hello there folks, my name is zac and recently i’ve come upon a 1991 civic dx hatch with a jdm dohc zc in it. my differential is shot, and so i’m looking to mate another transmission to it. there’s a few problems that make it easier said than done, however.

im not new to cars, but not a pro by any means. in a gist, i pulled the transmission out of this thing by myself in under an hour, so it’s not my lack of mechanical inclination that’s keeping me from solving my issues without crying to the internet first... it’s my lack of honda knowledge lol.

i’m trying to figure out FOR SURE what transmission i can put on this engine, that will fit. so far i’ve heard everything from “em1” to “you have a b series not a zc” and then the comment thread turns to a dumpster fire and people just go at each other’s necks instead of helping me out... kinda over that. i want to know what car this engine came out of. i’ll provide pictures to those who ask, i have the engine and trans code in a picture so i can post that to whoever cares... and i wanna know what i can do to fix my issue. now i’m gonna answer some questions i’ve already been asked to help narrow down my feedback and inform you guys before ya generate responses to me.

the issue i was having was the passenger side axle didn’t seem to be the whole way in. i thought it was the wrong one but i got it out and found a nice wiggly spider gear inside. halved the case and now i can’t get to the diff because idk how to get the gear set out of the way. tried manipulating the linkage in a bunch of different ways, with and without the 12 mm that holds it together... and it didn’t work. it had vibration in the wheel at 35, then 60, then not after that. it’s cable, not hydro.

essentially, if you made it this far or just scrolled to the bottom here, i’m asking:

what car did the JDM DOHC ZC come from?

what transmission can i put on it, and what car does that come from?

what other good engines should i look for incase this doesn’t work out, and how much is my zc with 160k on it worth without a trans?

thanks for your feedback

 

welcome to the forum. have you checked with Wikipedia to match up the transmission with your year car. also ebay by putting in your info on your car and seeing if that particular transmission will fit. I have also talked with salvage yards and asked what year trans fits a certain year car and they give me most years and make of Honda transmissions that is compatible. if you have the engine nbr and the trans nbr, it can tell you what you have installed in the car or if has been modified.