Buy new car? or Engine Swap?

Buy a different car or stick with auto EK and swap/auto-manual convert?

  • Sell car, then buy a 91 CRX and swap to b16.

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Stick with your EK and do a b16a2 swap and auto-manual conversion.

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Sell car, buy 5spd civic then swap to b

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Total voters
    9

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tukinnam

Junior Member
I current own an automatic 96 civic DX and I recently learned how to drive manual (wow, so much funnn!! and easy). Since then, driving my automatic wasn't the same, so I wanna go manual.

I've been reading these forums (and others) quite a bit and noticed that most people want to avoid the auto-manual conversions. While on another site (honda-tech.com <-- where i got this site from), they are more relaxed on converting auto-manual and dropping engines that are not recommended.

But anyhow, since this would be my first engine swap (IF i decide to), i would swap in a b16a2 (obd2 correct?) and as for the auto-manual conversion, I've found a few threads such as http://www.honda-tech.com/zerothread?id=510597. (is it that simple?)

Or, I could sell/trade the car and go with one of these vehicles: 94+ delsol; 91 crx; 94+integra gsr. I have about 6 months to decide and by that time I should have at least 3500-5000 saved up. But I don't think Ill spend 5grand on a first swap.
 
Dropping engines that aren't recommended? What does that mean?

Some people say that the auto to manual conversion is easy, and it seems to be that way if you've done it before and know all the "tricks" that make it simple. My shop converted my car to manual, and it's worked flawlessly for quite a while. Others have complained about conversions going bad, shifters not lining up, wiring hooked up wrong etc...

The best thing to do would be to educate yourself as much as you can, and maybe watch someone else perform the swap before you decide to tackle it- especially if it's your first swap.

The absolute BEST thing to do would be to sell your car and buy a manual one, but then you have to deal with not knowing the history of another used car.
 
if you are going to be using it for a daily driver and need reliability then IMO don't do the auto->manual conversion, unless you have a mechanic that you trust and can do the work for you. if this was going to be a project car and it didn't matter if you couldn't drive it for a week at a time then I'd say "have a good time"

If it was me though, I would sell your car and buy a 5th gen 5sp and do an engine swap. get either an EX or an SI because the wiring will be easier plus you will get a sunroof and 4 wheel disc brakes (I think there might be some lx's out there with 4wheel discs but mine isn't). all 92's are prewired for vtec as well, all I had to do was add a wire for the knock sensor.

do some research on year/model/etc of the different cars and pick the one that will be best for what you want to do. the nice thing about 5th gen as oposed to 6th gen is that b's will fit right in without getting special motor mounts.

ultimately just make your own decision
and good luck with whatever you do
 
The 5G LX had optional rear discs, but that's pretty rare. The LX was only available as a sedan until 2001 anyway, so if you want 4 doors- go for it.

:thumbsup:
 
Originally posted by Calesta@Jul 23 2003, 01:47 AM
The absolute BEST thing to do would be to sell your car and buy a manual one, but then you have to deal with not knowing the history of another used car.

:withstupid:


I bought my car new w/like 4miles on it,have been in it for almost every mile and love it dearly so I'm doing a auto to man swap.If you bought it used and have no real attachment get a 5spd.
 
I agree with you 100%. I know the full mechanical history of my car since it was bought new by my parents way before I got it... so the conversion was my choice also. The best way to go about it is to still start with a manual car, but if you have a mechanic (or you) who knows what he's doing, you'll be fine.
 
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