eskimo10

EDIT: Ran into a problem helping a guy do this. THE MOTOR IN STEP 4 MAY OR MAY NOT SCREW IN, DEPENDING ON YOUR SET-UP. FOR SOME REASON MINE WORKED FINE, AND HIS DIDN'T. HIS DID NOT HAVE THE SCREW MOUNTS. PLEASE CHECK AND DO THE RESEARCH FIRST SO YOU DON'T MESS ANYTHING UP OR GET THE WRONG PARTS!

I know this has been done before, but bear with me on this b/c I found a new way of doing it that makes it easier, plus I have not seen this on here or any other forum I've checked.


DISCLAIMER: I AM IN NO WAY RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY DAMAGES YOU CAUSE TO YOUR VEHICLE!!!

This mod is something I’ve been looking into doing for about a year or so now, and finally after doing much research and searching I came across the opportunity to purchase the swap for $100 minus a few parts I had to order from hondaautomotiveparts.com ($57.56) so for a total of $157.56 I had the swap at my hands.

I did a ton of research before starting it (and I suggest you do the same if you want to do this). Checked out this thread

https://honda-tech.com/zerothread?id=605432

as well as this thread

http://www.clubcivic.com/board...age=6

the first thread had me very daunted because it looked like I had to take my whole dash out and swap out the whole system. Well I went for it and you DON’T have to swap the whole system, but the dash does have to be atleast partially removed. Here’s the write up for your viewing pleasure.

YOU CAN USE THE FIRST LINK (the honda-tech.com one) UP UNTIL STEP 4

1) First off disconnect your battery, don’t want the airbag or anything other thing to surprise you while you’re working.

2) Second move is to take out any trim pieces or other things that get in the way. I took out the glove box first, the cluster next, then side (between the door and dash) pieces, then center console and the piece with the cigarette lighter. (if you can’t do that I would suggest finding someone who can before proceeding b/c it gets a little more complicated from here).

After taking out the glove box make sure you take out the metal bar in front of the heater motor or else taking it out will be tough.

3) Now begins the real fun: taking out the dash. There are a number of bolts that hold the dash in

You will need to remove the fuse box by disconnecting all the plugs and then removing the two 10mm bolts that hold it in. Just slide it off and leave it hanging there. You now have access to all the bolts you need to remove.

Using a 12mm socket (some will need an extension for ease) locate the bolts that are circled and then remove them. After these bolts are removed then you can pull the dash out, make sure though to do it slowly just in case there are things plugged in or attached that need to be unhooked, if there is… do it.


YOU CAN USE THE FIRST LINK (the honda-tech.com one) UP UNTIL HERE

4) After this part (which you can follow the first link to get to this part) my directions will change due to the information I learned. I looked at the two heater units and noticed that they are EXACTLY the same, with the exception that one is manually operated and one is operated electronically. Well what you can do is swap over the motor from the 99-00 unit to the 96-98 unit and it screws right up to it, by doing this you can bypass having to take the whole unit out and spilling coolant, etc. (see pictures).

(this is the motor that has to be swapped in place of the old crank/pulley system, if you take a look at your heater unit you will se what i'm talking about.)

Now the whole heater blower will have to be swapped, which is easy. There are two bolts, one nut and two screws (see pictures) that have to be undone. Unscrew those, then you can jiggle it out (don’t get frustrated it will take a lot of jiggling, took me about 15 minutes to jiggle it out). After this you can gently force the new 99-00 blower into the old slot (I found that removing the bolt on the frame and the wires next to the unit made it easier).

(also two on the bottom I forgot to picture).
(fits like a charm.)

Now switch the main harnesses b/c the 96-98 one won’t work and the 99-00 one will fit right in and match up. After this you MUST switch the dash vent or else your console will NOT sit in the slot right. This is done by unscrewing it while the dash is out (see pictures).

(picture is from behind the dash, shows where the screw holes are on the back, one is to the far right but not pictured, total of four from the back)

Put the new vent in and then you can now put your dash back together. Simply reverse everything you’ve done and your good to go.



Now comes the exciting part, slide your new console in (after of course securing things in place and hooking up the subharness). (see pictures.)

Overall this took me about 2 ½ hours to accomplish, and three days (my parts were slow to get in haha, drove around in the VA heat with no AC for three days).

*Note to make the defrost work you must tap the old plug using the blue/yellow with white dots wire and only this wire into the same color wire on the 99-00 main harness, (see the picture).




I think I covered everything, please PM me if you have questions, I’m not an expert but I’ll try my best to help.

eskimo10

PS - sorry for crappy pics, i'm a sucky photographer, and I was hungry.

Let me know if I missed anything!

hopefully this info will encourage others to try this mod out!

EG2Driver

that seems more simple than I had imagined.

angel_i

To the OP: I don't mean to thread jack, I'm helping others complete the conversion if they wish to do so.

