You probably haven’t spent much time pondering the little plastic guard that covers the top of your starter relay (the little gizmo mounted on the right side of the battery). Hopefully, yours is intact. This is not just a cosmetic piece. It’s a very important safety device, which protects the heavy starter and battery terminals from accidentally grounding against the adjacent frame.
Unfortunately, this part (35857-371-000) has been discontinued by Honda. If yours is missing, here’s an easy solution.
Go to Wal-Mart or similar store and buy an ordinary trailer hitch ball cover. Make sure you get a black one made of flexible plastic. Next, lop off the bottom half and discard. The remaining piece should approximate the physical dimensions of the stock cover. Now, carefully create 2 holes as follows:
1. Make a 3/8″ hole at about 7 o’clock on the top of the “dome” just at the edge where it transitions to the vertical skirt portion. I use small modeling scissors to create this hole. This will be the entry point for the positive battery cable.
2. Make a 1/4″ hole at about 9 o’clock…this time more on the vertical skirt portion. This hole will allow the 2 small wires from the relay to pass through (the original part had an open “slit” but I decided a hole was more secure).
There’s plenty of clearance for the starter cable and main fuse feed cable to run out past the skirt. This should only cost you about $2.00 plus your time. The finished result looks and functions as well as the original. Highly recommended!
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