The Trunk Cushions You May Not Even Know About by Vytas Banionis Having owned my NSX for many years now, I've begun to learn more and more about this car. The tip presented on this page is one that will clearly be of interest to anyone who owns an NSX produced from 1991 to 1996. NSXs produced from 1997 to present resolved this little problem even though most owners never realize it in the first place. Photos that appear below were taken of my 1991 Silver/Black NSX. When I bought my car in 1997 and was loading up the trunk for my long trip home, I noticed that the trunk has an tab that protrudes from the trunk lid mounting plate that is covered by a rectangular shaped piece of rubber. If you open up your trunk and take a look at this tab, most likely you'll see what's below.
You've probably thought that this was the way the car was designed and that it's a support tab for the trunk. It sure is but it's missing a part. At first you may think it's no big deal but take a look and see where this tab will rest once the trunk is closed. In the photo above, you'll see that the tab will come to rest on the elevated peice of the hinge mount between the two bolts. If this rubber cushion is not on the tab, the bare tab will make contact with the painted portion of the elevated hinge mount and wear the paint away. I've seen several NSXs that have the paint worn down to bare aluminum while others with very minor wear. This may depend on the actual angle of the tab. Some tabs may be not as bent down as much to not cause any paint wear. In the photo below, you will notice that the elevated piece of the hinge has a blemish on it already. In this case, the cushion had fallen off and was placed back on early so much wear to this section was kept to a minimum. Below is a photo of how the tab should appear -- with the rectangular rubber cushion properly installed.
So you wonder. How the did this little rubber cushion fall off in the first place and where did it disappear to? Honda uses a glue to keep the rubber cushion in place but after years of being squashed, the glue doesn't keep it on in place anymore. This problem was resolved in 1997 when Honda redesigned the tab with protruding edges. Instead of glue, the cushions need to be stretched over a redesigned tab. They have no way of sliding off. You must pull the cushion stretching it a bit and then moving it sideways to remove it from the tab. I had lost one of my cushions and wondered where it could have disappeared to. If it had fallen off the tab, naturally it would have fallen down near the crevis where the rear quarter panel is bolted to the car. You will notice that there's a "channel" there and if you follow it towards the direction of the engine, you'll arrive to a hole. Well, this "hole" will only let water go through and most of the crud that doesn't gets stuck there. I checked to see what's in this "hole" with a flashlgiht and look what I found! You'll see that the rubber cushion is resting comfortably there just hoping that it will be found and returned to it's home again.
Now, how to get this thing out of there. Meet your new set of helping hands. There's at tool that can save you from aggrivation and help retreive small items where your hands just simply can't. It's a rod that has a handle at the top and once pushed down, little "hooks" protrude from it stretched out ready to grab anything. As you release the tension on the handle, the hooks retract back into the rod clamping anything that's between them. This tool is available at most auto part stores.
Plosition the rod down the hole and grab the rubber cushion out of the hole. Before installing it, you may want to clean it up a bit since this thing may have been sitting there for years.
The next thing to do is position the rubber cushion back on to the tab. Using glues may keep in on for a while but chances are that it will eventually fall off again. I just make it a habit to check the tabs everytime prior to closing the trunk. They usually stay in place after seven to ten openings before they start to fall off. As an alternative, you may want to find a glue that will stick to both rubber and paint. If you are not successful in locating your rubber cushions, Honda does sell them individually. They cost under $1.
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