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AWD Conversion ForumThis forum is to help with the recent advent of new AWD conversions. Got a question? Ask it here. Got an answer? Drop the knowledge here
So the saga continues... Got my throttle body back and installed the new alternator. Started messing with the idle on the S300 again, and I am having a hell of a time getting it to steady out. Noticed the voltage dropping on my turbo timer display and in SManager. The Multimeter is showing about a 1.5v more when directly on the battery than what SManager is showing me. Multimeter shows 16.4v directly off of the new alternator, BUT what I found was the bolt for the alt cable in the fuse box was not completely tight. When I "wiggle test" the cable it puts out all different readings. Unfortunately, I upon trying to tighten the bolt, it broke. I must have welded it in there with my little cable fire after the last tune. SOooo, I ordered a new fuse box and am now waiting for that to get in.
On that note, I've about had it with the wiring in the old Civic. 21 years old and roughly 19 of those years of me hacking on it has taken its toll. I finally pulled the trigger on something I should have done a long time ago, and contacted the guys over at Wireworx for an engine harness made by the pro's. Obviously my attempt at a home made tucked wire harness has not stood the test of time. It will be nice to have a decent wire harness again.
While I was on their site, I got a wild hair and ordered up their S2K conversion kit. I sourced out an AP1 cluster, which I gotta say I am not a huge fan of at the moment, but maybe it will grow on me. I just don't like how plain and boring it is when it is off. You can't see any dials or gauges, just a black "screen with a few numbers on it. Once it is on though, I am sure it is a different story. The real reason I went this route is that with the use of the K-Tuned conversion box I will be able to calibrate the speedometer and the fuel gauge to read properly, which I have not been able to do thus far. DAMN! One day I will get this thing back on the streets and to the track... I think...
Ran it through emissions today and it passed, but as soon as I sat back in my seat the bottom ripped out. Talk about riding low. Seems these seats have had enough of my fat ***. I took it into an upholstery shop today and this finally gave me a chance to get my rear seats done. Years ago I put Type R seats in the Civic, but I didn't really like the red fronts of the CTR and I hated the rear grey seats. So I went with the black ITR front Recaros and the rear seats to match. Only problem was that the rear base seat cushion was much smaller in the ITR than the Civic. So I am also having them make the black suede cover fit the Civic cushion.
Yet another issue I have been having, as if I needed any more, is the Hondata acting up on me. For some reason when I start the car I am only able to rev to 3500 rpm. When I push the throttle it bounces the revs between 1500-2500 rpm almost like its in launch mode. The only time I can get it to work is if I plug in my laptop with SManager up and upload the tune. Then it revs all the way up until I shut the engine off, then I have to start over with the laptop. I've been going back and forth with Hondata on their forum about this and it looks like they may be sending me a new board. They asked for the serial number of it and when I gave it to them, they just said to send them my info for an RMA. I swear it has just been one thing after another with the Civic. To be continued....
Got the ECU back from Hondata. They were able to duplicate my issue, but the only thing they could come up with is that the calibration I was using had gotten corrupted. They said this could have happened if I was making changes while the battery voltage was low. This makes sense, because I was having voltage issues with the alternator cable being loose in the fuse box. So this means that I will have to retune it for the T85. I still have my E85 tune that I have not messed with at all and seems to be running pretty well. Got my seats back and installed. Also sent out the S2K cluster to get the odometer changed to match my current mileage. The cluster is installed and I have calibrated the MPH so that it now reads correctly. I still need to dial in the fuel level sensor on it, but that is about it. The S2K ended up turning out pretty good and I think I am liking it. At this point the Civic is all back together and I am back at square one with it. The weather is slightly cooling off here, so I may be able to get is out to the track some time soon. And it's about damn time...
Hi! I was just looking at this thread. I just picked up a full 5 speed awd crv and im thinking about doing awd h2b on my hatch ive been going through videos reading threads to try and collect as much information as i can to do this. Ive messaged people here locally and thats done this but no answer and i saw you’re local so thats a plus lol whenever you have a chance if you could respond. Im new to this first time ever using it haha
I'm not on here every day, but I do respond to messages once I see that I have one. I'll try to answer questions and help out, but I've pretty much put everything that I know and have done here into this thread. You just have to take the time to go through it. This is quite a project to take on and most of it is a learning process achieved through trial and error. Best of luck!
Sick project! How much have you spent on the AWD conversion?
