Warning to those who've done, are doing or plan on doing a 5spd conversion
Do NOT use the Prelude tranny mount. If youve done your research..wait..you havent..youre a member of cb7tuner.com..but if you had, youd know that the Prelude mount is different than the Accord mount.
The MT and AT mount brackets are in different positions. AT is higher, MT is lower. The Prelude mount is taller than the Accord mount, making it a decent candidate for canceling out the height difference. Now, if you can read, you would know that the Prelude mount is 3/8in taller than necessary for our application here. What isnt widely known, however, is that it is also 3/8in off center horizontally. The vertical difference is easily fixed by shimming the driver side engine mount 3/8 of an inch to level out the engine so there arent any axle alignment issues. This part of the method works.
The downside of this is that is that the engine sits 3/8in off center horizontally. This isnt enough to cause any issues on a car with stock suspension, but once lowered enough- two or more inches in my experience- the geometry of the passenger side assembly is such that the axle is stretched out.
What stretches it out? Well, first is the engine and trans sitting further away from the hub than usual, if only by 3/8 of an inch. But when the car is lowered, the lca is in a more horizontal position. Because it is mounted lower and further out than the inner cv joint, this horizontal position naturally pushes the hub further out from the car, thereby stretching out the axle further. The alignment also affects the geometry, but Im sure I dont have to remind anybody of that. I, for example, have the SPC -1.5-3 degree ball joint camber kit.* As you should already know, camber kits for the fronts of our cars push either the entire uca or just the top of the knuckle out to decrease the negative camber. As you should figure out by that description, this also pushes the hub out, and if youve been reading any of this, youd know that this also stretches the axle out. Toe in also does this, as it is achieved through lengthening the tie rod behind the wheel.
Now by stretching the axle out, I mean just the inner cv joint.
So what can I do about this, you ask? Simple. Dont use a Prelude mount for your 5spd conversion if you plan on lowering your car two inches or more. Unless you want to worry about this issue..then, by all means, put an Incredible Hulk Bandaid on the bullet wound.
What you need to do instead is cut off the tranny mount bracket from a 5spd car, preferably from a junkyard, because I cant see anyone willingly giving up theirs.
The best,most reliable way, however
[blatant product endorsement]
is to just plan to spend the extra money on the ESP 5spd conversion mount kit when you plan out your conversion. You can just order the single transmission mount or go the whole nine with the full three piece kit.
[/blatant product endorsement]
Now I ask any of you that were good little students and read through all of this. Have any of you that have done the 5spd conversion AND lowered your car two inches or more run into this full lock steering cv joint popping problem? From what Ive discovered this weekend and over the past few months, it cant be that uncommon. So post up your experience. Maybe we can figure out a way to have custom axles made that are 1/2 to one in longer for this particular application or find some oem axles that fit the bill.
*[more blatant product endorsement]
Best camber kit Ive found. Pushed all the way in, it still corrects 1.5 degrees of camber. Hardly a need to get the camber aligned until the chassis is scraping the concrete.
[/more blatant product endorsement]
The MT and AT mount brackets are in different positions. AT is higher, MT is lower. The Prelude mount is taller than the Accord mount, making it a decent candidate for canceling out the height difference. Now, if you can read, you would know that the Prelude mount is 3/8in taller than necessary for our application here. What isnt widely known, however, is that it is also 3/8in off center horizontally. The vertical difference is easily fixed by shimming the driver side engine mount 3/8 of an inch to level out the engine so there arent any axle alignment issues. This part of the method works.
The downside of this is that is that the engine sits 3/8in off center horizontally. This isnt enough to cause any issues on a car with stock suspension, but once lowered enough- two or more inches in my experience- the geometry of the passenger side assembly is such that the axle is stretched out.
What stretches it out? Well, first is the engine and trans sitting further away from the hub than usual, if only by 3/8 of an inch. But when the car is lowered, the lca is in a more horizontal position. Because it is mounted lower and further out than the inner cv joint, this horizontal position naturally pushes the hub further out from the car, thereby stretching out the axle further. The alignment also affects the geometry, but Im sure I dont have to remind anybody of that. I, for example, have the SPC -1.5-3 degree ball joint camber kit.* As you should already know, camber kits for the fronts of our cars push either the entire uca or just the top of the knuckle out to decrease the negative camber. As you should figure out by that description, this also pushes the hub out, and if youve been reading any of this, youd know that this also stretches the axle out. Toe in also does this, as it is achieved through lengthening the tie rod behind the wheel.
Now by stretching the axle out, I mean just the inner cv joint.
So what can I do about this, you ask? Simple. Dont use a Prelude mount for your 5spd conversion if you plan on lowering your car two inches or more. Unless you want to worry about this issue..then, by all means, put an Incredible Hulk Bandaid on the bullet wound.
What you need to do instead is cut off the tranny mount bracket from a 5spd car, preferably from a junkyard, because I cant see anyone willingly giving up theirs.
The best,most reliable way, however
[blatant product endorsement]
is to just plan to spend the extra money on the ESP 5spd conversion mount kit when you plan out your conversion. You can just order the single transmission mount or go the whole nine with the full three piece kit.
[/blatant product endorsement]
Now I ask any of you that were good little students and read through all of this. Have any of you that have done the 5spd conversion AND lowered your car two inches or more run into this full lock steering cv joint popping problem? From what Ive discovered this weekend and over the past few months, it cant be that uncommon. So post up your experience. Maybe we can figure out a way to have custom axles made that are 1/2 to one in longer for this particular application or find some oem axles that fit the bill.
*[more blatant product endorsement]
Best camber kit Ive found. Pushed all the way in, it still corrects 1.5 degrees of camber. Hardly a need to get the camber aligned until the chassis is scraping the concrete.
[/more blatant product endorsement]
I still have a weird sound whenever i try moving with the wheel fully locked to one side say if i were making a u-turn. Since i know it makes that funky sound i just dont turn the wheel all the way to the point where it locks up. The only thing is though you say yours is a popping sound where i would consider mine more of a grinding sound. But its not a constant grinding as if something were rubbing or scraping its an intermittent type of thing. If i were making the u-turn fully locked i would guesstimate that it would make that sound like 2-4 times before i complete the turn.
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