How I Made my Grille for $10 CAN
Here's some pics of what I did.
Pic#1. Bought a piece of mesh that was already black (that's what color I wanted my grille), so there was no need to paint it. It was a "hinged gutter cover" from a building store that cost $5
Pic#2. Close up picture of the gutter cover which is actually a mesh that's painted black. The holes were the size that I wanted.
Pic#3. Removed the hinges from the gutter cover and the flattened it (since it was a bit rounded to keep leaves off the gutter). I used a very special technique to do this called "step on top of the mesh". I layed it on a flat smooth surface and stepped on it to flatten it a bit, the finished it off by bending it slightly along the rounded edge of a desk (high-tech method).
Pic#4. I made a pattern out of cardboard and made sure it fit into the space in front of the radiator properly.
Pic#5. I taped the pattern on the mesh and cut it 1/8" smaller, all the way around. This allowed for the rubber hose to slide on around to cover all the edges to give it a finished look and protect against any scratches.
I'll continue with another post since the most you can post is 5 pics at once.
[IMG]local://upfiles/2537/A1CB340F7EB743E1AF85181AE70ED62B.jpg[/IMG]
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[IMG]local://upfiles/2537/E2E579F2593947C5AC59E675FC8BFEEB.jpg[/IMG]
Pic#1. Bought a piece of mesh that was already black (that's what color I wanted my grille), so there was no need to paint it. It was a "hinged gutter cover" from a building store that cost $5
Pic#2. Close up picture of the gutter cover which is actually a mesh that's painted black. The holes were the size that I wanted.
Pic#3. Removed the hinges from the gutter cover and the flattened it (since it was a bit rounded to keep leaves off the gutter). I used a very special technique to do this called "step on top of the mesh". I layed it on a flat smooth surface and stepped on it to flatten it a bit, the finished it off by bending it slightly along the rounded edge of a desk (high-tech method).
Pic#4. I made a pattern out of cardboard and made sure it fit into the space in front of the radiator properly.
Pic#5. I taped the pattern on the mesh and cut it 1/8" smaller, all the way around. This allowed for the rubber hose to slide on around to cover all the edges to give it a finished look and protect against any scratches.
I'll continue with another post since the most you can post is 5 pics at once.
[IMG]local://upfiles/2537/A1CB340F7EB743E1AF85181AE70ED62B.jpg[/IMG]
[IMG]local://upfiles/2537/67EFD3C824324158950CF596B62C55DB.jpg[/IMG]
[IMG]local://upfiles/2537/2588DD359FC748C8A4BEFEC6D45137BE.jpg[/IMG]
[IMG]local://upfiles/2537/C46E5A58051B4C769F2F26F35F4084D0.jpg[/IMG]
[IMG]local://upfiles/2537/E2E579F2593947C5AC59E675FC8BFEEB.jpg[/IMG]
Continued:
Pic#6. That's the cut out piece of mesh that I'll use for the grille.
Pic#7. This is the rubber tube I bought from an auto parts store to put around the edges of the grille. It's just black rubber windhield washer hose since it has the thinnest wall and isn't reinforced (that makes it easier to cut). I took an exacto knife and sliced the hose, making a slit all the way down the length, so that I could slide it over the edge of the mesh.
Pic#8. Here's the finished grille cut to size with the rubber tubing over the outside edge.
Pic#9. The grille installed on my Civic. There won't be any stone marks in my radiator!
[IMG]local://upfiles/2537/EA48D53FE79F4E45A85D872CEDB2465E.jpg[/IMG]
[IMG]local://upfiles/2537/07F4FCFC5FBB4EB7A33833A38C8D4544.jpg[/IMG]
[IMG]local://upfiles/2537/5DCC31C1AECD47BCA5009E54471EDF37.jpg[/IMG]
[IMG]local://upfiles/2537/4F2B2899C14448A9B19C617E4685C1BB.jpg[/IMG]
Pic#6. That's the cut out piece of mesh that I'll use for the grille.
Pic#7. This is the rubber tube I bought from an auto parts store to put around the edges of the grille. It's just black rubber windhield washer hose since it has the thinnest wall and isn't reinforced (that makes it easier to cut). I took an exacto knife and sliced the hose, making a slit all the way down the length, so that I could slide it over the edge of the mesh.
Pic#8. Here's the finished grille cut to size with the rubber tubing over the outside edge.
Pic#9. The grille installed on my Civic. There won't be any stone marks in my radiator!
[IMG]local://upfiles/2537/EA48D53FE79F4E45A85D872CEDB2465E.jpg[/IMG]
[IMG]local://upfiles/2537/07F4FCFC5FBB4EB7A33833A38C8D4544.jpg[/IMG]
[IMG]local://upfiles/2537/5DCC31C1AECD47BCA5009E54471EDF37.jpg[/IMG]
[IMG]local://upfiles/2537/4F2B2899C14448A9B19C617E4685C1BB.jpg[/IMG]
ORIGINAL: mill$civic
looks really nice..that exactley what im gunna do, thanks ngoti8tor..a question tho, how did you make it stay in place there???
looks really nice..that exactley what im gunna do, thanks ngoti8tor..a question tho, how did you make it stay in place there???
I just used a few black cable ties like they do with the grilles you buy at the performance shops or on eBay (you can't hardly notice them). My grille fit in great because of the rubber hose, so I only needed 3 cable ties.......one on each end and one in the center. I only snugged the cable ties up, I didn't need to really tighten them.
It took me longer to install the grille than it did to make it because the front end is enclosed top and bottom. I had to remove a bunch of fasteners under the front so I could slide my hand and arm up in front of the rad to snug up the cable ties and cut the ends off of them.
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bostero1905
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Feb 25, 2008 09:52 AM



