Parmer8

View from the front showing where the two pieces meet with a 90degree bend. Again, if you can find a longer piece, you won't have to worry about it.

mikeb

looks pretty good
you went through alot to make that come together

Kushballah

yea i really like it! unfortunately i dont think my pops would take too kindly to me removing the entire front end of his 30g+ "investment" :p ... maybe some day later...

Omicron

Very, very nice, Parmer8!!!

If'n you don't mind, in a day or two I'm gonna merge this thread into the "Protect those Oil Coolers!" DIY thread, here... I think your idea belongs there with the other great inventors of this mod. :D

mmmdowning

Very nice. I've been wondering how it would look and how dificult it would be. Good job.

Omicron

I would love to find a source for this mesh in pieces larger than 36"x6" so I can do the main grille in it. Anyone have any ideas on where I could find it?

Zoom2X

Try a metal supply shop, you can often get mesh in 4' X 8' sheets and sometimes in half sheets. Often it costs less for the whole sheet than what the auto speciality places charge for a small piece. Occasionally the metal supply places will have scrap pieces that they will let you have cheap or even free.

Parmer8

I don't mind at all.

gnj152

Nice job. Shops who sell plastic, teflon, aluminium, brass oftenly sell those grill even in stainless, this is what i will get for mine.

flatso

I just bought the gutter guards at Lowes and was wondering if anyone has had any problems with them melting or any other problems now that you have lived with them a while being they are plastic?

Genom

I just put my black plastic home depot gutter guard in.

Not too happy with how it looks, but the mounting worked very well. I think I need to use the 2 peice setup for the front so it doesnt bend. However, it IS hardly visible and should do the job until I get ambitious enough to remvoe the bumper again :D Just used some large washers with the screws to help hold it in place and took it for a drive. As long as it deflects some of the bugs/stones/crap hitting my radiators, I'll be happy.

BTW, another thanks to Hymee for his bumper removal guide.

I also finally found out why I could never get my foglamps out. They had GLUE beads on them. Took me 20 minutes to get them open with the bumper off. I never woulda managed it from underneath.

Of course, now I cant find the ultrawhite bulbs I had for them, but at least I left it easier for me to work on.

racerdave

pics?

flatso

Be careful when you are putting the Gutter Guard in I bent a few fins when installing nothing serious but of course pisses my **** self off.

Have to say this is my favorite kind of DIY because it meets the 3 main criterea of 1)inexpensive 2)someone who is not a mechanic can do it 3) Works well

Now I just need to remove my bumper and put the AC cooler guard in place. Wish we could have a bumper removal clinic in NJ as even though it looks easy I know the Murphy Laws very well.

Kel Rx8

im gonna give it a try
not sure if i will remove the bumper
but definetely a great way to protect our 8.
thanks guys.

flatso

who needs those fancy new $40 oil cooler protecters.


if it's good enough for the Porche guys it's good enough for me

ahhhh have to do a search for gutter guards the link is not direct.

SiMplyBluE

Anyone with the Apperance Package do these themselves i.e. grill for both the oil coolers and the radiator? All the pictures I've seen so far are of 8's without the AP and Rotary Accents, considering the front air dam and the accents might change a few things.

D MENAC 7

I'm in the process of fixing an air dam I got from a member on here and then am going to install it myself. I have already purchased some custom aluminum grille material which is 120cm X 20cm or 48" X 8". It is still aluminum color but, I have black trim paint I am going to paint it after fitting cutting the parts and fitting them to size. I'll probably try putting it behind the air dam, that's the appearance package air dam. I have the front Rotary accent too. I may have to buy another piece of this stuff to do the oil coolers, though. It's an APC Sport Racing Series product and I probably paid way more than it's worth so i may just go get the gutter guard stuff for the oil coolers.

About the mounting...I noticed screws mentioned. However, I will probably do this differently. Urethane cannot be glued to and most adhesives will not stick either. How it is repaired in the industry is by melting it, something like welding but without a torch. A solder iron is perfect for this.

You need some urethane material to use to melt this to the front bumper. The bumper is pretty thick material so you can get it hot enough on the back side to melt with the material you are using to mount this by.

I reatached the mounts for the front air dam of the one I purchased damaged and they are stronger than the stock original mounts. I am awaiting an order from the paint manufacturer to be able to finish the rest of the air dam.

For the crack, I used some of the urethane from the air dam that doesn't show and has no structural purpose. I melted into the damaged area, and placed some of the material in there and melted it down and smoothed it out. Afterwards, I shaped it with a course shaping tool then sanded it down to the original surface profile. Once painted, from the front, you would never know it was damaged.

Another thing I used to help reinforce the rear is some aluminum screen material you can get for use of repairing with bondo. It is sticky on one side and is easy to shape and bend into place. This I attached by the same method, melting material below and using spare pieces above the screen to melt the two together. I will be taking some pics soon to try to explain this with images.

SiMplyBluE

Hey DMenac7, could you post some pics of the work you're doing? With my front air dam and rotary accent, I don't know how I'm going to mount the grille on the back of the bumper. Definitely can't use wire ties since they'll show up on my winning blue exterior. Any ideas?

SiMplyBluE

Another question. I've noticed on my AT 8, that the on the right of the bumper the oil cooler is visible and on the left it has a plastic cover and I have fog lights. Can someone explain to me why the MTs have both oil coolers exposed if they have fog lights and the ATs have only one exposed? Also, if you have an AT what have you done to match both sides instead of just protecting one oil cooler? Because my 8 has the Appearance package and Rotary Accents, I'm just wondering how I can do a clean job.....

Hymee

iTrader: (1)

There is only one oil cooler on the standard power engine, as in the auto.

SiMplyBluE

Darn.....it just wouldn't look right with wire mesh protection on one side of the bumper! Any ideas what to put on the other side where there is the plastic cover? How about putting wire mesh with the appearance package and rotary accents in place to protect the radiator?

Hymee

iTrader: (1)

It looks perfect:







Cheers,
Hymee.

Xystas

goto www.racingbeat.com

They sell oil cooler guards for a decent price. I think it's like $ 38 for two.

Omicron

Note that when this thread was first started, the no screens were available. The Hymee screens soon followed, and the Racing Beat ones just came out.

Hymee

iTrader: (1)

Thanks Omicron - and I also have the screen to protect the most vulnerable bit - the radiator/condensor

If anyone wants oil-cooler screens only, please PM me.

Cheers,
Hymee.