AL DENTE

I've read tons of threads of people wanting to convert their HX civic's into 5 speeds. My automatic in my HX just recently began taking a **** on me, and I want out. I don't want to ditch the car because the chassis is worth keeping, and is in good shape. I also don't want to go through all this trouble just to swap in a single cam 5-speed...So I was thinking. How about a B-series? I found this link http://civic-hx.blogspot.com/2008/01/intro_16.html

Question #1: It says in the above link the options I have are to swap the trans, repair the trans, or switch the head and trans...Are the HX's not easy to swap b series into, or different in any way? He didn't mention it, so I didn't know if it was an option. I also don't know if the HX chassis differs from the other ek chassis.
Question #2: If I'm swapping a b series transmission is it the same as a single cam tranny swap? I've never converted an auto to manual, and seems kind of crazy lol. I'm also wondering the easiest ways of obtaining the parts I need...pedals, etc...

AL DENTE

Buuuump

Some help please.

eg_projecthatch

the hx chassis is the same as any other ek chassis. Doing a b-series swap was a good idea, i did a ls swap on my 96 ex automatic it was a night and day change. The best way to go about getting the pedals is to go to a local junkyard and pick up just the brake pedal, and clutch pedal assembly. remove your auto pedal and replace it with the manual pedal. you can normally find all of the clutch lines across the fire wall in the engine bay. its all factory mounting on the firewall, you will need a manual transmission mount.. other then that the driver side motor mount will be need to be replaced and good luck trying to find a 5 speed harness for an ek im still looking for one. You will have to keep the gear selector switch from the automatic it will have to be in either neutral or park for the car to start, you can just hide it and use it as a kill switch..

94EG8

Its not. The CVT chassis HX uses a funky upper transmission mount unlike anything else. As far as the swap goes most of it is pretty straight forward, all the holes are there for the pedals and such. B and D-series swaps will be identical from a mount perspective, only difference will be some wiring. Heres an auto to manual swap guide specific to the HX CVT chassis -> http://www.civic-hx.6thgearadvertising.com/

eg_projecthatch

i stand corrected sorry for bad info...

i guess you really do learn something new everyday...

AL DENTE

I started reading that site, but for me its not detailed enough lol...I'm honestly thinking about making some kind of video footage of this swap. No one has good detailed step by step information for this. I'm just going to compile all the information I can, and then make something of my own so other people can do this swap with confidence.

Now with this funky upper tranny mount do I just remove it and put in the mounts that are normally required for b swap? And for the engine harness: Will I need to find a manual harness for the b-series im swapping in? Thats one thing I never understood, is how do you wire the motor up being that the harness is set up for a d-series?

And will I need to cut holes in the interior to switch the auto stick to the manual stick?

94EG8

You'll either have to do what the guy in the article did, or personally what I would do is weld a '96 - '00 Civic upper transmission mount to the frame rail (they normally bolt there, but the holes and captive nuts inside the rail aren't there.

You should be able to modify the automatic harness, or you could get a '96 - '98 5 speed civic harness

There are very few differences between the B and D-series as far as sensors go (most of them are even interchangeable) Usually its just a matter of extending wires in for a few sensors.

You'll need to drill 2 small holes for the bolts that hold up the back of the linkage, thats about it.

AL DENTE

Thanks for help everyone!!

After a lot of thought I have decided against a B-series for right now...

Reason being is money is going to be kinda of tight for a bit, and I don't really have enough to really make a B-series worth the effort. I've been doing a lot of research on single cam setups and they are extremely underrated and efficient for the amount of money you need to invest. So here's some more questions that I need answering. Again, I am sorry for the newb questions but I'm the kind of guy that likes to get one on one advice. Not stuff through the grapevine. I find a lot of info on the web that is old news, not cool.

First off, I know the singles cam turbos whomp on most stock DOHC motors. But how do they last in terms of reliability? I've heard lots of good things, but I am curious to hear others luck with them. I planned on upgrading to vitara pistons, and getting a tougher rod w/ good bearings etc. Possibly a mild port job, and a cam as well.

Secondly, I read somewhere that these V-tec-e heads are actually a preferred head in terms of single cam setups? I know you have to replace the internals of it, but for some reason I can't remember or find the site...I have a z6 long block chilling in my garage, but needs a rebuild. Basically, whats the best combo for boost, and what do I have to do to the vtec-e head?

And third, what is the best transmission to mate with for a boosted single cam setup?

honda_del_sol

bump

AL DENTE

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94EG8

If you already have a complete Z6 get some vitara pistons, aftermarket rods, ARP head studs and rod bolts, OEM Y8 metal headgasketand put it together like that. You'll need to pick up an OBD1 ECU and have it chipped and tuned. Run a D-series EX/Si tranny (i've heard the "longer gears are better for boost" argument more times than I can count, it doesn't hold water. The faster you can get into the next gear the better. Besides that EX/Si trannys have larger diff bearings (identical to B-series)

SLURS

iTrader: (1)

bump

AL DENTE

^^Thanks for bump, and thanks for help!!

Is there a cleaner option then modifying the mount like that? It looks like a hack job to me . I mean I commend the guy for getting it done, but isn't there a better way of getting this to work? You mention welding the normal ek mount to the frame, and to me that seemed like a more logical way of making this a little easier. But what I wonder if it is impossible, because why wouldn't you do that lol? It seems he took the hard way around it no?

94EG8

I can't understand why he did his that way, its most complicated looking way I could think of to fabricate a mount. Really you could probably mount the tranny with the rear and front lower mount to get it in the right spot, bolt the upper mount the bracket, mark the holes on the frame rail, drill them and then drill some larger holes on the back side of the frame rail with a hole saw and weld the nuts inside. You would then of course have to weld up the holes on the back. I don't see any reason why you can't run a normal upper mount other than the mounting holes aren't there.

AL DENTE

When I originally saw that website I wondered the same thing. I assumed it was for "some" reason, but maybe he just didn't want to mess with the car? All I know is I really would like to try a more straight forward approach, and what you said sounds like the best way to do it. Does anyone know of anybody doing it like this? Seems like the hx is the least favorite of the ek classes and I can't find any information besides that website. Am I going to be the first welding the mount to the frame like that? Kinda scary to be the guinea pig lol