Im about to go out and swap my b16 cable tranny with another in my 91 civic hatch.
The only writeout i could find in the archives was this one . .
https://honda-tech.com/zerothread?id=291352


is this the best one there is ?

Just wondering. If you feel like you have a better write up. . . Feeel free to send that on this way. Im kindof a n00b and wanna make sure I do everything correct.

Thanks guys

 

http://crxcommunity.com/viewtopic.php?t=219 sign up to view ,it has pictures of every step

 

Thanks

 

well thanks for the push in the right way.

too bad my internet blows and it wont let me register.

LAMEEEEEEEEEEE

 

 

This guide is for the removal of the manual transmission from any 88-91 CRX. This is a big undertaking and should not be attempted by a beginner. Expect to spend about 3 hours or more if this is your first time doing this task.

Tools needed

Jack and jackstands
Block of wood
2nd Jack or substitute support (I used blocks of firewood piled up)
10mm, 12mm, 14mm, 17mm sockets/ratchet
Various extension bars.
10mm, 12mm, 14mm, 17mm wrenches
Needle nose pliers
Flat head screw driver
Pry bar and/or big flat head screw driver
8mm punch (or 5/16"; same size)
Hammer
Pickle fork or puller
Safety glasses

Supplies needed

Replacement cotter pins for balljoints
Anti-seize compound for bolts upon reassembly
Plastic bags for wrapping axle ends
Cold beverages waiting in the fridge for when you are done.

A note about safety

I cannot stress this enough: Always wear safety glasses when working on your vehicle. Your car is replaceable. Your eyes are not.

Freeing up room

The first task is remove any of the items in the engine bay that are in the way. These include the air intake, battery, battery tray, and any other obstructions such as strut tie bars. The stock air intake box is bolted onto the body of the car with four 10mm bolts. To remove the battery, undo the battery leads and undo the 10mm nuts on the battery clamp. The battery tray can be removed by removing the four 14mm bolts that hold it onto the body of the car. The wiring harness may be clipped to the battery tray. Use a pair of needle nose pliers to pinch the backs of the clips to separate the harness from the battery tray.


Jack up the car from the mid-point of the front cross member. You want to jack the car up quite high because you will be removing the transmission out from underneath the car. Make sure you block off the rear wheels and place jack stands under the lift points on both sides of the car. Support the car on the jackstands since you will be re-using the jack to support the engine later.


Remove the front wheels. Remove the passenger side radius rod. The radius rod is held onto the lower control arm by two 17mm bolts and to the front cross member by a 17mm nut. You will need to remove the plastic splash shields in order to get to the 17mm nut. The splash shield is usually held on by a 10mm metal nut and 3 or 4 10mm plastic screws.

There is also a splash shield in the passenger side wheel well that needs to be removed. It is held on by 4 10mm plastic screws.


Disconnecting things from the transmission

Remove the starter motor by removing the two 14mm bolts that hold it onto the tranny. The bottom bolt may be a bit tricky to get at. You may need to try a few different combinations of deep sockets and extension bars to get a good hold on it.

Unbolt the 10mm bolt on top of the starter motor that holds down the motor wiring harness. Unplug the "quick disconnect" plug on the end of the starter motor. Disconnect the main power lead to the starter motor by undoing the 12mm nut on the terminal.

Remove the clutch cable and clutch cable bracket by undoing the 12mm bolts on the bracket. Disconnect the two butt-end connectors that go to the reverse light switch.


Remove the speedometer cable. It is located beside the rear motor mount bracket. You will need to pull back the rubber boot and remove a small clip from the of the cable. This clip is very small and easy to lose, so keep it in a safe spot. Move the cable out of the way. Be very careful not to kink speedometer cable.

Underneath the car, you will need to remove the 14mm and 12mm bolts that hold the engine brace onto the transmission. The engine brace is the piece that holds your exhaust pipe from wobbling around.

Underneath the car, you will also have to remove the shift linkage. The shifter stabilizer bar is held onto the tranny by a 12mm bolt. The shift linkage is held on by an 8mm spring pin (aka: the [floosy] pin). You need to slide back the rubber boot on the shift linkage to see the end of the linkage. It is sometimes covered by a cover clip that you need to pull off. Under the cover clip you will see the 8mm pin that goes through the shift linkage end. If you are ambitious, you can try removing it while under the car with an 8mm punch and a hammer (*ONLY* use an 8mm punch...use of anything else to try to remove the pin may destroy the pin and you will not be able to separate the linkage again). However, my [floosy] pin was stuck in there really good, so I decided to just undo the shift linkage from the shift lever end (one 12mm bolt and a nut) and leave the whole rod attached to the tranny. Once I had the tranny off the car, I had plenty of room to knock the pin out effectively.

Separating the axles

The next task is to drain the transmission fluid. You want to do this before pulling out the axles, otherwise you will have an oily mess everywhere. First, loosen the 17mm *FILL* bolt on the transmission. I usually put the closed end of a 17mm wrench on the bolt and wack the end of the wrench with a hammer. If it will not come loose easily, make a mental note of it to loosen it with a breaker bar and socket once the transmission is off the car.

