[filipinop1405]

ooooooooooooooo wow!!! looks good bro but what do i know...

[lordhelmet]

So when are you going to get the new head?

[speedfoos]

Heh. That is a fine question. Hopefully next week.

[speedfoos]

Since I just PM'd this to Ryan (Eyger), I thought I would post it here too, for general consumption.

Tranny Removal Text DIY.


You absolutely can pull the tranny out of the car without dropping the subframe, but you will have to remove the following parts first:

- thermostat housing (aka water neck)
- air intake
- rear motor mount
- tranny side motor mount
- the two bolts on the front motor mount that attach to the tranny (leave the third attached to the block, this way you don't have to mess with supporting the engine)
- Clutch pressure plate
- axles

- Drain your radiator and transmission, disconnect your battery.

Raise the car on jack stands, remove the front wheels, pop your center caps out, and grab a screwdriver and hammer and tap out the little notch that was hammered into your axle spindle nut. You'll see what I'm talking about. Put the wheels back on, lower the car back to the ground, grab your 32mm socket and breaker bar, and break those nuts loose. Should be pretty easy if you got that notched bit back out of the way. Once they are broken loose, raise the car back up and take the wheels off again.

Grab your hammer and a block of wood and pop the axles loose in their hubs. Should only take a couple whacks. They aren't going to come out just yet, but should move in and out freely - about an inch of travel. Now, remove the ABS and brake line bracket bolts from the strut shackle. Remove the two large shackle bolts. Stick a big screwdriver in between the shackle and the brake spindle and work it loose - it will drop so watch your knees. Once the brake spindle is loose, move the ABS and brake lines out of the way, and push the spindle (rotor and caliper still attached) all the way down as far as you can, and pull the axle out of the back of the spindle. Once it's out, go underneath the car and stick a screwdriver in between the tranny and the axle hub and pry it out (mind the seal, don't fuck it up) if you can't pull it out from the spindle side. You will now get wet if you didn't drain the tranny fluid. Lather, rinse, repeat for the other axle.

Remove the clutch slave cylinder bolts (2 x 12mm) and the 10mm bolts that hold the line to their brackets. Swing it out of the way, don't disconnect it. The cylinder will swivel on it's line, this is OK and is not loosening the line.

Remove the front bracket that the clutch line was attached to there on the tranny. You may have to remove the reverse sensor to get one of the bracket bolts out. Don't drop it in the tranny through the big hole where the sensor goes. This bracket must come off though.

Remove the starter. There are two 14mm bolts, one is underneath the starter. It's easier to remove the electrical connections from the starter once it's disconnected from the tranny.

Remove the cotter pins on the cable linkage on the transmission, pull the cables loose, and then remove the three 12mm bolts off the linkage housing that attach it to the transmission. Disconnect your speed sensor wiring clip while you're back there.

When removing that side tranny mount, you may have to remove the mount from the frame rail and from the tranny to get it off. There's not a lot of room to get it out.

So now the axles are out, slave cylinder disconnected, shifter linkage disconnected, the two sensors unplugged and the motor mounts removed. Go ahead and get the rest of the 14mm tranny bolts out, it won't fall off because it's held in place by dowel pins.

Now remove the thermostat housing. It's got about 5 12mm bolts/nuts. Disconnect all the sensors and pull the radiator hoses, heater hoses, and TB line off. Then just pull it off and set it aside. You won't have enough clearance to pull the tranny out from the top (yes it has to come out the top) otherwise.

Everything should be completely disconnected now. Since you've probably never done this before, I'm going to guess it will have taken you 4-5 hours to get to this point.

The only thing left now is back the tranny off, and remove the pressure plate.

