DIY Honda Civic 5-Speed Conversion

[DaX]

Well, I figured I'd start a new thread for this, since I'll be getting started on it this weekend. This thread will document the process of my DIY 5-speed covnersion from an automatic transaxle in my 1990 Honda Civic DX. First I'd like to say that this project becomes much more difficult (that I am aware of) if you leave the 1988-1991 Civic realm. I know for a fact that if you do this on a 1992-1995 Honda Civic, you have to drill spot welds and move a welded drivetrain mounting bracket on the car's frame.

As a history, you can click HERE (http://www.honda-tech.com/zerothread?id=1220898) to see my DIY on a manual pedal cluster install, and HERE (http://www.gassavers.org/showthread.php?t=359) to see my DIY on a CRX HF transmission overhaul. I'm getting my background for this DIY from many posts across many message boards, and THIS (http://hometown.aol.com/jrmupzaii/auto2man.html) site as well.

05/29/06 - The car is down at my dad's house in the shop, awaiting saturday, when I'll start the process.

[thisisntjared]

this really makes me appreciate owning an eg...

[MetroMPG]

Another tranny swap thread. I like it. Good luck, DaX.

Care to give us some background on the different gears/final drive numbers involved?

[DaX]

this really makes me appreciate owning an eg...

Why? Because it's more difficult to do a 5-speed conversion on them?

Care to give us some background on the different gears/final drive numbers involved?

Sure. The reason I'm doing this conversion is - (a) I love driving a 5 speed and (b) I'm hoping the longer gear ratios from the HF transmission will allow me to get more gas mileage by maintaining lower engine RPM's at constant speeds. This will help me (in theory) as > 80% of my driving is highway @ sustained speeds.

The gear ratios in my HF transmission are as follows:

1 3.250
2 1.650
3 1.033
4 0.823
5 0.694
R 3.153
FD 2.95 (non-California model)

I have verified this by counting teeth on the gear sets while I was rebuilding the transmission, but I seem to have misplaced the sheet where I wrote the actual gear teeth numbers down at.

I do not know what the gear ratios are for a 1990 Civic DX with an automatic transmission, but perhaps someone else can give insight into that (SVO?).

This will be my first time attempting the conversion, but I don't think it will be that hard after reviewing the limited information available. I still haven't decided whether or not I'm going to pull the entire engine/tranny or just the tranny. Pulling the entire setup isn't necessary (it is more work), but it will yield more room. I'll probably end up yanking the whole thing.

Basically, the parts I have collected for this conversion are: CRX HF transmission, D-series flywheel, stock Exedy replacement clutch kit, Clutch cable, engine mounts from a civic with a manual transmission, an ECU from a manual equipped civic (DPFI), and a shift linkage from a 1988 Civic with shift boot & shift knob.

I have already rebuilt the transmission with new bearings and seals. I opted not to replace the synchros for money reasons (it would have been an additional $250 for parts) and because people rarely abuse HF transmissions - I'll admit I'm taking a chance on this, but it's a calculated risk. If necessary I'll pull it back out and throw in new synchros at a later date. I have also already installed my manual pedal cluster over a year ago. It's been weird riding around with a dead pedal, especially when going from my manual 1988 Civic to this auto 1990 Civic.

It's a pretty direct swap, all in all. There is some wiring necessary for the reverse lights (on an auto, the reverse light switch is located at the shifter console, and on a manual, it is locate on the transmission) and for the park lockout. The latter is a mechanism on automatic cars that prevents the key from being removed from the ignition unless the car is in park. Wiring is simply needed to fool the car into thinking it's always in park. I will need to cut a hole in the center tunnel for the shift linkage to poke through. Eventually, I would like to acquire the proper piece of sheet metal from a manual equipped Civic and weld this in place - this will cut down drastically on road noise and wind entering the cabin, as the sheet metal has a lip that allows a rubber boot to seal the cabin.

Anyhow, sorry to be so wordy. This weekend will mainly focus on getting the tranny (or engine/tranny) out, moving the mounts around, and getting the manual transmission bolted to the engine.

[MetroMPG]

Anyhow, sorry to be so wordy.

No, don't apologize! That's good info. Thanks for the backgrounder.

So it's the same transmission that Ben just installed?

