So up until this point, the only thing I had done to the car was maintenance, a few cosmetic mods, and detailing (which I'm obsessed with BTW). But in early Spring 2011, I got a legitimate job and decided it was time I should man up and get rid of the sissy-stick autotragic. Yup...5spd swap time. So after starting work in May, I spent the next few months collecting parts and getting everything ready for the swap. And as they say, if it's worth doing, it's worth over doing....
I decided that since I would have the transmission out of the car already, I should build it up a little bit. I bought one transmission with the intent of rebuilding it, but it was too far gone, so I ended up getting another. The second transmission already contained one of the most magical pieces of machinery I have encountered...an MFactory LSD. I also got a set of Carbon synchros from Synchrotech and new bearings. But...that still wasn't enough. So I decided I should do the almost mythical Accord 5th gear swap.
Terrible picture of the LSD.
Those are my GFs legs. I swear.....
Really....
Had to have the Accord 5th countershaft gear machined to fit. Had the work done at ST Gear and Machine in House Spring. Very legit place.
Comparison of the M2F4, M2Y4, and P2A8 (Accord) 5th gears. 0.870, 0.812, and 0.685, respectively
Got the transmission back together after a few stressful nights and finally had all the parts collected for the swap. Other goodies included a ACT 12lbs flywheel, an Exedy Stage 1 clutch (basically OEM), and an SS clutch line from Techna-Fit. I tried to do as much work as I could before the actual swap to ease the process.
Clutch pedal installed. Worst...job...ever....
Master cylinder and reservoir.
So finally the time came to do the swap. Got about 12 friends together to do it one night. Got about 75% done the first night.
Sissy-stick out.
Modding the ECU.
Shifter installed.
We got everything else needed to run the car hooked up the next morning and tried things out. Car started fine, idled great, revved real quick like a champ, everything seemed good. Then we tried to run it in gear...... Put it in first, let the clutch out....engine stops INSTANTLY. No shuddering or stalling...it just STOPPED. Start it up again and it is running fine. Put it first again, rev it to about 2k, let the clutch out....STOPPED! FML. We try a couple other gears, same result. Try 5th gear...runs fine(dead giveaway to what the issue is here.) My friend tried first again and actually got the wheels to spin, but as soon as he tried second, the engine stopped again. At this point, I knew exactly what was wrong. I had worked 14 of the last 20 hours on the car, was running on about 5 hours of sleep, and I was super depressed.
We dropped the transmission and I cracked it open half-knowing what I would find. The entire mainshaft was locked up; I couldn't move any of the gears. After a little doing, I was able to bust it apart and at that point I knew exactly what happened. When I assembled the transmission, one of the synchro hubs didn't get pressed on all the way. So 5th gear was essentially pressed in between the two hubs was thus locked to the mainshaft all the time. Basically the trans was always in 5th gear, even when I was in another gear. So...when I tried to run the gear in 1st, I was actually in two gears at once and trying to spin the trans at two different speeds at the same time. Fortunately, the H22 is that torquey and I didn't blow the mainshaft into pieces.
When my friend did get it to run in 1st, 5th gear was basically doing a burnout on the 5th/Reverse hub, so it got a little toasty.
I gathered up the transmission and brought it back to my house and wanted to die. But after resting for a day or two, I started rerebuilding the transmission. Tore the transmission down again and inspected it; everything seemed OK except for the mainshaft 5th gear. I did have the pleasure of going into St. Louis Honda and buying the gear from them...I got some pretty funny looks. Threw everything back together and headed back to my friends house the next weekend.
Unfortunately, all my friends had gone back to school, so it was only my dad, my girlfriend (that's right), and I left to finish the swap. We spent Friday night and Saturday finishing things up and drove the car home Saturday night. YES!
I've been daily driving the car ever since and the only issue I had was a bad clutch MC. Replaced that and everything has been great. The transmission doesn't shift perfectly (the gears are fairly worn due to high mileage), but it's not terrible. The LSD is amazing. Naturally the first thing I did with the car was a massive two-wheel burnout. :thefinger: The Accord 5th is also great, highway RPMs are much more reasonable.
Stock 5th would be a little under 4k at this speed.
So anyway...that's the story of how I became a man (ual).
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