Civic (not integra!)

[Scott560]

We need a generic other honda section

Anyways, i'm helping out a friend by purchasing a cheap car and sorting out the niggles, before I pass it on to him. Got myself a 2001 mk7 civic executive SE 5 door in faded blue, with cloudy headlamps and aircon doesn't work lol. 300quid, 8 months MOT and a near full tank of petrol. Almost a bargain...

What i'm really after is an owners manual (and a service manual), I can only find the US owner manuals online, and the oil rating/temps are different (I assume), so don't actually know what oil to put in it. Ideally a service manual like the prelude mega PDF would be great, as the gearbox ideally needs swapping out.

What it does show case is just how much of a premium product the prelude is. 2 years older, but everything is just so much nicer. Fit and finish, quality of materials, etc. The civic interior is like a car from the 80s! there isn't even a centre console, just a tiny bit of trim around the handbrake. The handbrake is so low down, and the seats are on heightened rails, it reminded me of a small van when I pulled the handbrake on lol.

If anyone has a manual they can check for the oil ratings / temp graph that would be great. Its the 1.6 (D16V1).

[ek9sid]

I'm fairly certain that the recommended for our climate is 5w30. Thats what I use on my daily (55 plate with the d16v1).

With regards the gearbox, is this the awful input shaft bearing? If so, to replace that isn't much more work than replacing the gearbox.

I used this as a guide when doing mine...

https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/technica ... civic.html

Hope this helps

[Scott560]

Thanks for that,

I was looking forward to it until I saw the subframe has to come out. It's most likely input shaft bearing, the symptoms match and it was the first thing I noticed when starting the car.

Still, if it's just one bearing, that brings the cost of repair down, which means more of the budget can go on tyres. It's running the original spare on the front, over 20years old, and the rears are starting to dry rot. The only new tyres is in the boot, flat with 2 screws in it lol.

It was overfilled with oil by about 2 litres. Some of the tyres were over 50psi as well. No screenwash so washers were gummed up. Incense been burned inside so car smells and so much dust it took about 3 hours just to hoover it.

However, on the good side there is no rust underneath, very few body blemishes, all electrics and switch gear works, engine is quiet and fine, air filter looks new etc.

It'll be worth it in the end I tell myself...

Then I can use it as a test vehicle to do some machine polishing on.

Cheers

[wurlycorner]

@Scott560 Your wish, as they say...
New section created and these posts moved.

Hopefully this new sub-section works ok (first time I've set one up )

[ek9sid]

I was looking forward to it until I saw the subframe has to come out. It's most likely input shaft bearing, the symptoms match and it was the first thing I noticed when starting the car.

If you're handy with spanners and the such then it's really not a difficult job. Just 4 bolts hold the subframe on to the car. And then to strip the gearbox is fairly straightforward. You then lift out both shafts with the gears, as complete units. Then the bearing just pulls out and the replacement fits in the space with no issues.

If you end up taking on the job, feel free to pm me. I ended up replacing all mounts whilst I was in there as they were all cracked. Same with the lower wishbone things and main ball joints because...why not

[Scott560]

I was looking forward to it until I saw the subframe has to come out. It's most likely input shaft bearing, the symptoms match and it was the first thing I noticed when starting the car.

If you're handy with spanners and the such then it's really not a difficult job. Just 4 bolts hold the subframe on to the car. And then to strip the gearbox is fairly straightforward. You then lift out both shafts with the gears, as complete units. Then the bearing just pulls out and the replacement fits in the space with no issues.

If you end up taking on the job, feel free to pm me. I ended up replacing all mounts whilst I was in there as they were all cracked. Same with the lower wishbone things and main ball joints because...why not

Cheers dude, will give you a message if i get stuck. Got myself a haynes manual and started doing the remaining easy jobs whilst I wait for parts to turn up. Got a pair of bearings and input seal off ebay for 50 quid. Rude not to do the clutch, borg and beck for under 60 on ebay. Car isn't going to last forever so expensive clutch not required. bushes are a little torn on the LCAs, but still all intact so no need to replace. Gotta bring it all in under the budget of 800.

Easy jobs done so far include:

Good all round inspection - nothing scary found thankfully.
Coolant flush/change (was pretty clean actually)
Oil change (was overfilled) and new filter. Still none the wiser about which oil. French manual says 5w-20 for all temp ranges so i used that. 5w-30 can be used but must be replaced with 5w-20...
headlights removed and polished.
bumper stay hammered back into place.
Bonnet catch adjusted / wing bent back into shape. Had a minor cosmetic ding at some point. crash bar and inner chassis legs all perfect and original so nothing major.
replaced ground strap
fixed all the washer jets
Mega hoover/cleaning session


Jobs left to do:
gearbox / clutch
4 new tyres - getting fitted on wednesday. Wheels have so much brake dust caked on, i don't think its been cleaned in years.

