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Intro

My car is a 1996 Civic Hx with the D16y5 vtec-e engine and CVT transmission.
A little background... this was the first year that Honda used a Continuously Variable Transmission in the Civic. The automatic HX's came with the CVT tranny instead of a traditional automatic. They are known for shaking when accelerating from a stop. Mine was doing this when I bought at (104k mi) I had the car at the dealership for some emissions warranty work, and they gave me a quote on the transmission. $800 total, $300 for a new start clutch, $500 labor. I decided I would convert it to manual since I had a spare 5 speed & shift linkage already. I had originally planned to swap in a spare automatic tranny I had, but after looking into it more I realized it was not an option. Yes any 92-00 D series automatic tranny will bolt up to the D16y5 (hx) motor. However, the D16y5 head is a vtec-e head (lean burn mode) which achieves greater miles per gallon. The only 2 ECU's that are avail for the HX motor are for the manual (P2N) and the CVT (P2M). The P2M ecu for the CVT will not know how to operate with a normal automatic tranny. An ecu from an automatic dx/lx/ex will not be able to control the lean burn mode operation of the HX head.

So your options are:
1. Replace or repair the tranny (easiest but may be expensive)
2. Convert to 5 speed manual
3. The only way to use a regular auto tranny would be to use a head other than the hx head (d16y7 or d16y8) along with the correct ecu for the head & tranny. You will lose the extra MPG that vtec-e gives, and have some extra wiring issues. Also, I'm not even sure what components from the CVT civic are compatible with a regular automatic.

So before you consider converting to manual, try flushing out the CVT transmission. The fluid may need to be changed, or someone may have put regular automatic tranny fluid in it, instead of the CVT fluid. These issues can cause the slipping. The CVT fluid is expensive, but it is well worth the investment before you convert.

You will need enough fluid to refill it once, drive it, and then drain & refill it again. Just one refill is not enough to flush all of the old fluid out, because some of it stays in the transmission. When you drain the fluid, look for metal particles in it, that would make me lean toward converting. If the transmission is slipping for too long, it will begin to wear out.

The CVT is not easy to find used, and very expensive from Honda. The $300 start clutch is designed to be replaced. Looking back, I would have gone that route after learning how much work it was to convert. I started collecting parts for the swap in fall/winter 2005. I was not in a hurry, so I collected them slowly on ebay when I found a good price. Since then, more people have been sharing information about these transmissions and how to flush them. Had I known it was that simple, I would have tried that first. But when I started, people were only saying how they were on their second or third CVT tranny, having the same problems every time. So I went with my original plan to convert since I had most of the parts already.

Parts you will need:
- 92-00 D series manual tranny
- 96-00 master cylinder, nuts
- 92-00 D series slave cylinder, bolts
- 96-00 manual pedals, connecting pin
- 96-00 clutch lines, or the Earl's conversion ss braided clutch line
- 92-00 shift linkage, bitch pin, bolts, bushings
- 92-00 shifter, knob, dust boot
- 92-00 rear transmission manual mount
- 96-00 D series rear transmission manual bracket & bolts
- 96-00 CVT passenger side tranny mount (re-use)
- custom passenger side tranny bracket (I combined a 96-00 D series manual bracket with a 96-00 CVT bracket)
- 92-00 D series Flywheel & Pilot Bearing
- 92-00 D series Clutch & Pressure Plate
- 92-00 D series Release Bearing
- 92-00 D series Manual Flywheel bolts (auto ones are too short)
- 92-00 D series lower front tranny bracket & bolts
- 92-00 D series manual starter & lower long starter bolt

I am going to do the swap without removing the entire engine.

1. Getting to the CVT Tranny

This write up is only intended as an overview of converting your CVT Civic to Manual transmission. By reading further, you are agreeing that by attempting to do anything you see here, I am in no way responsible to any damage you cause to your transmission, your car, or yourself. I suggest you purchase a service manual for all the details, such as torque specs & tightening order.
There's a lot you'll have to remove before you can remove the CVT transmission.






