Me and my good friend maacus ( ludebehavior85) just finished installing my new tranny, yes it is 2:51am eastern time, and i started working on it at about 3pm.

El tranny:

The tranny is in an m2f4 case, for those that dont know, thats a 4th gen usdm vtec tranny. Anyways, it has custom micropolished gears that are comparable to first gen b16 gear ratios. Add a 4.78 final drive on top of that and my ratios come out a bit shorter than an m2b4 with 4.78 and also shorter than the accord euro r trans. It wears a brand new oem jdm lsd, which was meant for an m2b4, but fits the f4 case. This is all already assembled, so i will not be going over the FD install. Nor anything else inside the casing for that matter.

Installation:

the suck - i warn all: DO NOT ATTEMPT TO REMOVE A PRELUDE TRANSMISSION THROUGH THE BOTTOM, IT SUCKS BIGTIME. YOU MIGHT AS WELL PULL THE MOTOR.

i started a 3 pm taking out my current m2b4 and undid everything and got it all out of the way, thn messed with trying to get it out until about 6 pm. I just could not fit the tranny out for two reasons. First was that the engine mount was holding it back, but it would not come off because of those damn studs, so i said **** it and took all three of the studs out, and got some bolts ready to go back in for the install. Secondly, the radius arm got in the damn way so much i took it loose and fucked my alignment all to hell just to fit the damn tranny out. Not that it is a big deal for me though, i need new tires and alignment was going to be done when i put those on anyways. After that it was pretty easy, marcus joined me at about 8 and we put the new tranny in and fastened everything up. The axles and ball joints were a bitch as usual, but other than that it went ok. Everything was done and back together by 1230 am and then we bled the clutch and filled the tranny. Which, i figured out that the rumor that you can fill it through the breather is true, you just have to go slow because otherwise it will bubble and go slow as the air fights its way up the funnel, the air has nowhere else to go...

now for the good part:

wow

it is awesome, 3rd gear tops out at about 70, taking away the droopy feeling of second gear, it used to be too too long, now its just right, a blast up to 55 or 60 is now way more enjoyable.

daily driving:

around town little to no difference is noted, yes i shift a little more often, but at 50-55 mph, im under 3k rpm....so nothing to complain about here....
but, at highway speeds, the rpm is nearing a bit too high....70mph is about 4100 rpm and 80 is almost 5k rpm, i doubt any thing bad would happen to the car, but say goodbye to highway mpg....
the good thing about the rpm im at is the torque is right on tap if some idiot makes a dumb move i can scoot nicely without shifting....

overall, i am very very happy with my new tranny, and i wanted to let you guys know that a 4.78 fd is doable for a daily driver, as long as you dont travel too too much on a highway....

and remember that the stock prelude gears with the 4.78fd would be longer than mine, so take a few hundred of my rpm readings..

feel free to ask questions...

 

sounds like you just made a bad *** Auto-X tranny............
i wish i didn't have to make a 300 mile round trip to see the girlfriend everyother weekend
get some times with this setup

 

where did you get your gears made? how much did it cost?

 

Sounds nice Matt. Great work! I have an Accord Type R (U2Q7) transmission with the Prodrive 4.71 FD and love it.

 

sound like your getting the jump on everyone. thats a tight set up. i think i might have to just pay for my clutch install . if i had the time i'd still do it. or if i had something else to drive. it might have sucked but you saved a few hundred!!

 

Fill me in if i got a 5th gen base can i do the same like yours? Its not a straight bolt on right? As in just changing the internal not the case. Adding in a FD to 5th gen base is not an option at all right unless i get it custom.

 

i bought the tranny complete for $1500, the gears were made in california at some custom shop...

the tranny belonged to jeremy lookofsky before me, he has a 10 second all motor h22 civic....then a guy from camp1320 picked it up, and blew his motor driving it, so he put it up for sale...the tranny has about 50 miles on it since they built it....

i thought i got a pretty good deal, i sold my m2b4 with a crapped 3rd syncro for about 800 bucks, so i paid $700 for a basically brand new tranny, custom gears, and a $1000+ final drive....

i will definitely be getting some times, but they will be after my rmf header install this week, and tuning (hopefully) on saturday....

the setup will be: replica j's intake, str 70mm tb port matched to manifold, rmf narrow h22 header, 2.5 inch back to a 60mm apexi catback....tuned on an s200....

i never let anyone do work on my car that i can do, so the only thing i would get done at shop would be bottom end work, internal tranny work, welding, or pressing ball joints and stuff.....ill do all the rest myself....

anyways, with an 8lb flywheel the accel just feels sick....

thanks, your ratios come out damn close to mine, just slightly longer....i have this baller *** gear ratio calc with columns of 100rpm increments that show speed in every gear, and it has a graph to show it....

you can input gear ratios, fd ratio, and tire diameter up top, and it will do all the calculations for you, and it has like 10 pre made sheets with the gear ratios for most common honda trannies....if anyone wants it, just pm me.....

you will definitely be able to do this, it would bolt right in, all h series trannies, with the exception of the atts ****, will bolt to any h engine....
you also could go inside and add an fd, it would be the same part that is inside mine, they are all the same also....the only problem would be that you dont have lsd, and you might need it with really short gears....


thanks for all the input guys

 

Awesome write-up on the new tranny, I wish I could afford one

 

Man awsome! Do you know the exact ratios of the gearing 1-4 or whatever was customized? I was thinking of going custom gears a while back when thinking of rebuilding a 4th gen from the ground up. Gears alone costed 1500

So i said **** it, EG hatch back with K series.


