WARNING;- 

This modification is not approved by Honda & no warranty or guarantee of success is extended or implied. If you make these parts &/or attempt to fit them 

YOU DO SO AT YOUR OWN RISK & EXPENSE !

The attached JPEG’s are full size scanned images of the templates I made to fix this problem on my own 2002 CR-V. You may use them & distribute them freely, so long as you do not charge for the drawings/images, or this document in any way.

The images have rough dark gray areas on them, this was where I used double sided sticky tape & removed it before scanning, they are not important. I am English, so some of the terms used may not be familiar to people in North America or Antipodeans. I have tried to use words that cover both British & American terminology. Where I can’t find a common word you will see a slash (/) dividing 2 words, pick the one that you understand !

Honda have mounted the steering rack on the 2002 model CR-V high on the rear engine bay bulkhead/firewall. This is much higher than on normal vehicles, which normally have the rack at the very bottom of the bulkhead in front of the foot wells. The steering arms from the rack normally go to the wheels under the front side structural members. Unfortunately on the 02 Honda CR-V this can’t be done, so Honda have left holes to allow the arms to pass through the inner wings/wheel wells.

Open the bonnet/hood & look at the back of the engine bay, on either side just behind the suspension turrets, you will see the steering arms disappear through these fairly large holes.

The holes let road spray from the tires enter the rear of the engine bay & in winter, this coats the back of the engine & exhaust system with road salt & dirt. After only 500 road miles the rear of my engine bay is considerably dirtier than the front ! If you attempt to use the 4x4 capability of the CR-V, which requires the front wheels to spin to bring in the rear wheel drive, then in very soft or liquid mud the fling from the wheels will enter the engine bay. If you drive through puddles on or off road, the splash & spray will do the same.

I thought about making a CV joint type boot/gaiter for the steering arms, but the throw of the steering is not very long & it would require the steering arms to be disconnected to fit. Or if glued in place along a seam, would make a very difficult assembly task.

On further investigation & measuring, it is apparent that the arms only suffer a slight front to rear deflection during steering, but a large deflection up & down with the wheel during suspension movement.

This lead me to design the two part gaiters detailed & pictured in the accompanying JPEG files. Below is a diagram of the approximate shape of the holes, they are the same both sides, so only the left side is shown. The Front & Rear notes show the orientation on the vehicle. Click the thumb nails for a better view. I have used two Word files to print the Templates real size on A4 paper, I'm not sure how they will come out on Letter paper in the US. Please use the measurements shown on the templates to ensure that you have printed them out the correct size.

Basically the gaiter is in two parts, which are each glued to the rim along the outside of the hole. There is a 1.5"/50mm flap that sticks out at 90 degrees from the hole on each piece of the gaiter, so the steering arm passes through the slot between them. These flaps are only glued together at the very top & bottom to help them hold there shape.

There is an added complication in the design, which in RIGHT HAND DRIVE (as in the UK) models, is that the left end of the steering rack protrudes out through the left hole, when the steering is straight ahead, or anywhere towards a right turn position.

If you drive a LEFT HAND DRIVE model, then the rack end protrudes out of the RIGHT hole, when the steering is straight ahead, or anywhere towards a left turn position.

I was not able to come up with a suitable solution to this problem, so I have made a 70mm hole in one of the rear gaiters (see above) that allows the end of the rack to pass in & out. As the rack end blocks this hole in the straight or near straight positions, it does not let in dirt or spray !

Print out the templates, they are A4 size, with just a ½" piece missing from the very top of the gluing rim, you can finish that bit to suit yourself as its not important.

I have added dimensions to the templates, so you can make them by hand if required.

Once you have printed them out, cut out the outline & then get some stiff card & place the template on the card. Cut the card to the shape of the template & discard the paper templates. The card template is what you use to make the actual gaiters.

I used single lined 3mm Neoprene wet suit material to make the gaiters, this has one side coated with Nylon & the other is plain soft rubber.

You will need a piece at least 28" long by 13" high (700x330mm) this is just enough to cut out 2 of each template. I used the nylon side as the inside or glue side, for two reasons;-

1. The nylon means the glue does not have to be Neoprene rubber glue & provides a porous surface for the glue to adhere to. It is also therefore the side that rubs against the steering arms & is very low friction (the rubber side would drag on the arms).
2. The smooth rubber outside surface is the one exposed to the dirt & spray, this reduces the clinging effect of the mud or dirt & is easier to clean.

To cut out the gaiters, use double sided sticky tape on the card templates & place on to the nylon side of the Neoprene. Use a sharp pair of scissors & cut around the card template. Once you have cut one front & rear, DO NOT peel them off the card. Put some more double sided tape on the other side & then stick the nylon side of the next piece of Neoprene to the other side of the card template & cut around the template. You now have 2 templates sandwiched between 2 gaiters each, one for each side of the vehicle, this stops you wasting material, by cutting them out wrong. Now decide which REAR piece needs the hole cut for the end of the steering rack (RIGHT one for LEFT HAND drives), peal the 2 front pieces off the card & the rear piece that does not require the hole, off its card. Cut the hole out of the last rear piece, peal off & discard the card templates.

To glue the gaiters on, I used a 15 minute 2 part self mix epoxy &/or silicone sealant. You can use either & whilst the quick epoxy was chosen because it cures faster (1hour as opposed to 24hrs for silicone) it was more difficult to work with, as it heats up when curing & the gaiter keeps slipping off ! The silicone is my preferred choice, or another water proof flexible cold set adhesive, you choose.

One point to note, is that I had to refit one of the front gaiters, as the black under seal came away from the surface after the glue had cured.

DO NOT glue the 1.5"/50mm flap that rubs against the steering arm & the flap from the opposite side.

After the glue has set around the rim, you need to align the flaps & glue just the very top & bottom to help it hold its shape.

That’s it, all done & hopefully a nice clean engine bay from now on with no dirt or rust !

This document was created by Chris Walker, e-mail me HERE if you have any questions or suggestions.

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