Cheers,

Scott

[ek9sid]

Makes perfect sense to be fair. At least then you'll know its in fairly decent shape then

FWIW, the gearbox strip, bearing replacement and rebuild only took an extra hour or 2. Just also remember to get some sealant for when you're putting the gearbox casing back together. I used some hondabond but I imagine another brand that's cheaper would more than suffice.

[Scott560]

So over the last 2 mornings (too hot in the afternoons), managed to remove everything as per the haynes, subframe off and gearbox now out. Bit stubborn to get it off the dowels, obviously hasn't moved for 19 years... Don't have the radio code so I've had to rig up a donor battery lol.

Bit of a faff with no assistant and not much room around the front of the car on my drive. Ball joints gave me no end of agro. My normal separator tool (the pivot type) wouldn't get a good purchase, so i ended up buying one of the hammer-on type ones. Feck me, what a battle that was. With the car not a foot off the ground, the access was a big issue. Mullered the boots so managed to find some generic ones which should fit.

ARB drop links, the inside of the hex recess was corroded. Stuck my best 5mm in, hammered it in some more, but it eventually stripped out when trying to undo the nut. Ended up splitting them by hammerings, and will have to cut them off properly when the new ones turned up (now I'm £13 over budget!).

Juggling between the jack and engine crane to support various bits as its disassembled was fun either - no assistant. Easy enough to drop the sub frame, but i'm not looking forward to trying to put it back on by myself lol. Its not too heavy, but lifting it whilst under the car, square, so you can then get a bolt through, that will be interesting.

Gearbox is now on the bench, and the bearings/seal have turned up, so gonna split the case later and have a butchers at that.

Plenty of gearbox oil came out when drained, and no leaks from the seals so i'm hoping there isn't any other gearbox issues.

I'm still waiting for the clutch to turn up. but plenty to get on with in the mean time.

In the most, other than access and weight, it hasn't been too bad a job. Whilst the ARB drop links were too corroded to undo so had to be sacrificed, everything else came out pretty easy without much bother. I can see why mechanics say they like working on the old hondas, its all pretty accessible and logical.

[ek9sid]

Glad to hear it's gone well so far (bar the drop links). Where abouts are you located? Just seeing if you're relatively close by, should you need a hand.

I have to say that I do enjoy working on older hondas. As you say...very logical.

[Scott560]

Thanks for the offer, i'm based south of oxford. Pretty much sorted now though.

If its not one thing its another.... Few unexpected snags hit along the way...

New bearings went into the gearbox easy enough, sealed it all back up and stuck it together, then realised i'd left out the oiling carrier tray thing. Dissasemble and reassemble again, oh deary me, and there was me thinking i was getting good at this! Old bearings didn't have any play surprisingly, but were noisey when spun, same with the clutch release bearing.

New clutch went on very easily, made my own centering tool out of a socket extension and some electrical tape. Simply wrap the tape around the extension to the required diameter for the pilot bearing, then same again for the clutch plate. Happy with that...

Whilst offering up the gearbox (via engine crane) to the engine, the stiff dowels yet again caused trouble. Should have removed them / cleaned em up / deburred them. Threaded in a couple of bolts finger tight to keep it roughly in place, but the continued jacking up and down (even just a little bit) eventually tore some threads out of the engine block. My own stupid fault. The alloy threads are very soft / weak - don't be fooled by the size of the steel bolt! Cleaned the bolt up, blew out the threaded hole and it went back in and torqued up to 64nm just fine, so i got away with that one.

However, the the gearbox rear mount bracket bolt, the threaded hole goes all the way through the gearbox casing, leaving an exposed part of the thread. Corosion and what not damaged the thread on the bolts way out, and it doesn't want to go back in nicely at all. Not solved that one yet. Its 1 of 3 bolts holding the bracket for the rear mount to the box. I'll probably get away with it but i might pack it out with some washers as it does go in someway smoothly.

Treated myself to an electric impact wrench (DCF880) , 90quid well spent. After struggling to cut off the ARB drop links with an angle grinder, i ended up getting them out with a pair of vice grips and the impact and some persistence. Still hard work but quicker than cutting them off. ARB got a bit scarred from the grinder, so a quick bit of paint to prevent any future mot advisories.

Subframe has been offered up to the car via a jack at the front, and the engine crane lifting it via a strap at the rear. Bolts are in loose and it still needs jiggling. Once my generic ball joint boots turned up, i think i'm pretty much done.

All in all, took longer than expected but i've been taking it easy-ish and with limited space.

Next house needs a double garage / barn , and a lift....

Hope no one minds the musings - passing on my mistakes so others don't make them