Almost done BTW.

 

sounds like a very nice setup!

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Soda Popinski &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Man awsome! Do you know the exact ratios of the gearing 1-4 or whatever was customized? I was thinking of going custom gears a while back when thinking of rebuilding a 4th gen from the ground up. Gears alone costed 1500

So i said **** it, EG hatch back with K series.


Almost done BTW. </TD></TR></TABLE>

the ratios are basically first gen b16 ratios, they are a little shorter, but its like 1 or 2mph at the top of the gear of difference....

the only reason i bought this was because of the amazing deal i got on it, i paid 1500 for this thing, freshly rebuilt with 50 miles on it....

 

You lucky bastard.


Well make the best of it, and build a mean street car and use that tranny to the max and give those k20 owners like me a run for our money!

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by mgags7 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">
you will definitely be able to do this, it would bolt right in, all h series trannies, with the exception of the atts ****, will bolt to any h engine....
you also could go inside and add an fd, it would be the same part that is inside mine, they are all the same also....the only problem would be that you dont have lsd, and you might need it with really short gears....
</TD></TR></TABLE>

there's a good chance that my m2y4 w/ quaife will be for sale at some point soon...perfect for a new custom FD install.

this was something i eventually wanted to do. couldn't change the individual gear ratios, but i def wanted some more FD.

oh, and whenever i drop the tranny, i take the front x-member off as well. makes it alot easier to get the tranny out.

 

hold your horses on the good luck....i might have a bad differential bearing on my hands (oh no)

if i have to pull it out again im gonna be real pissed....

also, monkey, did i need to take the radius rod loose or is just dropping that x-member enough?

thanks

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by mgags7 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">hold your horses on the good luck....i might have a bad differential bearing on my hands (oh no)

if i have to pull it out again im gonna be real pissed....

also, monkey, did i need to take the radius rod loose or is just dropping that x-member enough?

thanks</TD></TR></TABLE>

Ouch, that sucks.

I saw that tranny for sale from Madness......very tempting.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by mgags7 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">hold your horses on the good luck....i might have a bad differential bearing on my hands (oh no)

if i have to pull it out again im gonna be real pissed....

also, monkey, did i need to take the radius rod loose or is just dropping that x-member enough?

thanks</TD></TR></TABLE>

why do you think it might have bad bearings? what's it doing?

 

i want, no i NEED this rather...where did you get the 4.78 fd from? 98 spec jdm itr?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by mgags7 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">did i need to take the radius rod loose or is just dropping that x-member enough?</TD></TR></TABLE>

I have always just removed the right hand radius rod. That shouldn't change your alignment btw. Also, it seems to go a lot smoother if you drop the dranny with the diff side higher. The diff side is heavy and it naturally likes to rotate on the mainshaft such that the diff is lower (don't let it do this). Also, leave the other motor mounts tight. Some ppl say to loosen the other mounts but that only made it harder when I tried it like that. Oh, and on the filling part... I use one of those gear oil bottles with the fine tip (actually all you need is the cap with the fine tip...). Put the tranny oil in the bottle, then squeeze it into the vent. Then relax your grip and it will suck air back out of the tranny. Goes really quick that way.

 

You should try an SH in the driveway if you think your 4th gen is a pain.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by flyrod &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I have always just removed the right hand radius rod. That shouldn't change your alignment btw. Also, it seems to go a lot smoother if you drop the dranny with the diff side higher. The diff side is heavy and it naturally likes to rotate on the mainshaft such that the diff is lower (don't let it do this). Also, leave the other motor mounts tight. Some ppl say to loosen the other mounts but that only made it harder when I tried it like that. </TD></TR></TABLE>

yeah, i usually just unbolt the 4 bolts holding the x-member, and remove the right side radius rod from the LCA. there should be enough room for the tranny to drop out at that point.

 

i see, thanks for the help on that guys...

but, the diff bearing, or so i think, is shot

when i am on the gas, it makes a whirring sound that gets higher pitched as speed increases.....it is loudest when i am on the gas just enough to cruise.....it cuts in and out as i go between no throttle and a little....

and then it quiets up when i put the clutch in, but its still there as i slow down...

i am quite worried about this as i have heard that if that bearing craps out my diff will be on the ground a few hundred feet from my car....

thanks for the help...

 

if it really is the diff bearings, they're pretty easy to change yourself. granted you gotta pull the tranny again, which is a bitch.

 

Does this tranny have straight cut gears? Some gearboxes make more noise, especially if they are performance oriented (where noise is not an issue). How much preload was on the diff bearing? If something is going bad in the tranny you can drain the fluid and see if there are particles of metal...

 

im not sure whether the gears are straight cut or not actually, the guy that i bought it from doesnt know, but the sound is not in relation to rpm, its to speed.....so i dont think its the gears....

i know what they sound like, and this sound is much like that....check out my thread on replacing the bearings and give me some advice....