Hello out there, my engine died in my 92 accord a while back and after lots of searching I was able to find a manual parts car with a great engine that should be a direct replacement for the dead one except one thing. My car is auto. So I just thought it was a good idea to cover all my bases. I’ve got both engines ready to come out and that should be done tomorrow ish, I just wanna make sure I know all that needs done as far as converting the engine to work with the auto trans, I can find all kinds of stuff about putting a manual into an auto car but not much related to what I’m doing. Here’s what I know. The flywheel and any other clutch parts have to come off and I need to put on the flex plate off the dead engine. Is that all or is there anything else. Also any tips or tricks for the actual lifting out of the engine/trans wouldn’t hurt too I’ve got a decent idea of the best angles for them to come out but I’ve also never taken an engine out of any fwd vehicle ever. I’ll be using a hoist and a beam in my garage is that makes a difference. Thanks for any tips and advice

 

You got it. Just remove the manual flywheel and clutch and install the flex plate/torque converter/etc off your old engine. Use your original axles. You can actually just pull the engine and leave your automatic transmission, axles, etc right in the car. Just unbolt the flex plate from the torque converter and leave the converter installed in the transmission, disconnect the rear mount from the engine and you can pull the engine out separately with an engine hoist. Much faster than pulling the whole assembly.

 

Ok cool thanks for the info, I borrowed a tool from a guy who said basically the same you did about separating engine and trans in car but I won’t lie I’m mechanically inclined but very inexperienced so I do have a couple of questions. Fist being I kno how to seperate an auto from the enigine (on a rwd American v8 anyway) so where do I get access to the torque converter bolts and is there a long shaft into the converter cuz it doesn’t look like there’s much room to deal with that if there is. Tho I have heard that the components do mate up a bit differently than what I’m used to so that could be the thing there lol. And second I have never messed with a clutch at all ever so I have no idea how that comes apart and could use some advice there also. I’m in my garage for the moment checking stuff out and it does look like all the bolts that hold the engine to trans are easy enough to get at on both cars so I’m thinking I will try to seperate them both in car

 

On 90-97 Accords you will need to remove a few components to gain access to the converter bolts.

• Remove engine splash shield.
• Remove center beam
• Unhook front O2 sensor wiring(EX model) from manifold strut. *O2S lead/connector is connected to the strut, not the engine harness, it's backwards from what you think it should be.*
• 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.

Personally, I would remove the transmission totally unless you are really good at strapping things down. That mount is not centered on the weight of the trans and axles, you're going to be fighting this trans if you try to leave it in situ. I can pull the trans on my Accord in about 45mins. Re: how to remove the trans???.
If you do decide to try and pull the engine without pulling the trans, you will need to remove the crank pulley to allow for more room when removing the engine.

You might be able to get the AT apart from the engine in the bay, but you are going to have to remove the trans mount and drop the MT trans out of the car as the input shaft will not allow the engine to come out. Plus the MT cars have the jack shaft that bolts to the engine that connects the left side CV axle to the transmission. And the MT engines pilot bushing may interfere with the register bore when trying to bolt the TC up to it it. I'd suggest removing that before installing the AT.

I'd recommend following that awesome link posted above and drop the AT trans out. This will give you lots of room to work on the engine and various hoses.
And sine the MT trans HAS to come out, you can use most of that post as reference in removing the MT trans.

 

I actually ended up pulling my donor engine and it’s manual transmission out together last night and it was super easy, so I think I’m just gonna pull the dead engine and auto trans out together as a unit also, I just figure that gives me the best access to seperate the transmissions from their engines and swap the few parts over, it’s ready to lift out besides one bracket on a power steering line and one heater core hose, I’m not sure if I’ll even have to pull the manifold and down pipe off to get the engine out cuz my flex pipe was rotted out when I bought the car so I cut what was left off and used a bolt on one, I’ll probly do it anyway just for the added room and I’m gonna use that manifold and downpipe on the new engine anyway. Working on the donor parts car was a real pain cuz it wasn’t worked on by someone with much skill/sense and there were quite a few cross threads and things over tightened, the driver car is a joy to work on tho as it’s unmolested and as close to factory fresh as you can find a nearly 30 year old car in Canada, just wish the previous owner didn’t drive it with no oil for 2 years