# Modding the Ol' Honda Fit...



## marbury (Apr 3, 2012)

As we trundled down the highway on another dog-related venture my odometer on the trusty ol' 2008 Honda Fit (my first own vehicle) officially hit 100,000 miles. It's scratched, beat up from the seats up, been peed/pooped/vomited in by a variety of four legged creatures and a reptile or two, covered in nose-prints, has the carpet a bit chewed out from my friend's husky, and whose back seats (folded down) have not seen daylight in over two years. To reward my gorgeous creature we went to the car wash and enjoyed a nice refreshing bath. As I vacuumed out the usual twelve pounds of dog hair and shocked passers-by with the amount of crap I can keep in there (from spare leashes and water buckets to the spare tire and enough bungee cords to hold up the empire state building) I got to thinking about the ol' girl. Really, her trade-in value has to be near zero. Between her less-than-stellar exterior status, enhanced by my SA dog's desperate clawing to get inside when I made the mistake of parking it in the yard, and the interior being composed of significantly more dust and hair than actual car-related material... perhaps it's time I just give up and totally mod her out. She's structurally sound, runs well, and really when I clean her up she's not bad at all. But still, the lure of a DIY project and a custom interior...

I loved seeing what other folks have done with their cars when there's just no hope of seeing any trade-in value back on it. I figure I can actually remove the back seats and save about 80lbs worth of dead weight, then add a floor over the resulting cavity and have some storage space underneath. I could make an interior shell that went up the sides, although at this stage of destruction... what's really the point of that? I could also take out the front seat, although in my nearly-eight years of owning the vehicle I have had a passenger on occasion.

Anyway, just wanted to get some opinions. Is it worth 'modding' a car at this stage or should I still hold out hope that some poor used car salesman might actually take it off my hands? Has anyone done it? The rear seat removal is rumored to 'take only five minutes' and be completely reversible (evidently racing enthusiasts remove them for particularly relevant races because it can cut your time down by milliseconds). It's fun to dream about and plan, but should I really deconstruct my car for the sake of fun and dogs?


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## Merciel (Apr 25, 2013)

I don't know if you _should,_ but if you _do,_ I'll be very interested to hear how you go about it.

It's unlikely that we'll be getting a new car anytime soon -- our current Honda works fine, gets good mileage, is pretty reliable, and neither my husband nor I care remotely enough about cars to want anything more than that -- buuuutt the one thing I occasionally hesitate about is that a sensible city-sized sedan is not ideally designed for dog events. It's impossible to crate the dogs in the car, is the main thing.

But if we took out the back seats, hey...


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## Montu (Oct 9, 2012)

A custom interior in a fit would be cool (I have a 2012 my self)

if you do it you just have to be ok with pretty much never selling it or loosing more value than you already have. 

I have heard the rear seats are extremely easy to remove...I've modded cars but haven't touched the Fit since its just a normal car and rather pointless to mod performance wise.


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## marbury (Apr 3, 2012)

Well, I did it! Took the plunge!









Seats out









New reinforced rear area









Pipe frame assembled, sealed









Painted

I'm getting new bolts tomorrow and then the final fitting will happen. More pics shall come!


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## brembo (Jun 30, 2009)

Rip any carpet out and rhino-line it. Get neoprene seat covers. Replace a side window with a high capacity ducted fan to swap out any...er....doggie scents. There is a thermal coating that can be applied to windows that blocks a huge amount of the light spectrum that heats cars up in the summer, not cheap but very effective.

edit

Rhino-line/line-x that wooden board. It's a rubbery paint of sorts that sticks like mad to anything. I have a pair of shorts I got some on years ago, many, many washing later that glob of rhino is still there. It has chunks of full on rubber in the paint, think sea-salt sized, so it's grippy yet soft. It's the stuff truck beds get lined with. It'll waterproof the board and give the mutts a grippy surface.


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## marbury (Apr 3, 2012)

I was looking into the Herculiner. As for the more drastic mods, I don't want to do too much to the structure of the vehicle. The way it is now the seats could go right back in, seat belts reinstalled, and the old trunk floor could go back in. I don't intend on reselling the vehicle at this point (who would want a high-mileage '08 with imbedded dog hair?) but the idea that I could conceivably use it as a family car one day is in the back of my head. 

I needed a system to haul cargo, a passenger, and five large dogs with an isolation area. Inevitably somebody will be in heat, mischevieous/destructive, grumpy, injured, etc and need a separate area. The longer trunk bed (about a foot) adds community napping space, the removal of the seats and raised platform leaves a massive cargo area, and the raised platform is being fitted with a custom kennel area behind the now-fixed passenger seat. It's definitely a super fun project and the design challenges have been cool to work around. Everything is engineered around being able to remove components when they are not necessary. For example, if I don't need storage the cage support and the raised platform can be removed and a 36in solid kennel will fit in the well left by the removed seats. And of course the whole shebang can be removed and the original seats reinstalled, should the occasion call for it!

Anyway, more picture as it evolves. I loved watching another member's project and figured I'd do the same. I'm neither an engineer nor a carpenter, but my father is the former. He designed the bar system. I get to wield the power tools.


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## brembo (Jun 30, 2009)

I'm a surveyor/land developer by trade and my pops was an elec engineer. It's sort of genetic to reconfigure things.

PVC frames are the best, so easy to deal with, so many options at Lowes/Home Depot with elbows and angles. I like drilling the joints and slapping in bolts with wing-nuts for quick tear downs. On critical joints where no deflections can occur it works great.


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## marbury (Apr 3, 2012)

Moving forward! 









Frame in place with support ties









Here's the raised floor with the upholstery foam (a cushy ride!)









And with the waterproof liner/in place









It fits snug against the driver and passenger seats with the driver all the way back. I'm short so I never have it this far, but since a taller person drives it occasionally I made the notch to accommodate. 

