new grill and emblem help!

[Johnnyvav]

Originally Posted by DYNAMITE44

lol
yeah, i've seen the same thing, saying to paint stuff behind the grille. i think they're talking about the lip, this:



on billet grilles that are rimless, you'd be able to see the lip.
it'd look better flat or matte black so your eye wouldn't be drawn to it. through the slats of aluminum.

Thanx. I thought I was going crazy. I couldn't figure out what they were recommending to paint, especially since my foam is black already! The lip makes a lot of sense for rimless Grills but my new grill has a rim. Thanx to you, I'll be cutting that pain in the A$$ step out.

[joey]

Here is the pic and paint job recommendation.

"On light colored vehicles we recommend painting the area behind the grille with fast drying flat black spray paint."

Grillcraft® - Genuine Sport Grilles - Installs

[Johnnyvav]

Thanx joey

[Johnnyvav]

I installed the grill without removing the front fascia, In less than 2 hours. If I did it again, it would probably take less than an hour. It being my first grill install and I wanted to be careful not to F*** anything up.

The infamous stock grill:


Prior to the install I searched for the recommended Husky ratcheting screwdriver at Home depot & Lowes but to no avail. They both had these $60 sets that included 5-7 wrenches + the bit adapter. I couldn't find just the adapter alone (to change a ratched wrench to a ratchet screwdriver). There was one other option that I wasn't so sure about but took a chance. A $10 set made by Task Force, purchased at Lowes. It worked great!

I figured what the hell, I have emergency procedure #1 standing by if it didn't work.

One of the most tedious tasks was removing the last plastic rivet at the beginning of the project. The first 3 came off within 30 seconds total. The last one took about twenty minutes. I tried to be gentle. I tried to push up the middle from underneath. I finally ripped the mofo out!

The Four screws on top and one on each side came out in minutes by using my new faithful friend the "task force". There was really no room to get to the bottom 4 screws so I just pulled the grill out. The plastic holding them in was fairly weak and I knew I wasn't going to be using those screw holes again anyway. After about an hour the front looked like this:

I then needed a few minutes to drill three 1/8" holes and enlarge the six factory holes with a 3/8" bit. After a beverage break I had to work the new grill into its new home & here are the results:

Thankyou all for the helpful hints!!!!

[srt8danno]

Your grille install looks perfectly flawless. Congratulations on completing it. The pictures are great so that others can see what was involved in install. Thanks for sharing!

[Wezenator]

Great pictures and story, never saw the Task Force set at Lowes. I had a problem with the left side top rivet and had to buy a replacement after finally busting it out. I removed the entire facia and that worked great for me because I did the stealth side markers and zenon foglight bulbs at the same time. From your pictures it looked like you did the work at night, if so bet that made it a bit more difficult. Nice that you didn't have no stinking holes below the grill for a license plate like me, either!

[Johnnyvav]

Originally Posted by Wezenator

Great pictures and story, never saw the Task Force set at Lowes. I had a problem with the left side top rivet and had to buy a replacement after finally busting it out. I removed the entire facia and that worked great for me because I did the stealth side markers and zenon foglight bulbs at the same time. From your pictures it looked like you did the work at night, if so bet that made it a bit more difficult. Nice that you didn't have no stinking holes below the grill for a license plate like me, either!

Yes I have to do everything at night after the kids go to sleep!

[Simans82]

Lookin' good!

[Johnnyvav]

I ordered matching vent covers but when they arrived there was a factory flaw. The mesh was larger than the frames. They must of been made on a Friday! I'll post pics when the new ones arrive.