If this thread could get stickied that would be great. If not.. Oh well.

Ok.. first i am going to say this is not my DIY guide and I am not taking any credit for creating this guide. I did add some comments to certain areas that needed it. I just remembered this site that actually had it and figure i'd share with H-T for the DIYers. It's for an EP3 but it applies the same for the DC5/EP3. The guide is not far off and is not that far into depth but gives good guidance to DIYers that have mechanical literacy and as a good reference.

Also i'd like to note (for the tranny when you start to take it apart), even tho it's not in the guide, there are 2 or 3 metal ***** and i think a spring, if i can recall, that are very very small. I don't remember the technical term or where they come from but word to the wise DO NOT lose them and remember where everything goes back. Try to put your bolts and whatever you take off the tranny into a container (that you can not step on and lose, which i almost did). Oh yeah.. and the snap ring that you take out, when you put it back in, it has to sit back flush into the grove. Don't think you can just put the snap ring back in and call it a day. It has to sit back into the grove.

p.s.

FYI...Having a friend to help you take the tranny out and put it back together would be wise.

And one more note.. when you get ready to take the subframe out, you can take the driver and passenger knuckles off with the subframe. So don't think you have to take off the lower ball joints from the knuckle. Don't waste your time and even try, they are a bitch to come off and only way they will come off is with the honda special tool. If you take them off any other way, you will end up tearing the boot on the lower ball joints (if you use a pickle fork) or actually pull the joint out of it's socket. If you do for some reason want to take the lower ball joints out and you tear the boot or pull it out of it's socket, it is VERY VERY VERRRRRRY hard to find just the lower ball joints for the DC5/EP3 as Acura does not even sell the lower ball joints by themselves. You have to buy the whole knuckle and $300 some dollars is quite expensive for only 1 knuckle. Luckily, i found those lower ball joints but it was a very hard find. You can't hammer on the side of the knuckle like you can do on the older hondas.

Yes.. you have to remove your intake manifold in order to get to one damn bolt that is holding your tranny on but being blocked by the brackets that enforce your IM to be held on. Unless there is another way but from what i've seen and done there is not. If you are trying to figure out how to take the IM off, because there will be bolts that are still on there but without ends, just take one of the nuts and thread it halfway on backwards. Take another nut and put it on like you normaly would. Then take an open end and unscrew the bolts. My advice is, instead of putting those bolts back on, go buy some (unless you have some hanging around like i did) i believe 10mm bolts just like the ones you took out that hold the IM on at your local honda dealership or off another old junkyard honda. Once you put back on the IM you don't have to put the brackets that hold the IM back on but that is your choice.

Have Fun!
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First things you will have to do is remove a lot of small things. Intake manifold, battery, move wires out of the way, etc. I strongly recommend a service manual like I have...if you don't you could still do it, but I just strongly recommend it as it tells you things to do that you may miss...making it harder.

Not pictured, but after jacking the car up, I removed the nut on both sides of the hubs holding the hubs...you'll need an impact wrench from hell. I used a 3/4 one!

Intake manifold removed

Unplug back up switch and vehicle speed sensor off of tranny


Remove shifter cable...first the bolts that hold the brackets..then cotter pins


Next remove the brackets that hold the slave cylinder piping to the tranny
First bracket is near the shift cables

Second bracket is two bolts that are more to the front of the car...as you can see here, The fan is to the right, the hose with the bolt in it is the coolant hose that went to the throttle body...this is so you have an idea where it's at...remove this so it is not attached the tranny at all!

Now you need to either have the Honda tool that you screw into the side of the engine to use with the engine hoist...or if you like me and didn't have it...remove this existing hook and put it on the engine. It worked great with the engine hoist to support the engine.

I've installed it here. Hard to see, I know. Just look to the right of the intake side of the engine, You can see my socket, and the extension going to the engine. That's where I installed the hanger at...at this point, I had the engine hoist supporting the motor.

Next take off the upper tranny mount...take the entire thing off. The manual says to just take the middle bolt out, and remove the three bolts around the mount...and to leave the black part of the mount with the bolt staying there. It caused clearance problems for me..just a heads up.

Now it's time to go under the car and remove the front sway bar here on both sides...and remove it from the subframe

Then remove the nut and cotter pin hold the control arm...have fun doing this. After I'm done with this install, I'm having Honda replace these..I tore both because they were a pain to take out. Every tie rod puller I used wouldn't work, so we had to use a fork. If you don't want to kill them, hope you have a good tie rod puller..i.e. a Honda one.