Whoa, whoa, whoa... That's like asking someone how much they make. I don't disclose such info and I honestly never added it all up. Too many pieces needed along the way. The initial cost of just the parts needed from the CR-V wasn't too bad. It was the upgrades that were the expensive parts. In all I'd say the transmission and the fuel system is where most of the money went.
DISASTER!! Went to replace what I thought was a leaking passenger side axle seal and found a big *** crack in the trans housing where the transfer case bolts in.
Guess I found a weak point. It has been leaking for a while, but I guess I didn't know how much. I think it started out as being a weak spot in the casting that became porous, maybe started to come apart little by little, and then finally cracked open. The last time I drove it I thought the gears sounded like they were whining. Then today I could really hear them. Not sure how to fix this other than the obvious, which is replacing the trans housing. But how do I reinforce it to make sure it doesn't happen again? Not to mention I most likely won't be able to find just the SBXM housing. I'll unfortunately have to purchase a complete SBXM and use it for parts. Needless to say the Civic will be down for a while. Just when the weather was getting nice around here to. I was just getting her ready to take to the track...
Alfatech is currently creating the billet transfer case and bell housing are next.
Oooooh, tell me more! They got a website? My GF’s brother is an amazing welder and he says he can fix it and make it a little stronger, but I still don’t know what caused it to crack there. It may just crack again above or below where he welds it up. So a billet housing would be the way to go. Now how much is something like that?$$$$
Oooooh, tell me more! They got a website? My GF’s brother is an amazing welder and he says he can fix it and make it a little stronger, but I still don’t know what caused it to crack there. It may just crack again above or below where he welds it up. So a billet housing would be the way to go. Now how much is something like that?$$$$
Yeah it's pretty expensive, so if it can be repaired you can go that route but I would save up for the billet stuff because they are rating it to hold up to 2000 horsepower LOL. The company is called Alfateh (Probillet Engineering) you can find them on facebook. I think they were offering a package deal for the billet housing and billet transfer case for $2900. Its pretty expensive but I will say this I cracked my bell housing on my regular b-series trans so I bought the billet bell housing for my car and have never had an issue ever again.
Another piece of the puzzle arrived today. :thumb up: A full sized 16 wheeler came through my neighborhood and dropped it off. An AWD manual trans out of a '00 JDM Honda CR-V. Already you can notice the differences. Because of the use and location for a transfer case, the shift linkage that the B16 uses will no longer work. This means converting to a cable shifting setup. This is where is would have been such a big help to find a manual trans AWD CR-V donor locally. Purchasing the shifter box and cables brand new through Honda is quite expensive. Currently in search for one from a CR-V or something else that may also work. Another difference with this trans is the use and location of the cable shifting mechanism, which moves the starter to the front of the transmission housing. This will require me to have to extend the wires that go to the starter. Other than that it looks pretty much the same. Honda definitely kept things simple.
Cables and shift mechanism.
Transfer case. Gears are driven off a ring gear on the open diff. Hopefully this little guy can handle some power.
Transfer case where shift linkage entered and mounted on a B16 manual trans. You can also see where the intermediate shaft goes.
Starter towards the front of the housing.
One thing I have always loved about Honda engines, especially the B series, is how clean they look. It's easy to clean up wires, delete or hide vacuum and coolant hoses, and remove unnecessary brackets. The B series really is a good looking engine in a world of auto manufacturers that produce unsightly engine bays. I take a bit of pride in keeping a clean engine bay that looks pretty. That being said, it kind of bothers me that I have to now deal with cables, shift mechanisms, and hideous looking starter. I know, weird right? I'll get over it and figure out something to do with it all. Maybe I'll delete the start all together and just push start the car whenever I go somewhere...
Another piece of the puzzle arrived today. :thumb up: A full sized 16 wheeler came through my neighborhood and dropped it off. An AWD manual trans out of a '00 JDM Honda CR-V. Already you can notice the differences. Because of the use and location for a transfer case, the shift linkage that the B16 uses will no longer work. This means converting to a cable shifting setup. This is where is would have been such a big help to find a manual trans AWD CR-V donor locally. Purchasing the shifter box and cables brand new through Honda is quite expensive. Currently in search for one from a CR-V or something else that may also work. Another difference with this trans is the use and location of the cable shifting mechanism, which moves the starter to the front of the transmission housing. This will require me to have to extend the wires that go to the starter. Other than that it looks pretty much the same. Honda definitely kept things simple.
Cables and shift mechanism.
Where did you purchase the transmission from ?
Transfer case. Gears are driven off a ring gear on the open diff. Hopefully this little guy can handle some power.
