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Custom '10 Grill


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So this is actually something I pulled from from this site and I figured I would share my attempt and how-to. 

 

So I bought a 12" x 48" universal black mesh sheet from Custom Car Grills and also bought their 1/8" trim to go with this project. This project isn't hard to do, but its also not easy to do. This project does require you to cut your stock grill out as well. 

 



 

To start off you will have to pull your bumper. In order to do this there are (2) 10mm bolts and (8) pan head screws that have to be removed from under the hood. 

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Once you get these out there are (3) screws in each fender well holding the splash guard to the bumper as well as the stupid plastic screw in buttons that always strip out in the top corners behind the splash guards. Next you will have 8 IIRC 8mm bolts along the bottom of the bumper securing it to the skid plate. Once these are all removed the corners of the bumper will have to be tugged on due to snapping in and then the bumper will be loose. You will also have to unplug the DRL. After this the bumper should be completely free. 

 

From here you will need to start removing things from the bumper. I started off with the reinforcement bar which is held in by 4 clips. After this you can start removing the grill itself. It is a total of 3 pieces. Each piece has a number of snaps which were a real PITA to get to cooperate. 

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Once you have the grill pieces separated you should be left with this.

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The grill itself is removable entirely, but I chose to leave it in for rigidity purposes. From this point you need to start taping off your grill so you can get ready to cut. 

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I used a fine line tape that I had laying around to do the initial lines and then added the extra green tape for protection purposes. I tried using my Dremel and it worked but I was eating up cutting discs quick so I switched to my sand barrel attachment and then started eating through those too so then I switch to our pneumatic cut off wheel which got the job done. I started by cutting the cross bar out which actually allowed me some room to move. In the corners I switched back to my Dremel and the sanding barrel to get in the corners (nice and deep like) like I needed to. After you are done cutting it also may not be a bad idea to take a piece of 220 or 360 grit sandpaper along the edges to smooth them out. They don't have to be perfect because you will be putting the neoprene trim over the edge now.

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Now that this is done, take your mesh sheet and roughly mark out some cut lines. I used a white china pencil we had laying around to mark my black mesh. I would suggest laying the mesh down and using the backside of the grill as a template to mark everything out, just make it a touch bigger. You will end up having to make some more cuts later. Once marked out, make your cuts. What you want to do is bend the edges down into the valleys on the back side of the bumper. BTW I apologize for not getting any pictures of this step. Hoping you can understand what I'm trying to say. There are also 3 clips from where you removed the grill pieces that you can use to help keep the mesh aligned where it need to be. 

 

Once you get the mesh folded down into the valleys you will need some type of adhesive. The Custom Car Grills site suggests the 3M double sided tape, but I don't trust it that much. I went with a tube of Amazing Goop. I have used this stuff on several projects and it is very strong and flexible as well. You will need an entire tube of it for the main grill. From here, take your Goop and go along the edges of the mesh and lay down a liberal bead in several spots. It doesn't have to be along the entire edge but I would try and cover as much area as possible, then let dry. I put a little bit of weight on the mesh to keep it pressed down while it was drying. 

 

Here is hopefully what you finished up with.

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And the finished product on the car....

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I also tinted the headlights as well as added side emiting LED strips under the headlights at this time too. 

 

Hopefully this helps some guys out a little bit. I'm sure you can find some cheaper mesh, but I went ahead and just bought everything from one spot. 

 

Let me know what everything thinks!

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