Have your jack underneath with you and hopefully you have a friend who can help from up top. I've done this multiple times by myself, but it's a pain in the ass. Start wiggling the tranny and pushing it towards the passenger wheel from underneath. It will come off, and it will fall, but don't worry, it physically can not come completely out the bottom of the engine bay. There just isn't enough room. Once it's off, maneuver it up a little and to the side (resting on the subframe), and get your jack underneath to support it. This is where your friend comes in to play. You are trying to get enough room to access the pressure plate bolts. Once it's in the right spot for you, and supported by the jack, leave it and come back up top.

Grab a tranny mounting bolt, a prybar or big screwdriver, and a long 3/8" ratchet with a 12-point 10mm socket. Run that tranny bolt into a mounting hole up front, up to the smooth part of the bolt. You will brace your screwdriver/pry bar against this in the flywheel teeth to hold it still. Now remove the pressure plate bolts in a criss-cross pattern, one full turn at a time until the pressure plate comes off. Set it and the clutch disc aside.

You are now ready to pull the tranny out the top of the engine bay!!

Installation is the reverse of normal. To align the clutch disc with the pressure plate and flywheel, either use a clutch alignment tool, a socket that is tapered to fit into the FW pilot bearing, a shaved down piece of wood (what I use), or your finger.

[sql_civic]

Whew! And that's easier than dropping the sub-frame?

[speedfoos]

Yeah, cuz I don't have to mess with an alignment afterwards. I've dropped the subframe and done it that way, but I prefer taking it out the top. Honestly, I can have the tranny out in about 90 minutes now. That just lists everything out down to (just about) the last bolt.

[FoSho]

Ur frickin nuts Clint...transmission on your back hah!....you could be a d17 mechanic soN!

[bomerman19]

I think it's still easier to pull the whole motor out the top I have done it both ways and after trying to pull the trans out with out pulling the motor I made a promise to myself I would never ever try to pull the trans with out pulling the motor it's so much easier. If I'm taking my time it takes me 90 mins from unlocking the car to pop the hood till finish. If I tried to go as fast as possible and teamed up with my little brother probably could do it somewhere a little over 45 mins but mind you I don't have a turbo to worry about.

[speedfoos]

I don't have a hoist either, so the legos all have to come out brick by brick. I'd rather do it that way too.

[speedfoos]

New head should be here by Friday and I hope to up and running by Saturday night. The movers have just finished packing my house out, but I had to keep a set of tools, a jack and jackstands aside so I can put my car back together. Such fun. We fly to North Carolina on 16 September.

So if you leave Simple Green sitting on powdercoat for too long (like a day), it seriously messes it up. Let that be a lesson to me. But since I have a little downtime on my hands, I stripped the PC off the intake mani and resprayed it gloss black. This will work until I buy a powder coating gun when I get to the states - and an oven too. I baked this while momma was away since she hates it when I cook auto parts!

And yes I know the paint is a little dorked up in a couple places, but I don't care. This will work for now.

[lordhelmet]

Purdy! Your intake mani has blue nipples. Are they suppose to be that color? I wouldn't normally think that is right.

[DsevenEm2]

Originally Posted by lordhelmet

Purdy! Your intake mani has blue nipples. Are they suppose to be that color? I wouldn't normally think that is right.

that does look friggin sweet Clint.. nice job..

[speedfoos]

Thanks fellas! It will work until I get a powdercoating setup back in the states.

[filipinop1405]

that nice bro... you're gonna have to teach me some of the tricks of the trade!!!! i get off of leave when you fly

[speedfoos]

You bring the beer Jay, I'll teach you everything I know.

Head is here!!!!!

At first glance, she looks OK, it was packed pretty well although I wish the cam was removed so the valves would have had no chance of getting bent during shipping. It's got one bent exhaust stud that looks like it was bent before being packed, but that's an easy fix, just wish I would have known beforehand so I could have had a replacement standing by. Insides of the plug tubes have a little rust from sitting off the car and she's got the Hawaii surface corrosion I was expecting to see. All in all, everything looks good so far!

I'm going to pull the valve train apart when I get home and inspect it, clean all the corrosion off and hopefully have the car running tomorrow!