I've pulled two trannies in my life but both were on EK civics and the engine was pulled with them. These were project cars and I had all the time in the world to let them sit on jack stands.

In the next few weeks I plan to do a tranny swap on my 1990 Hatch. Much older... and much rustier... and much more cramped.

Now I need to do this:
**w/o pulling the engine
**in my driveway
**only with handtools
**all on my own
**and hopefully within a 6-8 hour period.

Think this is too much to ask for? Any tips on what to watch out for or how to get the engine, tranny, and brackets aligned? What should I start soaking in PB Blaster in advance?

Thanks in advance.

 

easy job same as ek all u do is take the rear mount braket off an the front tranny mount off cv axles then use floor jack then remove bolt from tranny mount then ur set

 

Yea easily done, especially if it is stock.

 

No offense but that's what the Helms tells me... What the helms doesn't tell me is about the "WHAT THE F#CK!!!" Scenarios. That's what I'm interested in hearing.

Think I'll need two floor jacks? One to prop up the engine... the other to lower the tranny? Would I have an issue not pulling the radiator and lower hose? Is 6-8 hours too much to ask for

 

If you remove the radius rod on the tranny side, the job will go alot smoother. Good Luck.

 

And get the PB Blaster also. It will make it much easier. Pre soak all the bolts first...

 

So will I need two jacks? One on the oil pan to keep the engine up, and the other to lower/raise the tranny?

One thing I do have going for me is that I noticed how D-series trannies are way lighter than b-series.

 

yeah you can use either two jacks, or some block of wood or a engine brace to support the engine. you remove the radius rod or drop the whole front cross member.

 

i just dropped the tranny in my ef hatch yesterday lol

this is what i did yo!

disconnect clutch cable
take out battery
disconnect starter wires and ground for tranny
take out axels
disconnect speedo cable
take out the starter
take off front, side, and rear trans mount
take out all tranny bolts

its a bitch taking the tranny out with the radias arm, thats how i did it, but yeah, definately remove it for sure

 

if you can remove your radius arm move it...i had to do it with it in the way cause for some **** reason the guy before me bashed it to where i cant get a socket into the hole...

took me 2 days to finally get the trans lined up to the block right.... and ive done 5 trans installs with the motor in the car in less than 4 hours.

 

Hahaha, the priceless moments.

 

dont put a jack stand under the oil pan you wil dent it and could \cause serious damage. take the radise rod out and the lossen up the braket on the tranny. let the motor down slide tranny off and ya done of course you need to take tranny boilt off

 

Or you could put a piece of wood or whatever between the jack stand and the oil pain to disperse the weight evenly.

 

i was swapping my tranny once and i left the jack underneath the block to hold it up until the next day cause it was late. the only thing holding my motor up at this time was the jack and drivers side mount. i came back and the jack i guess had a leak and let itself down so the whole motor was resting on the alternator pully and drivers side mount..needless to say, it did bend the mount and took 3 guys to push the motor back straight where its supposed to go lol but it all worked out in the end..ha wtf moments

 

Nice - I feel lucky now!

I left mine on a milk crate for 2 weeks in the summer and the weight of the engine and the heat from the sun didn't do anything good for the plastic crate. Engine sagged the crate so far that I was able to just pull it out from under the engine without a jack. No harm done to the mount or alternator. LuckyI suppose.