My mustache-less grill :D

[EzekeiL]

So I finally just bit the bullet and did this. It was difficult ... And I wouldn't wanna do it again without having a spare xD pictures!

Ok, I am doing this on a phone so I will try to post some more info and stuff when I get home!

Sorry for the dark pictures...phone cant seem to take a half decent picture to save its life

Pretty much all i did was glue wire concrete mesh into the groove behind the chrome rim thingy (black now ). Then I glued little sheet metal tabs to correct spots where the old grill used to clip into and just bent the tab back to hold firm! Presto!

even though I totally said earlier that I wasnt going to do this again...I might...I need to see if I can find a cheap grill ring off ebay or something and then take my time and fab it up. I did this on a pretty darn hot and humid day and unfortunately the plastidip isnt solidly cured...so...thats a problem...plus I think I can do it better now because Ive done it already.

I need to go back and refit the bumper tho cause it has a strange gap right in the middle where the hood meets the bumper right by the headlights. Its like a little crooked for some reason. It has been bugging me all week so Ill probably take care of it friday or saturday

All In all I like the look! It turned out pretty much how I wanted it to look, but it was a pain in the ass and I still worry about reliability down the road...so I will probably be doing it again xD. next time I will do a write up! Just didnt have time to take pictures of the process

Hope you guys like!

 

[rdss]

Pics don't work for me. I look forward to seeing it though.

 

[SUPER SONIC BOOM]

WTH

 

[Obviously Tyler]

What a tease

 

[EzekeiL]

awww dammit...wtf...haha xD I blame it on math cause i had to rush and finish the post before the test! D: stupid numbers...

Oblivious tyler: cool art on the mustache by the way! I like that idea! Almost makes me wanna put it back on...but im NJ so I have to put a stupid tag in the front...bah...

 

[Obviously Tyler]

Thanks lol. Your grille looks nice. I don't have the balls to do that lol

 

[sx sonic]

Looks great!, nice work

 

[EzekeiL]

Thanks guys! glad you like it!

I have been brainstorming how to do this and get it totally perfect to my standards...I should also be able to take my time with the second (well actually third) go round with this. So I will try to get my hands on a new Chrome ring thingy and when I re do it I will make sure that I document it!

 

[rdss]

Looks nice!

 

[Beastlick]

Very nice, I just started trimming out my original set to do another style grill with pierced metal. Hopefully the wire mesh holds up without distorting. Nice work!

 

[EzekeiL]

Thanks guys!

Beastlick: Thats what I am running into. It hasnt distorted much but the middle has caved slightly...mainly because of the license plate. I am probably going to order something a little stronger when I do it again. We shall see! For now I like this

 

[Beastlick]

check out Perforated Metal, Wire Mesh, Grating, Expanded Metal and Fiberglass Products.. They have tons of different kinds of metal/mesh/pierced designs.

The license plate issue sucks. I have to deal with it as well, I just couldn't allow myself to cover up all my hard work with a stupid plate.

 

[EzekeiL]

oh wow! great webpage! thanks! I have been looking all around but these guys have some really cool meshes.

That hexagonal mesh would be really awesome...might do that >

Yea, it really sucks having to put the license plate back on...but I havent thought of anything good yet to keep the grill nice and open but still have the plate in front....nothing yet ...need to make the thing smaller!!

 

[SouthFLSonic]

Hell just zip tie it behind the mess for the floating look.

 

[rdss]

It will still catch the wind and pull the mesh in instead of pushing on it.

 

[SouthFLSonic]

Yeah that's true.

 

[EzekeiL]

Unfortunately I can't get the license plate out of the way of the grill unless I do what beastlick did and put it where the fog light should be. I have fog lights tho so I don't really wanna do that.

Since I can't get around it I think I will go with a plan I wanted to do this time but didn't get around to it. That is to create a z like bracket with this small steel tube stuff I have. It's pretty strong so I figure ill make 4 of these two with a short base and two with a long base. Then fish it through the grill, attach them the inside of the middle part of the bumper and the other to the license plate. This would make it float infront of the grill. It should work it will jus take some time... Which I don't have much of xD

Hey beastlick, can you buy just the chrome ring or do you need to purchase the whole grill? I need to get my hands on a new one

 

[River_Rat]

I think that if you get some proper gauge expanded metal/perforated metal your crush factor will go away. Now that you have the prototype fabbed up, it might be time to invest in some higher quality materials.

Nice job, by the way. It looks like you've done the job pretty much the way I would have tried to.

 

[Beastlick]

I don't think you can order just the trim. Even the "flash packages" come with the grill portion attached.

 

[EzekeiL]

Thanks River Rat! Yea, you would think that with right strength it shouldnt be a problem. I am not entirely certain what the right gauge would be tho. I have already picked out what I might want off that webpage beastlick posted earlier which has some really cool mesh's and I am thinking that a woven mesh might hold up much better to the stress then a stretched...but the stretched looks cooler xD not really sure.

I am glad I did it, but I think it still needs more work, the look is right tho!

Now I am trying to brianstorm how to get better "holder" tabs and how to get rid of the gap the mustache leaves on the rim. I used vacuum tubing on this one but its round and I would like something that covers it more flush like.

I think I will have to do more measuring this time around so I can get something that clips in with the same accuracy as the normal grill.

I dunno...I need money first tho...hopefully I can get a new chrome ring soon so I can start getting at it