I'm planning on attempting my first engine swap soon on my 91 prelude. Right now I'm planning on just replacing it with a stock junkyard b20a5. I found a link to a shop manual for a 3rd gen prelude that has pretty detailed instructions on pulling/replacing the motor. My first question is what tools am I going to need? This is my main problem as I really don't have a ton of tools. From what I've gathered I'm going to need an engine hoist (biggest problem), jackstands, rachets/wrenchs (probably deep sockets too), needle nose pliers, and some tool to measure the torque I'm putting on a bolt. Am I missing anything?

Also, I'm planning on using my tranny and clutch from my old motor, along with a few other misc parts that I know are fairly new (alt, timing belt, etc). The clutch only has 3k miles on it but the tranny has 201k. However, the tranny NEVER got beat on and I'm confident that it'll outlast any engine I put in the car. This leads me to my next question, are there any good writeups for installing a clutch/tranny with the engine out of the car since thats what I'm planning to do? Every writeup I see is w/o pulling the engine. I know it doesnt matter that much, but I figure a writeup showing it w/ the engine out will be alot easier for me to follow. It seems to me like this should be pretty straight forward. My car has a hydro clutch btw.

Thanks in advance and when I do finally get to it i'll post some pics.

edit: this is that link i mentioned http://www.honda.co.uk/owner/P....html (thx to kablamo for that one )

 

I think you have a good idea of all the tools youre gonna need...a torque wrench would be wonderful if you can get your hands on one. Make sure you keep track of which bolts go where! And torque everything to spec! Good luck buddy!

 

i was plannin on using masking tape and ziplock bags

spec is def good too

 

bump for any more input

anything i should particularly watch out for... it "seems" like it should be pretty straight forward. also anyone know how many bolts i will need deep socket ratchets for? isnt it just the right motor mount?

 

good luck with your swap....good to see real tuners out there...nothing against speed shops (i have one myself) but its just good to see you are willing to try to do things yourself...you will have a much better understanding of how things work when your done......good luck and keep us posted on how things go.

 

thx

my plan is to experiment/learn on this car (which hopefully will turn out all right and result in me having a beater for school) and then after i know more i'd like to either do up a 5th gen lude or possibly a civic hatch (w/ a b18c1). eventually i wanna fully build either a b18 or h22 and put some serious boost on it

 

yeah i helped my friend do a swap in his car....longest two days of my life, but after i did it, it really broadened my horizons on engines and im glad i did it

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Paulnsx &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">my plan is to experiment/learn on this car (which hopefully will turn out all right and result in me having a beater for school) and then after i know more i'd like to either do up a 5th gen lude or possibly a civic hatch (w/ a b18c1). eventually i wanna fully build either a b18 or h22 and put some serious boost on it </TD></TR></TABLE>

This will be a good starting point to help you reach your goals. I didn't see a ball joint seperator on your tool list. IMO a torque wrench is a must. For the clutch install write-up, use the in-car instructions and just skip some steps.

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by LudaMan &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I think you have a good idea of all the tools youre gonna need...a torque wrench would be wonderful if you can get your hands on one. Make sure you keep track of which bolts go where! And torque everything to spec! Good luck buddy! </TD></TR></TABLE>

Take pics if you can. When i took my gsr block apart i reinstalled the bolts into the removed piece and put a ziptie on it. Works well for keeping everthing in order. Have fun