Ok, so I picked up a tranny today and I want to get it slapped in. Is there anything I need to do before I put it in? The torque converter is already in there (came like that), and it has some fluid which I'm gonna drain and refill after install...

Can I just pull my old one and transfer over whatever sensors I need, install the new one, and drop the fluid in? Ready to go, or is there something I need to do before install?

Let me know. I just don't want to mess it up. Drove almost 3 hours to get it lol.

TIA guys/girls

 

Holy Crap! Did you actually drive all the way from Fresno to Hayward? Damn, should have stopped by Buffalo Bills

When I replaced the old one ~200K miles, with the import unit I pulled the shaft sensors to make sure they were clean of debris. Otherwise I left the existing sensors and shift solenoids in place. Since the unit I picked up was from an Odyssey there were a couple of brackets that needed to be transferred over from the Accord transmission, and a few useless brackets removed from the Odyssey trans. Also from shipping the Odyssey trans cooling tubes were bent so I reused the Accords, but you will need to purchase new AL O rings from Honda as they are a unique size on the Banjo fittings.

Did you verify the drive plate was the same, or did they give you one? The guys at Japan Engine gave me a driveplate that matched the Odyssey TC that needed a larger diameter unit.

 

+1 on the metal cooling lines. A shop install it for me and one of the tubes was bent. That could have been a big disaster. They reused my old one, which was still in perfect condition.

 

Also inspect both the axle seals to see if they're torn/rip.

 

Tools
10, 12, 14, 17 mm wrenches are going to be your friends.
I also recommend this type of transmission jack...


With the '95 EX F22B1(USDM) AT I did the following.

Underhood
Remove hood.
Remove battery. Make sure it is charged or keep it on a trickle charger.
Remove battery tray.
Remove air box and related tubing. Place tape over TB opening
Unhook all electrical connections to the transmission(shift solenoid/speed sensor/ground cable)
Remove radiator fan(it gets in the way).
Remove transmission cooling lines from transmission, use a spare piece of tubing to loop the hard lines, plug the radiator soft lines.
Unhook the throttle valve cable.
Remove throttle valve cable stay bracket, and radiator hose 'C' clamp bracket.
Unhook/Unbolt Starter wire connections, tie/tape to harness to prevent damage.
Remove starter.
Loosen AT mass damper(?) and rotate it to clear rear most AT mount stud nut.
Loosen AT mount bolt, but leave in place for now.
Remove spark plug wires, and remove spark plugs, place a rag over the valve/cam cover to prevent debris from falling into the engine.

Outside
Remove hubcaps
Un-stake and loosen CV axle nuts, both sides.
Jack the rear of the car up
Place rear wheels up on ramps or stable platforms. ~6" off the ground. Stacks of wood or bricks are not acceptable.
Set parking brake. Place the shifter into Neutral.
Loosen front lug nuts.
Jack front of car up and place on jackstands. I recommend four stands. Two under the subframes, and two up front under the radiator support corner(where the bolts are ). Place them so they all support the car level and with equal loads. And keep the car level.
Remove front wheels.

Underneath
Drain AT fluid.
Remove engine splash shield.
Remove center beam('94-'97)
Unhook front O2 sensor wiring
Remove down pipe from manifold to catalytic converter.
Remove inspection cover.
Remove 'control wire'(shift cable)cover
Remove 'control wire'(shift cable).
Remove drive plate to torque converter bolts, eight of them. You will need to rotate the engine counter clock wise to get to all the bolts.
Spin the torque converter by itself and push it against the transmission case, away from the drive plate.
Pop the inboard joints of the Passenger and Driver side axles.
Reinstall transmission drain plug.

Front Passenger side
Remove large nut from strut rod.

Passenger Side
Remove axle nut
Remove flexible brake line bolts to shock, remove line from shock.
Remove sway bar end link
Remove split pins from tie rod and lower BJ
Remove tie rod nut, flip, reinstall so the flanged part is flush with the stud. Strike with a hammer to pop tie rod free. Remove nut, remove tierod.
Remove lower BJ nut. Flip and reinstall it so it is flush with the bottom of the stud.
Using a floor jack, place the cup directly under the inverted nut and jack the arm up via the nut. It should pop free, you may need to strike the lower control arm with a hammer with a stubborn stud.
Pull knuckle away from the body, and remove the axle. It will slide through the fork, no need to disassemble it. Just be careful of boots.
Between the fender lip and upper shock mount there will be a plastic plug, remove it.
With tie wire or twine, tie it around the front upper control arm, through the hole, and around the shock mount.
Support the weight of the knuckle and FUCA with the string/wire.
With a U joint and extension remove the two bolts attaching the strut rod to FLCA.
Remove Strut rod, and bushings. Reassemble the bushings, sleeve, washers and nut in the correct order.



Driver Side
Remove axle nut
Remove flexible brake line bolts to shock, remove line from shock.
Remove sway bar end link
Remove split pins from tie rod and lower BJ
Remove tie rod nut, flip, reinstall so the flanged part is flush with the stud. Strike with a hammer to pop tie rod free. Remove nut, remove tierod.
Remove lower BJ nut. Flip and reinstall it so it is flush with the bottom of the stud.
Using a floor jack, place the cup directly under the inverted nut and jack the arm up via the nut. It should pop free, you may need to strike the lower control arm with a hammer with a stubborn stud.
Pull knuckle away from the body, and remove the axle. It will slide through the fork, no need to disassemble it. Just be careful of boots.
Between the fender lip and upper shock mount there will be a plastic plug, remove it.
With tie wire or twine, tie it around the front upper control arm, through the hole, and around the shock mount.
Support the weight of the knuckle and FUCA with the string/wire.

Underneath
Remove the four bolts attaching the engine to transmission.
Two will be used to attach the transmission to the engine mount via the differential housing.(where the Drive side axle installs)
IMPORTANT There will be a 'fifth' bolt that ONLY bolts to the engine, leave that bolt attached. This will support the engine when the transmission is removed.
There is also one bolt that is hard to see. I removed the oil filter for better line of sight.
Roll Transmission jack under transmission, secure it using straps.

Underhood
Remove the transmission mount bolt. It should come out easily, if it is too hard to turn, adjust jack so no tension is on this bolt. You may need to pry the bracket open with a pry bar to release the mount.
Remove remaining transmission to engine bolts.
I believe there are eight in total, four mount from the transmission side(underhood) and four from the engine side(underneath).
The transmission should easily pull away from the engine. If not check that you did not miss any brackets, wire harness, etc. DO NOT FORCE THE TRANSMISSION.

Underneath
Carefully lower the transmission.
When full down rotate the jack to allow the bellhousing to slide underneath the frame rail on the passenger side. This is where you will be extracting the transmission from. The P side.


Re-installation Preparation
Verify that both engine to transmission dowels are undamaged and installed in the engine.
With the replacement transmission, verify that the torque converters are of the same diameter. A different diameter TC will require a different drive plate.
Check the boots on your axles for checking/cracking. Reboot the axle if need be. This will extend the life of the axles.
Clean the engine to transmission bolts, check for any thread damage.
Apply a light coating of anti-seize to the threads.
Check your replacement transmission treads are clean.

If your replacement transmission came with cooler hard lines, make sure they are not bent/twisted. On imported transmissions these lines tend to get a bit mangled, verify that they have not been bent and then rebent. This will cause the tube to be crushed blocking flow.
If your existing lines need to be reused, clean them out, and purchase four 94109-12000 WASHER, DRAIN PLUG (12MM). Don't try to reuse the old washers, they WILL leak and these fittings are just about impossible to get to when the transmission is installed in car.

Clean all mating surfaces of crud and oil.
Check that the oil seals on the differential are not damaged, lube with ATF.
Verify that all brackets applicable to your original transmission are on your replacement unit. Transfer all needed brackets to the replacement. Remove any unneeded brackets from the new transmission.

Installation
As cheesy as this sounds, it really is the reversal of removal.
The only difference is you will need to torque all the bolts to their respective settings. I don't have those numbers in front of me.
And make sure the Throttle Valve cable is adjusted correctly!!!
It should not have any slack in it, but you do not want it opening before the throttle opens either.
When torquing the drive plate to torque converter bolts they need to be tightened in a star pattern. To keep track of where you are number the holes counter-clockwise(the engine rotates counter clockwise, this will remind you of that) And torque the bolts 1-5, 2-6, 3-7, 4-8. I think there were eight bolts, which are only tightened to 8ftlb.

 

Unbelievabley complete write-up!

One of many reasons I read these forums (and others for the Ford and Datsun I own) than the newspaper.

 

I was pretty lazy about it, just looking at it now I can think of three things I did not mention, and will edit to add.