Next, position your oil pan under the transmission and loosen the *DRAIN* plug. The drain plug is round with a square hole in it. Your 3/8" drive ratchet will fit perfectly into this hole (without a socket). Let the transmission fluid drain for a while.

Next you need to remove the axles from the transmission. There are several methods for getting the axles out. I separated my lower balljoints in order to get them free. First you remove the cotter pin that goes through the castle nut on the bottom of the lower balljoint. Next, remove the 17mm castle nut. Finally you separate the balljoint. I always coat the shaft of my balljoints with never-seize compound, so I usually don't even have to use a puller or pickle fork to separate them. This time, all I used was a pry bar between the balljoint base and the lower control arm. However, if your balljoints have not been separated in a long time, you will probably need to use an appropriate tool to separate them. My favorite method is a pickle fork with a lot of grease smoothered all over the forks to prevent tearing of the balljoint boots.

You will also need to separate the passenger's side tie-rod end balljoint using the same methods described above. (It allows you to pull the passenger's side axle further away from the transmission, making reinstallation of the tranny a lot easier). Once you have separated the balljoint, pull the steering knuckle outwards and pry the axle out of the transmission using a pry bar or large screw driver. Wrap the ends of the axles in a plastic bag to keep dirt and grease from getting on them.

Removing the transmission

First, take a block of wood and put it on your jack and raise the jack underneath the oilpan to support the engine.

Remove all of the 17mm transmission-to-engine-block bolts. There are 5 of these. 4 of them go through from the transmission side into the block. 1 of them goes in the opposite direction and is located near the back of the transmission near the axle on the passenger side.

We are very close to removing the transmission. Since we have jacked the car up pretty high, I recommend putting something underneath the transmission to prevent it from falling. My jack was already supporting the engine, so I just piled up some blocks of firewood under the tranny to prevent it from falling.

Remove the front engine mount completely. Undo the 14mm bolts that go into the transmission, and the 17mm bolt that holds the mount onto the front crossmember.

Separate the rear motor mount bracket from the transmission. Undo the 3 17mm bolts that go down into the transmission.

Separate the side motor mount from the transmission. Undo the bottom 17mm nut *first*. (You don't want to be under the transmission when you undo the last thing holding it up.) Undo the top 17mm bolt. The tranny should dip down a bit, but it will still be stuck to the engine pretty securely. Remove the 17mm bolt that holds on the side motor mount and remove the mount.

Grab onto the transmission and wiggle it a bit to separate it a bit from the engine block. Be careful of where you place your fingers. The transmission could come loose at any time. Use a pry bar to separate the transmission from the block. You may have to pry at several spots around the edge of the transmission to break it free. Check to see where the axle ends are at this point...you may need to reposition them out of the way. Pull the transmission off and rest it on the support (firewood, in my case). Check to make sure nothing is caught on the transmission, and then slowly lower it out of the car. I did so by kicking the pieces of firewood out from under the tranny one by one. Pull the transmission out through the passenger side wheel well.

You're done! Now go have a nice cold one!

Reinstallation Notes

Reinstalling the transmission is a lot more difficult than removing it because you need to lift the transmission up (heavy) and align it with the clutch splines at the same time. I recommend using an engine hoist with some chain bolted onto the rear and side mount points of the transmission. This will make your job a lot easier, and reduce excess strain on your lower back.

All the rest of the reinstallation is basically done in the reverse order of removal. I recommend putting an anti-seize compound on the threads of the suspension bolts, transmission-to-engine-block bolts, motor mount bolts and balljoint shafts before reinstalling them. This will make things much easier if you have to take it apart again later.

For the transmission, I recommend refilling it with Honda Manual Transmission Fluid. The transmission takes approximately 1.8L of fluid. Make sure you fill it when the car isn't jacked up and is sitting on level ground.

Torque Specifications

Transmission-to-Engine-Block bolts 43 ft-lbs
Rear motor mount bracket bolts 40 ft-lbs
Side motor mount to tranny bolt and nut 43 ft-lbs
Side motor mount bolt 40 ft-lbs
Front motor mount to tranny bolts 43 ft-lbs
Front motor mount bolt 40 ft-lbs
Starter motor bolts 33 ft-lbs
Engine brace bolts 16 ft-lbs
Shifter stabilizer bolt 16 ft-lbs
Shift rod to shift lever bolt and nut 16 ft-lbs
Radius rod end nut 39 ft-lbs
Radius rod to lca bolts 80 ft-lbs
Lower balljoint nut 40 ft-lbs
Tie rod end balljoint nut 33 ft-lbs
Clutch cable bracket bolts 19 ft-lbs

 

It's pretty easy. Just look at what's holding it in and take it off.

You may laugh, but it's pretty much what I do. If it's in the way, take it out, and then put it back when you're done, lol.

 

Wow, awesome write up. This is exactly what I needed....more detail than the service manual and pics!

tia,

sani