type s tranny into ep3

[Jacksond]

Started swap saturday at noon with bounding ambition and a pocket full of dreams. 12 hours later and zero beers I was about "fit to be tied" but only had to install battery and intake then was going to be finished finally! Then Dave hopped in car to test clutch after I fitted the slave cylinder in and he tells me "there's no clutch... S**t went straight to floor" after pumping a few times I hear a pissing sound and find that the slave piston shot out of boot and was spraying brake fluid down intake manifold. I went home then. Today after putting it off I began diagnosing problems and found I knocked slave off piston seat when installing it and nothing was actually wrong. Fabbed that bish back together and dropped car off lift and went for ride. 12 hours, a blown front motor mount, two seized/hacked off sway end links, and one rusted bolt later I was driving on i69 in 6th turning about 3k at 70 mph, grinning from ear to ear. Grinning until I pulled back into the garage and tried to reverse slightly because I pulled too far forward in my joyous state. So now I would love insight on what it is exactly I must "notch" to make a space for reverse in my car. Please help me finish this project up. Thanks.



Cliff NOTES:
Type s tranny into ep3 complete
Need recommendations on end links for progress front sway
No reverse
Need info how to make spot for reverse gear so I may resume backin into spots
Need recommendations on replacement front mount/inserts that don't vibrate excessively
Need recommendations on good replacement/performance (if applicable) ball joints

[Jacksond]

Theres a small chance i have a reverse ,because i was able to get to an area east of 5/6 where I was not able to select 5-6 but also had no reverse but wasn't about to force anything into anywhere this early in the process. It felt like another slot/ area (area meaning 1-2 have an area , 3-4 have an area and 5-6 etc) was present to the right of 5-6 but not sure. Anyway, pretty sure kid was legit about tranny having only 50k on it, every gear was very notchy, the first gear lockout (if there actually is one on these, not entirely sure ) was actually blocking me out at 30 mph ( I traditionally downshift/coast to stops) unlike my old ep which was hesitant but always let me in ;). If there are differing final drives would a 4.4 as opposed to a 4.7 overall longer gears? Please excuse my lack of knowledge, my knowledge of final drive is limited, but I always was under the impression that it affected entire characteristics of transmission (eg lower fd car in 6th turns 3k at 70 where higher fd car same tranny gearing otherwise would turn > 3k at 70?) please enlighten me.

[Jacksond]

Oh and by the way exedy recommends 500 miles city driving break in, if you drive mostly highway then 1000 miles. No dropping, no spirited acceleration, and shifts at or below 4k

[USAF EP3]

I agree with all of slips observations, except the clutch issues, i put in an exedy stage 1, and it feels and drives like stock.

I agree that the overall feel of the car is more "raw" with the tighter gears.

As far as the shuddering you are feeling, id have to say its clutch related, as i am experiencing none of these issues.

VERY INTERESTING that you dont report an issue with your speedometer...

One thing i remembered the other day:
I swapped trannys with a person who had a 6 speed. When we swapped, he KEPT the VSS from the 6speed transmission, and i KEPT the vss from the 5 speed transmission.

I wonder if these 2 VSS's are designed to work with a particular FD ( the 5spd VSS for the 4.7 FD, and the 6spd VSS for the 4.4 VSS )

interesting...

The actual sensor part itself is the same. What's different is the pinion that rides on the ring gear of the final drive. Remember 02-05 EP3 and 02-04 RSX-S use mechanical driven sensors, then convert it to an electrical signal. 05+ RSX-S and 06+ others transmissions use a 3rd gear countershaft magnetic sensor that reads how many times the gear passes it.

02-04 RSX-S GEAR, SPEEDOMETER DRIVE:
41312-PPP-000

02-05 EP3 GEAR, SPEEDOMETER DRIVE:
41312-PE6-310

Different part numbers, so your speedo will be incorrect if you keep your old sensor. If you want to keep your old sensor I recommend a Dakota digital speedo converter. You have different options with it, you can keep the same signal frequency but the signal is made adjustable through the converter.

speedoring.gif

[Jacksond]

Ya I went about notching the stock shifter really conservatively and just put it back in , still no reverse. Gotta work now, goin back at it after work tonight. Will be taking many pictures after I do shave it so there will be an easily accessible resource for anyone else shaving their stock shifter. I am going to shave just enough to get by without doing any damage to my transmission. I recently found out the buddy club shifters are not discontinued (idk why I thought they still were) and will purchase one in the next few months.

[Slip_Angle]

Additional observations.

6. If I rest my foot on the clutch pedal I get a vibration through the clutch pedal. Once it's pressed past about 1/2 inch further the vibration goes away.
7. Initial 1st gear engagement causes vibration. Almost like a motor mount is broken/lose but once I let the clutch out and have engaged 1st gear everything is normal after that.
8. The car generally feels more "raw" - kinda like the difference when ESMM's are installed vs. stock.

Clutch is new, pressure plate is new, throw-out bearing is new, flywheel was machined. Ideas? Do I just need more break-in time?

Interesting turn of events. Took the car into the transmission shop this morning highlighting the areas above in addition to my steering wheel being cock-eyed to the right between the 1-2 oclock position.

The technician loosened the subframe, moved it to the right and tightened the bolts back up -- THIS SOLVED ALL THE PROBLEMS.

1. Steering wheel is now straight
2. No shudder/vibration engaging 1st gear
3. Clutch pedal no longer pulsates
4. Shifts are now butter smooth
5. Gear selection is more natural/easy

Seems things were just out of alignment...

[Jacksond]

Just thought I would post up some pics of modifying the factory shifter.
Before/very minimal shave





This is after I shaved enough to access Reverse. Sorry the photo's are kinda crappy, its a 3 year old iphone and the lens was dirty. In these pics I hadnt had a chance yet to blow the shaving's off and I also jumped on the opportunity to grease the crap out of the shifter, so it is a mix of grease and shavings.





really blurry sorry



But the point of these photos is to show that you have to shave down both the lever and the base part that the lever lays on when you push shifter to the far right. If you were to simply shave one or the other I believe you would shave through the base level and hit the plastic brace/webbing underneath. The trickiest part of the process (aside from messing with the cables installing the shifter) was making sure to evenly shave everything. Maybe if you used a sander the problem would be avoided, but I used a dremel bit.

[Jacksond]

Also, A huge help to me taking in and out the shifter was this writeup for installing a buddy club short shifter. Great tips. Thanks Jmange

http://www.ephatch.com/forum/showthr...-Shifter-(BCSS)

[Slip_Angle]

Still had some odd vibrations that didn't seem right, even though I have ESMM's. So.. I had a peek under my car today and discovered the shop that did my transmission swap lost the front motor mount bolt and used a bolt that is too small. There is lots of play between the bolt and the hole size. Does anyone know what size the front motor mount bolt is? Is it a 12mm?

[Euro-Yellow-Ep3]

I have the Hybrid racing VSS converter on my 06 si trans. Seems like it always reads low. I'm always thinking "I'm on doing 5 above the speed limit, why am I flying past everyone?" lmao

I just adjusted mine, u need to pop the little screw cover and turn it clockwise for one click

[Slip_Angle]

Still had some odd vibrations that didn't seem right, even though I have ESMM's. So.. I had a peek under my car today and discovered the shop that did my transmission swap lost the front motor mount bolt and used a bolt that is too small. There is lots of play between the bolt and the hole size. Does anyone know what size the front motor mount bolt is? Is it a 12mm?

Just for record, the bolt is an M12x1.25x88 - I replaced it and now everything is back to normal.

[typeflex]

very informative thread, need this for future reference