Hello everyone,
I just bought a 90 Civic HB STB 4speed manual last week with 146k on it. I paid $1200 which at the time seemed like a good price. The car had a noise coming from the front passenger side. The previous owner said it was a CV joint, he had bought a rebuild axle and included it with the car. I had this installed and the noise didn't go away.

The mechanic that installed the CV joint (axle) said the noise was coming from the transmission. So I took it to a tranmission place today and they say the transmission bearings are bad and it needs to be rebuilt. They want $800 for the job.

I obviously don't want to spend this since the car itself might not be worth the repair.

I've found entire trannys at junkyards between $50 and 200 but some are 5sp models from DX's and SI's. Will a 5sp tranny bolt right up to my car? or do I have to get the 4sp tranny like the car came with?

Also I've got a friend who it fairly handy with cars, do you think this is something we can tackle?

Is it as simple as draining the fluid, unbolting the old tranny, dropping it and then installing the new one?


I'm going to pick up a Haynes or Helms manual today and see how involved they claim the job is.


Sorry for the novel,

any help or insight is appreciated.

thanks,


E

 

Tranny swap isn't too hard, its just a lot of work and will take a long time. And yes the 5spd trannies will bolt right up. Get an Si one if you can, that will make that dog of an engine you have seem slightly less slow.

 

yep almost all trannies will bolt right up, as long as its the same series engine, si is the best as fouthgenhatch was saying closer gear ratios, if u use anything other than an hf or std tranny ur also gonna need the hubs from any non hf or std because the spline count and outer diamter of the axle shafts are different, but is suggest picking up the whole assembly from a junkyard car for 3-400 bucks and installing the whole assembly, tranny, axles, hubs and nuckles, and yes this can be tackles as long as u and ur friend have a decent amount of mechanical knowledge and the tools necessary to lift the car and get the get the axles out. good luck whatever u choose

 

He won't need different axles as long as he uses the STD axles.

 

doesnt the std and hf trannies have a different spline count connecting to the trannies? or is it just the outside spline count? as far as i knew the std is a smaller diameter axle size that isnt compatable with different trannies? please correct me if im wrong cuz then im giving out wrong info to ppl?

 

Only the outside spline count is different.

 

:thumbup: KAI thanks for the info

 

Thanks for the help so far everyone...but I'm still a bit confused after that last part. So any tranny from the same series will bolt up but I might need extra parts, like hubs, axels ect. from that car as well?


I'd like to go the 5 speed option but at this point I'm just trying to get the car back on the road and want to do this with the least amount of trouble and money possible. So if the 5 speed swap involves all those other parts I really don't want to do it.

Also would the 5sp tranny hurt my gas milage? I was getting around 38 hiway/34city and I don't want that to drop drasticly.

So the tranny from a STD or an Hf (crx) will bolt right up without additional parts? was the HF a 4 sp. as well?

thanks everyone,

E

 

no i was mistaken u will not need new axles, just a new tranny ur std axles will bolt up and u can keep ur nuckles and hubs, i thought u had to replace them but i was mistaken, only reason ud have to is if u changed the engine and the tranny was moved over like in my case with a zc or b16, u just need any same series tranny, si 5 speed will be ur best bet

 

The only thing you need is the tranny. Get one from the 88-91 cars. It shouldn't hurt your gas mileage as your engine is still grossly underpowered.