it seems like the mainshaft is stopping it.....

 

i once did a tranny that i couldn't close, come to find out i accidentally put the 3/4 synchro hub upside down causing the case not to close all the way down. check to see if that helps. also i had a tranny not close because i accidentally used a gsr countershaft second gear with a b16 main shaft second gear. other than those 2 incidents, all of my other trannies closed with no issues and i've done about 80 or so. hope this helps.

 

Here's a few things I'd check.

1. did you put the 1-2/reverse cog on upside down (not sure if you were talking about this or the reverse idler) If you did, you can tell as when you engage 3rd or 4th, the input shaft will lock so you can't turn it.
2. I know you did (stated earlier you had it on boards) but is the input shaft all the way down to the bearing?
3. do you have the trans in neutral? If you have it in a gear and the sleeves are not in the middle, it causes the selector shafts to be askew.
4. You don't have an old input shaft bearing race stuck in the gearcase side that you didn't remove? If that bearing failed, the race will stay in the case and you have to pull it. If you are thining about everything else, this can be easy to forget.
5. For some reason, you didn't leave the detent bolts in, did you? I don't even know if that's possible to pull the case halves apart with them in there (I think it is though) but if you have the bolts with the springs sticking out, they'd cause quite a problem when you tried to go back together....

As stated earlier, if you snapped a couple pics, I'm sure we could spot the problem immediately. Try to find someone with a camera and post up some pics.

 

i think i need pictures

 

had the same problem... the bearing on top of the new lsd was tight holding the case off a little. put some grease on it. then i got the case down enough to get a few bolts in it then tightened them a quarter turn a piece until it pulled the case all the way down. no problems since

 

ttt figure it out yet?

 

Take a yellow or white tire paint marker or something to make a good marking with, mark the top of the counter and mainshafts, top of gear change selector, top of reverse gear idler, and the three shift forks, then try to install the top case. When u feel it stop and hit something, remove the top half and look to see if the color has transfered anywhere, if u see paint transfers anywhere, your alignment is off and u need to make theaccording adjustments

hope this helps

 

i had a very similar problem not to long ago... my problem was when i replaced my 5th gear with a used set even though the tooth count was the same as my old one the diameter of the gear was NOT the same..... it was slightly larger..... therefore causing the two shafts to push of eachother which would never let the bearing line up in the housing..... take a quick look and check when u assemble the main and countershafts in the housing that none of the gears look like they are contacting eachother all the way.... idk if i made that clear but yea it took me some time to figure that out... but once i got a complete new 5th both the main and countershaft gears it closed like butter......

 

https://honda-tech.com/forums/transmission-drivetrain-127/b-series-transmission-teardown-rebuild-tutorial-2443459/

It really says it all.

If you follow carefully these instructions there is no reasons it won't work.

As Clerique said maybe you got some Gsr gears mixed up. Here's is something that can help you. I physically had in my hands those transmissions so I counted teeth.

SiR

1
Main 13
Counter 42

2
Main 19
Counter 40

3
Main 24
Counter 35

4
Main 28
Counter 31

5
Main 33
Counter 28


GSR

1
Main 13
Counter 42

2
Main 20
Counter 38

3
Main 25
counter 34

4
Main 29
Counter 30

5
Main 33
Counter 26


RS (Hydro)

1
Main 13
Counter 42

2
Main 20
Counter 38

3
Main 26
Counter 33

4
Main 30
Counter 29

5
Main 35
Counter 25


Del Sol VTEC

1
Main 13
Counter 43

2
Main 19
Counter 40

3
Main 24
Counter 35

4
Main 28
Counter 31

5
Main 33
Counter 28


GSR 1992-1993

1
Main 13
Counter 43

2
Main 19
Counter 40

3
Main 24
Counter 35

4
Main 28
Counter 31

5
Main 32
Counter 28


Spec R

1
Main 13
Counter 42

2
Main 19
Counter 40

3
Main 24
Counter 35

4
Main 29
Counter 30

5
Main 33
Counter 26

As whitejdmdc4 said, both Si and GSR mainshaft 5th gear got the same teeths number. But the GSR one is larger than the Si one, which could 'cause the case not to close properly.

There's three thing that I can think about.

First one is the C-Clip you absolutely need to open when closing the case;

Second one, make sure to move the alignment tab of the mainshaft washer to roughly the 12 o’clock position;

Third one is the shift change shaft that need to be placed at the right place. In the thread I posted at the beginning of my post, the guy talk about selecting various gears in the transmission with a screwdriver using the gear select shaft. What I usually do is I use a long screwdriver, a press slightly on the shift change shaft, as described by the red line that represent the screwdriver and the red arrow that represent the direction in which you should press the screwdriver. Use a rubber hammer to close the case, and remove the screwdriver when the case is sitting on it.



I've been an Honda tech for many years and fixed many of those transmissions so I know what I'm talking about Hope I could help.

 

well i took a gsr counter shaft and a ls mainshaft for ***** and giggles and the case wont close. so ya. you deffinitly have the wrong gear somewhere. Now the problem you are having is the mainshaft doesnt have enough room to push onto the countershaft because of the larger gear. In turn is causing your top bearing on the mainshaft to be off by about a 1/8th of a inch. if you flip the gear housing over and look where the bearing goes you will more then likely see markings from the bearing not sitting right. hope that helped.

 

thanks for the tips guys


the only gear i think is mixed up must be the 5th mainshaft since there the same teeth count but different size!
i will try that, its the only other reason could be causing this problem!

i love HT!

imm a try it tomorrow

 

wow i love u

!!! that was the problem

wider gsr 5th!

 

thanks to all who contributed

 

Congrat ! I'm glad you found the problem.

Already had a similar problem.

I had a Si transmission. I mixed up the 5th gear on the countershaft with a 92-93 GSR. It has the same teeth count, but it is larger. I could close the case properly, but when I turned the input shaft I heard a grind noise. It took me several hours to find the problem.