Innovative Mounts 97-01 Prelude Type SH Crossmember Bar

Innovative Mounts 97-01 Prelude Type SH Crossmember Bar

The factory front crossmember on a BB6 Prelude Type SH is the thing standing between your H22A4 and a real header. Anyone who has tried to fit a proper 4-1 or route turbo piping under a fifth gen Prelude has met it. The Innovative Mounts 97-01 Prelude Type SH crossmember bar, part 50111, is a direct replacement for that piece that opens the front of the car up without cutting anything.

What It Is and Why It Works

This is a boxed 4130 chromoly replacement for the stock front crossmember on the 1997-2001 Honda Prelude Type SH, the BB6 chassis, and the JDM SiR S-Spec that shares the same front end. Innovative Mounts CAD designed it and stress analyzed it, and the shape is the entire point: it clears where the OEM crossmember does not, which is what buys you room for aftermarket headers and for downpipe or turbo piping routing that simply will not fit around the factory part.

It is a replacement, not an addition. The stock crossmember comes out, this goes in, and per Innovative Mounts you reuse the factory radius rods and the factory hardware. That matters for two reasons. First, keep those parts when you pull the OEM crossmember, because you need them. Second, it means the front geometry pickup points are still doing their normal job, so this is a clearance part rather than a suspension modification.

Innovative Mounts references a spherical bearing conversion for this crossmember in their catalog text, but they do not currently publish it as an orderable part number. If you are building toward a dedicated track or drag Prelude and you want the bearing setup, ask us before you order so we can confirm availability with Innovative rather than promising you a part that may not exist.

Specs

Fitment

Type SH and SiR S-Spec only. Innovative Mounts is explicit that this kit will not work on any other Prelude trim. A 1997-2001 Base or SE Prelude does not fit, and neither does a 1992-1996 BB1 or BB4 car. For those, Innovative Mounts points you at the 92-01 Prelude competition and traction bar kit, part 50110, which is a different product with a different purpose.

What to Know Before You Buy

The single most expensive mistake on this part is confusing it with the J-series conversion crossmember. Innovative Mounts makes two crossmembers for the 97-01 Type SH that look similar and cost about the same. Part 50111, this one, is the replacement crossmember for a car keeping the H22A4, and it exists to give you header and turbo clearance. Part 50113 is the conversion front crossmember bar you need when you are dropping a J-series V6 into a BB6. Both are Type SH and SiR S-Spec only, so the trim badge will not tell them apart. The engine you are running is what decides it, and they are not interchangeable, and to make it worse, Innovative Mounts' own listing for 50111 currently carries copied text describing a J-series conversion. If you are J-swapping, you want 50113, not this.

Verify your trim before you order, not after. The 97-01 Prelude Type SH is the ATTS car, and it does not share a front crossmember with a Base Prelude. Once this bolts down and shows bolt impressions, Innovative Mounts will not take it back, so measure twice on this one. Check the VIN and the trim badge rather than trusting a previous owner.

Keep your factory radius rods and factory hardware. Per Innovative Mounts, both get reused. We would also get a front alignment after the install, since you are unbolting and rebolting front suspension pickup hardware, and a Prelude that has sat on original bushings for twenty five years rarely goes back together in exactly the same place.

This is a clearance part, not a power part. It will not add horsepower by itself and nobody should sell it to you as a handling upgrade. It earns its keep only if you are actually installing a header or turbo piping that will not fit around the OEM crossmember. If you are building a Type SH for the street on a factory manifold, skip it. If you are buying it as a first step toward a boosted H22A4, budget for the header or turbo piping it is clearing, because the crossmember on its own does nothing for you.