I have a 2000 Honda civic with a TSX K24a2 swap and TYPE S TRANS

A few weeks ago I swapped out the exhaust header for a new one. After I was done I started the car and instantly noticed smoke coming from the front of the engine, which was weird because the exhaust header is on the backside. The smoke started getting worse until flames came out. Luckily I had the water hose close by and put the fire out as soon as I saw the flames.

I checked all of the charge harness wiring and didn’t see anything wrong. I swapped out the starter for a new OEM unit and had the shop Forman at my dealership check the car out and he said he thinks the solenoid just gave out and the starter kept going until it caught fire and burned up.

The car had a JDI push start kit at the time. When I started noticing the smoke a tried hitting the push start button to turn the car off but it wasn’t doing anything. When I looked at the button the light was off indicating no power to the button. I took out the push start kit and put back in the normal key ignition just in case.

If this happens again what should I do to prevent a fire?

anything else I should check!

I trust the shop Forman but I’m still worried it will happen again