B16 tranny on b18a

ASSISTANCE Hybrids & Advanced Aftermarket Engine Performance
1

i have a million and one questions about it and what it can do for my ls. if g2ic would help me out that would be great. and fyi i have researched my questions and watched videos. but im still stuck.

first things first. from what ive learned the b16 has a shorter 1,2,3,4 gear than the ls tranny. how is that an advantage? doesnt that mean that for example: if i hit 15mph in 1st with the ls then im going it hit like… 10 in 1st instead?

2nd. i was reading and they said that 5th gear is short and that most people just take the 5th out of the ls and put it in the b16 tranny and you get the advantage of the short 1-4th and the highway cruising ability of the ls’s 5th. thats cool, but how much of a hassle is that to do and it doesnt seem like that would just be an afternoon project.

3rd. is this a good deal? http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/JDM-honda-Civic-B16-J1-Transmission-tranny-cable-crx-si-/390200084666?cmd=ViewItem&pt=Motors_Car_Truck_Parts_Accessories&hash=item5ad9bcc8ba#ht_500wt_956 and when looking to buy a “new” tranny what kinds of questions should i ask and what should i be looking for?

4th. is changing the ls tranny to the b16 tranny just bolt off and bolt on? or is there some kind of something that you need to do once you put it on?

5th. when swaping out trannys what else should i replace? when it comes time for me to actually follow through with a tranny swap im going to get a new clutch,pressure plate,flywheel,pilot and throw out bearing,flywheel bolts, and clutch cable. is there anything else?

any input at all would be greatly appreciated…

2

The b16 trans with shorter gears is an advantage because while each gear does top out at a lower MPH (as you said, 10mph compared to 15mph for example) but the advantage is that it goes through gears quicker… Light a light flywheel compared to a heavy flywheel. The lighter one will gain speed quicker, while the heavy one will take more time/force to get up to speed.

When you add those shorter gears with the extra torque of an LS motor, you’re going to get up to speed that much quicker. But its not just about going through gears faster, its about staying in the ‘sweet spot’ of your powerband. Having a longer geared tranny could contribute to your motor falling out of vtec upon upshifting.

I’m kind of out of it right now so I’m probably not making a whole bunch of sense, but you said any input is appreciated, so :stuck_out_tongue:

As far as swapping it in, yes it is a straight bolt on affair. But you will want to match your clutch disc to whichever trans you run. The 89-91 b-series trannies and the 92+ b-series trannies are different… the input shaft of the 92+ trannies have bigger splines, while the 89-91 trannies have smaller splines… so as I said you have to match the clutch disc accordingly. The throwout bearings are all the same though.

You prettymuch have it right as far as what to replace when swapping a tranny in… but the down side to getting a JDM/b16 cable trans is that there are virtually no companies that make parts to rebuild them with. However if you do your homework, you can swap out an entire hydraulic gearset into a cable case and then its much easier to get parts for the rebuild.

Yes you can swap in the LS 5th gear, and lots of people like it for highway driving… but if you have the b16 5th gear and thr 4.4Final Drive, you will be riding at about 4,300RPM@80MPH in 5th… whereas with the LS 5th, you’d be more like 3,500 or 3,700rpm@80mph. If you have a loud exhaust setup, the drone of the exhaust might drive you nuts after a long trip on the highway lol.

As I said I’m prettymuch just rambling right now, throwing out random bits of information as they pop into my head… and all this is being typed on my cell phone so I apologize in advance… I’m just bouncing ideas around as I said. I hope some of it is helpful and once I get back to my pc I’ll make an attempt to actually add some good info lol.

But bottom line is, the b16 tranny is good for drag racing and will make your car feel a bit more peppy… the LS trans is a more relaxed feel and comfy for driving on highways and for any long trips you may take.

3

i’m going to answer your questions as concise and orderly as possible here, because they are good questions.

  1. this is a great question. gear ratios; how do they work? well, lets say a gear on your ls trans has 10 teeth while a gear on the y1 trans has 5 teeth (both sets of teeth of the exact same size). the gear of the y1 trans will turn 1 revolution exactly twice as fast as the gear of the ls trans (with an equal amount of force placed) but move exactly half the distance. you see how this works? think of a 10 speed bicycle. the smaller cogs turn faster than the larger cogs with less force exerted, but move the wheels a shorter distance.
    your engine will turn the gear its revolution faster, but the car will move a shorter distance in that revolution.
    basically, this equates to faster acceleration, but shifting through gears sooner because of the earlier reached revolutions
    this basic principal is one of the most important conceptions you can have of an automobile. any mechanism which uses a rotational assembly takes this into consideration. your alternator pulley, for example, is designed much smaller than your power steering pulley. it is engineered this way to turn a specific number of revolutions concurrent with the engines revolutions which drive it. many revolutions because of it’s small size. change the pulley size and you change the revolutions or “speed” it will turn in comparison to it’s driving crank pulley. ratios.
    it’s a beautiful thing because we can know with absolute certainty speeds that certain ratios will make without ever having to test that. because it’s bound by natural law

  2. while it isn’t a difficult task, there are many pieces involved. for someone without knowledge on the inner workings of the transmission, i’d advise to just have the 5th gear installed by someone who does have that knowledge.