[MetroMPG]

Anyhow, sorry to be so wordy.
No, don't apologize! That's good info. Thanks for the backgrounder.

So it looks like the same transmission that Ben just installed. Is that the tallest tranny option that fits your engine?

[DaX]

No, don't apologize! That's good info. Thanks for the backgrounder.

So it looks like the same transmission that Ben just installed. Is that the tallest tranny option that fits your engine?
I believe so. Here's a comparison of the HF tranny to the VX tranny, which are the two tallest transmission options available for D-series engines (I think):

-----VX------HF--
1---3.250---3.250
2---1.761---1.650
3---1.066---1.033
4---0.853---0.823
5---0.702---0.694
FD--3.250---2.950

I also forgot to mention that I plan on attempting to fix the air conditioning while I have the car in the shop.

[thisisntjared]

Why? Because it's more difficult to do a 5-speed conversion on them?err. i meant 'im glad i have a 5spd eg' i think they both have their ups and downs and it is more expensive to do a manual conversion on an eg, but there is a lot more room to move about.

to some extent i agree with taking the whole swap about of the engine bay. especially since you have a hoist.

i would rather do a swap than a auto-manual conversion. it seems like swaps take less time.

[DaX]

err. i meant 'im glad i have a 5spd eg' i think they both have their ups and downs and it is more expensive to do a manual conversion on an eg, but there is a lot more room to move about.

to some extent i agree with taking the whole swap about of the engine bay. especially since you have a hoist.

i would rather do a swap than a auto-manual conversion. it seems like swaps take less time.

I totally understand what you mean about the EH2. I really miss my EH2's sometimes, but as time progresses, I grow more and more attached to the ED6 bodystyle.

I agree with you on swaps taking less time - with all the right parts available, I can do a swap ALONE in one day. The more I think about it the more I'm leaning toward pulling the whole engine. It will also lead to better (less cluttered) pictures for the DIY.

[Matt Timion]

Awesome project. I was going to start my engine today, but we have family visiting this weekend and I need a four door car, so the engine swap is put off another week.

Is anyone driving through Utah next week for a few days next week and wants to get their hands dirty?

Anyone?

[MetroMPG]

There's another late-model Metro owner in SLC I've tried to get to join the board, Matt, but no luck yet. (He's a tinkerer too.)

This kind of stuff can go so much faster with 2 people working. I've found working on the ForkenSwift with Ivan we tend to motivate each other to be productive, and if we're smart enough to actually work on separate tasks rather than watch over the other guy's shoulder, the work actually goes more than twice as fast.

[thisisntjared]

I totally understand what you mean about the EH2. I really miss my EH2's sometimes, but as time progresses, I grow more and more attached to the ED6 bodystyle.i think the ed6 takes an aquired taste. when i first got into hondas i didnt like the crx's or efs. my dad offered to buy me one for cheap, but i decided to hold out for the more expensive eg.

in hindsight, i shouldve just taken the ef.

i would love to have the d16z6 in a gutted rex....

anyway, are you going to maintain powersteering and airconditioning? or is there either in your car. that would be my deciding factor of pulling the engine out.

[SVOboy]

Dax, let us not forgot the CX and the VX are the same tranny.

More love for my tranny, woo. I'll say some nice things about it in a new thread soon.

[thisisntjared]

im kinda annoyed with the cx tranny... and all of the longer geared trannies. all of the gears except first and 5th are stretched out, which is totally fine for fuel economy while accelerating. however i feel it defeats the purpose for highway driving when 4th gear is longer but the difference to fifth is minimal.

the z6 tranny makes a point to space out 4th and 5th and with the cx/vx final drive would be more ideal. the right thing to do would be to just make the 5th longer...

[SVOboy]

The right thing to do, hehe.

I'm glad dax is doing the write up so I don't have to.

Dax, is there anything you want me to do for you on this note in terms of writing/pictures?

[DaX]

anyway, are you going to maintain powersteering and airconditioning? or is there either in your car. that would be my deciding factor of pulling the engine out.

I plan on maintaining both...er...fixing my AC and keeping the power steering. It's still pretty easy to pull the engine while leaving both of these systems in tact. I'll detail it in the DIY.

Dax, let us not forgot the CX and the VX are the same tranny.

Oh yeah, I totally forgot that these two trannies were the exact same. Thanks for pointing that out! :)

Dax, is there anything you want me to do for you on this note in terms of writing/pictures?

