Honda Fit (GE8): Accord Horn Swap and Blackout Mesh Grille Install

Measure and cut the plastic mesh to roughly an 8"x32" panel with scissors. Take time to keep all four edges straight and the corners square. Mesh sold on a roll often arrives with an uneven factory edge, so trimming it true at the start makes the later fitting far cleaner. Base-model Fits may need slightly different coverage than the Sport, so hold the panel up to your own grille as a rough check before final trimming.

Open the hood and release the long plastic bulkhead cover that spans the top of the engine bay. It is retained by eight push clips. Pry each one out, noting that the outermost clip on each side runs longer than the others, so set those two aside separately for correct reassembly. With all clips freed, lift the cover up and off over the hood latch.

Below the bulkhead cover sits a smaller plastic cover over the hood latch that conceals the horn. Free it by gently working each side loose; a trim-panel tool greatly reduces the chance of snapping its clips. One tester found that unhooking this cover from its lower edge first relieves tension and lets the remaining clips release more easily. Keep a couple of spare latch-cover clips (PN: 91518-SM4-003) handy in case any break.

Locate the factory horn behind the latch, unplug its connector, and back out the 12mm mounting bolt. Lift the horn away and keep that bolt, because you will reuse it for the Accord unit. Compare the two horns now: the Accord horn is clearly larger and snail-shaped, and its electrical connector sits in a different spot, which is why its bracket will need re-clocking before installation.

With the horn out of the way there is now room to reach the pocket ahead of the A/C condenser. Two clips secure the lower edge of the grille here, one to each side, seated in shallow divots roughly beneath the front clip holes of the bulkhead cover. Slide your cut mesh down into the pocket and mark where each of those two clips lands on the panel.

Pull each lower clip, cut a small hole in the mesh at your marks, pass the clip back through the mesh, and refit it so the panel is captured and held taut between the two points. To help the flat sheet wrap the curved bumper, snip short relief slits along the bottom edge so the mesh can fold over itself. Optionally trim the top edge to keep an even gap from the grille along its full length.

Anchor the mesh to the grille bars with zip ties. The grille has four vertical columns and three horizontal bars; skip the thick center bar and use only the thinner upper and lower bars. Fit five ties along the upper bar, one in each of the five gaps between the columns. Add one tie at each far outboard end of the lower bar. Finally run four ties across the very bottom of the columns, pulling the mesh tight because it tends to sag toward the condenser. That comes to eleven anchor points. For a more hidden result, adhesive cable-tie mounts around the grille perimeter are an alternative to tying directly onto the bars.

Before mounting, reposition the Accord horn's bracket so the horn will hang upright. Loosen the 10mm bolt at the rear of the horn body; expect it to be stiff, and be prepared to clamp the bracket in a vice and lean your weight into the wrench to break it loose. Rotate the bracket relative to the horn body, then retighten the 10mm bolt. Keeping the horn upright prevents moisture and debris from collecting inside it.

The horn lead can be short. Behind the small black rectangular component beside the horn location, the horn wire is bundled to a neighboring set of wires with electrical tape. Carefully cut only the tape to release the horn wire and gain slack, taking great care not to nick either wire underneath.

Position the Accord horn at the mounting point behind the latch. Two punched ridges there act as alignment guides for the bracket, so seat the bracket between them, which leaves the horn sitting roughly level. Thread in the reused 12mm bolt and tighten it down, then reconnect the electrical plug.

Refit the hood-latch cover, then the bulkhead cover, seating all eight clips, including the two longer outboard clips in their original corners. Remember that the horn will not sound while it is loose, because the mounting bolt is its ground path, so bolt it down before deciding whether it works. Close the hood and give it a test.