Regearing my Honda (1994 Del Sol VTEC)

[Shortie771]

Originally Posted by evolutionmovement

If you're not very car savvy, a transmission swap is what you want to do, and even if you are car savy, I can't see why you'd bother unless you didn't want to lose acceleration off the line, but you'd still lose that anyway with the new FD ratio. If the transmission bolts to the engine, you're talking a day, maybe two, job versus much longer to take everything apart and I wouldn't be surprised if buying the parts separately costs more or close to a used transmission anyway. There's a reason most mechanics just swap them. It's not as simple as just cracking it open and changing out the gears. You should be able to get a fairly low mileage LS transmission for around $600, usually warrantied, from a wrecker (Car-Part.com--Used Auto Parts Market).

True im not very car savvy but my brother has a friend who is a machanic that would be able to help me out if i needed it... Oh and two days? Thats fine i have all the time in the world and because im military i have full access to the garage on my base with just about any tool i may need. The bad part is sadly right now i dont have an extra $600 for the parts so maybe ill try out some easier less expensive ideas such as sealing panel gaps, installing a grill block, and work on perfecting P&G as i have yet to try that out. i guess ill just have to tackle this one another time when i have a litle more cash for the job.

Thanks
Andrew

[Ryland]

tranny swaps are not hard and if you spend a little time looking you should be able to find a cheaper tranny as well, I don't suppose a civic tranny would fit that would it? those tend to be in the $100-200 range and take 5-6 hours to swap with 15 minutes of help from a 2nd person, I think the 2nd time I did a swap like that it took me closer to 4 hours.

[theunchosen]

Ryland is correct, the trans are mostly interchangeable.. .I'm hesitant to say which one is acceptable because I am not sure which engine you have. I'm pretty sure its a b16a, but some chatter on the del sol forums has me suspicious(I think they are just ignorant but a bunch of them say theres came with something different stock in the US model for the early years).

[some_other_dave]

Del Sol VTEC should have a B16A motor. (It's the only pre-OBD2 US-legal B16, for that matter!)

The 5th gear is inside the transmission. Swapping it involves removing the transmission, then pulling the cover off of it, then at least partly disassembling the mainshaft and layshaft. Then you re-assemble everything with your new parts. Swapping the transmission is much simpler.

A good mechanic with experience can probably do the job in 4 hours or less. (What's "book time" on a clutch job on those? I forget, but it's just about the same time as a trans swap.) It took me several days, but I'd never even disconnected the axles before and I do work slowly.

-soD

[theunchosen]

Thanks Dave, I was pretty sure thats what it was, but the enormous magnitude of stupidity made me second guess. . .^_^.

I can second this as I know thats what setup I have and I just looked at it today(had her up on a lift to change fluid for trans) and cracked open the cap while I was at it.

[LeanBurninating]

I would recommend researching the numbers on a civic HX tranny and if it will fit. My hx is the first civic I have ever owned, so I don't have much to compare it to but Ive been told the HX's had taller gears and it definitely feels like it.

Another option is to just change your diff. Again, I am unfarmiliar with the Honda world still, but with front engine and rear wheel drive cars the most common way to change the gear ratio is to change the ratio in the differential.

[theunchosen]

I have yet to work on an HF or VX, so I may be incorrect but I have strong suspicions that the trans will not roll over into the Del Sol.

Not ragging you at all lol, just I own one. What you can do is drop a "new" salvaged trans from a civic that has taller gears(all of them lol) straight into the bay and bolt it in. Only difference will be gearing.

The overseas Sols have different trans packages than the US and I am pretty sure both JDM and Euro got taller gears. So if you could find one of those and ask you could do that.

The Del sol for those that are unfamiliar is FFW, Front-Front Wheel drive.

I'm pretty confident all the Honda(acura) drive lines that will direct bolt on after the trans are identical. If they have bigger or smaller anything the bolts aren't going to line up. (I'm fairly certain fram having been under a few civic lxs and exs from my sol model year, but I could well be wrong. . .I usually am ^_^).

[LeanBurninating]

No problem! Hats off to you on your efforts and keep us posted!

[theunchosen]

hah I'm a trained monkey in the garage. My grand father shows me how to do something and then when it shows up in the shop I have to do it. . .

Naturally they teach me the really crappy jobs. . .like electrical problems lol. Meanwhile they work on V8 48 flatheads. . .

To the subject at hand. . .get a Civic trans and if you can't do it yourself get a mechanic to do it and ask them ahead of time if they can do it. Some will say no because of time constraints so don't get it till you find a way to get it in.

Also, make sure you snap pictures of your trans top and bottom bolts and mounts when you go to buy the trans from the salvage yard. Look at it compare the pictures and make sure its going to fit. If its a true blue import civic it might be different year and edition pending. Also someone could have already swapped it out for something else. In effect if everything looks like it fits it probably does. If you want to get really serious, get some cardboard and cut out the mounts in your car and take that and then place it over the mounts on the trans, I do this for rebuilt or imported engines, because you never know when someone lied along the way.

[Big Dave]

Is it worth the effort?

I reduced my engine speed (at a given road speed) by 18% and realized a 16% improvement in MPG.

I'm not familiar with Honda transmissions, but you need to do something. That little car should do better than 24 MPG.