Nah, not at this point anyhow, but thanks!

[SVOboy]

Eh, I'm useless.

[DaX]

Well, I started the conversion on Saturday. I'm over halfway done, and the only reason I'm not done is because the stinking Machine Shop was closed Sunday so I have to wait to get my flywheel resurfaced.

I ended up pulling the entire engine/tranny...and I'm glad I did. I don't want to think of how hard changing the rear mount would have been with an engine in there!

My explanation may be a little more in depth than most would want, as I am a HUGE neat freak when it comes to wiring. Most if not all of the wiring for this conversion will be contained within the stock harness. I spent a long time yesterday tracing wires and unwrapping loom. I have the engine harness wired, and still have the chassis harness left to do. Don't let the difficulty of my way of wiring scare you away from this conversion...you can just run wires directly if that doesn't bother you.

Anyhow, we haven't hit any snags that have scared me yet. Changing the rear mount has been the hairiest part - we did have to loosen bolts and lower the rear cross member to get to one of the bolts, but it was no big deal (why is everyone, including me, so affraid of lowering cross members?).

While we have the engine out, I have decided to replace the front crankshaft seal, as I have been having oil leakage issues, and I'm pretty sure this is the culprit. There will be a short segment of photos documenting this as well.

I'm so excited to get this conversion finished...I can't wait to drive my car! I have taken LOTS of pictures, but I left my camera down at my dad's house, so I won't be posting pictures until I'm finished.

[SVOboy]

I def wanna see some write up on the crossmember!

[DaX]

Comments are BELOW the pictures.

Wiring convention: If the wire is stated as a single color, that is the only color of the wire. If the wire is stated as two colors (ie - YEL/BLK), the first color is the primary color of the wire and the second color is the color of the stripe.

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Remove hood. Do not disconnect the battery yet!!!!

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Remove the center console cover to expose the shifter. Two phillips head screws on the sides hold the shifter handle in place - remove the shifter handle. Four phillips head screws (you can see them here...they're gold) hold the shifter faceplate in place - remove them and the shifter face plate.

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There are three plugs that need to be unplugged - a 10-pin plug, a 2-pin plug (large gauge wires), and another 2-pin plug (small gauge wires).

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As oriented in the photo above on the 10-pin plug, remove the two wires on the top row (closest to the clip) all the way to the right (as viewed above from NON-wire side). The wire colors are BLK and GRN/WHT

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Solder these two wires together. This will make your car think it is in park all the time. To verify that you have connected the correct wires (this is also how I figured out which ones to connect), turn the key in your car to the on position (2). The gauge cluster should show that the car is in park (P will be lit), even with the plugs disconnected from the shifter. Turn the car off and put tape/heat-shrink over your solder job.

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I had already put a 5-speed cluster in my car, so I took this part out of my old auto cluster and plugged it in. You can see that the P would be lit on the cluster, regardless of what position the shifter is in.

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Back at the shifter, cut the plug off the 2-pin plug with large gauge wires (BLK/WHT). Solder these two wires together and put some heat shrink over the connection. This will allow the starter to get the 12V it needs to start the car. Once you've done this, you can go ahead and start pulling the engine and tranny.

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Dad gets to work removing the axles (be sure to drain the tranny fluid before you pull the axles)...

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...while I get to work disconnecting the automatic shifter cable from the transmission. To disconnect, put the shifter in the neutral (N) position. Get under the car and remove the sheet metal access plate (sometimes called the flywheel plate) to expose the torque converter. Once you can see in there, you'll need needle nose pliers (and lots of patience) to pull out a cotter pin. Once the cotter pin is off, a small metal clip comes out and the cable comes off. Don't forget the 12 mm bolt at the rear of the tranny that holds the cable sleeve on.

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Unbolt and remove the auto shifter. There are bolts in the cabin and under the car that must be removed.

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Drain all fluids - engine oil, automatic transmission fluid, and coolant. Be sure to do this before you pull the axles, or you'll have a mess on your hands.

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Pull the radiator for clearance to get the motor out. Be sure to disconnect all electrical connections and all coolant and automatic transmission fluid connections before you start yanking. It's tough, but it will come out. Also unbolt the AC compressor from the engine (four 12 mm bolts) and zip-tie it out of the way.

