CRX Del Sol LHD centre console swap project

[Vidospace]

Hi everyone! Just though I would let you know that I have just started my fiance's DelSol's Left Hand Drive center console swap.
The reason for the swap is she has short arms and the brilliant engineers at Honda decided it would be a nice joke to put the hand brake on the passenger side of the console. this means a very sore arm when doing hill starts. Personally I want it swapped to make it easier to do hand brake slides :p
Anyhow, I managed to get onto a honda civic forum in the US and after a few days of posting my request I was able to find the following:
Centre console bin, gear shift surround, hand brake, and ash tray.
The photos below show what has just arrived (shots were taken of the donor car).
I will continue to keep everyone posted on the progress of this (dare I say it!) first ever LHD hand brake conversion (? anyone beg to differ????) with plenty of pics to come.:D

[Spicey]

prolly get a sore arm from the handbrake lever being in front of the gear shifter now!? :-S

[MKI4EVA]

prolly get a sore arm from the handbrake lever being in front of the gear shifter now!? :-S

shhh he hasn't thought about it that far ahead yet.

You can always extend the shifter higher up and do it wrc styles.

[JasonGilholme]

There should be no problems with it. The us guys can get into all the gears without any problems.

The only thing i can see is that it might hit his wrist but it does sit pretty low so it might be right.

[Spicey]

There should be no problems with it. The us guys can get into all the gears without any problems.

The only thing i can see is that it might hit his wrist but it does sit pretty low so it might be right.

They sit on the other side of the car!?

[z3lda]

why doesnt she just learn how to drive proprely without havin to use the handbrake for hill starts.

problem solved.

[JasonGilholme]

They sit on the other side of the car!?

I was referring to the gear arrangement being the same so the shifter won't interfere with the hand brake.

Thats why i went on to say that his wrist might hit the handbrake.

Basically: the handbrake won't stop the car from getting into any gears, although he might hit his wrist on the handbrake everynow and then.

[SINISTR]

that is really interesting hey - im seriously surprised you'd change the HandBrake Lever to accomodate that - I would have perhaps considered swapping an Auto Gbox into the car for the comfort and ease of hill starts.

Also thought exactly what z3lda thought - work the clutch to start off but 'legally' you're supposed to take off from a handbrake on hillstarts - there is meant to be NO ROLL back at all - technically speaking from the 'learning' point of view.

[Vidospace]

why doesnt she just learn how to drive proprely without havin to use the handbrake for hill starts.

problem solved.


Actually she does know how to drive properly without the handbrake but has only just learnt how to drive manual about 2 months ago. Personally I find it annoying that it is on the left too.

[Vidospace]

I was referring to the gear arrangement being the same so the shifter won't interfere with the hand brake.

Thats why i went on to say that his wrist might hit the handbrake.

Basically: the handbrake won't stop the car from getting into any gears, although he might hit his wrist on the handbrake everynow and then.

Believe me, I have checked it out. The handbrake will not interfer with the shifting. If it did, it would currently interfer with the 1st and 2nd gear shifting as it is a mirror of the current setup.

[Vidospace]

[QUOTE=SINISTR;1058630]that is really interesting hey - im seriously surprised you'd change the HandBrake Lever to accomodate that - I would have perhaps considered swapping an Auto Gbox into the car for the comfort and ease of hill starts.
[QUOTE]

Ummm... where do I start on this one... We wanted a manual in the first place...
The auto box would be a heap more expensive to install...
I can install the parts myself and found them in less than a week!

[Vidospace]

that is really interesting hey - im seriously surprised you'd change the HandBrake Lever to accomodate that - I would have perhaps considered swapping an Auto Gbox into the car for the comfort and ease of hill starts.

Also thought exactly what z3lda thought - work the clutch to start off but 'legally' you're supposed to take off from a handbrake on hillstarts - there is meant to be NO ROLL back at all - technically speaking from the 'learning' point of view.


To show the extent I am willing to go, I also raised the rear seat bracket with steel spacers to bring the seat up a bit so she can see out the rear window easier when reversing. Its about customising the car for the driver people. I guess I might be going over the top, but isnt that what we are all doing really?:angel:

[JasonGilholme]

Believe me, I have checked it out. The handbrake will not interfer with the shifting. If it did, it would currently interfer with the 1st and 2nd gear shifting as it is a mirror of the current setup.

Yeah i'm not saying that its going to interfere with shifting. (As in not being able to get into revers)

All i'm saying that your wrist might come into contact with the handbrake lever when changing gears ocassionaly.

[Spicey]

Yeah, im sure its mounted on the opposite side to the gear lever in RHD and LHD for a reason!

[Vidospace]

Well I guess we will see when it is installed. I will keep you all posted.

[92a3hatch]

Those parts came from my del sol! I am glad you are happy with them, good luck with the conversion.

[JasonGilholme]

I was thinkin about this the other day. You might need to drill new holes in the chassis where the handbrake bolts down underneath the centre console.

let us know how you go because i'll be looking to move mine for racing to make life easier.

[blk05gli]

To show the extent I am willing to go, I also raised the rear seat bracket with steel spacers to bring the seat up a bit so she can see out the rear window easier when reversing. Its about customising the car for the driver people. I guess I might be going over the top, but isnt that what we are all doing really?:angel:

personally, i'd put the seat back to normal and install a reversing camera with a small LCD screen mounted next to the rear view mirror.

[yourfather]

how small is your girlfriend?

I thought mine was small at 5'2"

[panda[cRx]]

i would have spent the money on some driving lessons

[Vidospace]

:thumbsup:
All good!
OK firstly I took out the old console and undid the handbrake
http://i154.photobucket.com/albums/s260/vidospace/CIMG5234.jpg
The new handbrake went in with no drilling required. The lower bolt hole and nut was already available to screw into.
http://i154.photobucket.com/albums/s260/vidospace/CIMG5237.jpg
The handbrake sits comfortably out of the way of your leg when driving
http://i154.photobucket.com/albums/s260/vidospace/CIMG5240.jpg
And looks good too!
http://i154.photobucket.com/albums/s260/vidospace/CIMG5249.jpg
Note, I did have to "bend" the bracket for the handbrake slightly to the right when it was fitted so that when going in reverse you dont scrape your nuckles while releasing the handbrake. Otherwise all went in perfectly in less than 1 hour!:D

[Spicey]

Can't see your pics, but good job :thumbsup:

[JasonGilholme]

cool man.

I started stripping my interior of my sol for races and i noticed that there was another bolt hole there to screw straight into.

I dunno if you noticed but the shifter in the sol has a bend in it. It bends slight towards the driver (away from the handbrake when its in the AUDM position)

You may find you can get more clearnace if you swap the shifter around by 180 degress so its angled away from the driver slightly. Hopefully she'll still be able to get it into first, Depends on how much of an angle it its and how small you gf is.

I was thinkin about doin this as well (but only getting the handbrake, not the console cause i'm leavin it out of the car for now.) I think i might see if i can find an aftermarket handbrake that suits my needs, otherwise i'll be lookin out for a USDM handbrake.

Good stuff man

jase

[Vidospace]

Sorry guys, I fixed the pics.

[SINISTR]

Sweet mate - well done on the project!!!

[panda[cRx]]

surprisingly it turned out ok

[Vidospace]

;1075648']surprisingly it turned out ok

You must have faith Panda.:cool:

[Q_ball]

LOL
Nice job Bryce...
Btw - get back to work ;)

[Vidospace]

Thanks for the feedback guys.