custom grille project

[kvandyke07]

so im ready for a little project..

well i have a feeling its gonna be a lot harder than one would imagine.

ive wanted a billet grille for my car since ive got the thing, but could never find just the right one. ive only seen two types for sale, one of them has vertical bars or whatever you wanna call them, and the other one has horizontal, but had a few more bars than the stock grille. i wanted something that looked just like the stock grille, but without the infiniti emblam. so i decided since i couldnt find one, ill make a project out of it.

i am going to order an extra stock grille somewhere, and use some kinda of molding clay or puddy and do my best to mimic the stock billet bars. after that, i will smooth any imperfections out with bondo, sand everything down, prime it and paint it.. all the works

obviously i am going to do a lot more research on the whole project, but thats my intentions and that seems to be the easiest/best way to do it.

my first action in my research is this forum. has anyone done anything like this before on anything at all? if so, am i right in thinking to use the molding clay and bondo? seeing how im not a pottery artist, what are some decent brands of molding clay? would chrome spray paint work fine if i took the right measures in my prep work?

any help will help guys, thanks!!

[av8or]

yep... this guy has done it.. he belongs to another forum though.. haven't seen him here...

http://sandiego.craigslist.org....html

[kvandyke07]

thanks, but it says that posting was expired.

[johnparkyourcar]

This is something that I'm actually working on. I worked on it with a couple other guys at 4drmadness's house but those guys are ahead of me since I missed the first day.

a couple pics..

[kvandyke07]

thanks, that looks pretty damn good. ive never seen purpose putty by bondo, but is that all you need? is it thick enough to mold or do you just do the finishing with that?

[johnparkyourcar]

I'm actually still working on mine. Having a dremel makes the work a lot easier since there is a sh!tload of sanding. Also you need to cut some parts off the grill.



Notice how there is nothing blocking the grill from behind. Also, I put in a metal bar to reinforce the bondo. I dunno if you would be able to tell from the pics:





Pretty much, all it is is all-purpose putty, sand the crap out of it when dry, fill in the little holes and any imperfections with spot putty, sand again, prime and paint. This is mine right now... still got a lot of work to do.

[kvandyke07]

wow, thats a LOT of help!

i didnt realize until you posted those pictures how much work and detail goes into it. how long have you been workin on it? i wanna get a stock grill and just work on it and take my time. do you know where i can get one decently priced?

[johnparkyourcar]

The first 2 weeks I only worked on it only 1 day a week but now that I got the bondo down I'm sanding it whenever I get a chance. I think overall, it'll take a week if your fully dedicate your time to it. Try checking the forums to find a used grill that someone's getting rid of. I'm lucky I have an aftermarket grill I'm using while my oem grill is being worked on.

[pfarmer]

The first 2 weeks I only worked on it only 1 day a week but now that I got the bondo down I'm sanding it whenever I get a chance. I think overall, it'll take a week if your fully dedicate your time to it. Try checking the forums to find a used grill that someone's getting rid of. I'm lucky I have an aftermarket grill I'm using while my oem grill is being worked on.

It looks like it should work out well. One thing I noticed is the metal bars. Instead of metal bars I think I would have gone with graphite kite sticks, arrow shafts (same thing for this purpose). They super glue (use the gel) really well, are strong, and most of all light. They may be better at tying the two ends of the slats together. I used to build large kites and the glued joints never failed. Remember to wear safety glasses or goggles when cutting as the splinters can be nasty. My guess is you could use multiple small sticks and epoxy to fill the gaps maybe as an alternative to the bondo if desired.

Perry

[johnparkyourcar]

Ya there are other ways to do it (epoxy, bondo, fiberglass, etc...) but since money is always an issue I went the cheapest way. And one of the other guys brought extra metal bars so I just used that. But as for the quality, I'm sure my method isn't the best, but as long as the job gets done and doesn't hurt my wallet as much...

[kvandyke07]

I got a couple scarp pieces of aluminum from work that would work perfectly, but i think im gonna snoop around and see if i cant find some kinda of plastic (the super glue part is a good point).

Also, what do you guys know about the paint? is chrome spray paint fine? any certain brands?

[pfarmer]

I got a couple scarp pieces of aluminum from work that would work perfectly, but i think im gonna snoop around and see if i cant find some kinda of plastic (the super glue part is a good point).

Also, what do you guys know about the paint? is chrome spray paint fine? any certain brands?

Maybe just look around the house and see what resembles the normal grill slats?

Instead of piecing the middle together maybe just covering up the slats involved from end to end with what I am looking at just may work after joining them together with something like the graphite rods and super glue in the middle. To me this is starting to look more and more like a Home Depot project.

Perry

[kmech_7]

well??? any news on this?

[johnparkyourcar]

Maybe just look around the house and see what resembles the normal grill slats?

Instead of piecing the middle together maybe just covering up the slats involved from end to end with what I am looking at just may work after joining them together with something like the graphite rods and super glue in the middle. To me this is starting to look more and more like a Home Depot project.

Perry

What do you mean? Just covering it up so the inside is hollow? That wouldn't be such a good idea since it's on the front of the car and if anything hits it, it could damage it and you'd be working on it again...

As for paint, I'm planning on painting it black, but haven't decided on flat black, matte black or gloss black...

[kvandyke07]

I will keep everyone posted on how this project goes. im still searching for another grill, and im workin mad hours, so it might be a few weeks, but thank you everyone for all the help

[pfarmer]

What do you mean? Just covering it up so the inside is hollow? That wouldn't be such a good idea since it's on the front of the car and if anything hits it, it could damage it and you'd be working on it again...

As for paint, I'm planning on painting it black, but haven't decided on flat black, matte black or gloss black...

Many house have plastic slats located on the inside. If you bridge the end pieces from the logo removal with the super glued graphite rods and then cover the grill slats with these other slats from your house and simply expoxy the back side for filler you then will have a smooth surface on the front.

If you are looking for other plastic sources consider plastic gutters. Both of these do well in sunlight which is important.

As far as color goes the local Infiniti dealer is selling black grills on the new 09s which look good on a black sedan and are gloss black.

Perry