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Pull the motor. This is the proper angle when pulling from the top. I like to start with the engine balancer all the way to the left and chain it up where that is level. Then loosen all the mounts and crank the balancer all the way to the right...this gives the best angle for me every time. I went ahead and removed my front crossmember just for added clearance when pulling the motor. If you want to pull it, remove the front engine mount bolt, four bolts holding it to the frame, and four bolts holding it to the front lower control arms.

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This is the rear engine mount. This is the whole reason why I pulled the motor too. The mount must come off. Three 12 mm bolts hold it on - one in front, two in back. I used 3/8" drive ratchet with 6" extension, universal joint, then a short well 12 mm socket to get the back bolts off. No sweat.

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Another shot of my setup to get the back bolt off. You do NOT have to drop the rear cross member to remove the auto mount.

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LEFT - manual transmission rear mount and bracket. RIGHT - auto transmission rear mount and bracket.

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Rear mount removed. You can see there are four bolt holes, but only three bolts to hold the rear mount on. The back two holes are used for either the auto or manual mount. The front right bolt hole in this view is used for the auto mount. The front left bolt hole in this view is used for the manual mount. Be sure to use an appropriately sized tap to chase the threads in the front left hole before you put a bolt in - it's been exposed to the elements for over 20 years and could use some cleaning.

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Install the manual mount. You MUST lower the rear cross member to do this. It's not as bad as it sounds, I promise. There are four bolts that hold the rear cross member to the car - two on each side. I unthreaded the bolts on the driver's side about halfway and completely removed the bolts on the passenger side. My dad put a little pressure on the cross member pushing it toward the front of the car, and I was able to slip my setup behind the mount and tighten the back bolts. After that I simply put the four bolts back in and tightened them up. The rear mount is IN.

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Dad separates the auto tranny from the eingine. We spilled ATF everywhere - it started pouring out of the torque converter! Be ready to clean up a mess.

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Remove the torque converter. It's a bunch of 10mm bolts. You have to loosen them from the area where the sheet metal access panel would go on the bottom of the engine. After that it pulls right off.

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Unbolt the torque plate. It's six 17 mm 12-point bolts. I used an air impact wrench. These bolts are stamped "AT" for auto tranny. They will not work to bolt on a flywheel (too short). You need to get some flywheel bolts (stamped with "MT").

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My rusty flywheel before resurfacing...

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Freshly resurfaced flywheel. Be sure to take out the old pilot bearing before you take it to get resurfaced.

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Use a seal/bearing driver to install the new pilot bearing that came with your clutch kit. It gets hammered in from the back side.

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Pilot bearing installed. Make sure it is all the way in!

[DaX]

Damn! This weekend is father's day, so I don't know if I'll be able to work on it any more this weekend. Maybe I can get some time in on Saturday.

[Matt Timion]

Holy crap... very detailed. Looks like I need to go back to the junkyard and try to get SVO the section of the rear mount that goes on the crossmember as well. I only got him the part that attaches to the transmission.

Hopefully I can do it without removing the crossmember. Ugh.

[SVOboy]

You should be able to remove the mount without dropping the crossmember, I did.

Anyway, I'm still not sure if I need it, since most people say you do not, so, I dunno, I'll try and figure that out.

[Matt Timion]

You should be able to remove the mount without dropping the crossmember, I did.

Anyway, I'm still not sure if I need it, since most people say you do not, so, I dunno, I'll try and figure that out.

I didn't get it because I didn't have my swivel socket thingie with me.

I did, however, get 4 TPS sensors and an optional audio console for a blue sedan :)

Cha-ching!

[DaX]

You should be able to remove the mount without dropping the crossmember, I did.

I don't know man...it looks like it's about 1" or more off from the automatic mount.

Anyway, I'm still not sure if I need it, since most people say you do not, so, I dunno, I'll try and figure that out.

If you read, I was able to remove the auto mount w/o dropping the x-member too. Installing the manual mount was different. All the heater core plumbing is in the way, and I am VERY weary of removing 18 year old heater core componets, as I have personally wrecked one just by touching it. If you have the balls, you can probably remove this stuff and avoid having to drop the x-member...but it's so not worth it - dropping the x-member was a breeze and made everything work out great.

