Tankard

Hey pc in all. Why are you changing out your tranny? Did you do something stupid like i did? I smoked the front tires and tried changing to second to keep em' smokin. It did'nt work out to well. While it was red lined, i heard all kinds of metal shearing, grinding, gosh awful, not right, noises from the trannny after i tried hitting second. After it was all said and done, i could still drive it home, but not in first gear. You had to red line it to pull out into traffic in second. All off the other gears worked,but first. I just decided to get a used one from the ol junk yard.

ED9man

You're car is going to be a lot slower.

pc_in_al

Tankard- Have you tried another burn-out like that??? JK
This tranny has to go because a bearing in the transaxle crapped out. It gives a pulsing whine under power and under engine-breaking. At cruise or with the clutch pushed in, you can't hear it. The harder you accelerate or the harder you engine-break the louder it is. Mechanic looked at it and said the axle's starting to flop around and the seal on the transaxle is just starting to leak. I suspect that the car was broke in and driven lightly for 13+ years till I got it last year. I've heard it said a lot that cars like to perform and be driven the way they were broken in. (Never drive a new sports car like a grandma!) This REX belonged to my fiancee. Certainly I drive it harder. That's all I can think of. I've been told these Honda manual trannys are good and almost never fail. My other 90 REX Si had 235K and no tranny prob and didn't burn oil. C'est la freakin'-vie, eh?


Peace.

pc_in_al

Ed9man- So much? The difference is 10% constant across the RPMs... I would think in the power band you wouldn't lose so much since HP/torque are not linear. Hmmmmm Would it be all that bad??

Nonetheless, I'm taking this junk piece back and going to get the proper tranny! This guy (I hear) deals in junk cars, so that puts the fear in me AND it's just not RIGHT, it's an Si for Pete's sake!

ED9man

10% slower is a lot slower. 10% taller gearing = 10% slower ideally. It has nothing to do with the power.

MattCook

I had an '86 si, and went to a junkyard when a tooth broke in reverse. The used trans was supposedly the same one, but guess what? It wasn't. I didn't know until after I put it in (they look about the same, so the junkyard could easily get it wrong). But once I got it in, I decided to drive it that way for a while. It wasn't that bad. I still don't know which tranny it was, but I found that I could go 160 mph (for all the good that'll do you). Yeah, you really have to wind it through the gears to get good acceleration, but at least I didn't have to hear the engine screaming as I drive 80, since it's only turning 3,000 rpm (3900 with the old one), and that's in fourth gear. I actually found that I preferred it. Something in-between would be ideal, but if you plan to drive the autoban, this is the tranny for it.

As for the bearing problem, I'd fix it. I've owned 4 early CRX SI's, and I find that they need a new main bearing around 200,000 miles. I replaced the bearings myself. You can actually do it without removing the transmission from the car, but it's probably better to remove it. But having done it twice now, I'm going to try it in place next time. Watch out for the Honda dealerships though, they always sell me the wrong bearing.

gutterslide

is there a difference between the DX and EX/Si auto tranny as well? or do they all use the same auto tranny?

i'm getting parts together for my ZC swap (automatic :/ )and if the EX or Si tranny is also 10% faster, then i will put one in with the swap.

pc_in_al

The gear ratio is 10% different between the DX and the Si tranny. That doesn't necessarily translate to 10% slower/faster. To say a 10% difference in gear ratio translates to a 10% slower/faster car has got to be an oversimplification. The slower/faster calculation has got to be buried in things like torque, and h/p, the outer diameter of the tires, and the weight of the car using the tranny - among other factors... OH! and THE DRIVER, too! Which is a lot more important than ALL the rest.

There is apparently even a slight difference in the final drive ratio between the CRX Si tranny and the Civic EX tranny. If, in fact, I do have the Civic EX tranny (based on the info I've gotten here), then the difference is only 3%. That must mean that Honda considers the 3% difference negligible since Honda calls them interchangeable. A 3% difference in the final drive of the tranny can easily be tweaked out with a slightly smaller tire o/d. However, a driver's experience (or lack thereof) can make a larger contribution to the overall speed of the car.

We are talking about auto-crossing these cars, eh? Or are you guys bracket racing or "drag" racing? To me, straight line racing with 4-bangers provides limited entertainment, but to each his own. In my mind straight line racing is for American muscle cars. That's just me.

Reason

I have a 89 CRX DX with a stock 5 spd. I also have a tranny from a 91 SI sitting in my garage. Should I swap it with the SI and what fylwhhel and clutch set up should I use?