Honda swapability

I owned a 98 Civic for a time, but I am largely Honda illiterate. I know a lot of folks say they are like building with blocks, that you can just bolt anything to anything else.

I am looking into the possibility of a 1st gen Odyssey for the fam - barring discussions about it's size and cargo capacity and competitors, I want to just focus on drivetrain.

My last experience with the Freestyle tranny left me feeling icky. I'm used to domestic RWD land where transmissions can be rebuilt pretty easily and swapped between whatever as long as you have the right bolt pattern and someone to weld a driveshaft up for you.

What transmissions/engines could this thing swallow? Could I throw a 5 speed in it and not have the computer pissed at me? Other autos from other cars, other years? Other engines from other cars, other years?

I don't fear wrenching, but I want to make sure that swaps are more than just "possible". Especially for DD use. Like sure, it's possible to put a Audi 1.8 into a dodge grand caravan and have the dash and the computer work together in perfect harmony, but it would likely take a EE a few months to figure out the signals between the two computers and the management systems and fuel systems. In other words, what will plug right in, at least mostly?

Not interested in super performance, reliability and price and MPG are driving this.

If you are talking about the real live first gen Odyssey, they are an Accord derivative and could have the same transmission issues. I don't think they are nearly as bad as the later ones and are cheaper to fix. I would think any you would look at would be repaired by now if it was going to need it. They also suffer from the same antilock brake problems that the Accords have. We had a 95 or 96 Accord that gave us good service until my knuckleheaded son ran it hot. This car did have the brake problem and could have been driven as is, as opposed to what the service writer told my daughter.

Anything accord or prelude will bolt up. The stock powertrain is all accord. You could hit the junkyard and swap in a factory DOHC VTEC 195hp 2.2L from a prelude or visit an importer and could find a 220hp variant of the same engine.

Edit: I should add that doing anything power wise while retaining the auto trans is a waste of time. And yes, they can be manual swapped. Trans should bolt in as well as axles, I'm not sure if accord pedals will work or if you need odyssey ones.

There is or was a turbo H22-powered (I think) Honda Odyssey running around San Diego. He used to drag-race it...

So I could literally grab an Accord manual tranny and bolt it up to the Ody engine, use the old Ody CV shafts, Accord pedals and clutch stuff and it would just run? No changes at all to ECU or whatever?

Some Japanese MPV class vehicles were actually sold here with manuals: 90-91 Mazda MPV, 90-92 Nissan Axxess, 93-95 Mitsubishi Expo. I was dissuaded from the Odyssey/Oasis after test driving a 4-cylinder Accord EX sedan--boy are those things gutless. It didn't help that they seem to have the typical Honda used car premium too.

FWIW: I finally gave up my quest for a fuel efficient minivan and bought a 1998 Sienna XLS. It's been getting 18 mpg, but at least I got power!

HStockSolo wrote: Some Japanese MPV class vehicles were actually sold here with manuals: 90-91 Mazda MPV, 90-92 Nissan Axxess, 93-95 Mitsubishi Expo. I was dissuaded from the Odyssey/Oasis after test driving a 4-cylinder Accord EX sedan--boy are those things gutless. It didn't help that they seem to have the typical Honda used car premium too. FWIW: I finally gave up my quest for a fuel efficient minivan and bought a 1998 Sienna XLS. It's been getting 18 mpg, but at least I got power!

The Ody's can be had for as little as 3k, are way better than the axxess and expo, get way better mpg than the mpv. Just trying to come up with transmission contingency plans since last time didn't work out so great. I would much rather have mpg than power out of this vehicle.

Don't Freestyles have some kind of crappy CVT? I'd just leave the transmission in the Ody alone, unless you're hellbent on a manual.

You would have to have a 5 speed ECU as Honda used different ECUs for manuals and automatics. No rewiring though, it would be a straight plug and play.

dinger wrote: You would have to have a 5 speed ECU as Honda used different ECUs for manuals and automatics. No rewiring though, it would be a straight plug and play.

So the parts list would be something like: 5 speed transmission from some random Honda (years) Accord

ECU from said vehicle

Clutch pedal, flywheel, pp, t/o, cable/hydraulic(?) stuff, shifter

Install and enjoy? Mounts?

Is this true for just first gen stuff or also the 99-04 stuff?

rotard wrote: Don't Freestyles have some kind of crappy CVT? I'd just leave the transmission in the Ody alone, unless you're hellbent on a manual.

Yes. It's not really that crappy, though. It seems that the rebuilds are quite bad. The original lasted 135k, which is somewhat reasonable, but the reman lasted 27k, which is.