After you have separated the control arms you can move the rotor assembly out of the way a bit...and then remove the axles. This one pictured is the driver side...very easy, just use a pry bar carefully to separate it. The driver side is some what different. I didn't take a pic...forgot to...but to the right of the red thing on top is where you'll want to take a small tool to hammer with to get the passenger side axle out. Don't pull on the driver side axle...hammer it out..it's easy

Once you have the axles out, you can then get your transmission jack under the tranny, support it and remove the bolts. I unfortunately didn't take pics of that...there are only four. Three are on the passenger side, one is on the driver side. Take those bolts out while the tranny is supported. Then you can separate the tranny from the engine....at this point, if you just want to install a clutch, you can access the clutch now. I didn't take pics of the clutch install yet...but it's very easy...you'll need something to keep the flywheel still though while you take the bolts out. The bolts holding the pressure plate are 7 point bolts. The same for the flywheel bolts also. Make sure you have your alignment tool with you, because there is pressure holding the pressure plate on. When taking out any of those bolts, always do it in a crisis cross pattern...as well as installing them. Flywheel bolts are 76lbs of torque, the pressure plate bolts are 19lbs of torque.

Here's my Exedy on the left...my PURPLE stock clutch on the right...both have the pressure plates underneath.


The stock clutch was on it's way out. I'm glad I did this now. The springs in the clutch were practically falling out! This clutch was toasted! Barely anything left. I'd say 2000miles

All right, once the tranny is down, put it on a work bench. put some blocks of wood under it to support it.

It's straight forward. Take out the top three bolts...that are already gone as you can see...there are three ***** that will come out...don't freak out. The thing to the bottom right that has a black cap on it...it has four bolts holding it. May have one already removed from taking the tranny down...depends on how you do it. Anyway, I had to take a mallet to this once the bolts where out. Didn't hit to hard, just enough to get it apart. Then taking it out is somewhat tricky. Treat anything and everything from here on out with respect :D it's your tranny. This thing works like a key kind of...turn and pull, turn and pull..haha, sounds nasty. Then you can start removing the small bolts all around the tranny to get it open.

Then there is a top cap...allen wrench needed (14mm), take that off, then use snap pliers to take the snap ring out of the groove...do that before pulling the tranny apart.

Then remove the plastic oil type pan you see there...comes right out.

Next you need to remove two things...two brackets...one to the reverse lock gear (take that out also), and another one to the actual gears.



Once that's done, you can take the gears out using the forks as something to take them out with. They come out all together...don't worry
(it is wise to put the gears on a long piece of cardboard or something that is not dirty. Try to keep all gears and forks together as one cuz it can be a PITA trying to figure out how it goes together.)

Then you can take the diff out..you may have to turn the tranny upside down to get it to come out. (or use the end of something and move it left and right till it comes out) Then you'll need to transfer your two bearings (one on the bottom and top of the lsd) and speedo gear to your new lsd. It will take a bearing remover tool. I also recommend buying new bearings ahead of time. Mine are OKAY, but could be better. I cleaned it in a parts cleaner to get any dirt/shavings out. I wish I had known to buy new bearings. Then of course transfer the bigger gear that is around the old lsd to the new one and bolt it down in a crisscross pattern

Just next to where the lsd was, you'll see metal shavings on a magnet...just take the magnet out, and clean it up.


Then it's basically the reverse order to put it back together. Two things though..of course clean the sealing areas, and apply some liquid gasket.

AND make sure you put your reverse lock gear/bracket back together correctly..or you'll have a heck of a time getting into reverse...the gear has to go between the lever/bracket

Then, go smoke a cig, drink a beer...and put the tranny back on the car...have fun, <U>it's a real bitch</U>. I had to take off the motor/tranny mounts...The one that's on the frame of the driver side and the one that the manual told me to put on first Yeah, the manual will tell you to put the rear tranny mount bracket on first...don't! It's a pain to work with the tranny with that thing on.

Only tips I can give, is watch for existing pressure lines around the tranny when installing it...boost line, vacuum lines, coolant lines, etc. common sense really.





Modified by risktypeS at 11:41 AM 11/8/2007

 

Best walkthrough in the DC5/EP3 forum yet. I'll definitely be using it. Thanks rts.

 

NP glad to help. Forgot about that walkthrough i came across a long time ago. Came across it today when i was looking for some other stuff. Then i remembered you asking about a DIY LSD install. It's pretty accurate. Have fun when it comes to do yours.

 

If i had the money, I'd use this. Great job.

 

Good info, its not as hard as I thought it would be. What lsd did he put in there to replace it the stock one?

 

i have no idea. My guess is an aftermarket one because from what i've seen the DC5-R lsd comes with the bearings and the speedo gear.

 

Do you have to remove the differential bearing to pull the speedo gear off the old diff?

 

Should slip right over the bearing.