- Support the vehicle on jackstands. Drain transmission fluid.







Remove the Air Intake







Unplug & Remove Distributor (mark it first so you can out it back on in the exact same position)







Unplug all sensors from the tranny, both o2 sensors, EGR, MAP, VSS, Sensors below distributor... anything that is going to be in the way. You may want to label some of them to make it easier when you hook them back up. Also unhook the shifter cable from the top of the tranny (mine was hard to pull off)







- Disconnect 2 metal lines going from tranny to radiator (over a drain pan)







Remove the Battery























unbolt the shock bracket from the lower control arm, unbolt the upper control arms from the shock towers, then unbolt the shock & lower bracket from the shock tower, set it aside.

Same for the driver side:





















with the driver side axle out, you have room to get to the rear tranny bracket bolts



Remove the 10mm bolts that hold the rubber brake lines to the suspension and you should have enough room to squeeze the axle out without removing your caliper and rotor, but that is soon...



Set the axles aside, you will re-use them.











Remove the brackets in the way of the service plate, then unbolt & remove the service plate.











Unbolt all of the flex plate bolts. You'll have to rotate the crank pulley to bring each one to the opening at the bottom of the tranny where the service plate cover was.











Getting back to those rear bracket bolts... They are tight. You may need a breaker bar to get them loose, even after PB blaster. Now the engine/tranny is being held in place by only the side & lower front mounts.

2. Removing the CVT Transmission

This write up is only intended as an overview of converting your CVT Civic to Manual transmission. By reading further, you are agreeing that by attempting to do anything you see here, I am in no way responsible to any damage you cause to your transmission, your car, or yourself. I suggest you purchase a service manual for all the details, such as torque specs & tightening order.
All along the car has been on jackstands. Now you need something solid to put under the engine to support it. I used 2 wheels & some wood. You want something that is going to spread the weight of the motor out over a large surface area, to not put stress on a small part of the oil pan (like a big piece of wood). Whatever you use, make sure it is solid and sturdy.







Next use the floorjack and position it under the tranny to take the weight after you unbolt it.











Unbolt the bracket from the tranny. Remove the Mount from the chassis.

Same for the lower front mount, except you can just remove the bracket if your mount bolts are really rusty (like mine)







Remove all the bolts holding the tranny to the block, there should be 4 on this side.







You may need to pry the tranny away from the block with a big flathead screwdriver.























Pull the tranny away and slowly start to lower the jack. This is not very safe so be careful! The tranny can easily fall off of the jack if it is unbalanced and land on your foot. The CVT 'flywheel' will also be loose and can fall out (seen in pic below)











Here it is. Now you decide if you want to reuse it or swap to a manual.















The CVT tranny is bigger and heaver than the manual.

3. Removing the flexplate, rear mount, & more

This write up is only intended as an overview of converting your CVT Civic to Manual transmission. By reading further, you are agreeing that by attempting to do anything you see here, I am in no way responsible to any damage you cause to your transmission, your car, or yourself. I suggest you purchase a service manual for all the details, such as torque specs & tightening order.








Remove the flex plate with a 12 pt 17mm socket. To make it stop turning, I stuck an extension through one of the holes





This write up is only intended as an overview of converting your CVT Civic to Manual transmission. By reading further, you are agreeing that by attempting to do anything you see here, I am in no way responsible to any damage you cause to your transmission, your car, or yourself. I suggest you purchase a service manual for all the details, such as torque specs & tightening order.






With the tranny out of the way, you can hop in the bay & remove the rear mount.







CVT rear mount vs manual rear mount







Manual rear tranny bracket: Manual vs CVT











On the other side of the bay, remove the 3 rubber plugs where the master cylinder will go.







Remove the lower dash panel.







While you're at it, remove the entire center console (back to the shifter later)







Here's where the master cyl comes through on the inside. Next I'm going to install the clutch pedal...