PandorasCustoms
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- March 11, 2010
- Messages
- 224
- Reaction score
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- City, State
- Kissimmee, Fl
- Year, Model & Trim Level
- '94 Sport
...Because I am selling everybody grills....
Now, back to the serious part of the thread. I got a little frustrated with how hideous the front of the X was looking.
So I decided to give her a new smile and new frames for her lenses. I did some digging and looking around and couldn't find too many modifications that were done to the stock grill, and I have always hated how open (You can see straight into the Radiator) the front end has been.
Honestly, I wanted to find a set of those mesh inserts for the grill (I always loved those), but I couldn't find anyone who sells them for the first gen X's anymore. The only thing I could find were the billet style ones.
So, with my heart set on mesh, I set out for a method to make my own and spice up the look of the front end a bit. I did a little probing around my house and came up with some simple items that would complete the task.
The materials I came up with were:
Now, I went ahead and pulled off the Grill and headlamps (If you are looking for how-to on those you can find them all over the forums) which was faily simple to do.
After that, I began painting. I painted everything at once. Doing three coats of the flat black on the grill and headlamps, and two coats of the high heat silver on the wire mesh. Then I waited for all that to dry (I hate downtime).
After that, I laid out some 1/2" foam pieces on my work bench to lay the grill on (Don't want to scratch that new paint, do we?). With the grill face down, I laid out of the wire mesh on top of the openings. (This part took some engenuity) I don't know how many of us have worked with Gorilla Glue, but the stuff is amazing. The only problem I have found with it is that is takes nearly an hour to set properly for handling. Well, since wire mesh isn't really the stiffest of products (Espcially when you take it out of a roll), I was having difficulty figuring out how to lay the mesh down and hold it in place while the glue takes time to set. This is where my old paint thinner cans came into play. I had about five empty ones laying around! Filled them up with a hose. Layed down my glue, set them evenly all around the openings on the back side of the grille. Went inside and ate some lunch!
Came back out an hour later and she was ready to be reassembled.
And, here is the final product...
Total physical labor time was about 3 hours...
The only negative I saw with the outcome was the little glue run here and there. I plan to pick off what I can, and sand repair what is needed, next weekend. It has been nothing but rain here all day today.
I am not sure yet how the flat black will hold up over time, but I am giving it a shot. If it looks like it starts to loose its umph, I was thinking of taking it back off and just doing the whole thing in black and laying a few coats of Flat Clear on it to try and keep it clean.
Also, not sure on how the glue will hold up over time. I got a TON of it on there, so we will see. I will probably try and go with another product if this one seems to not hold up.
Let me know what you think...
Next week, I tend to paint the front bumper to match, throw some mesh inserts in the front bumper, and remove the front license plate holder.
Now, back to the serious part of the thread. I got a little frustrated with how hideous the front of the X was looking.
So I decided to give her a new smile and new frames for her lenses. I did some digging and looking around and couldn't find too many modifications that were done to the stock grill, and I have always hated how open (You can see straight into the Radiator) the front end has been.
Honestly, I wanted to find a set of those mesh inserts for the grill (I always loved those), but I couldn't find anyone who sells them for the first gen X's anymore. The only thing I could find were the billet style ones.
So, with my heart set on mesh, I set out for a method to make my own and spice up the look of the front end a bit. I did a little probing around my house and came up with some simple items that would complete the task.
The materials I came up with were:
- Poultry Netting (Aka - Chicken Wire)
- Silver High Heat Paint
- Flat Black Paint
- Gorrila Glue (Not Shown)
- A couple of old Paint Thinner cans full of water (Not Shown)
Now, I went ahead and pulled off the Grill and headlamps (If you are looking for how-to on those you can find them all over the forums) which was faily simple to do.
- I wish I would have had the Chrome headlamp assemblies. I broke the sides of the plastic ones (Both of them!) and had to do a lot of glue and sanding to get them back together.
After that, I began painting. I painted everything at once. Doing three coats of the flat black on the grill and headlamps, and two coats of the high heat silver on the wire mesh. Then I waited for all that to dry (I hate downtime).
After that, I laid out some 1/2" foam pieces on my work bench to lay the grill on (Don't want to scratch that new paint, do we?). With the grill face down, I laid out of the wire mesh on top of the openings. (This part took some engenuity) I don't know how many of us have worked with Gorilla Glue, but the stuff is amazing. The only problem I have found with it is that is takes nearly an hour to set properly for handling. Well, since wire mesh isn't really the stiffest of products (Espcially when you take it out of a roll), I was having difficulty figuring out how to lay the mesh down and hold it in place while the glue takes time to set. This is where my old paint thinner cans came into play. I had about five empty ones laying around! Filled them up with a hose. Layed down my glue, set them evenly all around the openings on the back side of the grille. Went inside and ate some lunch!
Came back out an hour later and she was ready to be reassembled.
And, here is the final product...
Total physical labor time was about 3 hours...
The only negative I saw with the outcome was the little glue run here and there. I plan to pick off what I can, and sand repair what is needed, next weekend. It has been nothing but rain here all day today.
I am not sure yet how the flat black will hold up over time, but I am giving it a shot. If it looks like it starts to loose its umph, I was thinking of taking it back off and just doing the whole thing in black and laying a few coats of Flat Clear on it to try and keep it clean.
Also, not sure on how the glue will hold up over time. I got a TON of it on there, so we will see. I will probably try and go with another product if this one seems to not hold up.
Let me know what you think...
Next week, I tend to paint the front bumper to match, throw some mesh inserts in the front bumper, and remove the front license plate holder.
I would definitely attack that front bumper next. I would try to clean up those headlights too! 
