Removing the Internal Combustion Components
There are two primary methods for removing the internal combustion engine on your Civic: through the top with an engine hoist or out the bottom with two jacks.
Methods with an engine hoist:
Follow the Honda Civic Helms shop manual procedure
See http://hondaswap.com/swap-articles/engine-removal-guide-29124/
See http://www.howtodothings.com/automotive/how-to-do-honda-engine-swap
Method without a hoist using a jack:
Make sure to label all wiring harness cables as you remove them and keep all bolts because many of them will be used later when we mount the electric motor. In particular, we'll need the wiring harness that connects to the speed sensor on the transmission so that you keep the functioning speedometer.
As mentioned in "Preparing The Vehicle," having the engine compartment steam cleaned before you begin will greatly aid you in engine removal. Not only do things look nicer, but you can clearly see everything and you don't get as dirty.
There are several photographs of engine removal at: http://civic-ev.blogspot.com/2008/06/civic-engine-removal-part-1.html
In addition to removing the engine, for this conversion you should also remove the following:
Power steering pump, reservoir, power steering fluid cooling tube, all tubes and lines back to the steering valve
fuel tank and fuel filler neck
radiator and all hoses going to the heater core in the passenger cabin (you may have to cut these off)
exhaust system all the way back to the tailpipe and exhaust shields
Note the cluster of 4 mm steel tubes running from behind the steering rack, under the driver's seat, and toward the rear. The two or three outermost pipes are fuel related, and can be removed. The innermost two are brake related, so be especially careful not to crimp or cut them. This detail is not clearly illustrated in the Helms manual.
The air conditioning system. Take the vehicle to a licensed A/C mechanic, and have the refrigerant removed. The rest is pretty straightforward, but note that you'll need to have a heater duct (P/N 20041 on Majestic Honda's webpage, (or hit the local junkyard). The DX models come equipped with this duct, where the A/C would normally reside.
charcoal cannister
fuel filter
battery, battery tray and hold-down hardware
All left-over brackets in the engine compartment that no longer hold anything up
Make sure you keep the following items for future re-installation (some of these were removed above)
battery and hold-down hardware
transmission and all bolts that were used to hold it to the engine block
flywheel, clutch disk and clutch pressure plate with all bolts
full wiring harness off the engine
driver side upper engine mount (we'll need this to support the rear end of the motor)
power steering lines with fittings that screwed into the steering valve in case you want to loop these back instead of replacing the steering rack with a manual one
Since we do not have power steering for this conversion, you have two options so that you don't want to fight against the hydraulic fluid in the steering system:
Find a manual steering rack from a Civic CX and install it in your car. Purchase a manual rack, plus the following Honda spacers: 53504-SR3-A00, A.K.A. 396040 "Steering spacer" and 53503-SB2-010, AKA "steering grommet". Be careful to turn the steering wheel as little as possible during the steering rack replacement, as it is possible to damage the "cable reel," (part of the Supplemental Restraint System).
Disconnect the power-steering hydraulic fluid hoses and route them in "loop-back" mode so that the fluid is sealed but not held back by the power steering pump or valves.
After removing all internal combustion components, clean the engine compartment and engine/tranny with de-greaser so that you have a clean-looking electric conversion. This clean installation is not only more pleasant to work on, but it drives home the point that electric vehicles are much cleaner than gasoline cars in many respects.
Licensed under the TAPR Open Hardware License (www.tapr.org/OHL)
Copyright 2008 Tim Kutscha