Honda Guru's,

I'm sure a ton of you have gone through the process of replacing your clutch. I wanted to poll people to find out which way was the easiest for them to get their transmission lined up and reconnected to the engine after installing the new clutch. I've spent hours with it suspended by a cherry picker and nothing I do gets the spline to line up and the transmission back on (There's a joke in there somewhere). I've spent my entire morning watching videos and everyone seems to want to skip showing this step. I'm probably just a newb and should have been able to get the transmission back on by now. I've spun the damn spline about 100 times, but for some reason the right angle is alluding me. Any and all tips and tricks with this step would be greatly appreciated!

 

The splines probably line up. The dowels will hang up almost 100% of the time. Make sure the dowels are in the right spot and that the dowel hole isn't corroded or burred.

Ditch the cherry picker and use a floor jack/trans jack. Use your hands to pick the trans up the rest of the way and shove it on. Use a bolt to hold the trans. I use the top bell housing bolt.

Then wiggle the trans on as far as you can with your hands. I then place in more bell housing bolts and GENTLY tighten them in a criss cross pattern. Keep the gap between the trans and block nice and even. If there is noteable flexing or resistance, STOP, loosen the bolts, realign the trans. It's easy to crack a trans housing. It'll make a "thunk" as it pops into the dowels. Then you can torque the bell housing bolts.

The above works if the clutch disk was properly aligned with a tool and if everything else is assembled properly.

 

Thanks for the feedback. I was thinking about ditching the cherry picker the next time I work on it since I have a tranny jack. Every time I've tried I'm not even getting to the point where the dowels are touching which I'm assuming is because the spline isn't lined up and properly seating in there to even get that close.

The flywheel and pressure plate were all torque'd to spec and I did use the alignment tool.

 

It's just a matter of getting lucky and lining things up then. Just make sure that the angle of the trans matches the angle of the block. It'll slide on.

 

By the way, just as an aside...when my friend and I replaced his clutch in his 1988 Civic, we spent 2 hours in the heat trying to get that thing lined up...after 2 hours of swearing, sweating, and with trembling muscles (I was underneath holding it in a half-way up bench press position while he wiggled it and pushed) we counted the splines on the clutch and the splines on the input shaft.

Yeah, they had given us the wrong clutch.

 

Lol yes....make sure you have the right clutch. I always slide the disk over the trans splines before installing.

 

I guess I should have done that. It wouldn't take me long to get the pressure plate off and give that a try though. I was so glad to be at the point where the old busted clutch pieces were out that I put the new parts on fairly quick. I probably wont have time to do anything until Saturday, but I will return with a message of success eventually.

 

The last couple of times I did this I had it close with the tranny jack and then I laid on my back with two feet on the trans so I could articulate until it popped in. Not the most dignified way of putting a trans on but if you've been struggling for thirty mins you're just about ready to abandon all dignity.

Sometimes they pop right on. Other times I swear that I'll just drop the entire engine. It sucks disconnecting coolant and fuel lines but if you have an engine hoist, you can remove a whole Honda engine and bang a clutch out in much less time than leaving it in. Have you ever replaced a clutch during an engine swap? ******* cake.

 

If I'm doing it with the engine in the car, I just jack the car up high enough that I can roll under it, on my creeper, with the transmission on my chest, and bench press it into place while someone else pushes it in. Doing it with the engine out of the car is easier - lay it on the ground, and push the two together. Done.

 

It takes you two arms? Damn. I have my lady just one-arm it while I bounce on the rear until I hear it go pop.

No way in hell I'm holding anything that heavy over my face.

 

i remove axles, undo the tranny mount, support engine with 4x4 and strap, put jack underneath transmission, remove bellhousing bolts, then pry the trans off the engine.

 

I assume by looking at your name your putting the clutch on a 89 civic. personally haven't done one on that particular year model but have done them or a few eg and ek models both B and D series motors. I was fortunate enough to be able to use a lift every time and haven't had to do it on the ground. But a transmission jack will help tremendously. most will let you angle it left right front and back. Hope you get it all worked out.

 

I think the splines for a hydraulic clutch are smaller diameter than those for a cable. Maybe there is an incorrect clutch all up in yo face.

 

I always pull thhe motor and do it on the shop floor... I have always cursed the world trying to put the block and tranny back together in the car... saves me a world of trouble to just pull it all out.... undo one axel from the spindle... leave the shift linkage hooked up...drop the engine on thhe floor.

 

Update...

After I wasted even more hours of my life with no success I got to the point where I said enough is enough. I'm going to take the pressure plate and friction disc off. Try to line the disc up on the tranny spline and what do you know... IT DIDN'T F*CKING FIT!!!!! Comparing the size of the hole on the disc and the tranny spline up next to each other it didn't even look close. Now the hole on the disc looked pretty banged up from my hours of trying to jam it in there, but even flipping it around it didn't go on the spline and looked obviously small. I did notice that I'm not the only one that has had trouble finding the right friction disc for an 89 civic.

 

^^ and the world wonders why alcohol takes the pain away.

Get the right parts and good luck man.

 

I feel like I've been running in circles the past hour trying to figure out what the right clutch kit would be. Everything I read says the 1989 civic should have a 20 spline input shaft. If that was the case then the friction disc I have should fit, but it does not.

 

I guess its best to ensure that the friction disk fits the shaft spline properly. Once that is done than move onto mounting everything up. Last would be to get a hydraulic jack to help raise the transmission to a height that will allow you to mount the the tranny.

 

Well here is the number off the side of my transmission.

L3-1238646

Pretty sure that is not what is supposed to be on an 89' civic since it has a count of 21 teeth on the spline.

 

When I do finally get this thing back together does anyone have MTF suggestions?

 

Based off the sizes of the 89' pressure plate and flywheel I have a 200mm 88' friction disc will fit so I got that ordered. Hopefully it gets here by Saturday and I'll be done by the end of the weekend.