TravisK

I might be able to get my hands on a 97 Accord buts its auto i have a h22a wit a 5pd trans, how hard is this to do are we talkin more work than its worth, the car it self is in good shape, ive done motor swaps never a hybrid tho, so im really askin has any one done this and is it even worth. What can i look forward to gettin myself into...


Thanks

qtiger

Totally not worth it. Hold out for a manual.

h22avid

Blah, blah, blah, that is totally not true.

I have a 5G Civic Coupe that I converted from Auto to Manual and dropped the JDM H22A 5 spd in it with hardly breaking a sweat.

check out www.importautosalvage.com, they can get you the entire pedal box assembly that you need with the clutch and clutch master cylinder, hard lines, soft lines, etc. for really cheap. Mine with a center console that they through in for free was shipped to my door for about $75. You should have everything else you need with the motor (clutch slave cylinder, ecu for a manual, and shifter assembly with cables if it is H22A).

As for wiring, the only thing you need to do is take the automatic shifter out and there is a plastic slider with a bunch of wires on it. most are for you intrument lights on the dash. I shorted the Drive indicator light just for the hell of it.

The important wires on the shifter are the yellow and green ones towards the center. These are your reverse sensor wires. Just run these to the reverse censor on the tranny or trace the reverse sensor wires from the tranny into the cab and splice them there... that's what I did.

The only other wires you need to worry about are the fat black/white and black/red wires. You need to short these two together so that you can remove your keys from the ignition. These are the wires that short when the auto is in Park.

There should also be a pink wire for cruise control if you have it. Just short that one and cruise control will work.

Recap: I took the pink wire, the green drive light wire, and the black ground wire and crimped them together.
Result: Drive light stays on and cruise control works.

Recap: connect the fat black/white and black/red wires
Result: you will be able to start the car as well as remove the keys.

You will not need to worry about hooking up the connector on the clutch pedal... you will be able to start the car without pushing the clutch in. If this scares you then just put a switch in between the fat black/red and black/white wires which will force you to flip the switch before you can start the car.

It sounds complicated but really is not just crimp a few wires, install your pedal box assembly with clutch master and lines. There should be no cutting involved with the pedals. The cars are universal off of the assembly line so there should already be a hole in your firewall that is capped off where the clutch master cylinder will go through and attach to the clutch pedal. Mine had a plate covering the hole with some sort of interlock control assembly attached to it on the inside of the cab. You won't need it and can just throw it out.

Also if you have cruise control and plan to keep it, make sure the pedal box assembly you get is for a car with cruis control because the gas pedal will have a spot for two cables to attach to (cruise and throttle). I made the mistake of not specifying but it was no big deal... I just took the gas pedal off of the automatic pedal box assembly and swapped it with the gas pedal from the manual pedal box assembly.

h22avid

By the way, I have pictures if you'd like to see them. The wire colors may be different on your accord but most likely the same.

I've done my best to document my entire project from start to finish so I should be able to provide some helpful pictures if you decide to do this.

Don't worry, this is easy stuff. You will have to swap out the entire shifter assembly anyhow for the H22 since it uses cables rather than the mechanical rods. The only added work like I said is crimping the wires and putting the clutch pedal in which is only like 3 bolts holding it to the firewall and clutch master cylinder.

TravisK

h22avid thanks alot it helped i lose my license for 3 months yet so i have to time to do this all over the winter.. my email is tkoehler@ptd.net i would like to see pictures thank you for yur help

travis

h22avid

Oops... CORRECTION.... I swapped the brake pedals on the two pedal box assemblies because that is the only difference. The automatic has the wide brake pedal and the manual does not. So basically, I kept the automatic assembly for the brake and gass and just swapped the brake peadal since the gas pedal had the hook ups for the two cables (throttle and cruise)

I've heard of someone that just kept his auto brake pedal and cut it down to size. That will work but that is toooo shade tree for me... I guess it's a matter of preference.

qtiger

If he doesn't have the car already, why in the hell would he buy an automatic when he KNEW he was going to do a manual swap? Manuals are less expensive, and the resale value of an auto to manual swapped car is ridiculously low... even lower than a normal hybrid.

h22avid

Who knows maybe he's getting a really good deal on the car and if done properly no one would ever know it was converted. And like you said the resale is already low on a hybrid so once you've swapped the motor who gives a damn what you do to it after that.

The only thing that gives my car away as being a conversion is the issue with the clutch pedal. If I wanted to though, all I would have to do is take the black/white and black/red wires from the autos gear selector and run it to the clutch pedal switch and voila you would have to depress the clutch to start the car.

I bought my car as an automatic because it was the ideal situation. A buddy had the car as an automatic and blew up the motor. He wanted to get rid of it because he did not have the skills to fix himself or the bucks to pay a shop to fix it for him. So instead I picked up the car insanely cheap and started to plot the conversion and motor swap. BTW I purchased and built my car from the ground up for $5k. So if the price is right buy it and convert it and call it a day.

The auto to manual conversion only tacked on an extra $75 to my swap and like I said was done with hardly breaking a sweat. People convert auto's to manuals all the time. All cars are universal of the production line. A cars fate as either an auto or manual is all decide by what the production facility decides to bolt into it. So if done properly, you would never know the conversion took place.

And that my friend is the "why the hell" answer to your question.

h22avid

Let's see some proof... anything done to a factory setup alters its value... I'd like to see where it is documented that there is a degree of depreciation for the degree of altercations taking place. If it's not factory, it alters the blue book value regardless of what's done.

Who cares anyhow? If you're building a car you are most likely doing it for the love of the sport not to see how much you could sell it for. If you've done a hybrid then you definitely won't be selling it to the general public but rather other enthusiasts.

v4lu3s

i assume that the h22a is an obd1 engine.
i personally would NOT mess with the obd2 to obd1 conversion and 5 spd conversion on that accord unless you are getting it for nothing. the hassle will not be worth it unless you really want to build a race car.

it would be cheaper, easier and smarter to pick up a 94-95 accord that is 5 spd already.


just to make apoint the VIN will tell you if the car was built as an auto or 5 spd.