Hello there! So, my Civic saga has finally come to a close and now that the car is back in my possession, I'm trying to work on it and fix it up. I have a question regarding the plastic bits you generally find on the inside of the fender wells. Mine seems to be two pieces, one for the front of the well and one for the rear of the well. I've looked at various parts websites, and that appears to be right, but I can't be sure as I believe this car has been in a few accidents.
What I'm concerned about is that there seems to be a giant hole in the wells that go into the engine bay. If I sit down on my haunches and look at the top of the tire, I can see daylight all the way through the engine compartment to the other side. The hole is large enough to reach my hand around in there and what not. I feel like I'm missing some pieces that might keep water, snow, and debris out of the engine bay, but I can't seem to find the piece I'm looking for on any breakout diagrams. Surely Honda didn't design it this way? So I thought I'd come to the forums and see if anyone else's car is like this?

Thank you!

 

If you're referring to the hole where the tie rods pass through, then that gaping hole is normal (sadly).

 

Unfortunately, I think I am. That sucks, what a poor design. Has anyone done anything to prevent stuff from getting up there? At 200,000+ miles, I feel that I want to do whatever I can to make it last. Maybe just frequent car washes in the winter I guess.

 

Even when I did have the stock fender liners in place and drove my car in inclement weather, I didn't really have a huge problem with debris in the engine bay.

SHG_EasyE has put in some thicker rubber as a shield, but I don't know of anyone else.