Finished!

[BlackTigers]

It's...done. I did it.

Swapped my automatic for a 5speed. I fired it up Saturday night at about 11PM and haven't been home really since.

It's been garaged since Christmas when I blew my ATX to pieces. It was probably the most intense thing I'll ever do to a car. I had the entire suspension system on my floor, I replaced the tie rods and ball joints, and the brakes are new as well now.

The entire exhaust was sitting on my floor, I had to drop that too. At one point my dad walked out into the garage, just stood there with his mouth gaping open, and said good luck.

I managed to do it by myself. My dad helped me jack the new transmission in, but the rest was all me. There were quite a few problems along the way, but I worked through all of them. Nothing major though.

Still need to do some touch up on it, CLEAN IT, and I'm replacing that god-awful shift boot as soon as I feel like driving to a junk yard. So probably in a month or three.

Not too bad for being a 17 year old, and my car knowledge stopped at tie rod ends before this. And oh my god, it's so much more fun to drive. I orgasm a little every time I get on an on-ramp and get to row through my gears.

mmm =)
#2 of insideeee
ugh...piece of shit.
Think she needs washed? lol

 

[halik]

Congrats!

I did a trans swap at 19 or 20, whenever my second gear blew on my A4

 

[CRXican]

props to you

I would have pushed it off a cliff

 

[BlackTigers]

Originally posted by: CRXican
props to you

I would have pushed it off a cliff

That exact phrase was muttered out of my mouth when I pulled the radiator inlet off and doused my face with anti-freeze as my friend was laughing hysterically.

 

[dirtboy]

Impressive.

 

[TechBoyJK]

is that car really 17 years old?

 

[BlackTigers]

Originally posted by: TechBoyJK
is that car really 17 years old?

The car is 11, I'm 17.

 

[angry hampster]

Nice! Those ZX2's are really fun little cars. They're not that great looking, but quite zippy.

 

[ponyo]

Great job! That's a major accomplishment at any age. When it comes to cars, I can change the engine oil and that's about it.

 

[sjwaste]

Nice job. When I was 17, the most I did was change my brake lines. I even paid someone to lower the car (the dumbest thing I've ever done, lowering it, that is).

 

[The Boston Dangler]

what model is that? is it a probe?

 

[BW86]

nice job!

 

[jhu]

that's nice. did you have to spend the money on any tools? did you have to fabricate anything or could you just bolt everything together? and how much did this all cost?

 

[MiataNC]

Grats!!!

Did the same thing with my '79 Mustang back in....1988.

Man I feel old.

One of the most satisfying things I have ever done with my hands that did not involve a woman.

 

[boomhower]

Originally posted by: The Boston Dangler
what model is that? is it a probe?

It's a two door escort basically. I believe the actual model name is ZX-2.

 

[BUTCH1]

Originally posted by: CRXican
props to you

I would have pushed it off a cliff

Na, you do that to a Honda cause a used tranny costs $1000..

 

[BlackTigers]

Originally posted by: jhu
that's nice. did you have to spend the money on any tools? did you have to fabricate anything or could you just bolt everything together? and how much did this all cost?

I had to buy....

1/2" Breaker bar ($35)
Various sockets (~$30 or so)
Random things (Torx, new pry bar....etc...$25 or so?)
$90ish

Transmission, and all swap parts
$450, shipped.

Fluids...Brake...tranny, anti-freeze...
$25

Ball joints, tie rod ends, alignment, brake pads
$150

It was a lot....the tools I can keep though, so it was a good investment there. The ball joints and brake pads weren't needed, but I replaced them just because I had my car all the way apart - it was just easier that way.

It all bolt together, some fabbing needed when I snapped a bolt off or whatever, but it was a direct bolt in.

 

[Farang]

ha.. awesome man but I think you're nuts. I just did almost the same thing (actually less work though), down to nobody helping me and my Dad only coming in to help lift the transmission into place. In my case it was to replace the clutch, the disc had gone bad. I would never have voluntarily chose to do that.

edit: I should also say I did a bunch of tune up stuff at the same time, actually still working on some of it, so it wasn't just a straight clutch job.

 

[Kadarin]

Nice work! Angry propellers... :thumbsup:

 

[BUTCH1]

I see so many younger people nowadays who don't work on cars at all it's great to see one who can!. FWD can be intimidating but the Escort aren't too bad to work on, I got 170K out of my '94 'scort before i traded it in..

 

[StageLeft]

That is huge labor. Replacing a transmission by itself is huge, but to swap out an auto to manual at the same time is pretty massive. I like to fix my cars but have always said if there is a transmission problem I'm gonna bring it in. I can only imagine how frustrating it was to do, but now it's worth it, right?

 

[AMCRambler]

Nice job dude! At 17 I think I would have been too fearful to do a tranny swap. Especially on a FWD car. Didn't do an engine tranny swap till I was 23. And that was on my RWD Rambler. Much easier than a FWD setup.

 

[evident]

great job man. congrats!!!! you know that saying: a man who cuts his own wood warms himself twice.

 

[ehhhh]

Awesome job!
DIY ftw (take notice you atot garage benchwarmers)

 

[drum]

Originally posted by: evident
great job man. congrats!!!! you know that saying: a man who cuts his own wood warms himself twice.

never heard that, I like it!

I replaced my suspension on my truck when I lowered it 4 years ago. Getting bolts loose on a 11 year old vehicle is a bitch!