[jpciii]

great write-up, man... keep it comming

BTW, that site you posted is just like this one http://rywire.com/store/auto2man.php


I wonder which one is the original...

[DaX]

great write-up, man... keep it comming

BTW, that site you posted is just like this one http://rywire.com/store/auto2man.php


I wonder which one is the original...

Hmm...that's odd. I wonder if the AOL site I posted belongs to Ryan, or if Ryan just got permission from the owner of the AOL site.

I may try to get my wiring completed on Saturday, with lots of pictures of course. I don't think I'll have it all together by this weekend, as I'm going to have to drop off the flywheel at Zappa's on Saturday and may not be able to pick it up until Monday.

[90CivicStandard]

Looks great!

I love reading detailed write ups like this!

Good luck with the rest of it.

P.S. I didn't have to drop my rear cross member to add the mount either. But I don't remember how I did it, I just remember not having to. Anyays... also, why did you remove the axles? I always just leave them connected to the hubs and pop them out of the tranny.

[DaX]

why did you remove the axles? I always just leave them connected to the hubs and pop them out of the tranny.

It only takes a few extra minutes to take the axles all the way out...I like having LOTS of room to work with. :D

[DaX]

Worked on the car more today. Got the flywheel resurfaced, pulled the dash out, and finished my wiring. I'll post pictures sometime this week. One more day of work and I should have it all back together. I'm excited to see how much of an FE improvement this will be!

[SVOboy]

I can't wait to see the wiring, and I hope you get a better FE improvement than I am, :(

[DaX]

Updated the post on page 1. I'm going to have to break it into two posts, and the latter part will go here.

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I went ahead and installed my shift boot on my center console. The center console for the auto WILL WORK for the manual conversion. On the underside there is a place to mount the shift boot - it takes two phillips screws (like the ones that hold on your dash parts).

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In my quest for better FE, I figured I'd better try to stop my oil consumption (about 1 qt per gas tank). This is the engine going on the engine stand so I can replace seals and gaskets.

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Engine on the stand. Here I'm removing the crank pulley. The silver bar is on the crank pulley bolt and the black bar is holding the crank pulley still. This black tool is an alternative (more expensive yet easier) to using the 2x4 method I outlined and that Matt used HERE (http://www.gassavers.org/showthread.php?t=875).

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This is the rear plate and the rear main seal. The engine is inverted in this picture with the oil pan removed. To pull the rear plate and the oil pump, you've got to take off the oil pan. I recommend replacing the rear main seal every time the flywheel is off because it's cheap, easy, and peace of mind. I unbolted the four 10mm bolts, wiggled the plate off the locating dowels, pressed out the old seal, drove in a new one, cleaned the mating surfaces on the plate and the block, applied fresh Hondabond, and torqued the plate back down. Make sure the seal is fully seated, or the flywheel can chew up the new seal. To see if it's fully seated, look at the back side of the plate...it will be obvious if it isn't.

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Inverted engine, oil pan off. I've removed the timing belt so I can remove the oil pump to replace the crank seal. Five 10mm bolts hold the pump on. Seal replacement is exactly like that in the step above.

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Back at the shifter on the 10-pin plug, find these two wires (YEL and GRN/BLK). These wires will turn on the reverse lights when connected. If you want to do it down and dirty, just run wires directly from these to the reverse light switch on the manual transmission. I, being a hideous neat freak when it comes to wiring, will show you how to do most of the wiring inside the engine harness using existing wires.

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On the engine wiring harness, find the place where the auto tranny lockup solenoid plug is - it should be a YEL wire. Solder a lead onto this wire for the reverse light switch. I have lots of wiring harnesses laying around, so I just chopped the plugs off a junk harness.

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I'll have to explain this one later when I have my notes. :D

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What a freaking mess! You can see my engine harness on the left, the junk harness on the right, lots of old electrical tape and my meter in the foreground for testing continuity. I like to use zip-ties to hold the harness together when I have the loom off.

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Here you can see where I have run the second lead for the reverse lights through the harness. Again...once I have my notes, I can explain this better.

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Go ahead and remove the auto ECU.

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Run a wire from the YEL wire on the 10-pin plug at the shifter to...

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...the YEL wire on the white ECU plug (I call it pin A8). It's four over on the bottom when viewing this plug from the wire side. If you have a HELM, it should be the pin that controls the auto tranny lockup solenoid.