The first coat of Herculiner is drying on the trunk bed as we speak. A second coat, some cure time, and some finishing touches and the project will be complete! All that's left now is to finish the custom kennel for the raised area.


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## Montu (Oct 9, 2012)

Nice!

in the for the finished product.


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## wildo (Jul 27, 2006)

I like where this is going!


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## middleofnowhere (Dec 20, 2000)

Heh, I'd be sure to have significant engine trouble about 10 miles down the road after the project is declared done!!


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## marbury (Apr 3, 2012)

Update time!









All together! Hard to see footprints already on the trunk, lol. Inevitable but still tragic. It will never be this clean again in its life! 









And the raised bed area with the net in place. 

We were going to do a custom cage, but when I weighed the car again (courtesy of our local garbage place!) I was only barely under curb weight pre-seat removal, so we went with this. The dogs in the upper area are calm and respectful, so the cargo net is more of a reminder than an actual barrier. 

If anyone has any light, flexible ideas for a different barrier method behind the front seats please do chime in! I have a metal piece that fits there but it cuts off some head room and there aren't any immediately obvious attachment points to use with it.


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## martemchik (Nov 23, 2010)

You seriously still plan on fitting 5 dogs in that thing?

Look for barriers...there are a lot out there. I know that there is a guy in my area on craigslist selling a bunch of old ones that he claims have come out of police cars and the like. I know the pictures of the pile is pretty impressive.


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## brembo (Jun 30, 2009)

Looks almost like OEM install. Nice work. How did you like the herculiner? I'm addicted to the stuff and actively seek out things to coat with it, my friends all rib me about it.

As to a barrier, just have a local machine shop or someone who can weld halfway decently fab up a frame that meets dimensional requirements, run two support brackets at a 90 off the bottom and attach to the underside of the bench. It won't have to have a lot of strength fore and aft as the seats will prevent it from flexing. Cover the frame with some pipe insulation (looks sorta like pool floaty-noodle stuff) to keep any corners or sharp edges from biting the dogs/your head.


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## Gwenhwyfair (Jul 27, 2010)

A panel from an old wire crate, cut to size, pointy bits covered or sanded so as to be safe. Paint black and voila! 






marbury said:


> <snipped>
> If anyone has any light, flexible ideas for a different barrier method behind the front seats please do chime in! I have a metal piece that fits there but it cuts off some head room and there aren't any immediately obvious attachment points to use with it.


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## marbury (Apr 3, 2012)

Martemchik, I fit six in there regularly! I used to drive 4 hours a day with all my dogs in there. Comfortably! She's bigger than she looks. 

Gwen, I tried that. Still toying with the idea! Definitely not off the table. I have a few days to tinker, lol


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## Kaun (Aug 23, 2013)

I love what you've done with it. I have a car like that except mine's a 2003 model so it's an older body. Really reliable and amazingly spacious given it's small size. 

It would be interesting to see pictures of your modded car with dogs in it sometime!


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## wildo (Jul 27, 2006)

Can you tell me more about Herculiner? How do you apply it? How do you get the texturing effect? Was it easy to apply? Looks very, very nice. I assume it's waterproof as well. It might be a much nicer alternative to garage floor epoxy that I've used in the past (which also turned out nice). You had no issues with it bonding to the wood properly? Some paints like this are better suited to metal coating and struggle on wood.


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## marbury (Apr 3, 2012)

Wildo, it was awesome! HUGE word of caution... It sticks to EVERYTHING and does not come off. I got spatters on my leg and four showers, chemical solvents, and scrubbing later and it is STILL THERE!

I got the quart size, it was about $22 after tax. I used a rough texture roll-on brush. One part, no mixing activators or anything. Just be sure to stir it. The texture sinks to the bottom so stir frequently. Two coats are necessary. It appears to be completely waterproof so far, really impressive. Good grip. Nothing slides around in the trunk yet. It does have an ungodly chemical odor. Even after drying outside the car is still a hotbox. I have to have the windows open to air it out or I can't breathe. I asked on a car forum and they said the smell should go away after 3-4 days. 

So far I highly recommend the Herculiner. Of course time will tell. 

I will pop the dogs in and get a picture!


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## wildo (Jul 27, 2006)

Thanks for the info!!! So is it a rubberized surface, or more of a hard plastic?


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## marbury (Apr 3, 2012)

Trunk









Iso area

I'll probably put the smallest (7.5 month old) in the back and move one of the adults up. It's rainy today so I'm taking a break from tinkering to pack some stuff, but I'll work on a more solid barrier tomorrow. I put the 40lb vittles vault in place and it was a perfect fit! Things are going according to plan, haha


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## marbury (Apr 3, 2012)

wildo said:


> Thanks for the info!!! So is it a rubberized surface, or more of a hard plastic?



Rubberized, but not tacky. Cool stuff!


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## wildo (Jul 27, 2006)

Will that be hard to clean? I mean- can you wipe it down with a rag, or will the rubberization cause dirt and stuff to stick? Great project, btw! Very nice!


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## brembo (Jun 30, 2009)

wildo said:


> Will that be hard to clean? I mean- can you wipe it down with a rag, or will the rubberization cause dirt and stuff to stick? Great project, btw! Very nice!


It causes the once new and shiny surface to haze over due to it's tacky-ish composition. Like innertube rubber or tire rubber. It's main purpose is to stop stuff from sliding around. It will clean up pretty well, soap and some scrubbing, never found it to be a real dirt trapper.

As marbury said, if you don't want it on something, make sure it just never gets on that particular something, it is beyond tenacious.


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## wildo (Jul 27, 2006)

Sounds like great stuff for dog kennels/platforms. Thanks guys!!


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