J32A2 + 6MT swap in my '01 F23/H23 5MT chassis

[Bense]

Hey, sorry I didn't see this until now. My 6th gen Accord wound up getting totaled on Feb 26, 2019. Someone pulled out right in front of me and I plowed into their car at about 45mph. I was fortunate to only receive black/blue bruises on my chest/shoulder from the seatbelt, and my shoulder was sore for a few months. I'm fine now. I wound up lucking out and finding a 2006 Accord Sedan V6 6MT local to me for a great price, and that's what I've been driving since.


I can't recall who it was that I spoke with about this, but I did finally flag someone down that did this swap on a 6g Accord. He said to me that the difference between the 4cyl and v6 subframes were very minor. Something that could be resolved with a drill. I cannot confirm this.

Can you get some pictures of what you're referring to about the spot welds on the wheel housing? My 7g Accord passenger side mount has two bolts that hold the mount onto the frame rail. Without having pictures to refer to, I can only assume that whatever the difference is, that it is minor. Don't let two bolt holes prevent you from doing a whole swap!

 

[619rcr]

Thanks for the reply.
the easiest way I can explain is there looks to be a piece of sheetmetal that is tack welded and bonded with sealant to the frame on the v6. on the 4cyl, that piece is missing and so I had hoped it could be sourced and added on. only problem is I didn't want to cut up my cls in case it didn't work.

Searching honda/acura the rt wheelhouse seemed like the only part that matched up. part number 60610-s87-a00zz, which has been discontinued.
The circled area is what I'm talking about. I'll try to add a comparison pic tonight

 

[Bense]

All you have to do is get everything mounted except for that, and then you can make something with scrap steel metal, a grinder and a drill.

I wound up doing this in 2006 when I was doing my F2D swap in my '94 Civic hatch (custom geared D trans, F20B). I went to a metal fabrication shop that I used to work at and grabbed a pice of c-channel from the scrap bin.


What size are the 2 threads that are at the bottom of the circled area of that pic you sent?

They're either going to be;
M8x1.25 (12mm head)
M10x1.25 (14mm head)
M12x1.25 (17mm head)

I'm thinking that they're M10x1.25

 

[619rcr]

couple pics showing the differences. 4cyl motor out, j32 in. Ignore the thin silver strip toward the top of the 4cyl bracket, that was affixed to the intake. The 4 cyl body appears to only have 1 of 3 bolt holes as normally found holding the 6cyl bracket. its 8mm x1.25. the custom fab prob could work. Just don't have any materials on hand.

Plan to pull the j32 to rebuild, maybe in a week or so. Should be able to get a better look at the spot welds then and maybe test fit swapping lower crossmember on the 4cyl. Worse case I have innovative jswap mounts for my 5th gen prelude, standing by.

 

[Bense]

Have you ever seen the instructions for the Hasport K-series mounts in an EG? and how you need to take the right side bracket off the chassis, and then drill / mount a plate thing? It's been a few years since I've seen it.

 

[619rcr]

Can't say that I have.

On hold to pull j32 about a week until my TLS comes back from the body shop. Damage from a storm has turned into a 2week job.

 

[619rcr]

ok, so I googled hasport eg instructions. Requires center punch and drill bits to remove the spot welds and drill bolt holes for the bracket. I think there's actually spot weld bits too.

In the interim I pulled the engine bay harness and ecu. I have a spare 01 CL harness standing by. This is because AEM EMS is setup for AT.

 

[Bense]

Crap. I just remembered that I was about 80% writing some more about this but I wound up receiving a phone call and got distracted. Looks like you got a few further than I did though. Cool stuff.

If you are using the AEM EMS then you do not need the extra sensor that's on the CLS transmission. This means that you could use a 2003-2007 Accord or a 2004-2006 TL transmission, provided that you switch the pin for the shift lever on your transmission.

That's the official Honda name for the arm on the transmission that the shift cable connects to that operates the forward and backward movement of the shifter that's in the cabin. Kinda annoying that they name it something ambiguous as "shift lever"

I realize you said that you've already got a CLS, but I'm mentioning this for the purpose of the scenario when someone might be wanting to put a newer J-series engine / transmission into a 6g.

Interestingly enough, I just noticed that my 7g Accord's accelerator pedal still has a physical drive by cable connected to it. It appears to go to a module under my hood that's connected to the firewall that then converts it to drive by wire electrical signals that then go to the throttle body. -- or maybe this is merely the cruise control module.

If we manage to get all of these quirks and small obstacles sorted out, with thorough documentation, then we can have a good guide that shows all the steps required to put something like a J35A8 07-08 TL-S 6MT swap** into a 6g.

** Being that Honda made very few of the 07-08 TL-S 6MT, seeking one of these swaps out isn't going to be practical.

Hondata provides provides a way to cross-flash a 2007-2008 TL base AT ECU (CANBUS) to MT version. I believe Ktuner does as well. I've been working with the HTS guys to try to develop a more economical solution, but we haven't made much headway. -- In any of these 3 scenarios, the goal is that one could pull the dash and engine harness from any 2006-2008 TL, and then modify that to work with the manual transmission and use one of those modified ECUs.

If you've followed my transmission endeavors, you'll see where I've figured out so much stuff that I can provide an endless supply of J-series manual transmissions. Working on getting some clutch housings and LSDs made.

The 6g Accord is actually one of the most potent and capable Honda chassis, and it's baffling to me that there's not more documentation, builds going on with them.

 

[619rcr]

Good point and suggestions. Funny you mention TLS motor and trans. My other, other car is a 07 TLS, but I plan to keep that as a daily. I actually purchased a 05 RL J35A8 and tore it down maybe 2 yrs ago. I plan to use the crank, rods, cams, valve train in the J32. This is kind of a side project I've been collecting parts for ever since I got the RL motor. If I hadn't impulse bought a CT supercharger I would have done this build a while ago. I got some other build goodies, ARP studs, block guards, new pistons and p2r header just waiting.

Hondata would be nice, there is a pretty elaborate build, you've probably seen on AZ, beleive it was Youngone who put a newer TLS dash and J35 into his 6G. I absolutely agree, this gen accord is a great workhorse.

 

[Bense]

My shop right now.