test run

I filled the radiators with fluid and fired up the engine. The throttle control is a little touchy, but the engine seems strong. after about 15 min, the coolant started flowing through the radiators and after another 5 min, it started flowing out a crack on the bottom of the large radiator. oops. one more thing to fix... i guess it wasnt meant to drive before christmas this year.

transmission done

after months of waiting for the custom final drive ring and pinion, they finally arrived. But unfortunately they werent made very precise and the first and second gears fit very loosely on the shaft. I did some research and found, with my dad's help, I could make a custom bearing sleeve to fit over the shaft and make 2nd gear fit better. So we bought some 52100 bearing grade steel and my Dad took to the CNC. A couple hours later and he made 2 custom sleeves that would compensate for the final drive being too small. Then they were sent to heat treat and precision ground. In the mean time, i studied up on how to assemble a transmission. This was my first try, so i put it together and took it apart 4 or 5 times and finally figured out how to line everything up just right in order for the 2 halves to fit perfectly and keep the shift forks from hanging up. I finally was ready and carefully spread the RTV sealant on the mating surfaces and lifted the top half of the cover when , clunk, disaster... a bearing fell out and hit the ground knocking all the ball bearings in every direction on the shop floor. it took 20 minutes to find them all in the greasy nooks and crannies of the warehouse. just in time too, since the sealant was drying.

thanks to the help from the honda forum, the transmission rebuild was much easier than i thought.

Now 9 months later, the engine and tranny are finally back in the Car. just need to hook everything up and try it out. the thought worries me for some reason.

Transmission Specs

here is a chart of the gear ratios for my rebuilt transmission. I used the b16 tranny but exchanged the integra LS 5th gear set for better highway cruising (lower rpms). Combined with the custom final drive, I should have gearing like a normal, modern car.

Waiting

More waiting while the shop is dragging their feet in repairing my transmission.

Driving

Before taking the mini on the road for the first time, i had to test out the brakes and correct a few of the loose fittings and hoses I didnt get right the first time. Good thing I did ge tthe brakes working, because the car is outrageously fast. It was hard not to burn up the tires in any gear.

It was a great feeling to drive the car home after 2 years of work.

Unfortunately the fun didnt last long. After only one week, I got tired of the ultra-short transmission gearing and took the tranny back to have the gears changed (after 5 hours of work pulling the entire frame, motor, and trans). I will also be ordering a custom final drive. It turns out i was given a B16 transmission (with 4.4 final drive) instead of an integra LS transmission (4.27 fd). After calculating the ratios, I would like to get a final drive with a 3.4 or even 3.2 ratio, which would get the freeway rpms close to 3000 at 70mph. I cant believe no other honda - mini swappers have looked into this. it seems ridiculous to be buzzing around at super high rpms on the street.

There are a few good gear calculators posted online, found them by searching "honda gear calculator"

I also made some calculations based on the 165/70R10 yokohama tires having 1074 revolutions per mile and the honda gear ratios as follows:
Y21 Del Sol B16 Transmission- 5th gear .848 - Final drive 4.4
S80/Y80 Integra LS Trans - 5th gear .714 - Final drive 4.27

Now im waiting to get the transmission back, then removing the final drive to have a custom one made.

Update

Well it took a few weeks to get the wiring sorted out. i had to resolder every wire for the ECU and engine. So much soldering i burned up a 200w soldering gun and had to get another one.

Filling the transmission with oil was tricky. I had to remove the reverse light switch and feed a small hose in and tape it to a funnel. The normal fill hole was inaccessable behind the modified mini subframe.

more wiring

Yesterday i wired up the headlights, relays, and headlight switches. The wiring will be a lot of work, since i just found out only 1 brakelight is working, the neither rear blinker is working. The wipers were running for a minute then stopped... at least the engine wiring is mostly done, just need to trim some of the harness shorter and resolder.