How To: HFP Front Lip and Rear Lip Modification For Sedans

As always, the sedan is overlooked when a performance lip kit is made and sold by Honda. We are left with a stupid looking addition to our cars that is the OEM lip kit. I have installed the HFP front and rear lips on my car, and I am offering an installation guide. I personally have not seen this done on any other 7th gen, though I have been told of it being done. I had no prior instructions on modifying these lips to fit the sedan, it was done entirely by myself and 2 of my friends who work at our shop. I offer no expressed or implied warranties on this information, this is your car, and your money. Please note, this kit was NOT designed to fit the sedan, and there WILL be slight spaces in a small area between the front and rear bumpers and their respective lips. The front gaps can be corrected by methods that will be described shortly, however, the rear is a bit short, and you will have to stretch it to fit, the small gap that results CANNOT BE DEALT WITH. I will post pics of the finished product very soon.

Now, on to the guide!!

First you will need to purchase the HFP front and / or rear lips for your car. Make sure you specify the HFP product, and NOT the OEM part. The side skirts WILL NOT FIT the sedan...do not attempt to install these. at my employee price I spent about $400 on both lips together. A non-honda employee will be spending a bit more.

WHAT YOU WILL NEED FOR A GOOD INSTALLATION

1. Two good friends
2. One case of beer
3. Air saw (reciprocating type)
4. A lift. (Don't try to do this on the ground...you need the bumpers on the car, and you need to be working at chest level).
5. 1/4" air ratchet with phillips socket driver
6. Grease pencil (use yellow so you KNOW what you drew)
7. Small washers (I will upload pics soon)
8. A roll of 3M double sided tape. Get industrial strength!!!! and make sure its not really thick stuff, you want the 1/8" thick (not width) stuff. Pics will be posted soon.

Installation of the front HFP lip

This isn't very hard, so if you're only doing the front you'll have somewhat of a cake walk. Ask your parts rep for the installation instructions, there are a few prep steps like removing the bumper weight that are helpful to read before starting. First, you're going to want to test fit the lip and see how it will fit up. Mess around with it, and you'll get a feel for how it will behave when you start removing the tape. Now would be a good time to note the two dimples on the edge of the bumper inside the fenderwall. You will be using at least one of these for mounting the lip. Check for fit with one side of the lip to get an idea of where the screws will go in. Clean the entire bottom half of the front bumper REALLY GOOD, and after it dries, use ALCOHOL to give it a final cleaning. I can't stress the use of good latex gloves at this point...less stress, less mess. As the instructions state, peel back the protective side of the 3M tape and tape it to the outside of the lip. The center will be the first area to be set up. It's a good idea to test fit before removing the tape so you can see how much play you will have on the sides. *NOTE(the lip will go past the edge of the bumper about 1/4" on either side, this cannot be avoided, pics will come soon)(don't worry it will look fine I swear.) Remove the tape on the middle area and place the lip carefully in place. Have your friends hold the sides of the lip to eliminate having the lip unstick itself. Once you have that done you can work on the sides. Do NOT remove the tape from the far sides yet, this will be done soon. Get about 30 or so small washers (pics will come). You will use these to shim between the bumper and lip, giving it a "face lift" if you will, so it pulls tight against the bumper. This is necessary because the coupe front end is a bit fatter than the sedan front end. Start the screws through the lip and start adding washers and test fitting until the lip fits flush with the bumper. You will need approximately 5-6 washers on each screw to achieve a flush look. 30 washers total should do it (just in case you drop a few). Now you can remove the tape from the sides and press fit the lip in place. Now for the underside work. It would be best to acquire the push pin type plastic fasteners from honda, (pics to come). You will be able to fasten 4 or so of the metal tabs to the underbody, the remaining 2 or so will not fit as they are positioned. Use the push pins to secure the underside of the lip to the underbody. Thats about it, modify what you will to make yourself happy.

Installation of the Rear HFP Lip

Ok, this is where everybody is going to have a heart attack. The rear lip is the HARDEST to install, and it will probably aggrevate the living crap out of you. First you're going to want to acquire the installation instructions for the rear lip from your parts rep. Start out by cleaning the bumper very well and then using ALCOHOL to give it a final cleaning. The lip will need to be prepped before the install. Remove the 3M tape from the entire lip, it has a thick foam pad that will not allow it to fit properly. You will need to secure THIN 3M Double sided tape, get the industrial stuff...you don't want it coming loose!! Feel behind the bumper and you will feel two protrusions where muffler holes might be. That will be the start point for your cutting. Verify that this is where you will start cutting by holding the lip up to the bumper with friends and feeling where the muffler cutouts are in relation to their counterparts on the lip. Use a grease pencil to mark out where the muffler holes are. Make a half moon shape that goes up about 3" or so inches to start. You will need to go much more, but just do a little bit at a time, we're talking about custom fitting here. Initially use the air saw to remove the sections of bumper marked out with the grease pencil. Now test fit the lip, this will give you an idea of how much more you have to cut. Hint: The bumper is flat in the center, and then curves downward. It is HERE that the lip will sit. It will follow that line, do not try to go above or below this line as the lip will not fit correctly. Once you feel happy with dry fitting the lip into its place with your now large holes in the bumper, you can apply a LONG strip of 3M tape to the inside of the lip. Make it the entire way around, it mainly needs to go on the flat part in the back, you want it to sit flush so dry fit it with the tape on but not peeled back to make sure its the way you want it. Now, here comes the hard part. Test fit the sides with no tension on the lip (it WILL be under tension when its done, so don't overstress the lip more than you have to.) Pre-drill the holes for the screws using the stock dimples in the bumper used for the mudguards. It would be a good idea to hold the flat part of the lip against the bumper in its final resting position and then trace its outline on the top where it meets the bumper with the grease pencil. Step back and check to see that it looks level. CHECK FOR FIT FIRST!!! Ok, now that you've done all that, take a break, because the next part is gonna kill you. Peel back the protective part of the 3M tape and tape it to the lip. GENTLY (and I use that term loosely) fit the lip into place. Remove the tape and hold the lip firmly where you want it. Put some strength into stretching the lip, you WILL have to stretch it a bit to fit. Have your friends screw the bumper into place in the sides. It will not fit exactly, and it's going to look a little weird on the edges (pics to come) but you shouldn't be in any trouble if you do it right.

There it is, a complete guide to installing the HFP front and rear lips on your 7th gen sedan. As a courtesy, mention my name when people ask how you did it. Thanks!!

PICS FINALLY!!!!

All pictures are of my personal 7th gen. I performed all modifications with the help of 2 friends who work at my shop. Please do not distribute or use these images without my permission. Thanks!!!

If you want these modifications performed, and are in the Orlando / Sanford area, PM me. A few friends and I may start offering our services to install these pieces. A price has not yet been determined. Gen7 members only please. Thanks!!

Courtesy of Skippy.

Edit by Skippy (2/8/09):

Ok guys here's the deal...people ask me all the time where the hell the pictures are for the installation....truth is, this modification was done a LOOOOOOONG time ago on my car and i never actually took pictures of the process....this was the first article I posted on G7A in 2006, so yeah...i was a n00b back then and basically I took pictures of the after-product and I was like hey I did this look at me. There are no pictures of the install. I'm sorry that I didn't think before I posted up because I knew I was going to get the same kinds of responses. Instead, here are pictures of the final product:

Note, these pictures are old and do not feature my 05 tail-lights, nor my HID's....so embarassing. But yeah...that's what your car will look like after you get done with retrofitting the HFP front and rear lip kits for your vehicle...but mine will always look better because it's black.