Tranmission woes

[ilacuss]

Hello everyone,
I just bought a 90 Civic HB STB 4speed manual last week with 146k on it. I paid $1200 which at the time seemed like a good price. The car had a noise coming from the front passenger side. The previous owner said it was a CV joint, he had bought a rebuild axle and included it with the car. I had this installed and the noise didn't go away.

The mechanic that installed the CV joint (axle) said the noise was coming from the transmission. So I took it to a tranmission place today and they say the transmission bearings are bad and it needs to be rebuilt. They want $800 for the job.

I obviously don't want to spend this since the car itself might not be worth the repair.

I've found entire trannys at junkyards between $50 and 200 but some are 5sp models from DX's and SI's. Will a 5sp tranny bolt right up to my car? or do I have to get the 4sp tranny like the car came with?

Also I've got a friend who it fairly handy with cars, do you think this is something we can tackle?

Is it as simple as draining the fluid, unbolting the old tranny, dropping it and then installing the new one?


I'm going to pick up a Haynes or Helms manual today and see how involved they claim the job is.


Sorry for the novel,

any help or insight is appreciated.

thanks,


E

[BLU CIVIC]

i think itz like a 3 hour job to take out ur tranny b/c u have to take out ur axles also...

someone correct me if i'm worng, but don't you have to change ur axles also when you put in a 5-spd tranny??