Turbo M111K Engine Gives Honda Prelude Drift Car RWD & Extra Boost
Let’s reiterate: Rear-wheel-drive Honda drift car with a Mercedes motor. Now say that again, but slowly.
We’ve seen some incredibly well done cars that undeniably fall in the category of “built not bought,” but after seeing this video by YouTubers Hoonigan, that list has just increased by one. Hondas aren’t typically covered here on MBWorld, but this one deserves a special mention due to its conversion to rear wheel drive, and use of an M111K engine. Except that “K” should be a “T” now.
Found in Poland, this Prelude started off FWD like every other prelude, but it’s owner used a mixture of Opel parts in order to get the correct drive wheels for drifting. Omega parts were mainly used for the rear end, and if you aren’t sure what an Omega is, it was part of GM’s badge-engineering days, and called the Cadillac Catera here in the states. Some Opel Vecta (nee, Saturn L-Series) parts were used in there as well. Astonishingly, under-carriage shots show mostly OEM parts used in the conversion, with nothing really extreme sticking out. If it works, it works. Right?
Under-hood is where most of our attention lies, however. It’s obviously an M111K motor being used under there, but the exact version is lost in a language barrier. Either way, the motor, just like the rest of the build, is rather modest. Boost is made via a turbocharger rather than a supercharger and makes some extra decibles over stock due to a hood-exit dump for the exhaust and wastegate. Pressure of 0.8 bar works out to just under 12psi, giving this motor a claimed 200 horsepower. That’s likely an estimate to the wheels, which is fairly respectable for any M111K motor.
What it proves is that you don’t need 1,000 horsepower in order to go drifting and have fun, but 1,000 horsepower is nice. A fact proven by W202 drift cars, which includes everything from a stock C180 to a full V12 drift car.