  3. it looks like a “fair” deal. nothing to write home about. they usually run from 3-500$, depending whether or not it’s equipped with lsd as well

  4. yes. the only thing you may need to swap is the vss, as it will probably be equipped with an electronic while ours are cable driven. also, there are 2 different sized input shafts, so be sure to buy the correct clutch disk for the trans you will be installing

  5. i would change the clutch (which should come with a pressure plate and pilot bearing), throw out bearing, machine flywheel, and that’s about it. no need to change the cable, if it’s not stretched or damaged. inspect the rear main seal. when it comes to seals, it’s my belief that if they aren’t leaking or damaged, it’s best to leave them well enough alone.

IMO, if i had to choose between upgrading the engine or the trans, i’d probably choose the trans first. so commonly overlooked, yet so important:burnout::burnout::burnout:

4

^ Better answer than mine lol. Good info right there.

5

haha. yeah, i tried not to over complicate it, cuz its really a simple principal. but that fundamental is such an important one.
when you understand how that works, you can understand how whole gear sets work.
because we have a counter gear which is turned by a driving gear, the different sizing between the two makes all the difference in the actual work produced.
really cool shit, because so many things in our vehicles operate with that simple formula in mind

6

sorry to threadjack but for the seal would you buy it for a 90-91 ls, 92-93 ls, or a 92-93 gsr?

7

True that, I understand what you mean… with my build I went for a while thinking that the b16 trans would be a waste of money and time. But after picking one up I do like the difference. B18 torque + B16 gears = a nice combo! I haven’t driven the car on the highway yet, but in the other gears I dig it.

8

which seal? rear main? go with whichever engine you have

yup. tranny is so important. some people prefer longer gears though. depends what you need it for.
i went for the y1 w/lsd for my b20b. good combo. so happy. would have been a complete dog with the ls tranny.
picked that sucker up for 220$ cuz it had a pooched 5th gear. i figured the guy tried throwing in the ls 5th and messed up. which was fine by me, since i was gonna swap the ls 5th in anyways. hell, the lsd was worth that alone.
ls 5th is a huge difference though. like night and day

9

And really, imo, the B16 5th isnt horrible, it just takes some getting used to. A buddy of mine had a B16 in his EF hatch, and a B16B in an EK and he drove on highways every day to and from work… He said he didnt mind it after a few months of driving it.

But I was in the same boat as far as picking up my J1 trans… The guy sold it to me for $220. It actually had something internally wrong… one of the ‘collars’ or sleeves or whatever that goes over a splined gear wasnt put on right, so he was just trying to get rid of it for cheap. However he didnt disclose that info to me lol. But I got lucky because a buddy of mine who owns a race shop went through it and solved the issue for me, all for a whopping $20.

My input is if you can source a decent tranny from someone reputable, then its worth it… But if someone is kinda shady, be prepared to find someone to go through the trans and check it all out.

If I would have just put my trans in and fired up the motor… Ick… It would have internally combusted! lol.

10

all ive got is input for number 5: great start on parts, get new pressure plate bolts too.

transmissions are commonly overlooked.
my 18g, 10psi, 280whp setup on a factory geared A1 trans (oem 91 GS tranny) in a gutten out G2 was actually slower to 100mph than my boys NA B18C with a tight geared ITR trans in a half-gutted G3 iTR clone

im sure he made less power and had more weight, but i wasnt really out of 4th yet before he was almost out of gearing…

food for thought.

11

[QUOTE=welfare;2157721]which seal? rear main? go with whichever engine you have

yup. tranny is so important. some people prefer longer gears though. depends what you need it for.
i went for the y1 w/lsd for my b20b. good combo. so happy. would have been a complete dog with the ls tranny.
picked that sucker up for 220$ cuz it had a pooched 5th gear. i figured the guy tried throwing in the ls 5th and messed up. which was fine by me, since i was gonna swap the ls 5th in anyways. hell, the lsd was worth that alone.
ls 5th is a huge difference though. like night and day[/QUOTE]

I meant the seal that the midshaft touches on the transmission.

12

output shaft seal? it’ll either be 90-91 integra, or 92+. 90-91 is the smaller of the two