J37 swap notes for 04 05 06 acura TL



J37a1 uses the "revised" bellhousingpattern similar to j35a8 in the 07-08 type s. Therefore 04-06 TL needs either a 07-08 type s 6mt transmission (lsd) or a 2008-2014 accord 3.5L 6mt trans (non lsd)



The starter is different on the new 3.5 6mt trans, and you can not reuse your 04 TL 3.2 6mt starter. Go with the corresponding starter for the trans your using. Do not use the 3.2 flywheel use the same corresponding year flywheel as the starter and trans. For example i used a j37a1 and 13 accord 6mt trans in my 04 TL. My TL 6mt starter would not fit i had to also buy a 13 accord 6mt starter and 13 accord flywheel to bolt to the j37a1. You can reuse your stock pressure plate as the 3.2 clutch components bolt to the 13 accord 3.5 flywheel. You can reuse your 6mt flywheel bolts.



The injectors, coolant temp sensor, and oil pressure clips will be different then the ones on the TL harness. Depin the injector and oil pressure clips and swap them with the j37a1 clips for easy plug and play of the engine. On the 13 accord trans the 2 vss sensors were different, swap them with the speed sensors off your 3.2 6mt trans to plug them in with the stock harness..Everything else such as crank position, ignition coils, knock sensor, cam sensors, egr, iat, TB, etc will be plug and play.



Fuel line connection is positioned different then on the 3.2, however stock line seem to be able to be ran without having any hard angles, i dont advise swapping fuel rails, injectors, and fuel line connections from the stock 3.2 for ease of install, because the smaller injectors will run the 3.7 too lean. So depinning and swapping clips to accommodate the j37 injectors is worth it on the stock 3.2 harness.



My j37a1 came without the mount brackets, so i noticed when trying to move over the mount brackets from my 3.2 that the front mount bracket does not fit flush onto the j37a1 and 13 accord 6mt. I used 2 washers to allow everything to sit flush and mount flat.



My 3.2 PCDs were able to work perfectly on the j37a1aswell as the rest of the exhaust. Trans upper and lower mounts all lined up perfectly on the 13 accord 6mt and j37a1besides the front bracket needing washers. The Stock 3.2 shift cables and bracket fit like they did on the stock 3.2 trans, aswellas the slave cylinder. Stock axles fit the 13 accord trans like they we're suppose to.



My stock alternator and power steering pump and ac compressorbolted directly to the j37a1.



The Coolant temp sensor on the water neck of the j37a1should be swapped out with the sensor off the stock 3.2 to be easily plugged in with the stock harness.



I test fired the j37a1 on the stock 3.2 ecu and it ran, and idled perfect, with no CEL. Hondata is obviously recommended.



Wire up for hondata and and get a 07-08 TLsecu programmed to the car.

 

Incorrect, the bellhousing on the manual transmissions can be changed; if you have a 2004-2006 6MT, you can buy a new bellhousing for about $250 (last time I checked); the bellhousing will bolt onto the existing transmission and to the new engine.

 

That is also correct i suppose. Thanks for the addition of info. I didnt say my way was the only way. These are more of a compilation of my notes not a swap guide. My 04 manual trans had 280k on it i opted for a newer 13 mt trans

 

Thank you very much for sharing your insight!

 

Not a problem i hope this helps some people!

 

neat! may be the first J37a1 (gen 1) in an 04-06 TL. I've seen them in 07-08 because they're plug and play. Take the sucker to a tuner if you can and reap the benefits of more torque!

 

Yeah aside from having to wire hondata and picking up a 14 accord trans, it was almost plug and play. Well that and i guess swapping the injector connectors.. The car is currently being Etuned by halferland performance..

 

Correct me if I'm wrong but I thought the V6 6MT from the 2014 Accords was lacking the LSD of the TL's transmission. Yes, no?

 

Correct horseshoe

 

I'm a budget kind of guy. I got my 14 6mt trans for 650 shipped to my door. From a wrecked accord with 110k on it. Couldn't pass it up idrc about lsd all that much. Its not a racecar just a fun daily

 

that's pretty cheap. if you're comfortable opening the trans, swap your LSD over

 

Wow, why didnt i think of that when i had both trannys out sitting next to each other. that's a great idea, this is why i even bother posting on here anymore, great suggestion thanks.

 

thats been the J series trans budget go to. get an accord trans and swap the lsd over. The internals for the j series fwd manual trans have mainly remained untouched for a long time despite bellhousing changes.

 

You can't swap the OEM LSD into the 08-14 MT without modification. The LSD has 12 bolts and the open diff in the 08-14 Accord trans has 14 bolts.
The 08-14 Accord trans also has a 3.55 FD gear ratio. Your speedo is off by about 8%. Kudos for pulling off this swap with minimal up-front research.

 

sharing info like this is amazing...
great job, OP.