I have some conversion parts in my hand, the CC bezel w/ SI CD player, the vent piece, and others.

http://s268.photobucket.com/al...Parts/

eskimo10

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by EG2Driver &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">that seems more simple than I had imagined. </TD></TR></TABLE>

yea it is alot more simple than i had first thought when i started researching it.

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by angel_i &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">To the OP: I don't mean to thread jack, I'm helping others complete the conversion if they wish to do so.

I have some conversion parts in my hand, the CC bezel w/ SI CD player, the vent piece, and others.

http://s268.photobucket.com/al...Parts/</TD></TR></TABLE>

...ok....?

fc3srx729

looks like alot of work...

cksnah252

Hey sorry to bring this thread back to life, but would you mind giving me the all of the parts number from honda, so I can know what I'm going to need? Thanks a lot, I would really appreciate that :D.

EG6KILIN

im about to do that soon

cksnah252

I want to do it, but it would be nice to give us the part # . Well I guess I'll have to wait and see who responds back .

larbear90

i have a 98 hatch, and i dont have pulley system its all buttons so its electronic. Does that mean i already have a motor and dont need to put one in?

eskimo10

Do you have the system that I have in the pics? Or something similar? And does it work? If so then you should be fine. Also post a pic or what you have if its different.

larbear90

Never mind I have the pulley system. How much money did you spend on the whole swap? I really want a double DIN headunit but I have no other ideas how to fit it in.
thanks

eskimo10

It cost me about $150 total. I bought the climate control, heater unit, etc from a guy off of Craigslist. and Then picked up the dash harness from hondaautomotiveparts.com for around $50.

That is pretty much the only way (unless you custom make a fiberglass encloser) to get a double din HU in a 96-98 civic.

sii.

iTrader: (1)

ughh. id rather pay you with beer to do it.

eskimo10

Bahaha, come on over to VA and I'll do it for free (with the beer of course!) its actually not too bad.

Mentat Ghola

Did this swap about 2 months ago. I didnt see how I could mount the electric motor on the 98 heater box, so I swapped the whole box. Everything works good, very pleased with the swap. Just to let you guys know, the center dash vent that oyu need to change is like 28 bux from the dealer. I got it for even less than that, got mine for 23 bux, brand new.
If you go to junkyards, people wont be too happy to rip that vent out of a complete dash, and I had a guy trying to sell me one for too much cause thats what he did.
Anyway, its a 25 dollar part from Honda.
All in all, I paid 150 for the climate controls/bezel, 25 for the vent, 25 for the harness, 45 for the blower, and 50 for the heater core. So basicaly 300. Kinda pricey, but once its done its done.
And once you startup the engine after doing the swap, let it idle for a few minutes, then add MORE coolant. I topped off the radiator, started driving and it started overheating. Thats cause the newly installed heater core is empty, then it fills up, chich lowers your coolant level.

eskimo10

Thats why I researched and checked everything out first off. And yes you do need to swap out the running vents in the dash for it to line up. I think I paid like 25 as well.

I paid 150 or so for the whole thing. And if you do it by swapping the motor you don't have to worry about adding coolant and what not. Just FYI!

1988_96hb

Looks like its time for me to do this with the si ac controls i bought like 2 years ago.

eskimo10

Do it bro! Its so much cleaner looking than the 96-98 controls.

Mentat Ghola

Thats the thing, I saw your post before doing it, and first I tried to just swap the motor on the 98 core, but I honestly couldnt find a way to mount it. It looks like the case is a little different. I dont know how you did it, but it didnt work for me. I had to swap the whole core.

mixwell

don't the SI controls glow amber???

eskimo10

Yes I believe they do. Although the ones I have glow amber, so I don't know if my bulbs were changed before I bought it or they all do..?

norbi_cvc

Hi!

I'm new to this site as a member, but I've red it some times before.

I think I'm going to do this swap on my ej8. I noticed, a difference between this write up and the clubcivic write up.
I'm not sure about the heater blower thing. Is it a must to change the entire heater blower like in this write up, or I can keep the old one like in the clubcivic forum.

And the clubcivic site mentions something about the bottom of the heater unit. Maybe the bottom of the heater unit shows some difference in the view of the brackets where the motor assy goes?

Please help me out.

Thank you

P.S. I'm from EU so sorry for my bad English.

levi506

iTrader: (1)

I have a question. Do you have to swap the entire dash from your 96-98 to a 99-00 dash? My bro-in-law swears up and down that you have to because he says the 99-00 climate bezel wont fit in a 96-98 dash. Can anyone that has done this clarify this so I can prove him wrong?

eskimo10

No, you do not "need" to switch the dash. The climate control fits in just fine in the 96-98 dash, however it does not securely latch into the dash as the clips don't line up. I hope that helps you with your answer.