way and you’re going to run into the bolts that stick out under the car that bolt your shifter to the chassis, just maneuver the shaft past this, by now you’re sweaty and got the shaft through. Good

Now if you have the engine out of the car:
1: damn fool this is easy just slide it on in there from the front

Here is the rest you’ve been waiting for:
1: center the rear steering rack, this is no exact science just try to figure out how many rotations it takes to go from full left to right and then divide it in half and try that, it worked for me and besides you have a 1 in 360 chance of really screwing it up because the spline has a hump in it for where you attach the elbow that attaches to the distribution shaft
2: install the front rack in reverse order you removed it, make sure you have the rack turned in the max direction you had on your 2WS rack, this makes things easy remember
3: make now attach the rack to the elbow that goes to the steering wheel and center the rack, unfortunately this isn’t going to be exact just use your best judgment for now
4: then attach the distribution shaft to the rear rack
5: now this is going to come as a surprise your going to notice an extra hose coming from the passengers side of the front rack now what your going to need to do is go online like here ( http://www.hondaautomotiveparts.com/auto....S-PIPES ) and purchase part number 46 this is the part you will have to replace, if you look in the diagram you will see where it goes and how to hook it up, this is essential in the install if you like the idea of having power steering in your Prelude
6: now reverse order your removal and whallaaahhh, you now have a fully functioning 4WS system, pretty soon I will be adding a LSD and this will really make this system shine

Good luck and have fun with your Prelude
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