Once I have my notes I can tell you how to finish the wiring.

[Matt Timion]

d
e

[SVOboy]

Eff

[DaX]

e

Haha, you move too fast. I was just holding a place so that I could chop up my posts. :D

[90CivicStandard]

Wow. I never knew that an auto-manual conversion required this much wiring work...

My buddy did one on his Civic and he said it was easy.

Looks like you have a handle on it though. I'm sure your engine is going to appreciate the new seals. Did you do a compression or leakdown test by any chance? Do you know where all that oil has been going?

[SVOboy]

I can't wait for the wiring to be up, woohoo!

[DaX]

Wow. I never knew that an auto-manual conversion required this much wiring work...

My buddy did one on his Civic and he said it was easy.

Looks like you have a handle on it though. I'm sure your engine is going to appreciate the new seals. Did you do a compression or leakdown test by any chance? Do you know where all that oil has been going?

It is easy, I'm just making it WAY more work than it should be, plus I'm going into extreme detail.

I haven't done a leakdown test on this engine, but I have done a compression test when I first installed it. I can't remember what the compression numbers were, but they were all within 10% of each other. It doesn't smoke, unless you rev it up REALLY high, which I don't do. The motor has about 175K by my estimates, so I'm sure the rings are getting tired, but I'm not burning THAT much oil. I'm pretty sure it's all running out of the crank seal or the oil pan gasket. There is ALWAYS residue on the bottom of the oil pan, AND there's always a fresh line of oil running down the front of the oil pan behind the crank pulley. Also look how filthy my oil pump is in that picture above...it's got to be the crank seal or oil pan gasket in that area.

[SVOboy]

Are the vss cables the same? I'm about to sell mine so I'm just checking.

[DaX]

Are the vss cables the same? I'm about to sell mine so I'm just checking.

Yep, they are.

[SVOboy]

Yay, 12 bucks, that pays for my electrical vss, w00t w00t.

PS: waiting eagerly on the wiring, have I mentioned that my temp gauge only reads when the car is in reverse, :(?

[DaX]

100 km/h = 1750 RPM!!!!!!

Got the tranny DONE! I spent the past few days working out bugs in my wiring, but all is copasetic now. I don't have my camera with me to upload pictures now, but I plan on streamlining the first post to have all the necessary pictures and descriptions all in one place.

I'm very excited to see how my first tank does. It will probably be pretty good as there is no AC on the car now.

I also replaced all the seals on the engine, so I'm hoping my oil consumption goes down. The interior is ripped apart now, as yesterday I put in a new evaporator and will be installing new seals for my entire AC system...I HAVE to get that up and running, as the heat index here has been 100+ in the shade the past few days.

[DaX]

I have been having problems shifting after my conversion. The problem is that I have my clutch cable adjusted all the way out, and I still have to push the pedal to the floor to get the clutch to disengage, and it still doesn't competely disengage, making it difficult to shift. Intially I thought this was due to the AutoZone clutch cable I bought stretching and just being poorly made (it's very cheap...plastic where metal should be).

Anyhow, today I went to the dealership and bought an OEM clutch cable for a 1990 Civic DX Sedan (that's what my car is). When I go to put it on, the same problem arises - the cable is too long.

As a fix, I took a piece of 1" pipe and cut a 1.25" length with a slit down it. It is placed between the clutch cable and the bracket on the transmission. Now the cable is adjusted about halfway out and the clutch disengages about halfway through the pedal travel. I hope to tack weld this small piece of pipe to the bracket sometime this week, but a test drive around the town showed that it didn't move.

Here's what I think the problem is:

First, I think the problem is the pedal cluster. The cluster I installed was from a Civic Wagovan. I am thinking the clutch pedal on these has a different lever arm length above the pivot than the standard Civic. I know the shifter is slightly different...it has a much longer throw on the Wagovans. If it's not the pedal cluster, then the bracket on my transmission is wrong, but I highly doubt this, as I pulled the transmission from a working CRX HF myself.

[UfoTofU]

I plan to do the auto to manual swap at some point way down the road in my 88 CRX.

I am just now trying to get all of the pieces together slowly and do it for as cheap as possible. I already got the shift linkage thanks to a hookup through SVOboy. Still have lots of parts to go.

I will definitely use this as a resource, thanks in advance Dax!