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I got bored, so I finally got around to modding my grill. I just cut out the main cross bars, neatened everything up, and added some black mesh behind everything. I used some rivets backed with washers to hold it on. You can see this in the third picture.

I also painted my emblem red. Main reason I did this was so that I could test some paint to see if it was close to Rio Red, so I could paint my fender.

Here's some pics (click for full-sized images):







Shortly after I took these, the glue I was using ate through the red paint on my emblem. I scraped it all off and re-painted it. I'm going to try gluing it back on when it is fully cured this time.

I was going to leave it silver with the black mesh, but I ran out of silver paint. I painted it black instead, because I had a few cans lying around (keep it fast, keep it flat black...).

I'm planning on painting the main grill body-color later, but for mow.......

Man, that looks pretty sweet!!!

And cheap.

The mesh was just gutterguard material from Home Depot (I need a Home Depot racing sticker for my car, considering how much stuff I get from there....) that cost me all of $1.29 or so.

The red paint was the most expensive, but that's just because I got the scratch fix 2-in-1 pen.

Everything else I just had lying around. Used a hacksaw blade to cut off the bar pieces, and a fine file to tweak everything.

I have the little bar pieces on the back of the grill to line it up.

I may try re-doing it later (to get rid of the solid bits at either side of the opening), but for now I think it looks sweet. Rather unique if I do say so myself.

Right on, very nice! I'm impressed. From those pictures it looks very sharp.

I used fiberglass and touch up filler to fill the void left when you completely remove the crossbars. Don't use the touch up filler - use regular body filler instead. Best thing for the emblem is to use double sided trim tape. I use it for everything.

Steve

I couldn't find any of that when I was looking. I just got a tube of emblem and trim adhesive. It melted the paint.

Then again, I think I just didn't let it cure long enough. This time, I put the red on, then cleared the entire badge. I'm gonna let it cure overnight, and then try again.

I'll get some pics when I finally get it on the car.

I like your choice of mesh. That's hot shit.

thats hot!! nicely done!

hehe, that looks almost exactly like mine, except i like the mesh you used better.



how close is that scratch fix pen to the rio red? i have a few scratches that need fixing.....

I've been thinking of doing that for a while, but seeing pics of yours made me finally decide to do it.

I dunno how close it is yet. I kinda eyeballed it in the store, and haven't had a chance to use it on the car yet. It started raining on my way home..... I've actually been doing all the painting in my garage with a dehumidifier and fans going.

Good work man!


Please post pics of it installed!

evolutionmovement wrote:Best thing for the emblem is to use double sided trim tape. I use it for everything.

Agreed...that's what they include with the Impreza "I" badges directly from Subaru. I used 3M double-sided tape (available in any auto parts store) on the badge on my 2.5RS and the paint was perfectly fine.

It was fine this morning when I put it back on.

I think I just hadn't let the paint cure long enough (2-3 hours tops).

I also went ahead and pulled back off my headlights for a de-orangepeeling. They're drying right now.

I'll get pics when I get everything back together later today or tomorrow.

Here's some pics.

Once again, click on thumbnail for full-sized pic







The paint is just a bit too bright for my Rio Red. Here's a pic of where I filled in a scratch on the trunk lid and wetsanded/polished it back up. The factory paint was so thin that I actually sanded through it at one spot.





Sorry for the crappy pic quality. My dad has our 5 MP digicam in Australia, so these were taken with my sub 1 MP PDA.