[firehawk618]

I just loop a chain around the #4 runner on the exhaust manifold, fold a towel up and stick it between the chain and valve cover to prevent gouging and scratches.

The engine is very light and there's no chance you'll damage anything by using that runner to hold the engine up.

If you didn't already figure it out all you have to do to pull the axles is:

1. Remove the wheels.

2. Remove the axle nut.

3. Remove the two 10mm brake hose support screws.

4. Undo the lower ball joint castle nut and get the ball joint out of the lower control arm.

At that point you can pull the spindle off the axle shaft and have plenty of room to pop the shaft out of the transmission and just let it hang there on the lower control arm. Use a zip tie if you're concerned about the axle getting damaged.

You don't need to actually pull the whole shaft out of the car but if you decide to do that the inner CV will actually fit between the wishbone / lower control arm with some creative wiggling.

Before you re-install your transmission make sure you clean all the grease off the input shaft collar where the throw out bearing slides. Make sure that shaft is smooth. Apply a small amount of new grease to it so the bearing slides smoothly.

Also pull out the clutch fork, clean the pivot ball / fork and re-grease.

I also put a VERY light amount of grease on the transmission input splines so the clutch disc can slide freely on it also.

Once you've done the D-Series transmission R&R a few dozen times it goes pretty fast and easy. They honestly don't get much easier.

We don't have a sub frame in the way and all the bolts are freely accessible without any special tools.


One last pointer, IMO it's MUCH easier to pull the CV axles out of the way prior to removing the 3 bolts that are on the back of the engine. If you still have your intake manifold support bracket in the way, removing it will really help with room.

I personally never put them back on my own Civic and have not had any issues. I think it's there to help with NVH but I'm sure someone will completely disagree and say that bracket is super critical.