4 does-for-more-bros (97 civic dx sedan: HX + auto to manual swap)

[Jakins]

Ohhhhh that mount! Thats like a dampener or something. Ok to be honest I didnt put that thing back on, I haven't even looked at it. I put it on the other car. (My old o e that I converted to auto) it went on fine but I havnt put it on mine yet. To be honest, on past builds including a 200ish horsepower b20 vtec swap on my friends car where we took it from an integra and put it in a civic, we didnt use it. We eventuall got it on though. But you will see with this transmission thag there will be no more driving like an a-hole even if you try lmao. 1st gear turns into 3rd gear. I literally cant even get this thing moving up hill from a stop with the a/c on. But I love the painted mount. It gave me an idea for when I put it on. Which ive been meaning to do.

[vrmouseyd15b]

I didn't realize the gearing change was that extreme! no wonder you were calling 47mpg's crappy!

I hit the mounts (actually everything) with my flap-wheel first, and then with my harbor freight(lol) spot - sandblaster in all the crevices before painting. good as new as far as I'm concerned...





{EDIT} : don't know why i can't get the pics to show, but the link is good if you want to follow it and see some of my "ghetto craftsmanship"!

[Jakins]

What did you do to that tranny?? Input shaft?

[vrmouseyd15b]

All new bearings and seals. Synchros were good. Lsd Block in the pinion

[vrmouseyd15b]

Input shaft is fine, the Tranny's got about 8500 miles on it right now. Been running the pennziol synchromesh fluid since the rebuild. She's very happy.

[Jakins]

[vrmouseyd15b]

Lookin good, dude!

Did you delete the spare tire? Hard core.

[Jakins]

Big progress is taking place. I took the engine out over the weekend and my friend who is a technician at Honda hooked me up with a timing belt, cam seal, crank seal, water pump, vtec solenoid gasket, valve cover and oil pan gasket. So I got all that in.

Now for the big stuff. I'll add pics later. My vx transmission was super noisy. So I took it apart and I took apart my old hx transmission and tried just swapping the vx 3.25 differential over into my hx case with all good bearings.. Well the diff bearings are different sizes. Sooo I swapped the ring gear aaand. Well it worked but my hx counter shaft gear was clashing with the diff. Soo, now I'm in the process of taking the main shaft and counter shafts from both transmissions and putting all of the good bearings onto the vx gears. It's my first time ever looking inside of a transmission but to be honest it's all pretty easy. Sorry if I sound like I'm speaking a different language.

[vrmouseyd15b]

If I remember right, I told you that all you'd need is the factory service manual, and EASY PEASY!!!

It sounds like you're far enough into it that you might want to keep the tranny's separate now, rebuild them both and sell the "fast one" it might just pay for your troubles!! ( I'm sitting on my old lx tranny - just in case I don't like the vx tranny I'm rebuilding for my first - ever TURBO CAR! )

I'm sure glad to see that you're making progress and can't wait to see the pics of your setup!
keep up the good work!

Victor.


-- you never answered about the spare tire - do you drive with it regularly? (not an option for me as my commute is 54 miles each way, and I'm regularly too far from home to go without)

[Jakins]

super late update on that tranny rebuild. it came out great. but I put the reverse gear upside down so reverse doesnt work lol. but you cant get 80 mpg in revers so f-it.

on to more serious news.... I let a lady friend borrow my car while I worked on her miata. she brought it back running on 3 cylinders. within the 20 miles she drove she mannaged to blast a hole through an exhaust valve and burn a hole through the head somehow. I replaced all the valves and seals hand headgastket before I found out the head was trashed. 100 bucls and alot of time down the drain.

so I found a head for 60 bucks and I bought a full rebuild kit. new piston rings bearings seals. the works. I was able to manage 50ish mpg with no aero mods and a worn out 280k mile engine running on 3.5 cylinders and only like 115 psi compression. I really hope I dont screw up this rebuild. if all goes smoothly ill hopfully be able to pull some super sweet mpg's this spring and summer road tripping.