RENEWING THE CLUTCH
1 This is what greets you on opening the bonnet – a lot of stuff above the gearbox that will need to be removed before we can even see the bellhousing. Because of the sharply sloping front wings and no rain gutter, you can’t use an engine support brace on these Civics, which is a pity.
2 So, we’ll start by removing the 12V battery. The earth strap comes off first followed by the positive terminal, all easy stuff with a 10mm and 13mm spanner. The battery is held down into the tray by a conventional clamp with two long studs and a couple of 10mm nuts to undo before removal.
3 Now we have the airbox 3 assembly to remove and we’ll start by unclipping this short section of engine loom wiring from the top of the air filter assembly. It’s a simple push fit, but as these cars are getting on a bit their plastics can be brittle, so go easy when unclipping it with a screwdriver.
4 The airbox lid unclips easily and lifts off to reveal the air filter. This is virtually brand new and still as clean as a whistle, so we won’t be fitting a new one. It just lifts out and is replaced in seconds. You can just see the two silver side clips that hold the upper section of the airbox in place.
5 With the upper airbox and filter removed we still have to remove the lower airbox, and it’s quite an involved process – not just a case of undoing a couple of 10mm nuts – as Honda really didn’t want it to fall out. Here we can see the big rubber intake bellows and the plastic intake pipe, which all have to be removed.
6 A 10mm bolt secures the front left-hand corner of the airbox, and there is another on the same side – but at the back. On our Civic, this rear bolt was rusty enough to round the head off with a socket. It took quite a while to drill the head off, removing the rest of the bolt later on.
7 The airbox also locates into another air intake bellows and is secured by a big hose clip. This is easily undone with an 8mm socket on a ratchet and it only needs to be slackened enough to pull the airbox away. You shouldn’t have any splits in the rubber bellows – check them anyway.
8 Now we have the front right-hand bolt to undo, and this screws into a black steel painted bracket that bolts to the back of the gearbox. We will be removing that a bit later before the ’box is finally removed. While you’re doing all of this, be careful not to strain any wires and look out for connectors.
9 The airbox can now finally be lifted free! It’s not that much work really but it shows how thorough Honda were in designing this stuff. On reassembly, spray a bit of penetrating oil around the airbox intake stub to make sure that it slips easily into the rubber intake bellows, and grease the hose clip threads too.
10 At this point it would almost be tempting to put the airbox and battery back in and let someone else do the job. Here we can see the gear change cables and the plastic casing for the engine loom, but really, you’ll soon see the wood from the trees – there’s not much to disconnect.