obligatory

<FONT SIZE="2">I recently completed an automatic to manual conversion on my 96 Civic EX (EK, EJ8).</FONT>
<FONT SIZE="3">I am writing this thread to provide info on the <u>cost, tools, and basic tips</u> for the conversion. </FONT>
As far as how you're actually going to go about doing things, I recommend luserkid's guide located here:

https://honda-tech.com/zero...age=1

<FONT SIZE="2">Some general info you should know about my particular swap:</FONT>

-We did it out of my parents residential 2 car carage.
(only my car was in there though)
-I started researching about 1-2 months before I purchased the first part.
-From the time I bought the first part (the tranny), it took about 2 weeks to gather/recieve everything I needed to do this.
-No professional mechanics touched the car, all of us were age 18-20 with broad ranges of experience
-It took the six of us roughly 14 hours total; 8 hours the first day, another 6 hours the second day.
-We had duplicates of most basic tools, so at certain points in time we had 4 people on the car doing different things, so I would say we made pretty good time.

<FONT SIZE="4"><u>Cost:</u></FONT>

Since this is a somewhat pricey conversion I'll start by posting what I personally had to spend to do this swap.
However, I'm not sure this is the best example since I feel like I got lucky on many of these prices.
Although it goes to show that if you look at the right places at the right times you can get things relatively cheap.

Parts were bought locally, on eBay, from an online Honda parts dealer, and at local auto shops. All prices include shipping/tax if applicable

<FONT SIZE="2"><u>eBay:</u></FONT>
Exedy Clutch Kit............................................... ................[$85.00]
(clutch disc, release bearing, pilot bearing, pressure plate)

5-Spd Pedal Assembly.......................................... ............[$46.00]
(Gas,Brake,Clutch, all brackets and sensors)

Complete Clutch Hydraulic Line..........................................[$37.00]
(Master Cylinder, Slave Cylinder, 3 piece soft/hard lines)

Skunk2 Shift **** & Dual Bend Short Shifter.....................[$139.98]

Energy Suspension Shifter Bushings..................................[$17.98]

JDM Type-R Shift Boot.............................................. ........[$27.95]


<FONT SIZE="2"><u>Purchased locally:</u></FONT>
d16y8 Intake Manifold from 99 EX.....................................[$40.00]
(manifold, throttle body, MAP sensor, TPS sensor, IACV, Fuel Rail)

Bought all of the below from one guy for...........................[$200.00]
-d16y8 B000 Transmission from 97 ex with 120k mi (VSS/fork included)
-Remanufactured starter
-Shift linkage (came with stock shifter and all brackets)
-Manual P2P ECU
-Lower tranny mount (the long arm one that uses 3 bolts)
-An extra slave cylinder

XTD Chromoly 8lb Flywheel.......................................... .....[$100.00]

<FONT SIZE="2"><u>Misc:</u></FONT>
The bill from HondaAutomotiveParts.com.......................... ..[$116.28]
(upper tranny bracket and a bunch of misc nuts/bolts)

Multiple AutoZone/Advanced Auto/O'Reilly receipts..............[$100.00*]
(brake fluid, high temp lube, manual trans fluid, coolant hose,
intake mani gasket, Goop, Quiksteel, JB Weld, PB Blaster,
engine degreaser, 3 cans of carb cleaner, mecanics gloves, etc...)

*=approx

<FONT SIZE="3"><u>TOTAL:</u>........................................&gt;&gt;&gt;[$910.19]&lt;&lt;&lt;</FONT>

I would say I went for the medium price (no ACT clutch or other top of the line things, although I did splooge on the Skunk2 parts)
If you bought the cheapest parts, I estimate this could cost as low as $600, but I wouldn't recommend skimping too much on most of the parts.

You could certainly also make this swap cost as much as you want it to by purchasing all new parts from a honda dealer and buying performance/racing parts.

<FONT SIZE="4"><u>Tools:</u></FONT>
At least one of the 6 of us that helped do this had all the tools we needed, so I
saved myself from buying tools. (however if you don't have something you can rent
some from AutoZone through their "Loan-a-Tool" service)
From the top of my head, tools that you'll need:

-breaker bar for the stiff bolts
-at least 1 jack and a couple jack stands (we used a second jack for
dropping/raising tranny and holding up the block when tranny is off)
-socket wrench set (you're gonna want a couple different extensions too)
-C Clamp to install the "bitch pin" that holds shift linkage to tranny
-all basic tools (screwdrivers and hammers--the obvious things)
-torque wrench
-Prybars
-Dremel tool or a good way to get off the wind plate
-latex gloves for applying goop (necessary imo)
-all electrical tools (mainly wire strippers, needle nose, and soldering iron)


<FONT SIZE="4"><u>Tips:</u></FONT>

-Understand that this is a major undertaking and plan ahead as far as driving goes. You may need to catch rides for a few days.
-Have at <u>minimum</u> a hundred dollars extra even after you've got everything I listed. Parts can (and likely will) be accidentally broken or lost while in the process of doing this job! (in my case I had to drop an extra 30 bucks on a release bearing since the one in the exedy kit came broken from shipping damage)
-Keep that Haynes manual at your side.
-Research thoroughly and make sure you understand the concept of how everything works and goes together.
-I really recommend going to the online parts dealer and looking at each section that applies to this conversion (ie: torque converter, pedal assembly, clutch hydraulic lines, transmission mounts, etc) and looking at each and every bolt to make sure you have it. I did this and wasn't short on any bolts when I did my swap. Actually I ended up not using about 10% of the things I bought from HondaAutomotiveParts.com
-Unless you have an extra car, I recommend doing as much as you can BEFORE immobilizing the vehicle. (you can put in the new pedals, and take out the center console amongst other things, while still driving your car).

<FONT SIZE="2">The 3 hardest things IMO</FONT>
3. Tranny removal. Getting some of the 8 to 12 year old (assuming you are 96-00) bolts off of the auto tranny that may have never been touched since the factory can prove to be quite time consuming.
2. Cutting the wind plate. Your blades will break and this will take you longer than you might think. Or at least it did for us.
1. The bitch pin. Ahh yes...the infamous bitch pin. There are several ways to put it in, so search up on H-T or even google it for the method that you prefer.

Lets hear the comments and questions!
I may add more later as it comes to me.

Luserkid

Dang you came up on those parts. That is by far the lowest price for parts i have seen yet. Saves 100 from the previous ive seen with used parts and 300 for new parts (clutch, etc). But very nice pricing out

obligatory

haha, thanks.
We'll see how it all holds up

If anyone is interested in the eBay seller ID's I purchased from, feel free to send me a PM.

obligatory

Been running strong for about 4 months now.
Anyone doing this conversion that has any questions?

andrewholbrook

I really want to do this on my 96 ex, but i'm considering using a salvaged civic for all parts

psyco_nutball

since you swapped the auto ecu to the manual ecu instead of modding the auto, did you have to rewire any thing? like the auto ecu you have to splice the shift connectors for a few things