Rep Power: 267

So my New Year's Resolution is to install the Exedy clutch that has been in the garage for forever now, and the rebuilt transmission that I just put back together. I bought the replacement tranny from a junk yard about a year and a half ago and cracked it open to replace all of the bearings. I finally got it back together and ready to go. Oh yeah, there are the new motor mounts to put in too.

My plan is to install everything this weekend with the help of some friends. I have some DIY's and the service manual but still have some basic questions:
1. Should I attach the clutch to the tranny before installing? Or is there not enough room to get both in together? Or is it then too heavy?

2. Any pointers on getting the transmission out and back in? I could not find a DIY for the tranny replacement so I will be relying on the service manual.

3. Any pointers on replacing the motor mounts?

4. Anything you can think of that I should address while in the area?

As usual, I appreciate any input and hopefully will update after the install with a great story of success.

 
Rep Power: 252

Clutch and pressure plate goes on the engine side.
Then you install the transmission.
Read through the manual a few times, makes things easier. Keep the manual with you and just go through step by step.

Transmission jack would be great, or else just brute force lol..

Motor mounts are pretty straightfoward.

Make sure you get the alignment tool with your clutch or you will never be able to mate the trans up.
A new throw out bearing would be good to put in as well.
Take a look at the flywheel, if its not smooth, resurface or replace it.

 
Rep Power: 267

Yes, I should have known the clutch does not bolt to the tranny. Stupid error.

I've read thru the manual a handful of times. The only part that scares me is that I do not have a tranny jack. Hopefully it doesn't fall on my head. And with the car being up on jack stands will it sway? And I suppose the engine will be fine resting on a jack on a piece of wood...

Are there any tips for the subframe? Does it just hang, should I tie it up, does it come out too?

I assume motor mounts pop in and out, or are they pressed?

New clutch has alignment tool and throw out bearing. Hopefully getting flywheel resurfaced, don't want to have to pay for a new one.

Getting excited!

 
Rep Power: 234

What motor mounts did you get? I've but the ES inserts in my front mount, and replaced the other 3 with the Innovative poly mounts. Silicone spray is your friend towards the end when your trying to make minute adjustments to get bolt holes lined up. I fount it easiest to do them in the order of rear/front/tranny/drivers side. For the rear it's easier to bolt it up to the engine first, then the car, but for the tranny I found it easer to just attach them both n shift it around with the hoist/jack until I got the center bolt lined up. It's pretty straight forward though. Nice with the transmission rebuild.

edit: if you have abs, the drivers side block bolts can be a pain. use some kind of ratchet/extension/crows foot socket type of deal, I saw that one work - assuming u have abs. i didnt have to deal with it because I'm abs-less.

 
Rep Power: 267

Thanks for the info, I'll follow your install order. I do have ABS so I am looking forward to dealing with the block bolts. Hopefully it goes smooth.

 
Rep Power: 252

Manual trans are lighter then auto, get a friend to help. I had my brother hold piece of rope tied around the trans and worked it that way (Different car same idea) Its not super heavy, but its not a good idea to try alone as your laying on your back.

I am pretty sure the subframe has to come out-completely.

Supporting the engine from underneath is ok, but the jack could get in the way.
You could buy this for about $60.

http://216.77.188.54/coDataImages/p/...SupportBar.jpg


OEM motor mounts dont press in, they are a whole assembly and the metal around them is replaced as well.

 
Rep Power: 267

So current update. We have hit a brick wall. Who'da thunk that none of our local auto parts stores turn flywheels anymore? I thought for sure there had to be one. So, Lesson Learned #1: call the stores before you are marching around your garage triumphantly holding your flywheel over your head because it took many a banged knuckles to get her out.

And Lesson Learned #2: Always allow for one stupid error. Mine was messing around with the side tranny mount to get the ES motor mount insert to fit. Yes, I now understand that they are called "motor mounts" for a reason. It was late last night, the last thing I wanted to do before bed and I remembered reading a thread about one of the mounts has to be trimmed to fit. So I started trimming the interior of the tranny mount. Needless to say I am now awaiting a new one from the dealership. At least my front one was blown so I had to get that one anyway...

