Is this something a novice mechanic can handle? I was thinking of taking the pumpkin out myself and shipping it to hardtopguy in ohio for him to do the final drive gear install. If anyone has the helms manual and can print out the instructions on how to do this, that'd be great .

 

It does look like removing the axles will be a pain; there's like 6 bolts each. I think the prop shaft is the same. You also have to remove the mounting bolts.

I think you could do it. You just need to raise it enough to work under the car.

I got the service manual on CD from ebay for like $4. You may want to as well.

 

The casing itself isn't hard to remove.. if you're putting a new FD or soemthing in, you might wanna take the unit to a shop once you get it out. From what I saw when we were taking the tranny off, the diff was pretty straightforward looking.

 

the hardest part is removing the allen bolts that connect the prop shaft to the diff, those bastards seize up and can be a pain to remove, via vise grips and hammer and liquid wrench. If you're local to so cal, I can direct you to my friend that has done over 15 final drive swaps and more than 5 LSD swaps. He personally did 2 ring pinion swaps 4.44 and 4.77s and installed my ATS 2 way carbon LSD.

 

if you are a novice, I'd say no, don't do it. no, it isn't like you will screw something up, but chances are, you will not get it right. also, in the helms manual (not sure about the honda manual), the instructions offer a lot of unnecessary items to remove/unbolt. it's would be best to inquire on s2ki.com and find someone who has done it before to help you out.

typically, the job can be done in under a few hours with one person making an entire swap. just removing? probably less, but you want to take your time to make sure all is well and that you get things right when you do put it back in.

 

Thanks for all the advice guys. I didn't know it was that involved . I usually like to do my own work so i get the experience and knowledge of doing a particular install and the satisfaction of knowing that if something goes wrong, i can probably fix it. However, i still consider myself a "novice" and i'm not too sure if this is something i want to tackle with fall quarter starting soon. It also seems that i don't have enough tools to make this a success anyways.

Vapor, thanks for the referral. I wasn't sure if you still had a friend down here that could still do FD installs. I will shoot you a pm when i gather all my parts .

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by StinkyTofu &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Thanks for all the advice guys. I didn't know it was that involved . I usually like to do my own work so i get the experience and knowledge of doing a particular install and the satisfaction of knowing that if something goes wrong, i can probably fix it. However, i still consider myself a "novice" and i'm not too sure if this is something i want to tackle with fall quarter starting soon. It also seems that i don't have enough tools to make this a success anyways.

Vapor, thanks for the referral. I wasn't sure if you still had a friend down here that could still do FD installs. I will shoot you a pm when i gather all my parts .</TD></TR></TABLE>

np, just PM me for his contact info. Remember, you'll need the gears, shims, pinion bearing, crush washer, some diff fluid, and the yellow box.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by vapor &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">
shims, pinion bearing, crush washer. </TD></TR></TABLE>

would that be OEM parts???

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by [S2X &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">]

would that be OEM parts???</TD></TR></TABLE>

yep. Shims should be a set spec'ed out for the gears. The honda shim set costs over $100.

 

not to scare anyone from attemping this but this can be a very complicated job. like vapor mentioned shimming is critical. a friend of mine that owns an S2k with a kazz diff had to replace a final drive that lost a couple teeth. i thought this was odd considering that he doesnt really beat on the car. after telling one of the techs about the problem he mentioned that he shouldnt even bother with the ring and pinion because honda recommends that the whole rear should be replaced. (!) apparently when they are assembled in japan the backlash is measured in MICRONS. because of that technicians arent even trained on the maintainance of the rears. just a little info to pass on, make sure whoever is working on your rear end (in your car ) knows what they are doing.
-Roger


Modified by E-Town4229 at 10:41 PM 8/31/2004

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by E-Town4229 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">apparently when they are assembled in japan the backlash is measured in MICRONS. because of that technicians arent even trained on the maintainance of the rears.</TD></TR></TABLE>

LOL um...that doesn't scare me at all!

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by E-Town4229 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">not to scare anyone from attemping this but this can be a very complicated job. like vapor mentioned shimming is critical. a friend of mine that owns an S2k with a kazz diff had to replace a final drive that lost a couple teeth. i thought this was odd considering that he doesnt really beat on the car. after telling one of the techs about the problem he mentioned that he shouldnt even bother with the ring and pinion because honda recommends that the whole rear should be replaced. (!) apparently when they are assembled in japan the backlash is measured in MICRONS. because of that technicians arent even trained on the maintainance of the rears. just a little info to pass on, make sure whoever is working on your rear end (in your car ) knows what they are doing.
-Roger


Modified by E-Town4229 at 10:41 PM 8/31/2004</TD></TR></TABLE>

yep, opening up the pumpkin should be done by someone that has set them up before, not AAMCO or the like. However, pulled the pumpkin out of the car isn't difficult, just takes some time and mechanical experience.