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Custom 2010 Grill


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Figured I'd throw a topic up here to chronicle my adventure of making my own custom mesh grill for my 2010 SHO. I purchased a complete used grill on ebay for $20. Last night I separated the insert from the outer bezel and today I began smoothing down the fillets where the crossbars intersected the outer bezel. I got one side done and after starting the other side, I found a crack in the bezel so I stopped. My plan now is to pick up some solvent glue for ABS plastic to repair the crack before I continue. Once the rough work is done I'm going to use some ABS sheet stock to build out the depth of the grill to a uniform dimension and then use a universal mesh from CustomCarGrills.com powdercoated black. My thoughts right now is I can do the entire project for about $150. I'll try to take pictures along the way if anyone's interested.

 

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Carson

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Yes please keep us informed' date=' as I had thought of doing this myself long ago. I will be interesting to see how it will turn out and how it holds up to temperature changes. This will be helpful to other out there, as I believe Mobsteel has stopped making there grill.[/quote']

 

I don't see temperature changes being a big deal since this will all be the same material (ABS plastic). I'm hoping I can get away with not needing to skim coat the bezel with filler to get a good finish but even if I do I'm pretty confident it'll hold up with the right prep. I am NOT a body guy so this is a learning experience for me. I did do some minor rust touch up on my Mustang last year and while it turned out decent, there's more I could've done to get a quality finish. In the case of this SHO grill I may elect to have the bezel painted by a body shop after I've done the prep...we'll see.

 

I like the Mobsteel grill, it's exactly what a lot of owners have wanted (as evidenced by the 2013 SHO grill) however I don't understand the $700 pricepoint. I'm not being critical of it, I'm just saying I don't understand it.

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Yeah, 700$ is quite expensive... But with my recent accident, I saw thw estimate and just the OEM lower grill (no ACC) is detailed at almost 300$... So, I would imagine that the combo of OEM grill could easily be 700$.

Since Mobsteel needed to amortize their time and expenses of developping the grill, you end up paying 700$, which imo makes more sense than what Ford is charging for the combo!

How about 500$ for a pair of OEM Mustang hood vents!

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Will the 13 SHO black mesh fit in. 2010-12 bezel?

 

The grills are physically different shapes. Will the 2013 mesh trimmed to fit a 2010 work? I don't know but I can get a 16" x 48" piece of powdercoated mesh for about $50 so unless I had a free 2013 grill I don't think it makes economic sense to modify the "Superman" grill.

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Ok, so I got the crack "fixed". To begin, I stopped at Lowes and picked up some ABS cement for plumbing. When I got home I tested bonding the factory plastic by sawing off a piece of the center bar I cut out from the factory grill, then re-bonding it using the cement. After a couple minutes in my 40-ish degree garage the joint was pretty solid and holding it over my propane heater helped to further strengthen the joint. The solvents must evaporate in order for the joint to be completely cured and cold temperatures don't help things.

 

Once I was sure the cement wasn't "too hot" for the factory plastic I went about carefully applying the cement to all the cracks that were visible and I used a small C-clamp to pull the joint together. After these pictures I used my die grinder some more to remove the chrome that is visibly "bulged" near the crack. I found a crack under the chrome and applied more cement in this area also. I can already see this will be the area that is going to consume the most "body work". I'm also now thinking about reinforcing the back side of the crack with some ABS stock just to make sure I don't have any potential stress risers.

 

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EDIT: Something else I've noticed about the factory chromed plastic grill...the chrome is very durable. My most aggressive files don't cut into it. They may leave some fine scratches but to make any real progress removing the chrome I've got to use the die grinder. Also, the chrome and associated copper plate base are relative thick (and sharp) as the small cuts on my palms and fingers can attest. This got me thinking, if someone wants a different look without repainting the grill I think using either fine steel wool or a red scotchbrite pad would give a brushed stainless steel look without too much trouble. With the right use of painters tape I doubt the factory grill would even need to be removed from the car. I may experiment with this tomorrow as I have both a scotchbrite and some steel wool in the garage.

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Well I ran into a little setback today. My crack repair didn't take. I'm thinking it was a combination of cold and a lack of surface area to bond. This time I cut a scrap piece from the crossbar, sanded off the chrome, and prepped the backside of the bezel by also removing the chrome. I then glued, clamped, and applied gentle heat with a heat gun for a couple of minutes. Once I removed the clamp the joint felt much more robust. After it sets up for a day or two I'll hit it with a file and sandpaper to pretty it up a bit.

 

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Previously I mentioned how durable I thought the chrome plating was on the grill. Well just as an experiment I tried using #3 steel wool on the chrome. This did nothing...if anything it just polished the surface. Next I tried a 3M "fine" sanding sponge. This made a few light scratches but still didn't have enough "tooth" so I switched to a coarser sanding sponge used for finishing cut drywall edges. This sponge gave good control over the amount of the brushed effect. Once I had a somewhat uniform look I went over it with the #3 steel wool to tie the brush strokes together and make things appear more uniform. I think I may have spent 5-10 minutes on the crossbar to get the results below. Just an FYI.