Other than that it is going a little worse than expected but not awful. I think the fancy engine hanger in the post above would be cheating because it is awesome sliding around under the car with the muffler dangling around and having to slide the subframe each time you slide under for something. I pulled all the connectors and the tranny and front mounts last night, then we pulled the other mount and got the tranny out today. Don't you know the trusty jack I had under the tranny to "help" got stuck in the up position when we wanted it to come down. So my buddy lifted the tranny from above so I could slide the jack out then we dropped it down to rest on the ground. Lesson Learned #3: Always have a guy helping that can deadlift a tranny even in an awkward stance and not drop it on your head.

And getting the clutch off was much more difficult than I expected. To hold the flywheel from spinning we wedged a prybar in the teeth and against the front dowel between the engine and the tranny. And why doesn't anyone tell those of us not in the know that the clutch bolts are all 12 point bolts? That was a scramble to find 10mm and 17mm 12 point sockets. We got everything out and now the dowel is bent, and it won't slide off the engine. I'll worry about that one tomorrow. So if wedging against the dowel to remove damaged the dowel, what should we wedge against to install? I guess this will be Lesson Learned #4.

So now all the pieces are on cardboard with all of the bolts marked so they all go back where they are supposed to, the tools are cleaned and back in the trays, I have scrubbed my black aching fingers and washed all of the tranny fluid out of my hair, and I am going to bed. I hope the Pepboys will resurface tomorrow or Monday, I'll get the mounts on Tuesday, and we'll be running on Wednesday. At least I am learning something...

 
Rep Power: 252

-If your old flywheel isnt too bad you could reuse it. But if it has heat damage its better to not.
A new one shouldnt cost too much either..

-You can use silicone spray if you plan on using the mount inserts..I know they can be a pain to install.

-Impact tools are your friend (If your lucky enough to have a few)

You could straighten the dowel pin and file it a bit. Its not a serious thing, as long as it aligns the trans and motor it doenst really matter, its not a vital piece holding the two together.

Wear gloves, I know your arms and hair still get covered, but I wear gloves for EVERYTHING even if I am just removing a tire..I got tired of black grease under my nails.

I still lay in oil occasionally, but its part of the game sometimes.

 
Rep Power: 267

So everything is back together. Ran thru the manual twice to make sure everything was reattached and torqued. Get in the car for the big moment and the clutch pedal goes to the floor. Yay!

My first thought is that I pulled the clutch slave cylinder up onto the windshield to get it out of the way and not let it get bent. Maybe it drained down back into the reservoir and got air in the system. After reinstalling it then the fluid may have run back into the line because the reservoir was empty. I tried bleeding the system but never got any resistance on the pedal. I will walk down the line tonight to see if there is a leak somewhere, but there was no puddle of anything under the car (other than the tranny fluid from day 1). Any tips on the hydraulics? I mean I reused the slave cylinder and didn't touch the master cylinder, so ideally they should not have gone bad overnight.

 
Rep Power: 252

If your not getting any fluid at the slave you more then likely got air.

When you bled it what came out of the slave?
If your resiviour went empty and you hit the clutch you sucked in air..its that simple.

You can do it two ways..

-Fill the resiviour, get under the car crack the bleeder on the slave and just keep pumping the clutch until a STEADY flow comes out. (No bubbles)

or

-You can gravity bleed the clutch by cracking the bleeder and just keep filling the resiviour until it comes out with no bubbles. Some people say this way is more thourough.. but I do it the old fashioned way (First way)

Let us know how it goes.

 
Rep Power: 267

I started at the reservoir and followed the rubber line to the master cylinder, then the hard line to the rubber line by the tranny mount, then the hard line to the slave cylinder. There are no apparent leaks. There was still the same level of fluid in the reservoir as when I quit earlier this morning so it did not leak out. Plus there were no puddles under the car.

