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I just bought a 1998 Civic with an automatic transmission, I'm planning on doing an engine swap in the future (I'd like to put in a k-series, might do a b-series instead). The car has had the engine replaced before (according to previous owner), but I'm not sure about the transmission. I like driving manual a lot more anyway.
I was talking to a guy today who's parting out his '99 civic, and he told me he'd sell me the transmission, mounts, clutch pad, pressure plate, axles, shifter arm, clutch and brake pedals, and the interior console with the dust boot for $300 (I'm going to buy the master clutch cylinder brand new). It sounds like a good deal to me, but I want to make sure I'm not forgetting any parts or overlooking anything. If anyone has any advice/input I would really appreciate it!
I thought about doing it one time. If you think it's worth it and you have to the time go ahead. I always dread that something wouldn't go right and get stuck. I hear they don't always work 100% like a factory built manual. I would go buy a manual but to each his own.
transmission, mounts, clutch pad, pressure plate, axles, shifter arm, clutch and brake pedals, and the interior console with the dust boot for $300
that sounds like a fair price, especially if he has it out for you ready to pick up.
Originally Posted by kingkobra
I'm going to buy the master clutch cylinder brand new
good plan. include a new slave cylinder while you're at it, they're very inexpensive. you will also need the rest of the hydraulic line (hard line and hoses) unless you're comfortable running your own.
some other things i think you'll need off the top of my head:
-a manual-compatible ECU. to be plug-and-play it will need to be from a '96-'98 DX/LX manual trans car.
-flywheel bolts. they are longer than the flex plate bolts and a necessity.
-gauge cluster (not absolutely necessary, the car will work with the auto cluster... but come on!)
I thought about doing it one time. If you think it's worth it and you have to the time go ahead. I always dread that something wouldn't go right and get stuck. I hear they don't always work 100% like a factory built manual. I would go buy a manual but to each his own.
I wish now that I would have waited and bought a manual, but I had been bumming rides off my parents to get to work for a couple months and was just happy to get any car that got from point A to B. Next time I'll be more patient! I think a project like this would be fun, I'm going to set aside a couple days to get it done, but I have someone helping me out so I think I'll be good!
Originally Posted by hondamark35
that sounds like a fair price, especially if he has it out for you ready to pick up.
good plan. include a new slave cylinder while you're at it, they're very inexpensive. you will also need the rest of the hydraulic line (hard line and hoses) unless you're comfortable running your own.
some other things i think you'll need off the top of my head:
-a manual-compatible ECU. to be plug-and-play it will need to be from a '96-'98 DX/LX manual trans car.
-flywheel bolts. they are longer than the flex plate bolts and a necessity.
-gauge cluster (not absolutely necessary, the car will work with the auto cluster... but come on!)
I'll make sure I get those parts! The guy offered to give me the entire car and any other parts he had for $600. I don't really want an entire extra car sitting in my yard and didn't plan on spending that much, but I think it may be worth it for me in the long run! Thanks for the help
You'll also need to fabricate a plate to adapt the auto shifter tunnel hole to bring it down to accept the manual shifter seal/boot. In addition to that, if you care at all about the clutch starter cut circuit, you'll likely be needing to build your own harness for that function. There is of course the mandatory wiring adventures associated with the whole swap.
Something along these lines. Good luck and keep us updated.
I ended up buying his entire car for parts, he had a lot of new parts as well that he gave me and even threw in a B18 + ECU that he had sitting in his basement. He used to have a bunch of civics and I'm pretty sure he told me the one I bought was auto to manual swapped, so I'm thinking that will be helpful.
I haven't done a whole lot in the way of disassembly for my swap, I started unplugging the wiring harness and disconnecting coolant lines, I'm hoping to dig into it tomorrow.
I ended up buying his entire car for parts, he had a lot of new parts as well that he gave me and even threw in a B18 + ECU that he had sitting in his basement. He used to have a bunch of civics and I'm pretty sure he told me the one I bought was auto to manual swapped, so I'm thinking that will be helpful.
I haven't done a whole lot in the way of disassembly for my swap, I started unplugging the wiring harness and disconnecting coolant lines, I'm hoping to dig into it tomorrow.
Keep us updated. My first Honda swap was in Dec 2016/Jan 2017 and was a B18C1 w/MT into my 2000 Civic LX auto. Fun times!