Transfer case where shift linkage entered and mounted on a B16 manual trans. You can also see where the intermediate shaft goes.
Starter towards the front of the housing.
One thing I have always loved about Honda engines, especially the B series, is how clean they look. It's easy to clean up wires, delete or hide vacuum and coolant hoses, and remove unnecessary brackets. The B series really is a good looking engine in a world of auto manufacturers that produce unsightly engine bays. I take a bit of pride in keeping a clean engine bay that looks pretty. That being said, it kind of bothers me that I have to now deal with cables, shift mechanisms, and hideous looking starter. I know, weird right? I'll get over it and figure out something to do with it all. Maybe I'll delete the start all together and just push start the car whenever I go somewhere...
Finally had a chance to dig into the Civic this week. The damage is worse than I originally thought. Took the magnetic drain plug out of the trans and a big tooth came with it. Got the t case out and it is cracked along with a couple of teeth missing from the t case gear and ring gear. Haven't opened up the trans yet, but I'm guessing it is a total loss. I'm surprised I was even able to drive and shift gears with this amount of damage. Pictures coming soon...
Too many. And not enough of them using the hand brake to load up the drivetrain. I'm sure that had a lot to do with it, buy I also thing the weak cast aluminum is an issue. I pulled the trigger and placed my order for the billet aluminum t case and bell housing from PBE - ProBillet Engineering. They are making a lot of cool **** over there, so check them out if you can. Won't see the parts for 65 days , so I've got plenty of time to pull apart the trans and piece everything together for a new build. I'm thinking of adding the LS 0.714 5th gear this time for, HAHA say it with me.... fuel economy.... Actually I just had reving the **** out of it when driving down the freeway. Yes, I do still drive it on the freeway, when I can. So I'm not going to have this damn thing back together until the summer time, AGAIN. I think I barely got 500 miles on the new head and cams before I blew the trans. Never got a chance to take it to the track with the new tune. Get there eventually.
Yep PBE is doing some good stuff, Locash has there regular B-series bell housing at his shop for a customer and has a side by side of the liberty and the PBE version 2 is better than the Liberty. You pulled the trigger on some good parts that will do you well.
Yep PBE is doing some good stuff, Locash has there regular B-series bell housing at his shop for a customer and has a side by side of the liberty and the PBE version 2 is better than the Liberty. You pulled the trigger on some good parts that will do you well.
That's good to hear. Good to hear Locash is still in the game too. I haven't seen that guy for years. A shop up in Washington has one of the fastest FWD Civics running mid 7s using PBE's bell housing. The owner just put in for the CR-V bell housing and t case, so I was able to get in on a group buy. It's a long wait, but I am excited to get it and see if it can solve some of these problems.
That's good to hear. Good to hear Locash is still in the game too. I haven't seen that guy for years. A shop up in Washington has one of the fastest FWD Civics running mid 7s using PBE's bell housing. The owner just put in for the CR-V bell housing and t case, so I was able to get in on a group buy. It's a long wait, but I am excited to get it and see if it can solve some of these problems.
Wish I'd have read through this thread a couple weeks ago, that billet housing group buy was a steal I'd have considered for my build. I'm right next to that Washington shop they call Speedfactory, which by the way is considered THE Honda shop in the Pacific Northwest. They are indeed running the fastest FWD civic in the world, 2000+hp B series billet block running 7.47 @ 215mph. But SFWD is for the OG crowd imo. AWD is on everyone's minds these days, hence my sitting here reading this 22 page graphic novel of legitimate Honda gold at 4am on a Sunday night.
But anyway, nice work on the build man. I'll be following for updates on that billet bellhousing, I'm sure you'll let us know how it shakes out.
07-27-2018, 12:30 PM
Re: Not Another AWD Civic Project!!!
Went to replace what I thought was a leaking passenger side axle seal and found a big *** crack in the trans housing where the transfer case bolts in.
I know, weird right? I'll get over it and figure out something to do with it all. Maybe I'll delete the start all together and just push start the car whenever I go somewhere...
What's with quoting all of these old pics?
, so I've got plenty of time to pull apart the trans and piece everything together for a new build. I'm thinking of adding the LS 0.714 5th gear this time for, HAHA say it with me.... fuel economy.... Actually I just had reving the **** out of it when driving down the freeway. Yes, I do still drive it on the freeway, when I can. So I'm not going to have this damn thing back together until the summer time, AGAIN. I think I barely got 500 miles on the new head and cams before I blew the trans. Never got a chance to take it to the track with the new tune. Get there eventually.