I pulled the slave cylinder up and put the bleeder in a cup of fluid. I filled the reservoir and then would pump the clutch by hand (it does not come back up off the floor) about 50 times. The reservoir would be about half full and there would be extra fluid in the cup. I would top off the reservoir and do it again. I went thru about 15-20 iterations with no difference. Clutch still falls to the floor and there is no resistance. As of right now I give up...

 
Rep Power: 267

So I borrowed a vacuum pump and bled the clutch. Worked like a charm. Took the triumphant spin around the neighborhood with pride.

Of course there was a little clunking from the passenger side on bumps. Got home and checked around, and the middle subframe bolt was not tightened. Nope that wasn't it, so I did the circles and it was not the CV joint. Must be the strut spring. I took it for an alignment and told Joe about the clunk so if he saw anything and he noticed the sway bar end link was loose. I tightened it up and no more clunk.

It took a little while to get used to the clutch engagement being so low, but chirping 2nd every now and then is nice. The extra vibration in the cabin from the motor mount is different, but kinda like a continual butt massage. Tranny gears shift nice and smooth, I'll probably wait a month or so and replace the Honda MTF with Redline MTL. So all in all, finally done and very happy.

In the past year and a half I have replaced timing belt, head gasket, rebuilt tranny, and installed new clutch. She should be good for a couple more years now. I told Scott that when we get her running after the tranny install I was going to start researching a supercharger...

 
Rep Power: 252

Just for future reference, I dont know how you bled it, but its best to

-Push pedal down and hold it down before your tighten the bleeder (Letting the pedal up before the bleeder is tight wether it be brake or clucth pedal can suck in air)

-Keep the end of the hose you are using to bleed the brake/clutch in brake fluid.

I dont know if this makes sense, but you want to have a container with brake fluid in it already before you start bleeding, not an empty one.

 
Rep Power: 234

Hey, which Exedy clutch kit did you get? I was doing my rear main seal, flywheel and clutch this weekend too. I got an Exedy HF501 flywheel, it looks like the old one, the dowel pattern matches the OEM flywheel. Then I got the 08801A stage 1 clutch kit. The damn pressure plate bolt holes and dowel pin holes do NOT match either the exedy or stock flywheels. The PP has no part numbers, Exedy doesn't post PP part numbers, so I'm at a loss until they get back in touch with me.

Just curious which kit you bought and if your PP bolted up to your flywheel properly?

The worst part is the flywheel is nice and torqued down, with the dowels in. I'll be pissed if I have to remove either. ACT's PP's say they have to be used with a pre-01 sohc flywheel? Hope that's not the case here..

I too was taken aback by the 12pt bolts! ...why Honda? Also, my method for holding the flywheel in place was to put my brother on the crank pulley side with a breaker bar and the special tool that holds the crank pulley while you loosen the inner bolt, the one that you need for the timing belt job. I tried it the prybar way too, but this seemed a lot easier, for future reference FYI.

 
Rep Power: 0

I have an 04 Civic Ex Coupe D17A2 and today I was going around 45 in 4th gear. when i accelerate and my engine just revs up to around 5400rpm and does not kick in the transmission I pull into the nearest parking lot and park. I try every gear inc/ reverse and get no acceleration. The car just revs and idles normally. I then put the car in park and turn the car off and open the car door close the door and turn the car on. The car would run for a few seconds and not have any problem. I get around 10 mph and the problem happens again repeatedly. When i turn the engine on the car makes a constant whining sound. I need multiple opinions before i do anything.

What is your opinion on this problem?

 
Rep Power: 252

Make your own thread, people will help you easier.

Also you need to mention if its and AUTO transmission or a MANUAL transmission.

 
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ok thanks

 
Rep Power: 267

I also got the 08801A clutch and reused flywheel. It bolted up perfect.

 
Rep Power: 234

Thanks for the reply, got the original one I ordered working.

I didn't realize that the holes aren't equidistant. After rotating it in to all 3 possible positions, it slid in. Of all the things to get stumped by...