atchipmunk Posted December 26, 2011 Share Posted December 26, 2011 Ok, so I wanted a "JDM-style" grill but without the JDM pricetag. So, I modded my stock grill to my liking... Here's my stocker... http://i277.photobucket.com/albums/kk56/atchipmunk/05%20LGT%20Wagon/LGTgrill-1.jpg First of all, I hate the fact that SoA put chrome on it. IMHO, chrome cheapens the look of any car so my first order of business was to get rid of the chrome. I chose to chemically strip it and over the years i've always used a bleach bath to strip chrome from plastic parts. Removed the grill from the car... http://i277.photobucket.com/albums/kk56/atchipmunk/05%20LGT%20Wagon/LGTgrill-2.jpg I then used a Dremel and cut out all the center portions of the grill and made a cardboard box a little bigger than the size of the grill. I lined the box with plastic trashbag and filled it with bleach so the whole grill was submerged and let it sit about a day. I then replenished the bleach until practically all of the chrome was gone and then sanded what little was left of the copper, etc. that sits under the chrome plating. Unfortunately, I forgot to take pics of the stripping process... Next up was to start smoothing out the "steps" and filling in the holes....starting with the front lip. I carefully slathered body filler (bondo) onto the front lip and sanded to perfection using different sanding apparatuses to get it perfect.... http://i277.photobucket.com/albums/kk56/atchipmunk/05%20LGT%20Wagon/LGTgrill-3.jpg http://i277.photobucket.com/albums/kk56/atchipmunk/05%20LGT%20Wagon/LGTgrill-4.jpg http://i277.photobucket.com/albums/kk56/atchipmunk/05%20LGT%20Wagon/LGTgrill-5.jpg Once the front lip was perfectly contoured, it was time to start filling the holes with fiberglass. To fill the side holes, I carefully layed down some masking tape to serve as a filling guide... http://i277.photobucket.com/albums/kk56/atchipmunk/05%20LGT%20Wagon/LGTgrill-7.jpg http://i277.photobucket.com/albums/kk56/atchipmunk/05%20LGT%20Wagon/LGTgrill-8.jpg I then carefully wet-layed 2 layers of fibergass and resin onto the tape and surrounding area and let it cure... http://i277.photobucket.com/albums/kk56/atchipmunk/05%20LGT%20Wagon/LGTgrill-10.jpg For the center "hole" I cut a spare piece of fiberglass I had from another project to fit the hole and glued it into place using masking tape to hold it while the glue dried... http://i277.photobucket.com/albums/kk56/atchipmunk/05%20LGT%20Wagon/LGTgrill-6.jpg After the glue dried, I then sanded the area and wet-layed 2 layers of fiberglass cloth and resin behind it for support... http://i277.photobucket.com/albums/kk56/atchipmunk/05%20LGT%20Wagon/LGTgrill-9.jpg After the fiberglass was fully cured, I trimmed both areas with the cutting disk on my dremel... http://i277.photobucket.com/albums/kk56/atchipmunk/05%20LGT%20Wagon/LGTgrill-11.jpg http://i277.photobucket.com/albums/kk56/atchipmunk/05%20LGT%20Wagon/LGTgrill-12.jpg http://i277.photobucket.com/albums/kk56/atchipmunk/05%20LGT%20Wagon/LGTgrill-13.jpg http://i277.photobucket.com/albums/kk56/atchipmunk/05%20LGT%20Wagon/LGTgrill-14.jpg http://i277.photobucket.com/albums/kk56/atchipmunk/05%20LGT%20Wagon/LGTgrill-15.jpg Time to make it all perfect with more body filler. Slathered more onto the areas that needed filling... http://i277.photobucket.com/albums/kk56/atchipmunk/05%20LGT%20Wagon/LGTgrill-16.jpg http://i277.photobucket.com/albums/kk56/atchipmunk/05%20LGT%20Wagon/LGTgrill-18.jpg Then sanded them all to perfection again... http://i277.photobucket.com/albums/kk56/atchipmunk/05%20LGT%20Wagon/LGTgrill-19.jpg http://i277.photobucket.com/albums/kk56/atchipmunk/05%20LGT%20Wagon/LGTgrill-20.jpg Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
atchipmunk Posted December 26, 2011 Author Share Posted December 26, 2011 Once it was all perfect, I gave it a couple coats of primer... http://i277.photobucket.com/albums/kk56/atchipmunk/05%20LGT%20Wagon/LGTgrill-25.jpg Wet sanded in between coats to help get rid of the orange peel from the spray can... I then made little tabs to mount the grill to. Bent up pieces of coat hanger and JB Weld-ed them into place. These will allow me to zip-tie the grill into place... http://i277.photobucket.com/albums/kk56/atchipmunk/05%20LGT%20Wagon/LGTgrill-27.jpg http://i277.photobucket.com/albums/kk56/atchipmunk/05%20LGT%20Wagon/LGTgrill-26.jpg Then, all that was left was to spray a couple final coats of paint (I chose to use a semi-flat black for now), install the