A little history on my 93 coupe. Bought new, always serviced (although I am currently overdue for the 3rd timing belt, but I think I'm gonna try that one pretty soon), runs like a champ. 305K miles on it and going strong. The car has been wrecked 1/2 dozen times and looks like total crap, but mechanically is in good shape.

This is my "road car". I travel about 3K/month for my job (for which I am reimbursed the govt mileage rate) so the car is perfect for my needs. I had planned on just running it till it dies and then I have my backup car,a 2000 Accord with 120K on it (just getting broken in) to take the place of the 93.

The thing is, with the 93 still running well, I hate to just run it till it croaks, especially since that means I'll start putting all those miles on the newer Accord (which is like new, and purchased CHEAP when Mom got a new Civic). I hate to put a lot of money into it too because as soon as I put a timing belt on the clutch will go out, and I really can't justify (or afford) to put a lot of money in this car. I put off doing the 3rd timing belt (at 270K) because the clutch slipped on me a few months ago while passing someone on the highway, and I can make the clutch slip by putting the front bumper against the wall and letting the clutch out in a higher gear. I didn't want to put $500 in the car in a timing belt and then spend another $700+ on a clutch with the end result being a trashed-looking 93 Accord that's worth 1/10th of the cost of those two services. That said, after looking at the timing belt write-up here and the one over at honda-tech I'm thinking I'll try and dothe timing beltmyself; it doesn't look too bad. That still leaves the slipping clutch. From my Haynes manual and one on-line writeup it looks like this one would be beyond my shadetree capabilities.

Does anyone have a good step-by-step writeup on clutch replacement (prefereably with pics) that I could use for reference? Any special tools needed to do all of this? Any tricks to it?

To me it looks like you almost have to have a lift toget the carup enough toget the tranny out of the car, and the last thing I want is to take the thing apart and not be able to get it back together. From my username you can figure out that I've done a lot of work on Jeeps, so I'm not a total doofus when it comes to wrenching, but these Hondas are so much tighter as far as room to work and given that my Jeeps are 20+ years old they are pretty simple compared to the Hondas. Any suggestions?

Local shops have quoted me $750-1K for the clutch. We have a local stealership that are just plain rude to deal with, and a local place called Hondapro who have a good reputation but aren't much cheaper than the stealership, and then one more place that I no longer use (long story, but I try and do everything myself now). Anyone recommend a good shop within a couple hours drive of NW Arkansas? I travel in all directions so it wouldn't be like going way out of my way......

Great forum BTW! There's a lot less junk to dig through over here to get infothan on the other Honda forums.

 

You should be able to get a quality aftermarket clutch, pressure plate,& throwout bearing kit for under $150.
Replace the rear main seal and flywheel pilot bearing while you are in there.
throw out the axles, support the motor, runout the rear motor mount bolts, and a couple of "oh $hit" bolts up the back side of the block that go to the trans.
From the topside, get the starter out, remove the shift linkage and the top cap of the trans where the linkage hooks up and stuff a rag in there.[you need it off for better clearance coming out with the trans]take the slave cylinder off and loosen the piping so you can hang it up against the radiator fan.
Then there are bolts around the outer edges of the trans case, rear trans mount.
BE SURE to unplug the VSS [sm=bangbang.gif].
I'd have a trans jack or floor jack with a board fastened on itto bear the weight of the trans.
I've never done this job on the ground, Hell I don't check tire pressure without putting the car on a lift.

 

is that really your pic hondadude? [8D]

 

http://www.verzend.be/v/2126996/clutch_info.rar.html

 

Yeah, that's what I was worried about. I've taken a tranny of out a 3/4 ton late 70's chevy pickup, and I've taken a tranny out of a Jeep, but I can easily crawl under those while they're sitting with the wheels on the ground. Not so with the Accord. Think I might just work on the timing belt first and baby the clutch along for a little longer.

HondatechAV6, I couldn't open a RAR file on my computer. I'm guessing that's a nice step-by-step set of instructions isn't it?

Hondadude, looks like you're local to me. Can you recommend a local shop for a clutch install if/when I try to get it done? I've been doing the small stuff myself and getting timing belts done at the dealerships (not much price difference between the dealer and the indies). I'm originally from over east (hour SW of Memphis) so don't really know much about the indie shops up here, except I have a couple that I can tell people to NOT use. As much as I'd like to do the clutch myself, I've learned over the years that if you don't have the right tools, you get someone else to do it......

 

What be a VSS??????

 

you need to download winzip or winrar.

www.winzip.com

or
winrar
http://www.rarlab.com/rar/wrar371.exe

both programs do the same thing: compress files for ease of sending multiple files and uncompress them.

vss = vehicle speed sensor. if you drop the tranny with it connected you'll end up with damaged wiring, connector or sensor.

 

Vehicle Speed Sensor. Not sure for your year, maybe the wiring harness for the VSS is down low where you're likely to forget to unplug it.