Ody's have terrible transmissions too, relatively, or at least it seems to be the scariest part of the car - swapping to manual could be the reliability enhancer, not to mention the idea of saving cash by buying someone's first gen with a blown tranny that is staring a 2k bill in the face should be nice.

not exactly all that common. parts are not super easy to find for the MPV either. this is a 1992 4wd.

fwiw i have a 98 V6 auto and pull 17-18mpg consistently whether towing or not. not so great.

The 1st gen. Oddity is based on the '94-'97 Accord, and those had decently reliable transmissions. The 2nd gen. Oddity? Those are part of the "bad transmissioned" Honda "fleet"? For some reason, many Honda products, with automatic transmissions built between '98 and '04 had very iffy transmissions. Even the rebuilds for those Hondas are iffy. Civics and Elements are not on that list, and neither are Preludes.

The only real "downside" to the 1st gen. Oddity trans. is that it can shift a bit hard (it's no GM trans. for smoothness) and it can sometimes be reluctant to downshift.

Odditys have a price premium, but they do last, just like Toyota Previas last. But every now and then, if you live in a big enough city, you can come across a Oddity or Oasis for under $4K with decent mileage left on the clock.

The accord/prelude manual transmissions are all cable. The trick will be figuring out how/where to mount the shifter in the Oddity as they are column shift. It can be done.

Audi 1.8 into a dodge grand caravan

IF by audi 1.8 you mean vw 1.8t then you could bolt it up to an early 80s a404 tranny and then swap that right into an originally 3.0/670 88-89 grand caravan and use 84-85 minivan axles, stock shift cable, make the bracket for the TV cable, and run the engine off megasquirt. So yes, you could swap a vw 1.8t into certain grand caravans with engine management as the only real hurdle. I wouldnt do it though.

And all of this is funny to me because you probably thought you were joking.

FWIW: I finally gave up my quest for a fuel efficient minivan and bought a 1998 Sienna XLS. It's been getting 18 mpg, but at least I got power!

My 90 5spd caravan avg'd 27mpg when i drove normlly (75mph) and would get 33 at ~55mph. They made them with 5spds until 94. Need power? Turbo. Mine's turbo and 5spd. My friend built a turbo/5spd 95 thats running 18psi and still avg'ing 23 not being nice to it. On some of them you can use completely stock EVERYTHING (including stock turbo minivan wiring harness, plug and play) to get a 200hp, 300tq turbo setup.

But yeah, if you like automatics you'll have a hard time doing better than 25 hwy max, although ive never had a minivan that actually averaged 18, even with 3.3/auto and 3800 lbs. More like 20-21.

I like 1g odysseys and i would probably try a prelude motor and 5spd swap. It still wouldnt be majorly torquey but it would be quick enough to be entertaining.. mid-high 15s with typical i/h/e i would guess.

In reply to Vigo:

Wow. Missed the point. Fuel economy and reliability. I'll add safety, as the 1st gen odys are barely passing in crash tests, I am sure the early dodge minivans would not.

Let wife drive the half ton? Crush all opposition!

clutchsmoke wrote: The accord/prelude manual transmissions are all cable. The trick will be figuring out how/where to mount the shifter in the Oddity as they are column shift. It can be done.

6 on the tree?

There a 1st gen oddy around here with a big front mount i've been curious about.

simplecat wrote: There a 1st gen oddy around here with a big front mount i've been curious about.

I one called on an Accord with a front mount. I asked who did the install. The answer was that they mounted the intercooler but never got around to actually putting a turbo on it!!!!

Be careful, some Honda folks are a bit off

Any more info on this? I keep going back and forth between this and a suburban/expedition. Yes, seriously.

This was a very bad thing for me to stumble on tonight.

I now want an h22a 1st gen odyssey.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=riwopqQES-Q

Vigo wrote: But yeah, if you like automatics you'll have a hard time doing better than 25 hwy max, although ive never had a minivan that actually averaged 18, even with 3.3/auto and 3800 lbs. More like 20-21.

18 is what our '07 Odyssey gets. At that, it's still the cheapest vehicle we own as far as fuel milage goes -- the Miata gets 20, but it's $8/gallon for race gas... :)

--Ian

Yep Honda autos suck, slow to shift and don't hold extra power well. As someone pointed out, the 98-04 trannies did have issues and that was borderline recall territory. My cousin is a Honda tech and he has confirmed that it wasn't a model specific issue but a whole fleet issue. It just so happens that the vehicles mentioned are the most common auto trannies to fail.

That said, why not look into an AWD Toyota Previa. Since they are older, a lot are falling apart, but they run a pickup drivetrain and those are pretty much bullet proof. They also get decent gas milage, handle decent and can pretty much drive through anything. They also get decent gas milage and have some aftermarket support in japan. Of course they don't look as nice but oh well.

Not trying to steal the odds spotlight, just think everyone will enjoy: