just got my 93 civic dx back on the road after transplanting a b18c with new shifting cables. everythings fine except for 2nd gear. going into 2nd makes a loud gear rubbing noise. and it even comes out of 2nd with a slight touch of the shifter.

Bad syncro. Get a junkyard or online used tranny for ~$400 or take it to a dealership to get fixed.

ouch, $400. could that be the only thing wrong? oh well, i guess i have no choice but to bring it to the dealer. Is it possible for the mechanic to switch it with a bad one?

Anything's possible if you have money, but you're talking about paying somebody to do an hourly fix-it job and the average cost around here is $65/hour at almost any shop. If you can live with the hard shifting into second, I wouldn't bother with it unless it feels so bad it's going to break. I'm able to swap in a new tranny so I would do it myself, but that's me.

im having a similar problem w/ my accord, its hard to get into 1st and 4th i think the lines are kinked a little im going to fix. u might have the same problem

If the links were bent it would either not go into any gears, or grind through every one of them.

I would just rebuild it.