My new mesh grill

[Holidazed]

So last night I finally figured out how to remove the grill on my 01 Pathfinder SE to make a custom grill. It was alot more difficult that I expected and I didn't have any service manual to reffer to so that made it more difficult. When you look behind the grill there are tons of screws holding it together and its hard to tell which ones are needed to be taken off the remove the girll. but actually no screws need to be lossened...there are 7 clips that hold the grill in place.



- one on either side under the headlights- one in the middle- 2 on the left side- 2 on the right side.



drivers side where the clips were

passenger side clip holes

I used plyers and a screw driver (and my fingers) to pry the clips loose one at a time and finally the entire grill assembly came out. Some of the clips were really stuck good since there was alot of dirt and slight rust built up on some of the clips.

There are also some plastic bolts along the bottom that seemed to hold the grill im place. I am not sure if i needed to remove these or not but I did before I took the grill out.



After I tok the grill out I took it apart and cleaned it and then cut some steel mesh to fit behind the grill. The large platic clips on the right and left side as well as the center clip come off so I was able to sandwhich the mesh between the grill and these clips. Its held in place well now.



I also put some mesh in the two lower bumper areas to finish off the look and match the grill. I wasn;t able to find a way to secure the mesh in these openings thoughs o I had to use small black zip ties. not ideal but they work for now and arent too noticeale unless u are right up close looking at them. Does anyone have any other ideas how I can secure the mesh?



I will take better pictures tomorrow in the sun so you can see all 3 mesh areas.

Thanks to Qxxx4 for the email help on finding all of the clips to remove the grill!

[Kckouki]

I wonder what it would look like if you painted it balck and put it on the outside.

Im cheap but I hate chicked mesh ****. lolLooks good I might try it.

[Holidazed]

I think if you painted it black that it would blend in witht he stock grill too much and wouldn't be as noticable as the silver.

As for placing it on the outside, i tried that and it loked a bit strange since you could see the stock grill behind it too clearly. It would look good if you comepletely cut out the middle of the grill and used a thick steel mesh and place the logo through the middle.

I did that on my old Acura Legend using steel used for roof gutters:



I want to try that again for the pathfinder but need to track the steel down again, hard to find.

[Kckouki]

Hmm, i would like that if it was black or somthing.

And idk about cutting the middle of the grill out, id be to afraid if fack it up. lol

[Qxxx4]

great job! your clips were in the exact same places as mine except for the one right near the headlight on each side. Your lucky it was just a clip behind the logo, mine had a flathead screw which was such a pain to remove!

it looks great! ive seen this done alot on the Q's but never the 01 pathy! great job!

[Qxxx4]

about the lower mesh...i also used zipties. its really hard to get in there! i hide the ties behind the license plate it fit pretty good. I wouldnt worry about it too much

[Chuck Tribolet]

You don't need to remove the plastic bolts at the bottom. They hold theplastic bumper cover to the serious part of the bumper.

Me, I took the grill out when I was chasing an overheating problem last summer, to improve the air flow and make it really easy to check the overflowbottle. The problem went away a few months later (so it wasn't removingthe grill that fixed it) and I haven't bother to put it back (because I don't havethe foggiest what fixed it).

And BTW, it wasn't the cooler weather that did it. It was warmer this afternoonby 20 degrees than most mornings last Sept. No problems today, problemsevery September morning. Same load, same route. Go figure.

[Chuck Tribolet]

One more thing: your coolant overflow is way above the max line. What'sgoing on there?

[Holidazed]

i'm not sure about the coolant overflow level. i just bought the truck a week ago so I havent checked all the fluids out myself much, the dealershuip did that for me befoire I bought it.

Is mine alot higher than it should be or just a bit? also, if its too high, how can i drain some to get it back to a normal level?

[Chuck Tribolet]

Look on the overvlow bottle. It's marked "MIN" and "MAX".

With the engine COLD, take the radiator cap off. It should be full to the top.There are any number of siphon tricks you can do to empty the overflow. I'veused a turkey baster with a tube on the end, and I've siphoned. And if youleave the radiator cap off, and the overflow cap on, and blow air in the overflowvent, you can transfer straight back to the radiator (I had a problem for a whilewhere I'd put fluid in the overflow bottle, and it wouldn't suck back). Thesecond time, the bottle would over flow. I used a rubber air pump bulb (likethey use on a blood pressure cuff) to pump air in.

[slickroger]

you should move your plate down so you can show the second grill.

honestly my plate has been on black zip ties for about a year and a half and i dont think its going anywhere. removed that big license plate bracket.

[Holidazed]

license plate moved down. the bracket was so rusted on that the bolts snapped off.



looks alot better now with the second grill in full view. thanks for the idea slickroger.

i wish there wa some other way to hold the license plate on besides plastic zip ties. anyone have any ideas?

[slickroger]

the only thing i worry aboout i someone cutting my plate off.

But the Zip Ties i used are thick and holding the plate on through all sorts of tough weather conditions. i ve had slush 4 times as thick as my plate stuck to it. its pretty reliable other than the easy to steal factor.

[Holidazed]

i'm not too worried about someone stealing my license plate because the front plate isn't of much use to anyone (no insurance sticker on it) i guess someone could cut it off for a prank but I have secure parking usually (and dont park in the hood) so i'm not too worried about that.

I am going to try and find some sort of other tie in the future, maybe a metal or braided wire cable which would provide a more secure solution.

also havign a hard time finding grey color cable ties to match my bumper any ideas?

[02pathy]

someone could steal plate for gas and 407, but its looks better down there

[slickroger]

the day i posted that the zip ties hold well i went out to my buddies and a tie busted on me. i walk with extras though.

dude spray paint the zip ties or brush it on.