1990 Civic Ignition Lock Swap? Ya I Lost My Keys.

[War_Wagon]

So there was a visit to a messy drunken wedding involved, and I was smart enough not to drive there, but not smart enough to take two sets of car keys out of my jacket. I then proceeded to lose the jacket. I took the registrations for both cars to Honda, they felt sorry for me and cut me keys for both cars for $10. The key they cut for the '97 works great, but my '90 always had one key for the door and one for the ignition, which it shouldn't have, so I knew one had been changed. The door one I can get around as the key for my '87 works in it kinda, but not in the ignition. The key that Honda cut doesn't work in the door or the ignition. So, I was going to call a locksmith, but I remembered I had a parts car '90 with keys. Is the ignition lock cylinder something that can be removed from one car and moved to another, or is it held in with some sort of weird one time use only shear bolts or some other kind of security fastener? Thanks!

[some_other_dave]

I believe that it is held in with one-time shear bolts (or similar), but that it can be transferred from one car to another once that is overcome. You basically have to drill out the bolts, and you can install new shear bolts like stock, or just use equivalent bolts without the twist-off heads. It'll be a bit more theft-able in the future, but I think that's a marginal amount.

There is a PDF of some of the Civic workshop manuals available on-line, and it would have more detailed info.

-soD

[user removed]

Nah, don't drill them out, just take a sharp SMALL chisel and a hammer. Get a groove, on the edge, going in the remains of the "break away bolt" and work it out with the chisel and hammer (counterclockwise to remove). Once you get it moving it's a piece of cake. To reinstall just get another groove so you can tap it back tight in the clockwise direction.

Once you get one side loose (about half a revolution) it's easy from there on out.You can also grind a slot in the left over part and use a regular screwdriver, but I found that the chisel and hammer method works best. It's pretty quick once you get it moving and you can spin the remains the rest of the way out with your fingertips.

No power required other than a little muscle. It does not take a lot of power at all.

regards
Mech