These panel gaps from the hood and fenders on my 98 civic cx hatch. The previous owner told me the car was side swipped a few years back. How do i fix these gaps so i can paint the car.
The back with tail lights look bad too

 

Honestly? Sell it and buy a cleaner hatch. You'll probably spend less in the long run and have a cleaner car.

 

should sell as a shell?. It has a swaped y8 and trans from ex... Interior also has racing seats

 

Really depends on what you want out of the car. If you want something with nice, clean paint and well-fitting panels, you're going to be miles ahead getting rid of this car and waiting for something nicer to come along. Patience is key. They're out there. A Y8 swap isn't really that expensive or difficult if you so choose down the line, but you'll probably want something more powerful anyway. Just judging by the photos you've posted, nothing really looks worth the effort to keep with this car. It's going to be a money pit.

I've been building these cars since the mid-90s and can assure you 100%, that if you want a nice car, you need to start with a nice car unless you just really want to learn how to rebuild a car from absolute scratch -- nothing against that at all. My rough guess is you're looking at 5-10k to have that car torn down and put back together correctly with an ok to decent paint job and that's not even including suspension, wheels, engine, etc. More if there's damage underneath. It adds up. Finding a stock, clean, non-wrecked hatch puts you anywhere between $2,000-$4,500 and will probably still be nicer than a this car even with some work.

So, ultimately, ask yourself what you want out of owning a car. A project that will cost you a lot of money that will be a great learning experience while you make a car nice again, or a car that's mostly there already where you can put your hard-earned dollars into more fun things like a motor swap, wheels, suspension, interior, etc.