Hey everyone, just through I'd post a picture of the new grille I'm putting in. I will have much better quality pics of a step by step. But for those of u who can't wait ( like me ) here's a pic of the hollowed out stocker grille (bought off ebay) and the new one that will be taking it's place soon.



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Looking forward to seeing pics of the finished product

 

So am I! lol

Well, today I actually got it attached to the grille shell. Oh, and I should have clarified earlier, I purchased a stock grille, that I hollowed out, not purchased a hollowed out stock grille.

It is incredibly stubborn to work on, but I think it got it decently straight. We'll just have to see how it looks IN the car. I was going to swap the grilles today, but by the time I got the two assembled, it was cold and dark, and I couldn't find my body panel tool. So, the final pics will have to wait until tomorrow.

Updates/pics and a tutorial are coming soon!

 

Ok, I got it on and snapped a quick picture. I'll be getting more detailed pics later, and reinstalling it. I was so anxious I don't even have pics of the grille finished out of the car, lol.


I'll be getting some more pictures at better angles. But you definitely get the idea with what's showing.

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NICE[8D] I'm glad to se you took of that gold bow-tie! It looks TONS better with that gone. Never been a fan of them. I think I like the blue filled ones better than the gold. Can't splain it, just do! Bowties should be RED
So is the grille stock and you just removed all the extra plastic that was there for mounting the bow-tie? What exact color did you paint it? What did you use to modify it, tool wise?

 

 

Naah, it's a hollowed out stock grille with an aftermarket piece replacing the centers. It came powdercoated black.

Thanks for the compliments guys! The stock grille itself must be removed from the car. While not absolutely required, a body panel tool (might be called upholstery removal tool) Is less than 10$ and a huge help. Once removed from the carthe chrome trim seperates with a bunch of little formed in clips. the black plastic part grabs onto the chrome, so use a screwdriver or w/e to seperate and pull. Then you cut out the bowtie and the two vertical slats that are suspended with little plastic pegs. I used a coping saw with very good results. I used that insted of a hacksaw because you can angle the blade in the housing, to cut sideways. And I avoided my dremel, because with the blade always rotating, a slight jump of the hand could really muck up the grille.

Once the center was seperatedit was just cleaning up the cuts that I made. I used a razor and some 400 grit sandpaper. I think that sandpaper is a bit too fine, but it was the best I had. The cuts don't have to be super clean, or un-noticable, just even with the grille. This was the most time consuming part, and the most dangerous, being that I did it with a razor. Again, I'm sure a dremel with a grinding stone could be used, but I just don't have the confidence in the dremel as I do with my hands. Mostly cause I'm not trying to bend twist and contort a chuck of metal spinning at a couple thousand rpms.... Just one blade and my hands. Plus I was doing this inside. A spinning stone would leave tiny fitzels all over the place, where the chunks of plastic from the razor all fell right where I wanted em.

Ok, once that was done I got the aftermarket piece and put it's attachment brackets in place, using that as a mockup for drilling holes in the surrounding piece. This requires lots of concentration, as you wanted the grille to be mounted very evenly, and the bracket pieces could rotate on the grille. With a little luck, I only messed up one hole, and it was bad enough that it didn't touch the correct location, which is a good thing, more plastic for the grille to hold on to, lol.

I will probably paint the backing with some of that krylon fusion black, just to hide some of the defects left from the mod. Not that it's really noticable, just that I will make me feel better, lol.

Yeah, I was very happy about it. It will go well with my graphix when I finally get them designed and cut.

Space: Next will probably be the wheels, then the graphix. I keep putting off the graphix cause I'm trying to design themto be stock looking, yet unique.

 

Looks great!!

Now tell me again how you snagged a stock grille on ebay when I look all the time and never find any?

 

Do you use their parts search for specific items or browse through everything for the Monte? I browse through several pages of stuff every few days.

I mean the bidding started at 9.99, and never moved. I figgured I'd be fighting for that thing like none other. Plus shipping I still spent less than 30$!

Now, the aftermarket grille I spent around 100$ for. For the price it's not a bad unit, it just requires a lot of concentration, and work most people wouldn't be comfortable with, which is why those 30$ chromed tin pieces that just ACCENT the bowtie are all over the place on ebay. Possibly you got sick of looking at those, and in the rush to look through the parts overlooked this grille?

Add 6$ for the coping saw, 28$ for the stock grille, and6$ for the body panel tool. 140$? not bad really, considering I got what I wanted. They have polished and raw alum available as well if you're interested.

So why are you looking for a stock grille?