Lost My Grills

[gadj]

Somehow, somewhere, I lost the grill off the front of my car.

Looked at the car this afternoon, and thought, hmmm, something looks different. Then realised the grill was missing. I presume it fell off somewhere which is a pain.

It\'s a C-West style front bumper. Just had the main intake in the middle grilled. So 2 questions really:

1) Does anyone know where I can get replacement grills? Could probably do with ones for the oil cooler vents on the sides as well. Never had these in the first place.

2) Does anyone else expose their vents? What\'s the likelyhood of damage from stones and such?

Cheers

Gary

[oldone]

Cant answer the first question,def put some cover on the coolers as road debris will damage them bad.Its not just the big stones and rubbish but the lil bits cause just as much damage.....hope you get it sorted bud  :guinness

[gadj]

Cheers for that.  That\'s kinda what I assumed.

I know a guy in Peterborough who can fit a mesh over them. Just wondered what the price for proper grills for the bumper would be over the price of some guy knocking up something.

[shaunwil]

You can buy the alloy mesh in sheet form from alot of autofactors. I think it isn\'t too expensive and can be cut to what ever size you need. I\'ve never had one over the intercooler and sometimes find a wasp in two peices ! I was more worried about the loss in airflow that a heavy messh may cause.

Shaun

[dj_dee99]

Definitely worth having some kind of grille/ mesh. My radiator got damaged the other week, through the standard FD front bumper!  Caused a leak!

[gadj]

Yeah, I think I\'d prefer a mesh or grill of some kind.

How easy is it to fit? Just kind of stapelling it on, or is it more complicated than that?

[dj_dee99]

I made a mesh grille for my mate\'s Nova a few years ago. I found the best way was to cut the mesh slightly oversized, so you can have some overlap on the inside. Then I used a tube of clear silicone to fix it on. Pretty easy way of doing it, I found. Obviously, you\'ll need to take your bumper off to fix it on there, though.

[oo7andy]

Probably get a sluaghtering for even mentioning the name but halfrauds do wire mesh i think its 20 squids for a decent sized piece

[dj_dee99]

Yeah. Should be able to pick mesh up from most motor stores. Many have various types, too.

[gadj]

Halfrauds at lunch then Cheers guys.

Next problem will be trying to jack the car up. It\'s sooooo looooooow.

[satch]

Probably get a sluaghtering for even mentioning the name but halfrauds do wire mesh i think its 20 squids for a decent sized piece

Hi,Yeah i was gonna suggest the same,i\'ve heard they do plastic coated mesh (haven\'t checked this for myself yet though)

Paul

[Jono FD3]

If you get the ally mesh it might be worth while getting a can of spray laquer aswell and spray the mesh after you have cut it to size. if you leve it bare it corrodes and looks scaby in a couple of months!!!!
As for fitting it the best stuff to use would be Tiger Seal (similar to silicone but a dam site stronger, or even body filler!!

You want to cut the mesh about 1.5" bigger on all four sides so you have enough to peen over and secure properly!! the prices vairy between £15 and £20 depending on where you get it from!!

Jono

[Marky B]

I\'d use something stronger than silicone, you don\'t want to have to do it more than once. I used to use fibreglass on the bodykits I fitted, or if not availible Stickerflex. That stuff\'s tough and won\'t pear off. the other option is to bond small wooden blocks around the edges of the intake so they are level with the edge of the bumper (obviously on the inside so not visable) let it set then simply screw the mesh to the blocks

Good luck fella

Mark

[gadj]

went to a guy I know in Peterborough who has worked on the car before.

He suggested that I get the mesh from Halfrauds, but the technique he suggested was to make tiny holes in the bumper in discrete places so it won\'t be seen and thread wire through the holes in the mesh and tie it tight, on top of using tiger seal or some fiber glass.

Bearing in mind he always does me a good deal and always cash, he said cos it was fiddly, it could cost up to £150 (not including the mesh - which I\'ve now bought - good tip on the laquer Jono - thanks).

F*** me. I thought it would only be a couple of hours work max. He says it might be less, but says its not the sort of thing that he does every day and reckons it might be fiddly.

He said if he just used tiger seal, it\'d probably come off again. The wiring up is the best way to guarantee it\'ll stay on

[shaunwil]

It can take a few hrs to get the front bumper off, more fiddly than hard. You should be able to do the job with just wire and not take the front bumper off. You may need to jack it up and take the cover under the engine off to get access but it should all be possible. Mine is just held by some tabs fibreglassed into the bumper, but the biggest hasn\'t ever been used !

Shaun