Help! Ef Swap In Action, Please Read!

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EFtypeR

Junior Member
I am swapping a B16A1 with an S1 tranny into a 1990 DX hatch. I went to Autozone and swapped the axels that Hmotors gave me with new ones(rebuilt) with a lifetime warranty(wink,wink). Hmotors told me they were the axels from a 90-93 Teg, and when I swapped them at the auto parts store, they looked identical, perfectly the same. Here it my dilema. I am using HCP mount, and the swap was flawless, all the mounts are in and tight, straight with the chassis, and looks good. I started putting in the axels, and the pass side went in flawlessly, I pulled the spacer thing from in the hub assembly, and tightened down all the bolts, looks good. Now the drivers side is another story, I did the same thing with the drivers side as the pass, but when I pulled the D15 axels, I had a hard time getting them out of the hub(they seemed too long, not enough space) The new axels won't go in at all, I can't get the into the hub, I have removed the upper control arm from the fender, the shock/spring assembly, and even pulled the tie rod and the sway bar bolts. The darn hub just doesn't swing out far enough to get the axels center into it(about 1/2" shy). Do I need a different axel for the drivers side, am I doing it wrong? Has anyone heard of this? The pass side looks good, I just don't want to take the whole hub off, and find out the axels is too long. It the extra lenght due to the longer inset because I had to remove the hub spacer. The swap was going flawlessly until this, BIG SNAG, Please help if you can. Thanks, Jim BTW, the B16 is out of a XSi, and has the XSi intermediate shaft, it is not a SiR.
 
i wish i could give you the specific length your axles need to be...as i've seen this information and at one point knew it off the top of my head.

i will look for the these numbers and let you know...as my dad is doing this swap also.

the only other thing i can think of...is calling a place like www.driveshaftshop.com and or www.raxles.com and get specific dimensions from them. it might even by a good idea to get your axles from them, as they guarantee their work and have excellent quality.
 
I know this sounds bad, but I am going to the auto parts store tommorow with the axel and see if they gave me the wrong one. I just don't get why the pass side would be perfect, yet the drivers about 1/2" too long. I will see if they may have given me a 94+ or different axel than the one I should have recieved. I haven't heard of anyone else having this problem. I talked to a few swap shops, and they think I need a smaller axel(duh!) I will try to get a slightly smaller one. I have heard that sometime you have to use the axels from a 86-89 teg, but modify them?!? Please help if anyone has anything to offer, Thanks, Jim
 
Hey man... Ive got the fix for you right here.

http://b16a.honda-perf.org/theswap2.html

Scroll down a tad for "axels for efs"

Use 86-89 axels for the drivers side. Apparently the 90-93 ones work fine for the pass side (so says this incredibly informative page ive listed above)

Hope that helps and i hope you read this before going and getting another set of new 90-93 ones.
peace.

ps: http://hasport.com/News/Articles/Hasport%20Axles.htm
Give thios a shot too, if you do it this way, you may not have to get a new axel
 
shouldve read your post again. the second link up there tells you to remove the hub spacer (which you did) but also to remove the dust seal on the outer joint. I dont know that the dust seal will help a whole 1/2" but its worth a shot. Hope i didnt mislead you on that one.
sorry..
 
I went to the parts store, and they gladly swapped the 90-93 axel (left side) for a 87-89, it looked identical(same company) but was 3/4" shorter. took it home, slid it in, looks great! Bolted everything up, I now have a 90-93 on the right, and an 87-89 on the left. WTF, it works for me. I even went out late tonight to purchase the HASport linkage(getting lazy 2 weeks into the swap) instead of welding the linkage. It bolted up like it was stock. My only problem now is I didn't swap over the DX harness, and I thought I could use the XSi one, WRONG, so I will have to swap that out and re-wire for the EFI and V-TEC. No biggy there, I am an electrical engineer, If I can't do it, I am in deep poop. I thought I would be riding tonight, OH WELL. Thanks guys for your help, Jim
 
glad to hear you solved the problems you were having.

post some pictures when you're finished...would really like to see how it turns out!
 
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