The pics of the grille on your car do not have any plastic weld globbed all over them like your FS pics. What happened?

If you could post up those other pics that would be great because it does look like it has a big dent in it. Not sure if I would paint it white to match my car or wrap it in carbon to try to match the wrap I plan to put on the lower part of the bumper.

Oh, gotcha. Do the filters mount to that bracket too since they have hardware in their ends? I wonder if that would work with my Z1 filters.

 

The plastic weld was done since day 1. I just don't think you can see it in those pics that badly. See attached pic from a different angle.

Yes, the filters mount to that bracket. Each filter has a threaded stud in it that goes through that silver bracket with a nut on the other end to secure it.

 

Only other pic I have of that area.

 

your right and I'm right. The shield attatches to filters and core support.

 

I kept the grille at the discounted price and I did a bit of sanding to get it to fit. It still needs some work so I'm going to eventually take it to the body shop I trust to see if they can work their magic.

 

Thanks for the help guys. jfisher- I think I can make that work if you can set that grille frame and mesh aside for me. I have a PM into STownSaint to see how he attached the mesh to the frame and I am waiting to hear back from Spencer at Z1 to see about fitting the Stillen rain guard up to the Z1 filters and if I can buy it separately.

It looks like I also might be able to get these Outerwears water resistant covers for my filters if the Stillen rain guard does not work. Has anyone tried these or know anything about them?

 

My friend has these shields on his intake and it actually works really good. No problem with the car breathing and also a great protection.

 

Ended up removing the CMOD grille a bit ago, the poor fitment got the best of me I guess (it seemed to get worse, probably mental).

IMO the grille just isn't designed well; it looks like its front contour wouldn't match the front bumper (cover) even if it I could get it to fit right. This picture shows how the grille kind of interferes with how the bumper cover flows (my car being black hides it, especially in photos).

Also IMO, the mesh is too recessed from the face of the bumper cover, which to me gives it a sort of weird, "open mouth" look.

I bought a spare chrome OEM grille that I plan to modify to convert into a mesh-style grille, to hopefully make something much closer to the design I have in mind (and with factory fitment). Likely won't get to it til spring though, and will take my time to get it right.

Good luck to all trying to make this one work (know you'll need it )

 

Sounds like we are in the same boat. The one I just bought from jfisher is an oem grille that was sanded down and painted. My body shop guys think they have a very strong epoxy that will bond the mesh to the grille frame. We shall see...

 

^very interested to see what you come up with.

Let me suggest this: rather than bond the mesh to the grille, maybe try to attach a bunch of fasteners to the back of it instead. This way, you'll have something firm holding the mesh, and you'll be able to replace is easily when it fades (if it's ABS).

This is how the aftermarket grille does it, found an old photo that may help to visualize it:

 

Thanks for the idea, but it looks like most of the original mounts were snapped off or sanded down. The epoxy is globbed all over the place and the grille was even mounted backwards so the unfinished side faces out?!? Looks like it will definitely be a "project."

Nothing too difficult, but something I will probably tackle this spring after I get some carbon wrap on the lower front bumper and a carbon hood for track days to get some of that hot air out. Once I see how that looks I should know if I want to paint the outer part of the grille white or wrap it in carbon to match.

The epoxy (or plastic cement?) used to bond the grille to the frame even got spilled on the painted frame in a number of places. Does anyone know if there is a good product to dissolve epoxy/glue? Otherwise I may just sand it.

 

I think I found almost exactly the same mesh you used on your grille- or at least the exact same dimensions. I think this would look pretty good since you said your mesh matched the lower bumper well. The mesh that came with this oem grille has more of a hexagon shape so the diamond pattern should look better.

I just had the lower bumpers and side sills wrapped in carbon and it turned out well so I think I will try wrapping the grille frame the same way. I'm off to see if I can find a product that will dissolve this plastic weld. Let me know what you think of this mesh that I found:

 

Yea that looks pretty close if not same as the stuff I used. Here's a closeup to show how the upper diamond mesh matched the lower mesh (it was a little bit finer but close enough for me). What's most important is the thickness/depth, at an angle the thicker mesh is much less see-thru, giving it an OEM look to it IMO

 

That does look pretty nice. Thanks for posting the pic. I plan to put a little more work into this project tomorrow.

 

Is the fuji emblem you used the same size as what was on your original grille?