Homemade Grill

I wanted an aftermarket grill but didn't wanna pay the price, so I made my own. I traded my engine cover locally for a stock grill. I gutted it out with a hot knife, filled in the voids with a 2 part epoxy-like material, sanded, added bondo, sanded, bondo, sanded, san..., did a lot of sanding, then primed, some more sanding, and painted it. I used JB Weld to attach the mesh to the back of the grill which I got from Home Depot. It was 8 bucks for a 2'x4' or so piece. Then I debadged my trunk and JB Welded the Spec.B emblems to the mesh of the grill. I'm really happy with how it came out. It's well worth the time and not that much work. The biggest thing is waiting for things to set up/dry. Here are a bunch of pics as I did it over the past couple weeks:

On the car:

looks good

Slick! How many hours do you think you have into that?

Of actual work... maybe 6-7 hours over a couple weeks. There was a lot of coming and going on the project. It was fun though. It's really Not difficult at all.

Looks really good! Wish I had a spare grill I could play with

Looks good! Probably fits a lot better than the aftermarket grills too.

Very nice. I like how you placed the spec b badge too.

Thanks, yeah I didn't think about that, it probably does fit better.

 

I was going to make another one and sell it to someone on here but I ended up selling the other grill stock instead. Guess I don't wanna be responsible if it started chipping on someone, but I don't imagine it will.

if i shipped you a stock grille what would you charge?

HOT KNIFE. :forheadsmack: :grumble: :banging head into wall: So much easier than dremel. How can I be so stupid? Well done OP. Lesson learned.

Excellent end result

Man that thing looks great, you did a awesome job.

 

Gives me more confidance to do mine.

 

How hard was it to remove that chrome tape ?

 

Mine is beginning to lift and 3 spots anyways.

if i shipped you a stock grille what would you charge?

 

To be honest I had bought another stock grill from a member with intensions of making another one of these and selling it on here. I wasn't sure if there would be any interest though so I resold it last ngiht. I already had $75 into the stock grill so I didn't think I'd be able to get enough out of it. I would have had to charge $225-$250 with shipping.

 

If you were sending me the grill and threw me 125$ and paid the shipping I'd provide the materials and make you one in my spare time.

HOT KNIFE. :forheadsmack: :grumble: :banging head into wall: So much easier than dremel. How can I be so stupid? Well done OP. Lesson learned.

 

Yeah I didn't even have a torch either, just heated it up on my stove, it went pretty smoothly. I used a serrated knife though, a little sawing helped out.

Man that thing looks great, you did a awesome job.

 

Gives me more confidance to do mine.

 

How hard was it to remove that chrome tape ?

 

Mine is beginning to lift and 3 spots anyways.

 

Thanks dude, yeah you should make it, it's worth the time and cool when you make you ouwn that looks just as good if not better than a $300 ordered one.

 

I didn't actually remove the chrome tape, I scuffed it all up real good with scotchbrite and fine (320) sandpaper. I just got every inch of it, I'm thinking it should hold up fine. I painted over my old stock grill that way and it been holding up for a long time now and still looks good. Just sold that one too.

I think it'd be too much of a pain to remove the chrome layer. There would be flakes on the edges you wouldn't be able to get to since it goes in between the next insert. That'd really show up in the paint. A good sanding and a few coats of primer will make it last quite a while.

 

If anyone wants one made out of a stock grill, I've got all the tools and materials needed for it. I could make it exactly how you'd want it. Flat black, semi-flat, satin, semi- gloss, gloss, etc. Could put a GT emblem in there instead of the Spec.B. I could even use the same subie emblem off of that grill and put that in the middle. Cheaper alternative and I'll do a good job. Just PM me if you're interested.

My 05 will be without a engine soon for a few weeks. Maybe I'll send you the grill. But it does have the three spots where the tape is lifting.

 

It's one of the things I would love to have but I'm not very good with body work type stuff.

Sure ya i wouldn't mind at all, I could do that. I'd just have you pay shipping which is 10-15 bucks, I sent my old one today. Then $125 for the labor and materials seems pretty fair.

I could do something with those spots too.

Did you just use an extra 'spec.B' trunk badge for the grille? How did you get that to stick to the mesh? I have been thinking about doing something similar with my car this summer...

Jb weld. Ya came off my trunk.

Nice work. Looks great. I did something similar recently and posted a little DIY (http://legacygt.com/forums/showthread.php/diy-my-take-jdm-style-grill-176681.html). I chose to smooth out the little step and completely removed all of the chrome plating before doing so. FYI...you can remove chrome plating from plastic in a bath of bleach. It takes a little bit of time, but it's much easier than trying to peel it and makes for a better adhesion surface over just sanding the chrome...

Ooo nice, thanks for the tip. That's cool.

Hm yeah I thought of doing the same exact thing with bondo to remove the step but I didn't get into it. I used the same method with the tape but I used a 2 part material instead of the fiberglass. Different methods similar results, good times! Better than paying $300 eh?