The stock suspension is quite good already. However, lower the car properly will involve some modifications. There are a few options depending on the goal you're setting for. Cutting off the stock springs, like it was done on my second Prelude, is of course a big no-no.

The stock front suspension. It's a double wishbone setup, recognised by the extra upper control arm. This suspension is the same on both the EX and the 16-valve versions. However, the brake discs and calipers on the EX are substantially smaller. For now, I'll just mount the discs and calipers of my old 16-valve car and worry about big brake upgrades later. Everything looks a little dirty and rusty right now, but that's of course going to change.

The rear suspension is double wishbone as well. A known problem with these setups is the drying out and brakedown of the upper control arm bushings. So these will be replaced by aftermarket ones from Orijin Motorsports which are stiffer and higher quality than stock rubber bushings. This wheel well too has yet to be treated with underbody coating. By the way, the rear brakes are equal on both the EX and the 16-valve cars.

Beside you see the stock suspension. The left one is for the rear, the right one for the front. The stock shocks aren't that bad, but if you want to lower your Prelude more than 4 centimeters, it's wiser to go for uprated 'sports' dampers. I've driven with Eibach lowering springs and stock shocks for almost 2 years. I was quite pleased with the combination and the car handled very well. But my Prelude was lowered about 4 centimeters then, and now I want to go even lower, so I'll upgrade the dampers as well.

Recently I ordered a set of Tokico shocks in the US. They are fairly stiff and combined with a set of coilovers will make an ideal combination. Various brands offer coilovers, I'll take the Groundcontrols. With this set you can lower the car 9 centimeters (as long as the wheels still fit the wells) and this is no problem for the Tokico's. The dampers in the photo on the left are examples, they are not the actual Prelude shocks.

A look under the car. I already took off the fuel tank here. You can clearly see the hole (above the exhaust) where the shaft between the front and rear rack and pinion runs through. The rear suspension of the 2-wheel steering Prelude has to be replaced by the rear suspension of a 4-wheel steering one, because an extra subframe has to be mounted onto it which carries the rear rack and pinion.

This is the subframe where the rear rack and pinion will be mounted on. It's quite rusted and looks awful. That's why I'm having this part sandblasted and powdercoated. After this proces the rust definitely won't return, and the part will look like new. This won't be the only part I'm having powdercoated.

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The Tokico shocks have arrived from America. The external shape is equal to the OEM Honda shocks. Unfortunately I won't be able to tell how they feel for some time to come... it's going to take some time before I can mount them. However, after a lot of research on various American Prelude forums, I've come to the conclusion that with these shocks, in combination with a set of coilovers, the car will handle like a dream.

For the front arm some parts have to be transferred from the stock shocks onto the Tokicos. One of them is the lower part, the 'fork'. It's easily detached by unbolting one bolt, if it's not rusted stuck. Before I mount this fork to the new shock, it'll be powdercoated first.

Front shocks with topmounts and coated forks.