finally there s a type r powered honda preludeWhen Honda finally pulled the sheet off the new Prelude and confirmed its factory output, enthusiast excitement took a fast nose-dive into disappointment. A legendary badge once famous for high-revving, light-on-its-feet sports coupes had been revived as a 200-horsepower hybrid making 232 lb-ft of torque-and paired exclusively with an automatic setup.Enter the tuning crew at Throtl. Teaming up with Idemitsu Lubricants, the builders decided to fix Honda's tame factory spec by dropping in the turbocharged 2.0-liter K20C1 four-cylinder and six-speed manual transmission straight out of an FL5 Civic Type R. The result is a 315-hp, stick-shift Prelude that delivers the high-performance muscle Honda left on the table.Civic Bones Make for a Surprisingly Clean SwapBecause the modern Civic and Prelude share a lot of the same underlying architecture, shoehorning the Type R's running gear into the sleek two-door chassis was surprisingly straightforward.Related VideoThe build team stripped out the Prelude's factory hybrid hardware, stock engine, and interior before getting to work on the swap. The firewalls between the two cars are nearly identical, allowing the Type R's dash bar, wiring harness, and interior trim to bolt into the Prelude with only a couple of rivnuts for modifications. Most of the stock brake and fuel lines remained untouched, though the high-boost K20 motor required the Type R's high-pressure fuel pump and dedicated fuel lines.That isn't to say it was a total plug-and-play job. The team fabricated custom brackets to mount the Civic's brake booster and clutch master cylinder, drilled the floor pan to route the manual shifter cables, and used custom billet engine mounts from Hasport to get the engine sitting at the correct height and angle.The Type R-swapped Prelude already starts, drives, and shifts through all six gears under its own power, but the build still has a few electronic kinks to work out. During its maiden test drive, the engine hit a hard rev limiter around 4,500 rpm, signaling that the Civic ECU isn't entirely happy with its new body swap just yet.Throtl plans to officially show off the finished build at SEMA 2026.Become an AutoGuide insider. Get the latest from the automotive world first by subscribing to our newsletter.