I have a 97 EL and i will be swapping my 207 000 km manual transmission (which is now making a weird noise) for a 38 000 km 2000 EL manual transmission that i found at a wrecker.

I have the service manual, and read the procedure a few times and i am fairly confident that i will be able to handle this job. I was wondering if anyone here could offer me a few tips to make this job go smoothly.

And i have a question, in the service manual, it says to use an engine hoist to unload the engine, and then use a jack to unload the transmission from the mounting brackets. I don't have an engine hoist but i thought i could unload the engine from its mounts with a jack then just place some blocks under neath and remove the jack. Will this be okay?

 

First thing you want to do is come to the realization that this will take 2x-4x longer than you originally expect. Try and find someone to give you a hand if possible. there will be people who swear you need an engine puller and there will be hardcore people who will tell you that you dont need one, I just yanked my trans without one, have the car on jackstands and use a jack to hold the motor, shimmy the transmission off when you get to that stage.

 

bump?

 

I am going to be borrowing an impact gun and air ratchet for this job. I have heard this will save a lot of my head aches.

 

Another question, i just looked over the procedure again to take stock of all the replacement self locking nuts and 'special bolts'. Is it recommended to replace the cat gaskets or are they okay to re use?

And also, these special bolts, do i get them from honda or do they have them at home depot?