Taking the stock motor out is not to hard, just time consuming. If you've never taken a motor out this is a good one to start with so don't get discouraged. First off, always use jack stands when the cars jacked up. I definately recommend having someone there to help you. It's real annoying pumping the engine lift once, then checking the motor. Another thing I recommend is an impact for the axle nuts. Their a bitch to get off without one. If you don't have an air compressor try to get your hands on an electric impact. One time I had to take the knuckles off both sides with the axles still attached. I took them to my buddies house and impacted them off.

Tools

Honda is so smart. You can take a whole EF apart with 5 size tools, A 10, 12, 14, 17, and 32. So your going to need a:
  • 10 mm socket
  • 12 mm socket
  • 14 mm socket
  • 17 mm socket
  • 32 mm socket
  • Preferably an impact or breaker bar to match 32 mm socket
  • Real long pipe for the breaker bar
  • Extensions and rachets to match sockets
  • 10 mm boxed wrench
  • 12 mm boxed wrench
  • 14 mm boxed wrench
  • 17 mm boxed wrench
  • punch
  • hammers
  • pliers
  • channel locks
  • vice grips are always good to keep handy
  • crow bar or pry bar
  • engine hoist
  • chains
  • jack
  • jack stands just incase

Removing Motor


Removing the motor is in 4 sections: underneath motor, on top of motor, mounts, and engine removal. But for starters always start with the fluids. Then you can get rid of the rad and give yourself some room to work. You drain the fluid through the valve on the passanger side of the motor. It might or might not twist out all of the way. Then you need to drain the tranny. There is a bolt on the passanger side of the tranny. If you don't do this, when you take your axles out the tranny fluid will come out. Unless the levels to low.

Next I take the rad and the rad fans out. If you have AC your going to have to take the lines out. If the system is still pressurized take it somewhere to get discharged. When you take the rad hoses off the motor there's still going to be some antifreeze in there. It's worth the 20 minutes you'll spend taking the bumper, filler, and headlights out. It opens up alot of room and might save you money on a broken headlight. I have instructions on how to do this back in the tech section. I like getting the more aggrivating stuff over with so I move on to underneath the car.

Underneath Car

There's not to much stuff your going to have to do under here luckily. I'll start with the axles because they never fail to piss me off.
Axles
To do the axles, first start out by jacking the car up, taking the wheel off (no shit) and taking the axle nut off. Their will be a dented in side of the axle nut that was beat in if they where installed right. Bang this back out. Then, take the lower ball joint nut (17mm) off. It's right behind the rotor on the bottom of the knuckle. It should be a castle nut with a coter pin thru it. It's a bitch getting this seperated. I always hit the lower control arm with a hammer and wiggle the knuckle back and forth and jerk it up and down. Sometimes it pops right off, sometimes it doesn't. Make sure there's a jackstand under the car before doing that though. You might have to take the bolt(17mm) out that holds the fork to the lca. If it's your first time I'd just go ahead and do it. I normally don't need to. Then, take a pry bar or crow bar and stick it between the axle and the tranny. Once the axle pops out of the tranny pull it out but without pulling the axle apart. Then put everything together and get the wheel back on. Repeat on other side.
Shift Linkage
If you look at the tranny there are 2 parts to the shifter. One is held on by a 12mm bolt and the other by a pin. You need to use your punch or something smaill enough to punch it out. Like a screwdriver or 1/4" extension. To get to this you have to fold the piece of rubber bnack and you'll find it. To get the linkage totally off there are either 2 10,mm or 12mm bolts that go straight up under the shifter. Take the shiftknob off first though.
Exhaust
While your under the car take out the bolts where the header bolts up to the cat. They are the bolts with springs. Ithere are bolts that bolt the header to the block if you decide to taqke that off. I would.

On top of motor

This is all bitch work. It takes no skill at all. It's just straight up easy. There are a couple different things you are unhooking. You need to unhook anything that connects the motor to the car. Start with the wiring harness plugs. There is 1 or 2 on the driver's side depending on your car. DPFI = 1 white plug, MPFI = 1 white and 1 green. On the passanger side there are 2 plugs. 1 is white and the other is covered in a brownish plastic. Then you gotta open the fuse box under the hood and unscrew the 2 black wires closest to the front of the car.

Then get that intake out of the way. There are some 10mm bolts on the airbox to take out.

To open up the engine compartment a little more take the battery and battery tray out. There are some 12mm bolts holding it in. The one bolt is under the tray.

Now that the engine compartment isn't as cluttered you can take off the heater core hoses. These are the smaller hoses that are around 3/4" or 1" coming out of the firewall. The one hose has a heater adjuster valve. It is a black thing with a cable going to it. If it's your 1st time pulling a motor and you think you might hit it with the motor go ahead and take the cable off of it and take that heater core hose off of the firewall.

Now comes all the vacuum lines and other hoses. Look behind the motor, you'll see some a mess of vacuum lines going to the purge control valves mounted on the firewall. disconnect all the vacuum lines that connect from that to the motor. If you look on the bottom left side of the firewall you'll see a black canister. Unhook all of the hoses that go from that to the motor. There is another large one going from the brake booster to the motor.

Now for all the other random things. To unhook the fuel line open your gas cap and loosen the 10mm bolt on the top of the 17mm bolt to relieve the fuel pressure. then take the fuel line off. There is another fuel line hose running from the driver's side firewall to the intake manifold.Unhook the throttle cable and clutch cable. Undo the grounds. One from the valve cover to the rad support and the other from the tranny to the negative battery terminal. Unhook the speedo cable by removing the rubber around it and removing the clip that's on it. Now your ready to start on the mounts.

Mounts & Pulling Motor Out

Front and Rear Mounts
I always start at the rear mount cause it's a bitch getting to it. There is a 17mm bolt going threw the bracket that's on the tranny and the mount that's on the rear cross member. I take the bracket off of the tranny to give myself somemore room for pulling the motor out. I think there's 2 or 3 17mm bolts holding it on. Then move to the front mount. There's a 17mm bolt going threw it and the front crossmember.

Side Mounts
I think the easiest way is to put a jack under the oil pan and then unbolt the passanger side mount. Take the 17mm bolt that go's threw the tranny mount and the mount bracket. Loosen the driver's side mount just a little bit. If you drop the motor down a little bit, paying attention that the other side of the motor doesn't hit the frame rail, then you can wrap a chain around the tranny. Then the motor is at a better angle for taking it out. You can find a suitable hole for putting a bolt in to attach it to a chain but I just wrap a chain around it. Then on the driver's side either wrap a chain around the mount or there is an unused hole for a 14mm bolt right under the head. Hook the chain up, put some tension on it, and undo the driver's mount. Make sure the chains aren't putting any pressure on any parts of the motor you want to keep. Then just lift the motor out paying attention thatt your not crushing anything on the firewall.

-4thgencivic