grill (a trimmed and shaped piece of raingutter grill from home depot that I sprayed in plasti-dip), zip-tie it into place and, Voila! Done... http://i277.photobucket.com/albums/kk56/atchipmunk/05%20LGT%20Wagon/LGTgrill-28.jpg Here's a couple quick pics I took of it back on the car (which hasn't gotten a wash in a while )... http://i277.photobucket.com/albums/kk56/atchipmunk/05%20LGT%20Wagon/LGTgrill-29.jpg http://i277.photobucket.com/albums/kk56/atchipmunk/05%20LGT%20Wagon/LGTgrill-30.jpg http://i277.photobucket.com/albums/kk56/atchipmunk/05%20LGT%20Wagon/LGTgrill-31.jpg I'm still trying to find an OEM L7 oval badge (not an overlay) to finish it off, but haven't had much luck yet. Anyone know where I can get one? I'm actually not sure if I like the semi-flat black now that it's back on the car. Might pick up some BSM spray-paint and clear and re-paint it to match. If I do, I'll post more pics... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crossing509 Posted December 27, 2011 Share Posted December 27, 2011 Very nice work. Quality job and great walkthrough. I've done a few grills so far and I followed a very similar process. I used screen patch kits instead of the fiberglass and I didn't fill the ridge after the chrome. Yours is definitely the more professional way to go. My first grill was all black and the second one I did was body color (BSM) with a black grill. I think the body color looks nice on a BSM. The only problem I had with the all black one is that it really didn't hold up to the elements. Guess I can't expect much with rattle can paint. The second one is holding up much better. ...Support your LGT community... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rweezy Posted December 27, 2011 Share Posted December 27, 2011 Looks awesome, mine is setup the same way but i never got the motivation to fill in the three cut outs. Congrats on a job well done. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
00 Swag Posted December 27, 2011 Share Posted December 27, 2011 Nice post and write up. I hated the antiquated worn out chrome on my grill too. I just rattle canned it for the time being. I figured I'd find out if I liked it blacked out or not before I do something like this. My wagon needs nooooo chrome, I have a Harley for that. Now I wanna rip the grill off again and do it up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
atchipmunk Posted December 28, 2011 Author Share Posted December 28, 2011 Now I wanna rip the grill off again and do it up. DO IT! It's not really that hard...just time consuming and the sanding can get really monotonous. But, worth it in the end IMHO. The semi-flat finish is growing on me a little, but I think i'd prefer it to be body color. Gonna order up some BSM paint and have at it again... Thanks for the compliments, guys.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maniaxzero Posted December 30, 2011 Share Posted December 30, 2011 VERY NICE! HOW MUCH? (in borat voice) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robertsm99 Posted January 10, 2012 Share Posted January 10, 2012 Damn, that's awesome. How do I get my grill to you to do it as well? LOL Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shayne89 Posted July 23, 2012 Share Posted July 23, 2012 Wow very nice work! i think ill do this on my 89 legacy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dan04103 Posted July 30, 2012 Share Posted July 30, 2012 More inspiration... http://img.tapatalk.com/181618bd-3354-4b4f.jpg Sent from my Transformer Prime TF201 using Tapatalk 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DABE4R Posted October 29, 2012 Share Posted October 29, 2012 Looks great really nice work. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lithopedian Posted November 1, 2012 Share Posted November 1, 2012 Nice work, thought about doing this and your guide definitely is getting me motivated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spec chode Posted September 6, 2014 Share Posted September 6, 2014 More inspiration... http://img.tapatalk.com/181618bd-3354-4b4f.jpg Sent from my Transformer Prime TF201 using Tapatalk 2 Pictures of how you got the emblem to stay? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abarnesDLGT Posted September 25, 2014 Share Posted September 25, 2014 why did you chop off the original top clips?? where you put the copper ones on…. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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