 

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  • 2 weeks later...
Bump for progress pics :)

 

Not much progress has been made until today. I got out in the garage, fired up the propane heater and did some cuttin'. Since I got the fillets trimmed out I now needed to fill in the area where the fillets were in lower corners of the grill. This is due to my mesh will be relatively flat and these areas where the fillets were would create a pocket where the plastic grill would not be touching the mesh insert. I used scrap pieces cut from the discarded crossbar that I dechromed, curved to match the radius of the grill surround with a heatgun, and then shaped with a dremmel and files. I backed up the filler pieces with more scrap to make sure everything is solid. I still need to trim and sand everything to a final shape but this gives you an idea of the filler.

 

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Unfortunately I ran out of propane for the heater but I may make a run to Wally World for a new tank this afternoon so I can keep working. While I was in the garage I also go to stick something else on my car. One of these...

 

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Ignore the dirty car :RpS_biggrin:

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I should also have some '13 fender vents coming in tomorrow and that should be it for the exterior mods for awhile.

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  • 4 weeks later...

Oooooo...pretty

 

I know I haven't updated this thread in awhile but really, not much has been going on until tonight. Today the order of bulk mesh came in and I couldn't wait to get started...despite the 25 degree temperature in the garage.

 

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The mesh came from http://www.customcargrills.com I went with the perforated hexagon XXL. I had printed one of the "actual size" sample sheets to hold in the grill opening to gauge what I thought would look best. The size pictured ran about $53 for the black powdercoated mesh.

 

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I used one side of the handy-dandy box the mesh came in to make a template for the opening. Remember kids, start larger and trim away...it's easier to cut cardboard than try to add it back.

 

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...and here it how the template fit in the lower areas of the grill where I had to add material and reshape the radii. You can see the seam where I glued the pieces together. This area will need to be bodyworked yet with filler but it should take very little material and I shouldn't have to worry about cracking in the long term because this is all "welded" together out of the same stuff.

 

And now for the money shot....

 

BLAH-DOW!!!!

 

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This one is showing what I plan to do with the SHO badge I removed from the trunk. I'll cut the "Ecoboost" portion off and mount the letters to a backer before mounting it in the grill.

 

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So that's it. I'm kinda at a standstill now. I need to do the following:

 

 


  • Bodywork the areas that need it. Gotta wait for warmer temps.
    Shoot some primer (out of a can) to verify my work.
    Talk to a bodyshop about spraying the trim in my paint color.

 

 

Once all that's done I can final assemble this thing and then start thinking about mounting it. I don't see it getting done until mid summer but I do have a couple weeks of un-asked for vacation (read: layoff) starting in May so that may accelerate things. Total cost for this project so far is:

 

$40 Used grill

$5 ABS glue

$53 universal grill mesh

 

After paint and everything I'm thinking I'll have this done for about $200 total...maybe $300 depending on how much it'll cost to paint. Any questions feel free to ask.

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Will plastic rivets + bondo work for mounting the mesh to the grille? Is there room in the rear of the grill to sandwich in the edges of the mesh? How does Ford do it?

 

Hope your job situation is under control?

 

I should've taken a picture of the backside...I'll get one tonight.

 

What I didn't show is that the mesh overlaps the opening by about an inch or two all the way around. Where the mesh overlaps I'll use a putty knife or flat bladed screwdriver to bend the mesh over so it's flush with the flange formed by the opening, then I'll use "Automotive Goop" adhesive to permanently bond the mesh to the plastic trim. The method I'm going to use is the same as the example here:

 

 

 

Because of this I won't be able to final assemble the mesh to the trim until after paint.

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Ok, took some pics of the back of the grill to hopefully show what's going on.

 

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Here's an overall view from the rear. You can see that the mesh overhangs the opening by an inch or so all around.

 

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Just a closer view showing how the mesh is overlapped the opening.

 

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And here I've bent some of the mesh that's overhanging the opening so it lies against the backside of the grill opening flange. This is the area that will have "the Goop" applied to bond the mesh to the grill surround.

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  • 1 month later...

Long time, no post. I've been traveling for work over the last three weeks so work in the garage has been non-existant but I've had one really nice weekend where I got to spend some quality time with my Mustang and the custom grill for the SHO. No pics but I did get some filler applied to the areas where I reshaped the grill. I used a Bondo product used for filling and bonding flexible urethane bumpers. This stuff is very nice to work with and should remain somewhat pliable to match the plastic base material. I got everything sanded down then hit the surround with some primer, which revealed some sanding flaws. That's as far as I got. I need to do some more sanding and tweaking then I'll spray the whole grill with primer and then probably wet sand to get a good finish ready for paint. That's it for now. I'm hoping I can have it painted in the next few weeks so I can do the final assembly.

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  • 2 months later...

It's been a looooong time but I after getting sidetracked with my Mustang I finally got back to the SHO. I dropped the grill off at the painter last week. They told me it'd take about half a pint to paint the grill so I picked up some paint at an auto body supply. Since my car is candy red clearcoat I had to get the base and the candy topcoat (the body shop supplied their own clear). Total for two half pints was about $135. So I picked up the grill today and installed the mesh insert. I still need to get the SHO mounted in the lower corner but I'm hoping to install this next weekend. Not bad for a DIY junkyard grill, eh?

 

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