So today I pulled the motor and transmission from my parts car. I got to it a lot later than I originally anticipated, but at least its done now.
I brought it down to the shop at the golf course I work at. After I'm off tomorrow, I'm gonna wash the motor and transmission, then take the transmission off and probably tear the engine down a bit. Gonna have a buddy come down and see what he thinks too.
Something a bit more interesting that happened is the resonator fell out of my car due because of a shitty repair done by who i assume to be the owner before the guy i bought it from. I drove it straight-piped for a while, then I bought a welder and welded a piece of pipe in (didn't do too bad for my first time every welding. Looks like crap but there's no holes) and found some more problems with the exhaust. There's a big crack in the top of the exhaust manifold/catalytic converter, so I'm gonna put in the header I got from the parts car, put in a flex pipe, then put it a high-flow cat and get a better sounding muffler.
The car when I first bought it, and after a nice pressure wash Put in a cold air intake, AEM Dryflow filter Put those headlights in because I thought they'd be better. They aren't nearly as bright as the original ones, and I live in a rural area so I'm going to swap them back. I kinda like the original ones more anyway How the car looks now. I wanted to try out those headlights and see how the black front end would look. Don't really like the black + silver, so I'm gonna polish the original headlights while they're off the car and then paint the car white at some point Popped the transmission off at the shop. Was nice working inside for a change and having some better tools Flywheel Clutch and pressure plate Picture of the parts car I took a while ago. Since this picture, I've put the rear end on jack stands and started dismantling the rear suspension
So I recently decided to go back to school and finish my degree. In between preparing to go back (4 days now) and working 6 days a week almost every week, I haven't found the time to do the swap so I'm putting it on hold for now.
Things I've done since my last post:
*Cleaned all the grease off the manual transmission. I used an entire can of engine degreaser, a wire brush, and a pressure-washer.
*Almost completely stripped my parts car. It's got no motor, no suspension, no interior, and no doors. I tried taking the rear quarter windows off but I think I'll probably break them if I keep trying so I'll save myself the time.
*Polished my original headlights. Didn't do a perfect job, but they look better than they did originally so I'm satisfied for now.
*Put all the original body panels back on my car. No more two-tone, all silver again.
*Took care of some rust that was starting to eat up the rocker panels. Put the side-skirts back.
*Put all my spare parts into some bins and put them in the barn at my parents' house.
Sounds like u have a decent daily driver even if it's an automatic. Did you ever find evidence yr parts car did get auto to manual swapped?
The car is in incredible shape considering where I live and the age. Only evidence I found that it was swapped was the VIN on the transmission being different that the one on the car, but that could just mean he put a different manual into it.
The only work I'll have to do for my next safety inspection in July 2020 will be replacing the rear trailing arms. I have some from an integra so I can put discs in the rear so I never have to do drums again lol. I worked a bit on stripping those trailing arms and rear calipers today before work just to see what I'll have to buy for parts and right now I'm just considering just buying everything brand new. I still have 3 broken bolts to extract and the arms really aren't that great so I think if I still have the car by the time I start taking on that project the investment will be worth it.
Did an Acura EL front end swap today. Dude gave me a decent price and some spare parts he had lying around. He has a bunch of other Honda stuff too that he offered to sell me for a good price if I want it too.
My front blinkers don't work now though.. The headlights light up, the orange markers in the bumper light up, but the orange lights in the headlight don't light up. I think they might both be burnt out, so I'm gonna try swapping it out tomorrow. If the bulbs aren't burnt out, does anyone know what I should start looking for? Fuse, short in the harness, bad connector? TIA
Here's a pic! Gonna paint the whole car white at some point lol. He also gave me the EL trunk with the SIR wing.
I didn't think I'd like it, but my friend convinced me and after seeing a few coupes with the swap I quickly changed my mind!
Also I put a new bulb in on the driver side just now. They still seem incredibly dim, and they're blinking fast as if they're still broken.
Should I start looking for shorts in the harness? Or maybe something that's unplugged? I'm gonna search and see if I can find anything on the forum already.
Are you referring to the "City Lights" inside the headlight housing under the headlight bulb or the corner lense ??? If it is the former, they should not be wired to the turn signal circuit, but in fact wired to the parking light circuit OR the DRL circuit. This may be why you are getting the fast flash when you activate a L or R turn signal at the stalk.
