i started working on my lil sisters car today, and i am really starting to go crazy. i have read all the cvt tranny threads archived here, and there are alot of unanswered questions on this swap. first off, let me tell you. the transmission mount is different. the only way i can see possible for me to use the 97 dx mount is to weld a bracket to hold the mount. its not a simple swap. i am not sure if all auto cars have this weird tunnel underneath where the shifter cable goes. i never seen it before, but it looks like the 5spd shifter is going to hit. i am just gonna cut it out. i also had to drill holes for the 2 12mm shift linkage bolts. ill try to get pictures of all these tomorrow.

has ANYONE successfully did this swap?

so for the list of custom things you will have to look into

transmission mount to side frame
removal or auto tranny cable holder
ecu problem

 

https://honda-tech.com/zerothread?id=1337459
https://honda-tech.com/zerothread?id=2090074
im doing the swap as we speak...
still waiting on some parts on the mail!!!

 

i seen both those threads. but when your dealing with a 96-00 hx, its a whole different ball game. alot of stuff is "different"

 

Can you post pics of where your having troubles? You do have manual brackets right?

 

when i got back to the gartage ill take some pictures. the biggest problem is where the top tranny mount mounts to the frame. the auto hx is different than every other car. the only way to use the dx 5 speed tranny mount is to weld it to the frame

 

This is the first time i heard of this. I have helped many on here go through there HX to manuals and not one mentioned this. Personally i have not done the HX swaps, thats why im asking for the pic. Your 100% sure you got a 96-00 D series manual bracket?

 

......................

 

****, I was going to do this swap on a performance oriented CVT based on the '96-'00 HX CVT - but if it's all fabrication, screw that.

 

i havent gone to the garage to get pics of my hx mount but i got this pic of a non-hx mount to show the difference

the red circled thing is not there. there are two bolt holes there the yellow tabs are where the actual mount bolts to the body and it hanges over the side

 

I did some research and saw what you mean about the mount, your right it is different. The bracket wont fit on the mount though? The bracket is the only part you should need to change.

 

nah, the hx mount sits in a different position

 

Once again can you take a picture?

 

ill get pics either today or tomarrow. the car is at my other house 30 miles away and we just got 2 snow storms so i dont think ill be going in the garage for a while

 

The op is correct, the Hx top transmission mount is a completely different setup than other trims. This is one of the main reasons that people do not often do auto-manuals on Hx's. You're going to need to cut the transmission bracket off the hx, and reweld the dx's chassis bracket onto the hx and then use the manual trans bracket from the dx on the transmission if that makes sense. Unless you know what you're doing welding wise, umay be better off selling the car and getting a manual (as much as I hate saying that..)

the "tunnel" thing is the heatshield that goes under the automatic shifter. It has to be cut out in order for the 5 speed shifter to go into position. I had to get rid of a few heatshields from the exhaust system too, but I drive a 4 door lx..

 

i finally went to get pictures.

this is the mount, its totally different



once the mount is remobed you can see there the top tab dosent exisit like on conventional 96-00 civic



also the two bolt holes where the mount screws to the side of the body are there.



i am going to drill out the holes, see if i can get some time of threaded cylender to tab in there then tack weld it and then make a bracket for the upper tab. or else i am just going to stick weld the mount to the body.


i also use my angle grinder to cut the automatic transmission cable tunnel. if you do this make sure you wear a mask. i got dust everywhere

 

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i also use my angle grinder to cut the automatic transmission cable tunnel. if you do this make sure you wear a mask. i got dust everywhere</TD></TR></TABLE>

I had it worse than you.. I couldnt get enough clearance under my car, so I had to cut the hole from inside the car with a saw

for attempting this with an hx..

 

yeah. i reomved thr drivers seat and the whole center consul. i also peeled back some of the rug. i did all the cutting from inside the car

 

Damn that is totally nuts. People that i have helped never mentioned this. Learning something new everyday. Good luck man

 

what i ended up doing today is drilling through the two blanks on the frame raill. i was hoping it might be threaded behind but it wasent. so i just got long bolts and bolted the motor mount to the side. its on there pretty firm. later on ill find a lil bracket to hold the top one

 

i also had to drill through the two holes for the shifter 12mm bolts. the car had blanks so i bolted up the shifter with nuts and bolts

 

i been driving for 2 days with no problems. the check engine light is on. i am going to try to p2e dx ecu and see how it does.

 

its been driving good with the dx ecu. no check engine light is on. i know the vtec-e isent working with this ecu. i went today to get an inspection stickker and the guy said the machine is only reading one 02 sensor, not sure if its to do with the ecu, but it still passed.

 

hey, I just finished this swap, it is not your average swap. I had all the exact same issues as you did.

here's a complete write up with tons of pics:

Civic HX CVT to Manual Swap/


Modified by teal_dx at 4:43 PM 1/17/2008

 

and here's how I solved the pass mount bracket problem



cut & welded a cvt & manual bracket together. I thought about drilling into the frame where the holes would be on a manual EK, but that area may not be as re-enforced on the CVT chassis. Plus they would not be threaded and I didn't want to permenantly attach the mount directly to the frame.

 

thats the right way to do it, i just dodent have a wleder handy. i had to drill through 3 different layers of the frame, its hold real tight. i just got some long bolts, pushed them through the wheel well side and slid the mount on the bolts. then i put some nuts with lock washers on the engine bay side, i can remove it anythime. once i set up my tig ill prob end up changing it over the way you did it