dave586270

iTrader: (3)

A little day off project, not too bad if I say so myself

I bought an aftermarket grill online and have had it on my car for a while now. I like it but I was never completely satisfied with it:



Decided it was time to try something new:



Not too bad of a project. Took me a couple days, but thats because I work a lot and took my time sanding and prepping everything and making sure it was just right.

First had to take everything apart from OE grille:





Making a stencil for my mesh. Just traced the around the chrome trim piece to get size of mesh:



Materials in hand:



Took a little cutting and patience to get it to fit perfectly into the surround from the grill:



Not bad, my initial trace was pretty dead on:



Chrome is ok, but I wanted all black:



And all that mess behind the mesh wasn't doin it for me. I've seen some people leave that there. Only a few have cut it out. I deff didn't like seing it through the mesh:



So out it goes:



A little paint here, a little paint there... Of course I prepped the surface first. I sanded the chrome all off with a high grit paper and wiped it all down to get rid of dust:



Let it dry, put it all together and what do you got?









'03 headlights here I come!

CL6

Looks like you did a very high quality job.

CL-S progression 01

iTrader: (2)

hey i got that grille too and u cut it up :-( w/e bloats ur boat.

I must say tho, even tho it aint my preferred style that thing looks friggin MINT. nice work

civicdrivr

iTrader: (9)

Im not a fan of the grille itself, but you seemed to put alot of effort into making it perfect so for that you get a

princelybug

iTrader: (16)

Jacobpockros

iTrader: (1)

I personally would have painted the outer trim silver to match the rest of the car, but reguardless you get an A+ for making it look so damn clean

rockstar143

iTrader: (6)

I would be leary of having to continually touch up the silver that will eventually inevitable show thru from rock chips.

I personally don't like the look, I like the factory grill with the A, but I also appreciate how much work you put into it and am glad you ended up happy with it!

Rajca

iTrader: (8)

looks clean. ill see it at the meet hopefully

97BlackAckCL

iTrader: (6)

Nice work

richardparker

iTrader: (7)

Very clean work.

dave586270

iTrader: (3)

Thanks for all the compliments guys. Its a lil diff then some i've seen, but I am really happy with it.

Thanks, yeah its a lil diff then some but I knew what I wanted and just had to make it to get it, lol.

Thanks Tom, yeah you'll see it for sure. Is it strictly Acura's meeting?

CL-Future

Looks tight

evan03CL

the work does look good, but I'm a fan of the "inset" grill like you had before. I just recently bought one of those for my car and color matched the grill instead of leaving it that black plastic color and like it 10x more than when I first got it. I'd suggest color matching your newest grill mod

nf3d0149ab

iTrader: (5)

I think you did a clean job with the fabrication.

You can tell that you took your time.

cdmarch

I like the look of the grill. Great job.

Rajca

iTrader: (8)

Sorta dave. U can bring a friend or 2 with diff rids. But let's not invite the jdmc forum

RooEng

Looks good. Where did you get the mesh material?

DaInFaMMuS1

That's some quality fabrication right there. I prefer the fin w/the A in the grill, but this is pretty spiffy also.

CL-S progression 01

iTrader: (2)

AND KEEP IT BLACK... dont paint it bro :-)

dave586270

iTrader: (3)

Alright, my budy is itching to get his GOAT out. They are good guys, won't be any assholes peelin out or anything.

Its actually bbq grill mesh from Lowe's. I forgot to take a picture of the package before i cut it up for my template.

Thanks. I've seen it so many ways, and i always like this way better. As long as you like it, then its all good. Thanks for the compliment.

I really like it black. Once I put my '03 lights in i'm probably gonna go back over it with a matt finish clear coat to help it match the lights.

aznboi2424

iTrader: (10)

Nicely done Dave

dave586270

iTrader: (3)

Thanks man, I couldn't be happier with how it turned out!

PAYMEE

iTrader: (1)

nice work...i am attempting to swap out my grill...how hard was it to swap out? how many screws, bolts...i haven't looked at it yet
is it self explanitory when i go to remove it?

andrewcjduong

not my style but you did an incredible job. looks like high quality!

dave586270

iTrader: (3)

Its insanely easy. I think the stock grill has four screws holding it in. Can't miss 'em.

Thank you sir.

CH46ESeaKnight

Looks like some nice work. Looks very well done!
Both ways look good.
But i kinda liked the before photo.

PAYMEE

iTrader: (1)

ya bro...i swapped it out...as easy as can be...however i don't like it that much...you can see the hood support through the grill..not feeling it...
I'm going to have to paint it black or something... Its got the silver surround with the black mesh grill...big holes so you see right through

dave586270

iTrader: (3)

Yeah thats exactly what I did. You can see in the picture how its all dark behind it. Just get some rough sandpaper, sand the shit out of it till its all white and then paint it! Takes like less than an hour with a couple coats of paint. Done!