This applies to ANY civic 5 speed from 1992 to 1995. 1996 to 2000 *except 1999-2000 Si* are VERY similar but the process is slightly different. They have shift mechanism detent springs / balls that must be removed or the pop out all over the place. Internally they're pretty much the same though.
As some of you already know I had been in search of a VX transaxle for a while and finally found one last weekend.
Upon quick inspection it felt fine, spinning and wiggling the input shaft by hand.
Nothing felt odd when rotating the input shaft and rowing through the gears.
Little did I know that as soon as I installed it and fired up the car this thing was NOISY as all hell.
I am going to do a quick down and dirty pictorial of my transmission dismantling, installing new bearings and re-installation.
A friend of mine does transmissions for a living told me that if I'm ONLY doing new bearings then my existing shims will be ok and no measuring of tolerances will be necessary. He's never given me bad advise so I am going with it.
Started pulling the transaxle today at 4:45. It's 5:30 and it is out, on the ground and I am here starting this thread. Having swapped engines and transaxles in this car a few times recently sure makes it go really fast / easy since I know by memory what sockets, wrenches, extensions and such I will need which saves me many trips back and forth to the tool box.
I will continuously update THIS FIRST POST with photos and information so pay attention to the "edited" time stamp on this post.
My bearing / seal kit was SUPPOSED to arrive today but it got delayed until tomorrow. Just as well. I can dismantle and look it over really good vs. being in a hurry to just get it back together and on the road.
I have it all apart and have acquired the tooth count for each gear:
Gear Count Ratio Total
FD 65/20 3.25
5th 26/37 .7027 2.28
4th 29/34 .852 2.77
3rd 32/30 1.066 3.46
2nd 37/21 1.761 5.72
1st 39/12 3.25 10.56
I am glad I removed the gearsets from the shift forks / rails. Even though this transmission drove and shifted perfectly *minus the bearing noise* I have found that one of the shift forks has a BIG chunk broken off!
Lucky me, I happen to have FOUR civic transmissions here. 1998 DX, 1998 EX, 1995 Si and 1994 Vx. Fortunately the Si has the same shift forks in it and I will be using the one from the Si to make this to and will replace that one later!
I compared diagrams at majestic honda for the Si vs Vx and the whole shift rail / fork assembly has exactly the same parts. I will inspect the Si one closely then just swap the whole thing over vs. dismantling it and swapping a fork.
Now that the transaxle is dis-assembled I can clearly feel both main shaft bearings are rumbly vs the counter shaft bearings. I am confident this is the source of all the noise.
I will NOT be doing the differential bearings. The trans was completely silent coasting with the engine off, in neutral, clutch out. They feel perfect and honestly I don't want to take the chance ruining the speedometer gear.
Ok onto the pictures:
This is how I support the engine vs. having two jacks under the car.
Here's the throwout bearing / fork. There's a metal clip on the back side. Some wiggling and jiggling and the fork will come free from the trans allowing you to remove it and the bearing.
Next remove the reverse light switch.
This big plug on top of the trans *theres a small spring under there*.
This bolt on the back of the trans.
This bolt inside the bellhousing.
Put the transmission upside down on some blocks otherwise your input shaft will be sitting on the ground. Do whatever you need to do to prevent this.
Next remove all the 12mm bolts around the perimeter of the case halves.
You will find two spots where you can put pry bars and pry the two case halves apart, use them to break the seal. Do not keep prying, just make sure the two case halves are separated. After they are you will need to spread open this clip with some needlenose AND continue to pry up on the case halves. Help is good to have here. Do not pry hard, just wiggle and jiggle as you keep that retainer spread open. Once you see the bearing drop down at this point you can lift the case half off.
Next remove the two 10mm bolts holding the reverse selector thingey and set it aside. It just lifts right out. After that fork thingey is out of the way remove the reverse idler gear and pin. It just lifts right out.
Now you need to remove this 12mm bolt. This will allow your shift fork selector thingey to slide up in the next step.
Now grab FIRMLY both gearsets AND shift fork / selector rods all at once and wiggle / jiggle upward. It will all come out as a unit. DO NOT DROP THIS! Pay attention, on top of the input shaft bearing there's a washer and beveled washer. They may stay with the gearset, they may stay on top of the bearing or they may fall on the floor. Make sure you put them back on in the same order / orientation as they came off.
Now you can just lift the final drive out, nothing is holding it in at this point.
There's a magnet to catch all the metal crud, use a screwdrive and just pry it up and out. I found that once it's out if you smack the bracket face down on a block of wood the magnet will pop out allowing you to clean it thoroughly.
Left is the countershaft bearing, right is the input shaft bearing. To remove the input shaft bearing just use a long drift pin from the bellhousing side and tap it out nice and evenly. I would NEVER re-use this bearing once it's been tapped out. The input shaft seal will now be obvious once the bearing is out.
To get the countershaft bearing out you can use a slide hammer with outtie jaws OR flip the housing upside down so the bearing is facing down and heat up the case, once the case is nice and warm the bearing will drop right out.
Here's my broken shift fork and a good one for comparison.
Here's those washers I mentioned earlier on the input shaft.