 

good to know about the LSD thanks euro-r. However, the swap was NOT done on minimal research, i had read every thread that has to do with j37s. I did not research details on the insides of the trans because i do not care. It was drop in, cheap, and stronger then the 3g trans. ...it's literally near plug and play. And as for the speedo its gps verified to be within 2-3 mph of where it should be. Besides, research on AZ doesn't necessarily give you facts, i remember reading on here that the j37 crank sensor would have to be swapped, and coils etc. Literally none of it is true, except the op sensor and ect. Take away from the writeup whatever you please, but honestly im far from uneducated to the workings of the J series..

 

You either have larger diameter tires or the trans doesn't have the the stock 3.55 FD gears.

You obviously have an MDX engine from a 07-09, but the J37A1 (oddly) includes the later version (10-13),
which has different cylinder heads and the newer style crank trigger that mounts on the rear of the crank.

 

How is it stronger ?

 

from what ive been told, the 3g trans has a bit thicker output shaft...

 

So you're now saying the 3G transmission is stronger?

 

typo, you guys know what i meant. The 4g trans has a thicker output shaft "supposedly"

 

Wait, I thought you are using an Accord transmission not a transmission from a 4G TL. Did I get that wrong?

 

no you got that right, im j37a1 and 9g accord 6mt. However My statement still stands, as the 9g accord and 4g tl trans are identical minus LSD...

 

And if you cant tell by my using the words "supposedly" and the phrase "i didnt research the trans because i dont care" i obviously have no proof or first hand experience getting into 6mt internals. My post was simply here to help put info out on j37 swaps not details of different gen 6mts

 

If you really want to help people, then you should put more thought into your posts.
If you did solid research, you wouldn't says things like "supposedly" and "I've been told".

Also, the 9G Accord trans absolutely is NOT the same as the TL SH-AWD trans.
You've been fed wrong information. Unfortunately you are repeating said wrong information.

 

I would not be surprised as i heard it from halferland. thanks for the clarification. Again, this thread is about fitting a j37a1 and 6mt swap into a 3g chassis and notes associated with the swap itself aka wiring, compatible sensors etc. Your facts have been noted about the 6mt internals, and yall are more then welcome to make a thread about the fine details of a 6mt elsewhere. I never put my false info out there without first giving the warning that i have no real clue. The details dont, and didn't, matter to me when doing the swap, as long as it bolts in and moves, and it does.

 

I'm going to assume that you mean the countershaft. I have personally held all variants in my hand. The only difference between the shafts is the number of teeth that mesh with the differential ring gear. There are a few minor differences between countershaft reverse gear, countershaft 1st gear needle bearing, as well as the countershaft 1st gears. I've noticed that Honda typically does stuff like this for the 1st 1-2 years of a new transmission design. My speculation is that they've got a surplus of old parts (such as bearings) that they're wanting to use up. They did this with mainshafts / clutch discs on 1988 civics.

There's also different part numbers for 3rd & 5th gear sets. I have personally purchased brand new versions of both older and newer countershaft 5th gears and I can't tell a difference between them. I now purchase the newer ones because they're cheaper. There's also a difference in the mainshaft 6th gear needle bearing dimensions and mainshaft angular ball bearing dimensions (and of course corresponding part numbers).

The only relevance that any of these minor differences have is when you have multiple J-series transmissions taken apart and you're rebuilding one with used parts -- I rebuilt an 2014 Accord transmission and a mainshaft 6th gear from a 2003 CL-S along with its corresponding bearing, collar, and mainshaft 6th gear. Reason why is because I had the older parts in stock which were newer, and the customer needed the 2014 transmission ASAP.

3.550 = (71 / 20) = 2008-2014 Accord
3.286 = (69 / 21) = 2003 Acura CL-S, 2004-2008 Acura TL, 2003-2007 Accord V6.

For more information about J-series transmissions, feel free to visit my facebook page:
http://facebook.com/BenseBuilt
I also posted a handful of information in this thread: https://honda-tech.com/forums/transm...ype-r-3346496/

 

wow man awesome info, thanks for the clarification it sounds like you have first hand experience. We the community thank you for your resourcefulness.

 

Cleaned up the thread... play nice or don't play at all...

 

No way you are seeing new clutch housings for $250. They're over $400 new.

 

You really must enjoy being a total ass; did you check the freakin' post date of my post and actually read the language? No, of course you didn't, you just enjoy being a hemorrhoid pad too much to have done that.

FWIW, the post you referenced is from over a year ago and it did qualify my statement by saying, "...the last time I checked...", which was several years before that. So, the price has gone up to $400, big fucking deal, you really want to make a federal case out of it? Go ahead, make yourself out to be a bigger ass than we already know you are.

 

Relax. I'm planning to follow up my response in this thread with more info than just that.


Besides. Everyone knows that only I am allowed to overreact over nothing.

 

tone it down before you guys get a vacation for 7 days.... Last warning in this thread for all contributing to calling each other assses and such.

 

What did I do wrong?

 

Everyone... not directed at you specifically.

 

Boss man has spoken.

 

Does the transmission type of said 04-05 model have to be manual to make this work?

 

Transmissions from the 2004-2006 TLs will not bolt up.

 

saw vid where don from rpm systems had a j37a2 from RL in a 3G TL. Isn't the a2 notorious for oil consumption issues?

 

NVM, found this TSB of usual suspects