Are you referring to the "City Lights" inside the headlight housing under the headlight bulb or the corner lense ??? If it is the former, they should not be wired to the turn signal circuit, but in fact wired to the parking light circuit OR the DRL circuit. This may be why you are getting the fast flash when you activate a L or R turn signal at the stalk.
Turn signal circuit is wired to the corner lens in the headlight. Everything lights up how I'd expect it to (except for rapid flashing), and as far as I know the harness hasn't been modified. They blink normally when I use the hazards though.
The EL front end is a bit more difficult to maneuver so I'm going to wait until tomorrow after class until I mess around with it more. I did some more reading through old threads, and I have a feeling I have the wrong kind of bulb in there and the circuit thinks they're burnt out because of insufficient load. That could explain why they seem really dim as well.
Anyhow, I'm going to figure out what type of bulb I should be using, pick some up, put them in, and I'll post an update. Worst case scenario, I keep the fast flashing lights
I finally manual swapped my civic today! Car doesn't look very different, and I didn't really get many interesting photos so I'll just give a quick recap and give out some useful info in case someone comes across my thread wanting to manual swap their civic.
I had already done the pedals in August anticipating I was gonna manual swap then, but it wasn't too bad when I did that. Took me like 45 minutes.
Stuff I bought: 3L Honda Manual Transmission Fluid, Honda Coolant, anti-cease, red thread-locker, absorbent sand, and some propane to heat the garage I already had everything else (transmission, clutch, flywheel, manual starter, manual axles, etc). Keep in mind I'm swapping a 99' DX coupe manual transmission to a 98' DX coupe. I kept the original harness (more on this later).
So yesterday we (my buddy Dave and I) pulled my car into his garage, lifted it up high enough to slide the transmission underneath, and then we got to wrenching. Wheels came off, axle nuts came off, lower ball joint was popped out (so we can move the knuckle), strut was disconnected from control arm, and then we pulled the axles out. Distributor had to come off, so we notched it so we wouldn't have to do timing. Header had to come off. We pulled coolant lines off (spilled most of it all over the floor), pulled the starter out, and we unplugged the harness from the tranny. Then we started to undo the engine mounts so we could lean the motor down. I slid underneath the car and undid the bolts connecting the flex plate and torque converter. We pulled the auto shifter cable off, and yanked it out of the car. If you have the patience to pull the entire motor, I would recommend doing that. We put a jack underneath on the oil pan to support the motor. We undid all the bolts holding the tranny to the motor, and then slowly leaned the motor down and pulled the auto transmission off. And proceeded to spill transmission fluid everywhere. If I could go back I would have drained the fluid out
After this, we did some prep for the manual transmission. We put the flywheel on the motor, then attached the clutch and pressure plate. We eventually got the transmission on the motor, and started bleeding the clutch. We had to do some cutting with the angle grinder and some drilling to get the manual shift linkage in position, which we then attached. Then we did the wiring shenanigans (reverse lights, clutch safety switch). Everything was reattached to the motor. Check your grounds and wires! Double check! We had some plugs not connected that were going to the auto transmission, but that's okay because they aren't needed and car will run fine without. Topped up our fluids.
Car wouldn't give fuel or spark with either ecu, we checked grounds, found a bad one, fixed it. Manual ecu (from 99' DX) wouldn't work. Tried the auto ECU and it fired right up. We thought about swapping the harnesses to have the proper ECU but decided not to, because it would have been a hassle and I have ABS, while donor car did not, and I didn't wanna try hooking it up then not have it work properly or whatever. We took the car for a rip around town and it ran awesome
NOTE: Manual ECU would not work because its OBDIIb (99-00 civics), my civic is OBDIIa (96-98 civics). I drove the car for like an hour and it was running rich at first, but it runs good now! We deleted the A/C system so it has a bit more power too.
Other stuff I've done since my last post: NGK spark plug wires on the car. I've stockpiled a lot of spare parts, got some black RSX leather seats (car at local U-pull has the rear ones in mint condition, gonna go pull those eventually), and picked up some 17" rims and tires for $200 CAD (tires weren't ever driven on, total value is probably around $1000 CAD). Theres probably more that I'm forgetting. Apologies for the long post!
06-24-2019, 02:34 PM
Manual Swapping D16Y7
